Anger is a powerful emotion that can present itself in a number of ways.
Too often it can simmer to boiling point and cause explosions where calmer heads should prevail, but for those fortunate enough to be able to channel that emotion into music a whole new world of opportunities is created.
Sydney metalcore outfit Sugar Spine – borne out of the frustrations of a COVID induced world – have done just that with their debut EP Mirror Talk, a collection of seven songs embroiled in anger that have manifested themselves in such a way to provide resolution rather than conflict.
The brainchild of musician Josh Muncke, Sugar Spine is a product of their environment, a breathing indictment of inner turmoil in a changing world.
Muncke sat down with HEAVY to talk about the EP and its path to fruition.
“It’s got seven tracks and is super damn angry,” he smiled. “It’s a mixture of metalcore and a bunch of stuff, and I’m pretty sure it will grab a few people’s attention when they hear it. The whole project started in hotel quarantine and the first single I released was back in October and that was a super aggressive mix of hardcore and metalcore. That was kind of an expression of anger I suppose, and it was because I was looking at all this stuff online – because when you’re in hotel quarantine you can’t do much. You’re just watching TV, or you’re doing some work, but you do get bored because you’re in the same room for two weeks. Looking on social media, and it’s full of hatred, and it’s full of opinions that are constantly being divided, and I threw my hands up and said I have to make an angry song about this, and I did. I think with the EP I wanted to still carry that anger across, because I feel like I held that anger for a lot of different things that are happening all around us. So, each song is themed differently. The first one is about political corruption, the second one’s about misogyny, the third one is more introspective, so it goes into self-image and self-doubt and also… I guess you could call it self integrity in a way, so not lying to yourself and not trying to convince yourself that you’re something else. It’s convoluted, I suppose. They all focus on specific things that I had a gripe with. Musically, I wanted to not pigeonhole myself into anything.”
In the full interview, Josh talks us through the tracks on the EP and where they came from, the musical inspiration and diversity, forming during lockdown and the difficulties that posed, expanding the project into a live outfit and more.
