Five years ago, the great Leeds hardcore band Higher Power seemed poised to blow the fuck up. Like their Roadrunner labelmates Turnstile, Higher Power emerged out of the DIY underground with a ferociously energetic live show, and they combined their scene's stomp-around ferocity with giant old-school alt-rock melodies into an enormously likable whole. Their sophomore album 27 Miles Underwater should've been their breakout, but it had the bad timing to come out in the early days of 2020. Just as Higher Power headed out on a long international tour, everything shut down. They got fucked. It has taken a long time, but now Higher Power are back with a new album that just emerged out of nowhere.
Higher Power followed 27 Miles Underwater with the 2021 one-off single "Fall From Grace," and they hit a chaotic patch, parting ways with both Roadrunner and guitarist Louis Hardy. But they kept recording and playing shows, and Hardy returned soon after he left. Last year, Higher Power released two songs, "Absolute Bloom" and the Never Ending Game collab "Stillpoint," on the historic metal label Nuclear Blast. Today, Higher Power have finally released their third album. It's called There's Love In This World If You Want It, and it doesn't include any of the tracks that they shared in the time since 27 Miles Underwater.
In a press release, Higher Power talk about how There's Love In This World If You Want It represents their attempt to reconnect with the forces that drew them into music in the first place. Singer Jimmy Wizard says, "This album is the natural progression of Higher Power sonically and as a band. This is our first time consciously self-producing an album, and I am for once genuinely excited to put something out that feels really authentic to us as individuals and where we are at as a band." It's much more of a straight-up rock record than I was expecting, with grungy riffage and draggy tempos and reverb-drenched melodic howling, but I'm sure people will still mosh to it. Below, stream the album and check out the band's video for "All The Rage."
There's Love In This World If You Want It is out now on Nuclear Blast.
