Their name may make layout editors worldwide have twitching eyelids and minor heart attacks, but Los Angeles’ Aeges (stylized with the A and E smushed together, but, what, you think I know how to do that?) make it all worth it when the riff comes in. And we mean The Riff. Like, Quicksand-level riffage. The band—who lay down a sort of post-hardcore mixed with huge-ass rock—have recently emerged from some time in the studio where they self-produced seven new tunes, and we’re proud to be premiering one of them, “Pain,” today.
The band will be entering Roy Mayorga of Stone Sour‘s studio in March to record five songs with Mayorga; these studio outings are the band’s first as a three-piece, and first being completely independent, with no record label involved. Their last album was 2016’s Weightless. In the meantime, hometown fans can get their riff fix live: Aeges is playing in LA at the Viper Room on March 29.
“’Pain’ is a super fun jam that we all love playing,” says vocalist/guitarist Kemble Walters (the band is rounded out by bassist Tony Baumeister, who you know from underground sludge pessimisers 16, and drummer Dylan Howard). “We’ve actually been opening our set with this song for the past few months and it sets a pretty heavy tone for the rest of the set, which is killer. I’ve always loved when artists throw dark lyrics over major chord progressions, and that’s what ‘Pain’ has going on. Lyrically, it’s a pretty depressing track but the driving nature of it just gets you so amped up. ‘Pain,’ as well as the rest of the new stuff, is a bit harder, edgier and less apologetic than our previous album, which I feel the fans are gonna grab onto and appreciate.”
Stream “Pain” right here:
