Rougaroux rise from the ashes on genre-building album, "Graveyard Smash"
From the first guttural notes of Rougaroux’s long-awaited debut LP Graveyard Smash, it’s clear this isn’t just a band making noise—it’s a band making a statement. Over four years in the making, this Vancouver-based quintet delivers an album that is as furious as it is vulnerable, as melodic as it is monstrous, and as defiantly queer as anything post-punk has seen in recent memory.
Let’s be clear: Graveyard Smash is a sonic gauntlet thrown at the feet of apathy and oppression. It’s the sound of a LGBTQ+ band refusing to be sidelined, instead choosing to be louder, bolder, and more expansive than ever. Across its runtime, the album evolves from an emotionally gutted low into a full-bodied roar of self-actualization and collective resilience. And through every step of the journey, Rougaroux craft their music with an unmatched sense of catharsis, care, and craft.
The genre tags here are mere suggestion. Yes, Rougaroux fly the post-punk flag, but they pull from a sprawling palette: metallic guitar chugs, noise-drone collapses, goth-washed atmosphere, riot grrrl fury, doom’s slow-burn intensity, and even bits of psych and prog, all blended into something that resists simple classification. It’s the kind of genre-bending that feels not like indecision but conviction—these aren’t nods to influences, they’re battle-scarred tools forged into something completely their own.
Rougaroux is George Finley on vocals, Emm Hanly on guitar and vocals, Clay Finley on bass, Adam Melody on keys and guitar, and Connor Thiessen on drums—with additional guitar work by Cam Thiessen—and together, they play with the synergy of a group who’ve lived inside these songs for years. Their bond bleeds through in the tight, pulsing rhythms and in the layered compositions that balance technical prowess with sheer, visceral impact.
At the album’s emotional core is the band’s exploration of queer identity. There’s a palpable emotional honesty here, a rawness that never feels performative or pretentious. Rather than using queer identity as a narrative accessory, Graveyard Smash embeds it into every beat, riff, and lyrical motif—it is the story, told through metaphor and fury, reflection and resilience.
The album’s arc mirrors the process of personal excavation. It begins in darkness—fragmented, aching—and gradually assembles itself into something whole, a protagonist sculpting a self out of stone and screaming into existence with a voice finally found. There’s rage here, yes, but it’s not nihilistic; it’s purposeful. It’s hope in leather and eyeliner. It’s love with a throat full of static. It’s the sound of choosing to live, loudly.
Vocally, George Finley swings between haunting restraint and unhinged, defiant howls, channeling everything from classic goth crooners to modern hardcore’s emotional brinkmanship. Hanly’s guitar work shreds and shimmers in equal measure, while Melody’s synths and textures give the record its otherworldly edge, elevating already-anthemic moments into something transcendent. Meanwhile, Clay Finley and Thiessen on rhythm lock in with the kind of thunderous chemistry that anchors the album’s wilder moments without ever caging them.
Every track here could fill a basement, a theater, or a revolution. There are massive singalong hooks balanced with gut-punch lines that beg quiet reflection. There are instrumental stretches that feel cinematic in scope and others that hit like a sucker-punch to the chest. Graveyard Smash is unrelentingly cohesive, yet unpredictable at every turn—a perfect contradiction that keeps you on edge, heart open, and fists clenched.
In a musical era where authenticity is often filtered through trend and polish, Rougaroux offer something real. Something lived. Something loud as hell. Graveyard Smash isn’t just a debut—it’s an exorcism, a protest, a mirror, and a megaphone. It undoubtedly cements Rougaroux as one of the most essential voices in post-punk and queer rock today.
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