Holy Wars, courtesy.

This week’s column offers lots of metal with Holy Wars and KYNG, Soft Play’s metal-tinged punk, Tim Montana’s country-tinged post-grunge, and rounding it out some pop by Alex Winston, an upbeat song of indistinguishable genre from Funke and the Two Tone Baby, and some new-wave by Sacramento’s The Pseudo Mystics.

Funke and the Two Tone Baby, “Can’t Stop the Music” — Usually I’m not a big fan of songs of the summer or of life-affirming anthems of positivity. I’m a bit of a miserable wretch. But I’ll make an exception for “Can’t Stop the Music” because it’s just so catchy. Plus, I’m a sucker for songs that straddle multiple genres to the point it’s not identifiably rooted in any of them. Funke—the Two Tone Baby is presumably for dramatic flair since it’s a one-man band—is doing something unique here that you need to hear. There’s some bluegrass, some call-and-response, some rockabilly, maybe… but the song sounds like it’s got some hip-hop elements as well.

Holy Wars, “Deus Ex Machina” — Remember “Brackish” by Kittie, the all-woman Canadian metal band? The 1999 hit had a je ne sais quoi that you don’t often hear before or since. Well, this song by duo Holy Wars has it. It’s got heavy metal guitars with occasional pop vocals, some spoken-word delivery and occasional screaming. Singer Kat Leon and guitarist Nick Perez show a lot of creativity, depth and polish while being just the right amount of heavy.

Tim Montana, “Devil You Know” — This song may start off sounding like it’s about to break out into something folky, but instead the rock kicks in and it sounds like a better version of Staind or a smoother Godsmack. There’s a bit of underlying twang and the storytelling prowess of an outlaw country song but with post-grunge power, which is two pretty good things that apparently combine to something pretty great.

Alex Winston, “Hot One” — This one was recommended by RIFF editor and occasional Tuesday Tracks fill-in Roman Gokhman and, I’ll admit, I wasn’t immediately sold. As the song goes on, though, it really hooks you. Alex Winston explains that it was written on a sweltering day in Nashville, inspired by a passing woman who seemed genuinely happy. As she tells it, “I decided I wanted to write a song about finding joy, even when it feels like you are living in a post-apocalyptic summer hellscape,” and considering every summer feels like a post-apocalyptic hellscape, these days it’s a message we all need.

Soft Play, “Punk’s Dead” — British punk duo Soft Play recently changed its name from Slaves, which the two said didn’t represent what they or their music stands for. For that I salute them. That said, this song is presumably a collection of comments they presumably got over the change, so some disagreed. But is there anything more punk than writing a song mocking your critics? And a really good song at that? I contend there is not. Also, Robbie Williams is there for some reason, and that’s jarringly surreal enough to improve it even more.

KYNG, “Haunting Visions” — I try to limit my list to one metal song. But you know what? Self-imposed rules are even more fake than externally imposed rules. “Haunting Visions” is, per the band KYNG, the story of a Vietnam vet whose humanity was transformed by the war. You don’t see a lot of songs about Vietnam these days on account of it having taken place 50 years ago, but there’s obviously still stories to be told. (For my fellow millennials, Vietnam was as long ago as World War II was from the ’90s. Sorry.)

Editor’s bonus pick: The Pseudo Mystics, “Memory Man” — This newish band from Sacramento has some NorCal stage veterans in vocalist Tyler Miles and guitarist Nick Cunningham, who’s also a member of Madi Sipes and the Painted Blue. It’s rounded out by Abner Robles on synths, Stefan Sorgea on bass and Mitch Grimenstein on drums. “Memory Man” is a new-wave, post-punk delight, sounding like something by Echo and the Bunnymen or early material from revivalists Editors. The Pseudo Mystics also list Tom Petty, the Strokes, the Cure and the B-52’s as influences. That means you can expect variety going forward. But this is their first official release, just out today, and you get to be among the first to hear it. — Roman Gokhman

Danny’s pick: It was hard not to pick “Punk’s Dead,” but I had to give the honor to Holy Wars’ “Deus Ex Machina.” Metal has more subgenres than ever but each is fairly rigid, and Holy Wars’ spirit of experimentation is kicking down some of those barriers and treading creative ground that’s been left untouched for too long.

Follow publisher Daniel J. Willis at @bayareadata.press on BlueSky or @BayAreaData on Twitter X.