Flush It Friday: Itty Bitties Are Back, Baby

And so am I.
I went to a bookstore and ate noodles with Rolderathis in Brookline. Jealous?! Here are some albums to listen to while you fester.
The Promise – Believer
Deathwish / Indecision | November 26, 2002
Formed in the wake of Another Victim and featuring members from fellow ’90s legends One King Down and Conviction, The Promise was a short-lived straight edge hardcore band from Syracuse, NY. Songs like “Kiss Off, “Comeback,” “Believer,” and “Eyes Wide Shut” were as heavy as they were melodic, dripping with passion and ripe for sing-alongs. “What I Have” has one of the heaviest breakdowns I’ve ever heard. Last week in Cambridge, I found a pristine reversible Promise jersey at Armageddon Shop in Harvard crimson and white. [TUFF. ~Roldy] I know what I’ll be wearing every day of this sweltering summer. Let’s mosh.
Drought – Drought EP
Independent | June 23, 2023
Bonding over strong jawlines and wearing jackets over hoodies, the dudes in Bay Area’s Drought came together in 2022 and released this short EP the following year. Drawing on shared influences such as Title Fight, Pianos Become the Teeth, and Touché Amoré, Drought play an emotionally rich, melodically resonant, and punkishly pure post-hardcore. What I love most, though, is vocalist Viggy Ram’s uncanny resemblance to Damien Moyal from Gainesville’s As Friends Rust. Listen to that slight edge, barked but mellifluous, in opener “Consequential Love.” I’m in consequential love, and I can’t wait for the band’s forthcoming debut LP in July.
Boldy James & Real Bad Man – Conversational Pieces
Real Bad Man Records | May 3, 2025
Conversational Pieces isn’t even a month old, and it’s still not the most recent album from the increasingly prodigious Boldy Block. Boldy, somehow and someway, has enough lines left in his notebook to keep up with BDM’s production style, often invoking the sound of a full band in the studio. Standout “Cutthroats” might be my favourite song of the year. The way Boldy rides the beat starting around 0:54 might make you slam your discman on the pavement. You’ll also need to hear El-P’s feature on “It Factor” for that kind of Def Jux righteous rage we’ve all been missing.
The Pub Mouse – Midnight at The Mitre
Fiadh Productions | May 2, 2025
The whimsical storytelling and twee aesthetic of comfy synth project Pub Mouse, a collaboration between Cedric the Mouse and Nick Wusz the Human, has me over a barrel-aged barleywine. I can’t help myself! From the coziness of Cedric’s favourite bar Ye Old Mitre through his whiskers dipping in and dripping with ale to the song this brave mouse-knight sings to himself on patrol each night, I am simply enchanted. You’ll scurry around and nibble on bits of crisp and cheese to a soundtrack both regal and fanciful. The tape come with a beer mug and a tiny mouse. One left!
Obstruktion – The End Takes Form
Suicide Records | May 30, 2025
Out today on Suicide Records, The End Takes Form is the sophomore effort from Moshenburg quintet Obstruktion. Playing muscular metallic hardcore with reverential nods to both Obituary and At the Gates, Obstruktion call to mind Hatebreed on tracks like “Final Hour” and “Only in Death,” while channeling the foolishly overlooked Bitter End on pit-clearers “Sow Fear,” “Grotesque Order,” and “Touched by the Void.” Faster, thrashier parts remind me just a bit of Hidden Hands-era Darkest Hour. 10-minute closer “Born of Contempt” is cataclysmic and cathartic, a trudging, bludgeoning mid-paced death march. Expect this album to get stuck in your stereo.
Let’s Flush!
Stick delivered a staggering amount of No-ness on this week’s TMP. Roldy always gets it right with his Weekly Welease Wecommendations.
Toilet Radio 561 is a Joe n Jordan classic. The forces of evil cannot sustain such levels of snark.
Spear slimed up a slimy exclusive track premiere from Disembodiment. Get slimed, you slimeballs!
Gage served up some djenty honesty in this review of the latest Vildhjarta.
Review: Vildhjarta – + dar skogen sjunger under evighetens granar +
Roldy bought so many books at the bookstore, y’all. He wasn’t even supposed to! But he did. I watched. Drop your GBUs in the comments.