Over the last decade, Chicago quartet REZN have carved out a unique place in the landscape of heavy music, chiseling away at the crude formations of the topography, mining the most concentrated metallic ore from the dirt, and shaping it all into something monumental, imposing, and divine. While REZN has always fused seismic riffs with effortless beauty and grandeur, their shifting strategies for wielding that polarity have involved varied compositional and stylistic decisions, most notably the light-and-dark contrast of companion albums Solace (2023) and Burden (2024). But with their newest full-length offering, Cycles in the Infinite Dream, REZN masterfully harness the oppressive weight of their full sonic armory to celestial melodies and sublime synesthesia-inducing atmospherics in a manner so seamless it feels otherworldly, as if occupying a liminal space between two realities.
While REZN traffic in the unbridled realms of metal and untethered reaches of psychedelia, their latest release showcases a band working with discipline and intention, even when those intentions are rendered to be purposefully cryptic. As the album title implies, Cycles in the Infinite Dream explores the nexus of our waking and nocturnal worlds. “We moved towards the dream and subconscious state as a lyrical concept and melodic theme,” the band explains. “The pseudo-waking state is a reflection of a second existence—something that you can flee to or be imprisoned by.” Much like the subconscious-guided work of David Lynch, Cycles in the Infinite Dream exists as parallax between the artist and the audience, creating an obscured and distorted space that is both familiar and alien, like a corridor into our past where we recognize our surroundings but somehow still feel lost within its warped geometry.
REZN have long operated—and thrived—in the subterranean realm of music heads who crave the aural equivalent of altered states. And with Cycles in the Infinite Dream, they have created their most psychotropic work to date.
- Written by Brian Cook
lowheaven
Formed in the spring of 2020, beneath the dark clouds of the COVID-19 pandemic and stay-at-home orders, lowheaven’s sound oscillates somewhere between post-hardcore, screamo, blackened noise, and metal. Vocalist and guitarist Dan Thomson, formerly of Canadian post-hardcore band Sparrows, explains candidly, “We’re not a happy listen, lowheaven is something that has got a lot of weight.” Their debut album, Ritual Decay, explores the reality of complete social isolation and the acceptance of what it means to lose faith in life and yourself.
Corpse Dust
Corpse Dust is the industrial / ebm / darkwave project by producer Nathan Landolt (Harsh Realm, Secret Shame). Body music fused with heavy industrial percussion, brooding synths and haunting vocals conveying the excruciating human experience.
After forging their way into the industrial and harsh noise scenes with “Nothing Left Of Pain” (2023), experimenting with a Bleached Cross remix (2023), a cover of Godflesh’s “Angel Domain” (2024), and the stand-alone darkwave single “Full of Love (Redux)” (2025) – a complete overhaul of the track’s original sound, CORPSE DUST returns with “Suffer” in 2026.
With “Suffer”, a new vision unfolds across its eight songs, as the harsh intensity is stripped away, a new kind of shimmering darkness emerges. CORPSE DUST has taken a sharp turn into the world of darkwave and ebm songwriting, while still maintaining their revered industrial edge.
“Suffer” moves you through a sonic landscape that demands your attention with pulsing basslines and danceable beats, then pulls you in deeper with its brooding vocals and catchy synth melodies, while finally morphing into an aggressive industrial pounding by its finale.
