While I will never consider myself an expert in any given style that I enjoy, I do know for a fact that my focus tends to be more in the realms of extreme metal whereas contemporary sounds just don’t get a lot of attention for no particular reason. Of all the sounds out there that I feel like I don’t give enough attention, modern grunge is one that I find myself barely visiting if at all with the fact of the matter simply being that there hasn’t been anything from the style that has caught my attention to a significant degree for quite some time. I knew it was only a matter of time before something came across my radar and catch my eye, and that’s precisely what happened when my eyes and ears fell upon what Roseneath has in store for their newest creation.

It is likely that the golden age of grunge and all such related rock found its peak a couple of decades ago and never quite regained that ground in order to make its impact upon the world, but likely many sounds of substance and quality, it never truly dies so long as there are new names that are able to come around and keep it going with their own passion and material. Across the ten tracks of “Nowhere Safe”, it would be a stretch in every regard for me to say that Roseneath made a substantial impact on me with this album, but I cannot refute the simple truth that there is quality at play here that makes me wonder what else this style is capable of in today’s climate. Incredibly accessible and a tad by-the-numbers in more than one instance, Roseneath escapes the fate of sounding unoriginal or burnt out with this being but their second offering with their debut coming around not even a year ago. In that time, it’s clear that Roseneath’s passion and love for the sound has really carried them forward as you can really feel everything that has ever been associated with the sound coming together here to make it a cohesive and fluid work that constantly keeps you interesting as to what’s coming next with the catchy rhythms and simplistic songwriting making for a listen that many of us would find incredibly easy to fall into. Not afraid to wander stylistically and find themselves taking cues from hardcore and even post-rock in select instances, the catharsis and evocative nature of “Nowhere Safe” are what really drive it forward. It adeptly avoids falling flat and becoming uninteresting, and it’s even as one track bleeds into the next, the dynamic nature of Roseneath’s tenacity make the album something that is more than worth sitting through just so that you can really get a feel for all that this band is able to bring forth on just their second album.

Brought together, it all makes for a tasteful listen of friends jamming out together, playing a sound that they’ve long held reverence for, and seek to make their own claim in the scene with this step forward humble yet albeit one that deserves to be looked down upon. Far more competent than much of what I’ve heard from this corner of rock in recent years, Roseneath has no reason to look upon “Nowhere Safe” and feel shame of any sort.

“Nowhere Safe” releases on June 16th!

LISTEN to an advanced track from “Nowhere Safe” on Bandcamp here, or via YouTube below.

FOLLOW Roseneath on Instagram here.