Seven Nines and Tens' Vivid Post-Metal Is "Throwing Rocks at Mediocrity" (Early Track Stream)

As Seven Nines and Tens demonstrate, there’s no reason to be shy about intentions. The Vancouver post-metal act clearly aren’t, as it takes balls to name their track “Throwing Rocks at Mediocrity,” and actually stick the landing. Nevertheless, they do, and we’re premiering this new single from their upcoming third album Over Opiated in a Forest of Whispering Speakers.

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Oftentimes distortion is a measure of heaviness and emotional weight. Crushing tracks, thick with bellowing tones and feedback, are post-metal’s bread-and-butter. “Throwing Rocks at Mediocrity” reconstrues this notion. The track cobbles together math rock, emo, and post-hardcore without dipping into extreme distortion. It’s post-metal in the sense that Seven Nines and Tens deliberately escape classification. When they do lean into muscularity, their riffs harken mathy noise rock. They intersperse those riffs to cut through the song’s airiness.

Seven Nines and Tens opt for post-metal’s patience rather than its gutturality. Despite barely running past the five-minute mark, “Throwing Rocks at Mediocrity” exhales deep from its chest like it’s in the midst of a trance. It’s a moderately-paced affair. On top of a deliberately low beats-per-minute rhythm, Seven Nines and Tens reserve their outburst for the coda, and even that is an exercise in restraint. The drums briefly fly off the rails, and the guitars mount a soapbox for an instant, but the group dashes away the idea that “Throwing Rocks at Mediocrity” requires losing control. Instead, they validate its title with reservation.

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Over Opiated in a Forest of Whispering Speakers releases January 7, 2022 via Willowtip Records.