The Santa Cruz band Scowl is a key part of a resurgent Bay Area hardcore scene; earlier this summer, Scowl were one of the bands who played the massive Gulch/Drain/Sunami San Jose show. Scowl’s sound is fast and intense, a whole lot closer to punk than to metal. They’ve got a gift for writing about shitty day-to-day oppressions; “Retail Hell,” the opening track from their 2019 EP Reality After Reality…, is some real shit. Today, Scowl have announced plans to release their debut LP How Flowers Grow later this fall, and they’ve also dropped the album’s ripper of an opener.

According to the band, “Bloodhound” is about “people not minding their business.” It’s a charged-up 99-second rager with an excellently feral vocal from frontwoman Kat Moss. Band member Malachi Greene directed the video, in which the members of Scowl endure indignities from randos. Check out the video and the How Flowers Grow tracklist below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Bloodhound”
02 “Dead To Me”
03 “Pay Privilege Due”
04 “Trophy Hunter”
05 “Seeds To Sow”
06 “Idle Roaring Room”
07 “Fuck Around”
08 “Roots”
09 “Four Walls”
10 “How Flowers Grow”

How Flowers Grow is about 11/19 on Flatspot Records. I wonder how many times I’m going to accidentally type that title as How Flowers Growl.