Sluttony – Hazel

“Hazel” is the latest release by Sluttony, an outstanding all-femme band based in Los Angeles, California. Heavily promoted by “Dice,” “June Gloom,” “Smoke Screen,” and “Lights,” four incredible compositions that vividly showcase what you might expect from the remainder of the material, this collection of songs represents their debut full-length album. Lyrically, the band explores themes such as love, relationships, various sentiments, moods, situations, and circumstances, so it’s a highly relatable material that will immediately resonate with the broader auditorium. Sonically, Sluttony combines several complementary music genres to illustrate such luxuriant sonic imagery. Perhaps alternative rock comes to mind first, but you’ll unquestionably notice how some of the finest properties borrowed from garage, grunge, indie rock, punk rock, and riot grrrl found their way into this sonic equation. They use all these additional sonic ingredients as more than necessary enhancements, accentuations, decorations, and other details to uplift their music to an entirely new level while simultaneously remaining loyal to the primary sonic direction. Although “Hazel” resonates with qualities that meet all the trends in contemporary music production, Sluttony also incorporates a subtle touch of nostalgia, pointing out their admiration towards the late eighties, nineties, and early noughties alternative and indie music. Therefore, these experimentations with various complementary music genres resulted in a catchy, memorable, engaging collection of songs that will appeal not only to alternative and indie rock fans but also to anyone who appreciates cleverly assembled and flawlessly performed music.

As soon as you press play, you’ll hear how the outstanding lead vocal performance serves as a centerpiece, elevating everything to new heights, commanding attention, and guiding the listening apparatus from scratch to finish. The impressive vocal range seamlessly balances low, mid, and high notes with such precision and finesse, emphasizing everything these profoundly talented musicians intended to achieve with their music. Besides decorating all those segments and instrumentations, these vocal harmonies contribute more than necessary emotional depth and complexity over already intricate song structures. You’ll notice how the additional vocal layers, back vocals, and singalongs enhance the particular segments and spice things up even more. In the meantime, the guitars shape a perfect backdrop for all the vocals to shine upon. You’ll hear how the tastefully assembled chord progressions, riffs, harmonies, melodies, and themes decorate every composition with the ultimate precision, making this full album such a pleasant listening experience worth repeating over and over again. These guitar works are angular, jangly, but tastefully distorted at the same time, so every note and strum over the strings is vividly hearable in the mix. Also, it’s nearly mindblowing how all these guitar layers articulate together without overwhelming each other, proving that Sluttony paid attention to every possible detail while writing, composing, arranging, and producing their debut.

Of course, “Hazel” wouldn’t sound this powerful without the equally impressive rhythm section. You’ll notice how all those vividly hearable, profoundly detailed, warm-sounding basslines rumble beneath lush guitar works, providing more than necessary heaviness, clarity, and depth while simultaneously serving as a binding element between the mentioned orchestrations and rhythmic patterns. These low-ends are rich, deep, dense, and heavy, offering more power, groove, and detail to these songs. In the meantime, the exceptional drumming performance based upon the tastefully arranged, flawlessly performed, well-accentuated beats, breaks, fills, and other percussive acrobatics keep the remainder of the band in line while dictating groove and pace. You’ll hear how every hit of the snare, kick of the bass drum, accentuation over hi-hat, and splash over the cymbals cuts the ambiance, making those track even more detailed and catchy. Sluttony thought about everything while writing, composing, arranging, and producing “Hazel.” Each instrument has its place and purpose in this sonic equation. Every track arrives with a perfect structure, garnered with many detailed segments, brilliant ideas, and marvelous orchestrations. Also, it’s nearly mindblowing how Sluttony levitates between so many different but complementary subgenres of rock music. For example, “Smoke Screen” is a punk-infused alternative anthem, “June Gloom” continuously levitates between alternative and indie rock instrumentations, tracks like “Lights,” “Dice,” “One By One,” “Tonight My Eyes Are Open” showcase their tremendous range in style and dynamics yet they all shine with alternative rock ambiance. “Bill” covers everything from punk rock to garage, “Stuck In A Circle” carries that hypnotic, addictive, irresistible late sixties and early seventies garage rock sound, while “Silverado” and “Hazel” return to that classic alternative sound that makes Sluttony one of the finest contemporary rock bands.

It’s more than obvious that these creative musicians poured heart and soul into their debut full-length album, resulting in a collection of catchy, memorable, engaging songs that will immediately resonate with anyone who appreciates high-quality alternative rock music. Their ideas, skills, talent, creativity, and musicianship shine through every beat, bassline, chord progression, and vocal harmony. “Hazel” is a perfect album from scratch to finish, so you should immediately place it on your music radar. It’s available on all streaming platforms. Don’t miss it!