As a former (still would rather go back to that time than endure today’s bullshit) Myspace Scene Slut, the sort of girl who had way too much floral and open borders on her social networking while also forcing you to listen to bands like Skinless, Odious Mortem, and Ajattara upon lurking her profile; I must emulate Michael Martins legacy before I let you in on the prestige of his new project Never Rest.
By 2007, the idea of a band called Iwrestledabearonce sounded less like a real music project and more like the title of someone’s Livejournal entry written entirely on a Mountain Dew bender (this was before the caffeine era of energy drinks, stay with me). Loving them was a dare to stand out in your music taste in an era that was already completely unbridled; and it was a way of giving a fluorescent middle finger to genre taxonomy that so many were arrogant about.
They were the musical equivalent of putting a Care Bear and a Cenobite into a blender and chugging the results out of a rusted coffee can while watching Adult Swim reruns at 3 a.m., or maybe that was just me. Maybe that’s why I am the way that I am.
As the band evolved-switching vocalists, tightening production, leaning further into experimental extremes-Michael Martin remained the constant. Their final album, Hail Mary, was heavier and more streamlined but lacked the WTF spark that had made them cult heroes. Shortly after, Iwrestledabearonce quietly dissolved, like the entire genre of Myspace music itself. The lost city of Atlantis we all wish we could get back to.
Michael’s new project, Never Rest, feels like a resurrection of fundamental elements. Releasing their first EP titled Low Moral on June 13th brought forth a reincarnation where the manic pixie chaos is distilled into something colder, hungrier, and even more dangerous because it’s focused through these beyond-trying times. Think less “LOL cat-core” and more like what would happen if Meshuggah and Devin Townsend had a spiritual crisis while binge-watching The OA.
Starting with the final track, “Dread,” which doesn’t so much close the record as it curates its own funeral. It’s a sonic death wish, five tracks of tension and combustion finally collapsing into something that feels both cinematic and homicidal. It’s brutal in the same way an extinction-level event is brutal: mathematically inevitable and eerily elegant.
Track two, “Savage,” lives up to its name by weaponizing rhythm like it’s owed something. There’s something almost perverse in how the band manipulates the spacing between words and riffs; it’s like they’re daring you to blink and miss the beat. They have an undeniable gift for temporal deviancy; they treat tempo like it’s a false god to be mocked, bent, and ultimately destroyed. The drum work stutters and lunges like a panic attack you can mosh to, and the closing chant feels like a blood pact.
Finally, the song that knocked the wind out of me was “Vulture Culture” featuring Steve Tinnon of Within the Ruins—a band known for making technical deathcore sound like an alien autopsy scored by Vangelis. This track isn’t just heavy; it’s narrative. From the opening note, it feels like a sonic depiction of the moment a man realizes the American Dream is a Craigslist scam and decides to punch God in the teeth about it. Steve Tinnon’s feature doesn’t just elevate the song; it detonates it.
Never Rest is a powder keg set on a timer. If Low Morale is the warning shot, what’s coming next will be the full collapse. You’ll be lucky if you’re close enough to feel the shockwave.
You can follow this link to everything from their merch to their social networking here.
