Narrowing down Sumo Cyco is a weird contractual negotiation between three things that usually don’t talk to each other on good terms: Metal, Disney pop style hooks, and Punk’s social anxiety. Not a bad thing, but the obvious contradiction makes for an epic personality. This October 24, they drop a fourth dimension of an album titled Neon Void.  

Stitched together as Skye Sweetnam (Vocals), Matt Drake (guitar), Oscar Anesetti (bass), and Joey Muha (drums), the band continues to fuse meticulous studio craft with live shows that are more like cinematic stunts than concerts. They clawed through Toronto’s indie circuit, scored awards, opened for bigger names, and eventually landed at Napalm Records, a move that rocked their entire notion. 

For anyone foaming at the mouth for ethical comparative reasoning (a sick obsession of most metalheads), their sound sits at the intersection of multiple realities: imagine Halestorm’s arena ambition colliding with In This Moment’s theatrical darkness, PVRIS’s angsty sheen, and the pop-metal sharpness of The Pretty Reckless or New Years Day. But then picture all of that twisted by the disorienting kink where punk and dancehall meet. It’s a Frankenstein logic that shouldn’t breathe, but it does.

This brings us to Neon Void, an album that doubles as both manifesto and maze. Recorded at “The Abbey”, this album feels less like a slick industrial product and more like a call to the future for a little more time in technical lala land—half confession booth, half underground rave. Matt Drake produced much of it, pushing his guitar tones into an anamorphic space: simultaneously abrasive and glossy, chaotic but strangely celebratory. Then longtime friend Salvatore Sam Guiana (Silverstein, Neck Deep, The Devil Wears Prada) joined in to refine and polish, creating something that feels both local (two Ontario kids reconnecting) and global (a sonic aesthetic designed to kick everyone’s ass).

Neon Void wrestles with technology, time, self-perception, and the constant demand to reinvent. But unlike most records that traffic in dystopia, Neon Void insists on hope, even if it’s the manic, defiant kind. This insistence feels almost punk in itself: if the world is collapsing, the least you can do is scream joyfully while dancing on the wreckage.

This week, I got to pick out my top 3 tracks that make this album vinyl worthy: 

Track 4. “Villains.” This song suggests that morality is mostly situational; we’re all the bad guys in someone’s narrative. The way the song moves is vicious in some sections while remaining a flow of paradoxical metal and pop bliss. 

Track 1. “Shivers.” This song captures that liminal moment before change, where anticipation feels like anxiety. It also captures the mystique of Skye, making you feel like you’re being hypnotized. 

Track 6 “Stronger Now.” This is the album’s emotional core, a fragile announcement of rationale, leading into an anthem of resilience written during pandemic despair, where Skye rediscovered her voice in the most literal sense. It’s vulnerable in the same way a flame is vulnerable—easily extinguished, yet capable of burning everything down.

Sumo Cyco’s Neon Void releases on October 24, 2025. Order it here.

Jordeana Bell

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