Courtesy Abandons
Audio By Carbonatix
If you’re still checking the calendar to see what year it is now, hopefully this will help. The first month of 2025 saw local musicians continue to push out albums and singles, including a shoegaze split, psych singles and the official return of a veteran Denver doomgaze band.
Below is the best new music released by Colorado musicians in January:
Abandons
Liminal Heart
The burgeoning Denver post-metal scene is one of the most surprising and exciting underground subcultures happening right now. Local trio Abandons is the latest band to enter the conversation after independently releasing its debut album, Liminal Heart, on January 15.
The group isn’t necessarily new to the city’s heavy subcircuit, having been around since 2020; Brenton Dwyer (guitar) and Samuel Mowat (drummer) previously put out Live at Mutiny Information Café in 2021, recorded at the South Broadway staple in August 2020.
But Abandons, now with bassist Ben Rosenberg (also of native post-metalers Only Echoes), really fleshes out its all-encompassing instrumental sound on the four songs of Liminal Heart.
Dwyer’s loop-guitar licks and tremolo picking are best heard on opener “Habitats,” while more ambient-centered tracks “Saudade” and “New Mysteries” allow the rhythms of Mowat and Rosenberg to shine through more. At nearly seventeen minutes, closer “Smiling in the Midst of Two Armies” incorporates the best of both of those approaches, proving Abandons can drown you in ethereal atmosphere or pulsating riffage.
America’s Most Haunted
“Phantasma Muros”
Halloween is about ten months away, but if you’re into horror punk, every day is a celebration of the autumnal holiday. And lucky for all you fiends out there, this month, local ghouls America’s Most Haunted provided a new song to grave rob to in “Phantasma Muros,” released independently on January 17.
The undead Denver trio of Thee Andy Christ (unholy riffs and haunting chants of the night), Johnny Dethray (crushing low ends from the depths of hell) and Tavo Skelebones (big fucking thunder) have been rattling bones since 2021. With “Phantasma Muros,” which roughly translates to “ghost wall,” America’s Most Haunted further engraves itself as the preeminent Mile High horror punk band at the moment.
Creek, Overhang and Summer of Peril
New Year Split 2025
Three Front Range bands teamed up to provide some variety in the independently released New Year Split 2025 on January 3. Creek, Overhang and Summer of Peril each contributed a song, making the split a sample of local shoegaze and its various flavors.
Creek kicks it off with some melancholic “emogaze” in song “Retrace,” an angry anthem that climaxes like a shattered mirror, and that’s exactly how Creek makes modern shoegaze.
Then Overhang, out of Fort Collins, picks up with “Wings,” which is more of an ’80s new-wave ditty, though by the end, it morphs into something akin to a ’90s indie banger.
Summer of Peril, also from Fort Collins, bookends New Year Split 2025 with “Poison,” a syrupy “grunge-gaze” song with a wave of wah-washed guitar.
In all, the trio of tracks is a nice teaser of what’s happening in the current alt-rock scene.
Hallie Marie
“Indebted”
Hallie Marie is most known as the singer and keys player of Denver funk-infused rock band Direville, but the local siren recently began embarking on a solo musical journey to begin 2025, with the independent release of “Indebted” on January 21.
A brooding piano ballad, the song highlights Marie’s powerhouse voice, which is undoubtedly heartfelt and, at times, hurting in its tone and tenor. It’s self-sabotage meets cinematic rock, as “Indebted” builds from a singer-songwriter hymn to a full-band anthem, crescendoing at just the right time and packing a powerful punch in doing so. The debut, of course, is just the starting point for Marie the solo artist, so keep any eye out for more moving forward.
Infinite Cousins
Nebulous Tremulous
Boulder psych-loving cosmonauts Infinite Cousins independently unleashed its debut record, Nebulous Tremulous, on January 3 under the banner Asteroid Residence.
The sonic concoction of guitarist and vocalist Theodore Stevens, formerly of Pool Sharks, Infinite Cousins is a collection of local players, including guitarist Sam Moylan (Red Light Ritual), bassist Jake Demarco (In Plain Air), synth player Leo Trevino (Pool Sharks) and drummer Will Tyson (Enso).
On Nebulous Tremulous, a phrase which roughly translates to “hazy shaking,” the indie quintet messes with a solar system of sounds encompassing everything from trippy psychedelic compositions to krautrock synth interludes. Previously released singles “Mister Transistor,” “Anomaly” and “Motel of Duality” explore the depths of Infinite Cousins.
In the words of Stevens, it’s a collection of, “Pop for the pissed. Asteroid Transmissions. Krautrock inspiration forever. Neon Gas. Apocalypse hymns. Utopic Prayers.”
Palehorse/Palerider
“Don’t Leave Me Behind” and “Lobotomy Domine”
Denver doomgaze grorup Palehorse/Palerider is officially back with new music after a devastating delay following drummer Nathan Marcy’s tragic death in 2021.
The trio, including singer-guitarist Brandon Richier and bassist David Atkinson, started 2025 with a duo of singles featuring current drummer Ryan Sims (also of local bands Dreadnought and Grief Ritual, formerly of Green Druid).
“Don’t Leave Me Behind,” shared independently under 3s and 5s Records on January 10, is a harrowing, heartfelt ode to Marcy, who passed away after a battle with cancer at the age of 43. The dream-entrenched shoegaze from his Palehorse/Palerider brethren cuts deep.
“Lobotomy Domine,” a more crushing doom dirge, followed on January 24. Both songs are a precursor to new EP, Waves 1, set to be released on February 7.
shadow work
“Idyll”
After releasing three new singles throughout 2024, Denver psych trio shadow work is maintaining momentum with another fresh song, “Idyll,” dropped independently on January 31.
The group of Rafael Nava (vocals and guitar), Joseph Szlanic (bass) and Ben Zickau (drums) has become known for expressing indie-rock anthems that deal with heavy themes since the three moved to Denver in 2021, and “Idyll” is no different.
The band describes the song as a “sorrowfully triumphant journey about mortality and loss.”
“This darkly shimmering track illustrates the somber indentation left by death and what fills it: a fuming elixir of fond memories, unexpressed feelings and unresolved conflicts,” shadow work shares. “The bittersweet narrative highlights the ephemeral nature of existence, softening our earthly tribulations. Through tragedy, we learn to live.”
The Velveteers
“Bound In Leather”
The Velveteers continue to warm up in anticipation of the trio’s sophomore album, A Million Knives, set for release on Valentine’s Day. This month, the Boulder-based band of guitarist-vocalist Demi Demitro, drummer Baby Pottersmith and multi-instrumentalist Jonny Figg (Pottersmith and Figg actually play a conjoined drum kit on stage) shared latest single, “Bound In Leather” on January 16 via Dan Auerbach’s label Easy Eye Sound.
The chic disco-rock tune, which Auerbach also co-wrote, hooks you in with its catchiness, but also deals with a serious topic that the non-binary, queer and female-fronted group isn’t afraid to address head on.
“It’s a song about feeling bound in your skin, the chorus in part being inspired by a type of dysphoria. Feeling trapped by your own skin and wishing you weren’t bound by its limitations here on Earth,” Demitro explains.
Vanessa J. Moore
“Morning Light”
Singer-songwriter Vanessa J. Moore started the month, and New Year, with an optimistic ode to unity in new single “Morning Light,” released January 1 via independent label Ziq Street.
Born and raised in Longmont, Moore now splits her time between LA and NYC, where she regularly performs as a professional dancer and actress.
Her latest song, a soulfully sung R&B tune, is a sonic olive branch about mending fences and creating more compassion in a world that could feel so divided.
“‘Morning Light’ is simply about reaching across the divide and being unafraid to talk to the other side. To enter into another’s world in conversation,” Moore explains. “This song shines some morning light on how divided we are and why. There needs to be a revival in the hearts of every individual before we are even capable of spreading peace. We can’t give what we don’t obtain ourselves.”
Vitrify
Dulce Et Decorum Est
Denver duo Vitrify is new to the city’s underground scene but is making a loud introduction. After releasing debut demo Krieg in October last year, the sludge sleuths Kaden Bonafede (guitars and vocals) and Griffin Brown (drums) are back with EP Dulce Et Decorum Est, released by local independent label Ozymandias Records on January 10.
The offering’s lone sixteen-minute song, “Dulce Et Decorum Est (Pro Patria Mori),” starts with a reciting of poet Horace’s Roman oath that “it is sweet and proper to die for one’s country” (that’s what the title translates to), before breaking down into a proto-black metal intro. By the five-minute mark, Vitrify kicks it up and continues it throughout with a barrage of down-tuned distortion, crashing cymbals and fearless feedback. It’s grit and groove, and all in the sardonic support of the Industrial Military Complex.
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