The members of the Bay Area screamo band Hawak have been sitting on their debut album Nước for a long time. Hawak released their demo Lift The Mist in 2018, and they must’ve started recording their LP shortly thereafter. The early singles “Haiyan” and “The Hands We Remove” both came out in 2019, but the album itself only just arrived yesterday. Maybe the band held off on releasing it because they knew that songs like these need the catharsis of a live show. They should sound great live.

Hawak’s take on screamo is dramatic and fuzzed-out, full of twinkly interludes and sudden eruptions of jagged intensity. The band recorded Nước with Deafheaven/Gulch producer Jack Shirley, and he knows how to handle this kind of chaotic majesty. There have been a lot of intense, rewarding screamo records lately, and if you’ve been into those, then you will probably be into this one, too. Stream it below.

Nước is out now on Zegema Beach Records/Left Hand Label.