Wavves is back with an upcoming album entitled V, scheduled for an October 2 release. Following the reveal of “Way Too Much,” the infectiously feel-good anthem about feeling like shit, and the almost-as-good “Flamezesz”, the group dropped the album’s opening track “Heavy Metal Detox” earlier today.It’s probably the weakest of the three tracks thus far, but not without its merits. All the elements of a typical Wavves affair are intact: palm-muted power chords, a spacey distorted lead, and a singalong-able enough melody, but altogether, it doesn’t have the legs to break through it’s formulaic structure quite like the previous tracks did.
Either way, V is already shaping up to be an interesting chapter in the Wavves saga. All of these tracks sound significantly more polished and pop-leaning than anything else they’ve released, and, after a pretty public dust up with Warner Brothers over the release of “Way Too Much,” it seems like the label is betting on Wavves being the next alt-radio darlings, or just trying to squeeze all they can out of a pretty bankable single, or just exercising some useless control over an artist that has, and could, easily thrive without them. Who knows ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
Listen to “Heavy Metal Detox” below. Pre-order V here.