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DESCRIPTION:Categories: Alternative Rock\nType: Concert\nAttributes: \nInfo
 : \n\n\nIf music can serve as a release for its creator and listener alike
 \, then Microwave’s new album is sonic catharsis incarnate. Death Is A W
 arm Blanket is an explosion of mental and physical frustration\, channelle
 d into ten dynamic tracks that show just how powerful\, gut-wrenching--and
  fun--loud rock music can be when it’s this completely unbridled. \nVoca
 list/guitarist Nathan Hardy\, bassist Tyler Hill\, and drummer Timothy Pit
 tard formed Microwave in Atlanta\, Georgia in 2012 as an extension of frie
 ndships\, school\, and the local music scene. The band’s earlier work (i
 ncluding 2014’s Stovall and 2016’s Much Love) naturally reflected a mo
 re youthful outlook--romances\, the many anxieties of your early 20s--but 
 also the fallout that followed Hardy’s exit from the Mormon church at ag
 e 22. As Microwave began to pick up steam\, Hardy underwent a sharp change
  in worldview fueled by the upheaval of entering adulthood\, an amplified 
 desire for new experiences after a particularly protected upbringing\, and
  the easy access to drugs and alcohol on the road. “You’re hopeful whe
 n you’re younger and it made our earlier stuff a little more light at th
 e end of the tunnel\,” Hardy explains. “When I left the church\, it wa
 s exciting to experience all these new things but then six years go by\, t
 hat wears off\, you’re older and you don’t have health insurance\, and
  you realize everything didn’t get better.” \nWhile Microwave continue
 d to grow and tour steadily with each release\, Hardy’s body and frame o
 f mind deteriorated. His shoulder dislocated during the band’s performan
 ce at the Wrecking Ball festival in Atlanta and the absence of any kind of
  financial safety net exacerbated his lengthy recovery from surgery. “Be
 ing in a band isn’t a lifestyle that leads to comforts\,” Hardy says\,
  “I was sleeping on couches. I’m a stagehand so if I can’t lift anyt
 hing\, I can’t work.” Microwave began touring again\, and the physical
  toll of being on the road furthered his sense of decline. “I was so unh
 ealthy...my shoulder was still weak\, I was drinking way too much\, my imm
 une system was a mess. We were trying to get through sets but I would get 
 heat-induced vertigo because my kidneys weren’t working properly. I thou
 ght I was going to die or have to stop being in a band because of it.” B
 ut like so many musicians\, Hardy turned towards his only reliable outlet 
 for exorcising frustration\, and Death Is A Warm Blanket began to take sha
 pe. \nGalvanized by a strangely motivational union of fatalism\, dissatisf
 action\, and determination\, Hardy began writing songs and slowly\, but su
 rely improving his health. The new music outlined a different version of M
 icrowave: angrier and heavier\, but still rooted in truthful songwriting a
 nd Hardy’s knack for acute hooks. “When it comes to writing music ther
 e’s something liberating about feeling like you’re on a sinking ship. 
 We felt totally unencumbered by any sonic expectations and this record end
 ed up naturally heavier because of everything that was going on.” The ba
 nd teamed with Matt Goldman at Glow In The Dark Studios to capture Pittard
 ’s massive drum sounds before diving into Death Is A Warm Blanket’s en
 dless array of guitar tones at the home studio of guitarist Travis Hill (w
 ho engineered Microwave’s previous albums before joining the band). Micr
 owave put the open- ended time in the studio to good use\, experimenting w
 ith unusual production flourishes and instrumental textures as they honed 
 their new direction. \nThe resulting album is an amalgam of everything exh
 ilarating about loud guitars. Microwave revel in their newfound creative a
 bandon\, colliding post-hardcore aggression with ‘90s alternative sneer\
 , and bleeding broodingly atmospheric verses into anthemic choruses. The b
 and’s music has always shown hints of sharper edges\, but Death Is A War
 m Blanket takes those loud/quiet building blocks and twists them into a sn
 arling mass of gigantic dynamic shifts and otherworldly heaviness. “Leat
 her Daddy” opens the album with an unassuming acoustic guitar and Hardy
 ’s reserved vocals to serve as a shaky bridge from the band’s previous
  work\, and slowly grows taut with Hill’s gnarled bass before outright c
 ollapsing under the weight of colossal guitars and cacophonous drums. All 
 the while the song’s lyrics set the scene for Death Is A Warm Blanket: m
 ental isolation\, physical incapacitation\, a faded sense of community\, a
 nd the unexpected freedom of having very little to lose. “Float To The T
 op” and “Hate TKO” explore the potentially dogmatic nature of subcul
 tures\, modern social media burnout\, and the absurdities of bad faith arg
 uing. The latter conjures up an In Utero-style blend of chaos and melody\,
  while the former’s pulsating nest of guitars have been mutated to resem
 ble a synth so ugly\, it would make Trent Reznor proud. \nThe quasi-title 
 track “DIAWB” and “The Brakeman Has Resigned” paint a harrowing pi
 cture of Hardy’s lowest moments of limping from sickness to sickness\, s
 how to show--self-medicating and resigning himself to a hopeless existence
 \, but somehow putting one foot in front of the other. “Pull” offers a
  brief respite in the guitar attack\, a moody slow burner that starts with
  some of the album’s most delicate music before hurtling into some of it
 s most destructive. Elsewhere “Mirrors” is perhaps the finest example 
 of Microwave’s mastery of hooks and heaviness: a swaggering cut of Headb
 anger’s Ball fodder sure to incite singalongs and pandemonium alike. Dea
 th Is A Warm Blanket reaches its apocalyptic conclusion with “Part of It
 \,” a gleefully nihilistic track with sights set on an end of the world 
 that can’t help but feel ever-closer these days. The album doesn’t hav
 e a light at the end of the tunnel\, yet it does seem to find some semblan
 ce of acceptance even in harsh realities. “A lot of bands I grew up with
  had these climactic coming of age records where the sky opens up and it a
 ll turns out ok. This record doesn’t have that\, but I feel like that’
 s more honest.” He adds with a bit of a laugh\, “It’s more like some
 one punching you in the stomach and knocking the air out of you.” Perhap
 s it’s that painful honesty at the center of Death Is A Warm Blanket tha
 t makes it so compelling--if the end is near\, Microwave won’t be going 
 quietly. \n\n\nFacebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/microwavetheband/Tw
 itter: https://twitter.com/microwaveatl
SUMMARY:Microwave: 'Much Love' 10 Year Anniversary Tour | Anthony Green\, H
 unny\, Into It. Over It.
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