Back in 2021, the noisy, frantic Nashville hardcore band Thirdface released their raw, punishing debut album Do It With A Smile. Last year, Thirdface’s song “Trap Revealed” popped up on the great Jeremy Bolm-curated screamo compilation Balladeers, Redefined. Now, Thirdface are ready to announce sophomore album Ministerial Cafeteria, which has been in the works for a long time and which will arrive this fall.

Thirdface wrote many of the songs from Ministerial Cafeteria around the time that Do It With A Smile came out, and they tried recording the album remotely during lockdown, but they didn’t like the way that it turned out. Instead, they waited, honed the tracks on the road, and re-recorded it later. Drummer Shibby Poole recorded and mixed the last album, and he did the same thing here. “Trap Revealed” is on Ministerial Cafeteria, and so is “Meander” the new song that the band just shared.

“Meander” does not meander. Instead, the song is a screamy, complex firestorm that lasts for less than two minutes. It’s fast and busy and aggressive enough to leave you dizzy. Bandleader Kathryn Edwards says, “The lyrics kind of represent a bit of a shift from primal anger at any and all external aggressors found in the first album to what I think are the two central themes of this album: an introspective exploration of mental health issues and skepticism towards societal structures and authoritative powers.”

This fall, Thirdface will open a few Chat Pile shows. Below, check out “Meander,” the Ministerial Cafeteria tracklist, and the band’s dates.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Mantras”
02 “Meander”
03 “Midian”
04 “Sour”
05 “Pure Touch”
06 “DOV”
07 “Bankroll”
08 “Stalkwalk”
09 “Beneviolent”
10 “Artifact Of Darkness”
11 “Trap Revealed”
12 “Purify”

TOUR DATES:
11/19 – Baltimore, MD @ Metro Gallery *
11/20 – Richmond, VA @ The Broadberry *
11/21 – Greensboro, NC @ Hangar 1819 *
11/22 – Nashville, TN @ The End *

* with Chat Pile & Mamaleek

Ministerial Cafeteria is out 11/1 on Exploding In Sound Records.