Once we discover a new band, barring some kind of disastrous/monumental change in sound, we’re usually fans for life. Maybe that’s the comic nerd/collector/completist in us but loyalty is a thing we believe in. Just don’t be trash bag humans and stay true to yourselves in the tunes, okay? Like Parts Per Million. A band we didn’t even actually witness at this year’s Rock & Roll Rumble but still covered, Parts Per Million still managed to leave an impression solely from 2022’s The Cycle (“Undead” and “Placebo” regularly gets stuck in our head) so of course we’re going to jump all over any new music coming following that.
Similarly crushing but straying from the straight hard hitting tendencies of The Cycle in favor of a more dynamic approach, Parts Per Million show the dreaded (GASP!) maturity with “CTRL ALT DEL” which is the first of two new tracks from the Boston quartet arriving before year’s end. Fitting for the season, the track is also quite haunting with the bookended eerie Bluesy foundation that guitarist S. Brian Bailey sets up. Think Alice In Chains especially in the self-titled era (“Frogs” combined with “Head Creeps”) for the framework but where the infamous Seattle outfit would go darker and grittier, Boston’s PPM shoots for the sky with the way that Paul McSweeney’s voice practically soars like Superman out of the speakers.
Then there’s the video accompaniment for Parts Per Million’s new Math Rawk meets Prog opus where the themes of AI and general over reliance on technology are brought to full technicolor life under the direction of Tyler Ayers at Revelry Studios ! See! Drummer Brad Griffen pummel out those larger than life staccato blasts of percussive force! Witness! Alex Marks deliver a feverish bass performance that goes from booty shakin’ one moment and bad ass the next! Behold! As McSweeney, Bailey, Marks, and Griffen battle an AI/technology-enhanced baddie who is definitely up to no good.
“CTRL ALT DEL” lands on October 25th and you can do all the pre-savin’ and pre-orderin’ now when you head here and for the latest from Parts Per Million, follow them across the world wide web through their socials when you click here, here, or here.