Today’s a big day at Fecking, because we’ve got not one but two piping hot exclusives for you, and both are abundantly dope. Premiering here is the brand new single from Science Penguin, off their upcoming album Why Am I Like This? The Germantown, MA duo have been on our radar since the 2020’s catchy yet progressive-in-a-djent-lite-way debut This is My Home Now, and their newest offering ups the instrumental ante in all the right places.
“Octopus Punch” is aptly named, spitting hot riffs right out the gate. But there’s a little more thoughtfulness, a reflectiveness even, that you can sense right away in the compositions. It’s still a dense casserole of guitar tone and fatty drum hits – Science Penguin has already clearly demonstrated their grasp on tension and release when it comes to melody and phrasing, and it seems they’ve only just gotten started.
The band also released the track listing on their socials recently, and asked which of the several zany song titles fans were most excited for. For us, it’s “Sandpaper Slip ‘n Slide.” It’s hilarious, but… yeah, that sounds like a bad scene, we can feel it. Regardless, we intend on finding out, but for now, get slapped with an “Octopus Punch” below. Come on, you know you’ll love it.
It’s those little stuttered parts around 1:20 that really get us. “Octopus Punch” even gets a little chugg-y in the midsection. It might be a reach, but it reminds us a little bit of Protest the Hero‘s instrumental demos for Scurrilous that were floating around the net nearly a decade ago. Or even some of that early era Scale the Summit stuff. As much as that might date us, that stuff went hard, and so does this, so rest assured we’re all ears when Science Penguin asks Why Am I Like This?.
We might not have the answers, but now we too are curious. Why are you like this?
And why are you so damn good?
It’s always good to see bands leveling up. We first came across them when casting our nets for new tunes on the indispensable Math Rock / Instrumental / Post Exchange Facebook group in the first weeks of the pandemic. We knew that first of all, Science Penguin was a great band name. Then we realized the music was pretty great too, and we can’t wait to see why they are indeed, like this. Like we mentioned before, we’ve got another exclusive for you today, which you can check out here, and you’re also welcome to donate / buy the team coffee here – what can we say, we have a problem! But hey, it goes a long way. Regardless, check out that other exclusive above, thanks for reading, and prepare for upcoming features from Childspeak, A.M. Overcast, Solve for Why, and more.