When you examine the days through the distorted lens of capitalism every day starts to feel like Monday — but hey, silver lining, at least we have new screamo to look forward to, right?

Today we travel to Asheville, North Carolina, so that we can kick the doldrums with the pummeling sound delivered by Serrate. The latest track is “Kill for the Ones You Love” from the forthcoming full length Even the Wind Sounds Dead, released Sept. 8th on Zegema Beach Records and Bitter Melody.

“I wrote ‘Kill for the Ones You Love’ after Hurricane Helene happened,” says singer/lyricist Brandon Gaddis. “There was a makeshift sign on the side of the road near my house that said, ‘Be kind. Be gentle. Take care of the ones you love.’ And for some reason, it hit me like a ton of bricks. It didn’t feel like enough.” These defining moments seem to swirl and eddy about us, desensitizing us. We grow callous. We watch friends and family suffer cruel fates to increasingly brutal natural disasters hoping that we’ll come together stronger to clean it all up.

Serrate is a band steeped in the tea leaves of screamo legends. Their origin story points to the creation of the band in efforts to hop on a gig with then reuniting City of Caterpillar. One of their most frequently cited influences is Majority Rule, whose guitarist / vocalist Matt Michel recorded the upcoming LP at Viva Studios in Richmond, VA. Then, to up the ante just a smidgen more, the album was mastered by Will Killingsworth (Orchid, Ampere) at Dead Air Studios. The influences of these greats goes beyond hero worship, rather it pays homage to that which paved the way for the contemporaries rooted in the east coast (Ostraca and Infant Island spring to mind).

“AT A TIME WHEN OUR COMMUNITY WAS REELING FROM THE DEVASTATION OF A HURRICANE AND THE WORLD IN GENERAL WAS BECOMING A MORE TERRIFYING PLACE, IT FELT IMPORTANT TO LET PEOPLE KNOW THAT YOU’RE THERE FOR THEM.”

- BRANDON, @SERRATE.NC

“Kill for the Ones You Love” opens on a marching drum cadence with barely overdriven guitars bringing in the mid-to-high frequencies while a distorted bass carries the low end. Gaddis comes in alongside distorted guitar with a vocal delivery that is loosely reminiscent of Jacob Bannon. A catchy, clean-sounding guitar melody cleanses the palette of the onslaught of the first minute, the vocals fraught with unspeakable woes of a community rocked by disaster.

The track revisits and ideates upon the primary verse, weaving bits of respite between the moments that seem to move with the recklessness of a storm. The sections between leaving you to wonder, is it over? It’s not, but it does come to a close, eventually, after a punishingly fast crescendo takes us back to the familiar freneticism of the earlier riff and calmly whisks us away an a reverb laden passage that has gear nerds looking to see what pedals are being used.

It’s been an incredible year from screamo, and the release of Even the Wind Sounds Dead makes each new day worth it. The promise of “Kill for the Ones You Love” with its nods to metallic tinged screamo should be more than enough to keep us company this fall. Be sure to check Bitter Melody and Zegema Beach for the 12” release on September 8th, and bang your head while you put this one on repeat.

Serrate is Brandon Gaddis on vocals, Matt Evans on guitar, Thomas Mims on bass and Dave Reinhardt on drums.

Follow them on Instagram here : Serrate

Writer : @garevthistle

Editor : @just_reidz

08/05/25

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Serrate

“AT A TIME WHEN OUR COMMUNITY WAS REELING FROM THE DEVASTATION OF A HURRICANE AND THE WORLD IN GENERAL WAS BECOMING A MORE TERRIFYING PLACE, IT FELT IMPORTANT TO LET PEOPLE KNOW THAT YOU’RE THERE FOR THEM.”

- BRANDON, @SERRATE.NC

Ennui

NOT JUST A PHASE