Stalagmite Angels

Judiciary have always felt more human than polished heavy bands, and that urgency runs right through Stalagmite Angels. The Texas band, rooted where metal and hardcore meet, keep pushing their sound forward, and this latest release on Closed Casket Activities makes their place in hardcore’s evolution feel undeniable.

After Flesh + Blood, Juan Vazquez joined on guitar, shifting the band’s internal dynamic for good. Drummer Austin Looney calls the EP “a hard reset,” while vocalist Jake Collinson, who learned guitar to help write, says their many influences are filtered through a distinctly Judiciary lens.

Drawing from metallic hardcore, death metal, black metal, d-beat and more, Stalagmite Angels channels everything from Hatebreed, Carcass, Slayer, Iron Age, Dying Breed, Cannibal Corpse, Crowbar and Machine Head without copying any one source. It’s angry, self-believing, and conceptual too, imagining a subterranean world where beauty hides in darkness and triumph means rising from below.