Beartooth
One doesn’t expect to come across hardcore punk in Columbus, Ohio (home to Rascal Flatts and Twenty One Pilots) any more than one would expect to find a piece of bear jaw, but Beartooth has always specialized in the unexpected. Their album titles are as fierce and intimidating as their ursine namesake: Sick (2013), Disgusting (2014), Aggressive (2016) and, due in September, Disease. We might not have known the name of that last one, except the title track was “accidentally” leaked online in July along with two new tracks, “Infection” and “Believe.” All three sound like bees living in your head, almost surely the aural affect they’re shooting for. Last year’s Breakthrough Band of the Year winner at the Loudwire Music Awards made its first San Diego appearance at Soma all the way back in 2014, returning several times since to play House of Blues and this year’s Vans Warped Tour. They’ll reconvene at HOB October 28 with a new guitarist, Zach Huston, formerly of Like Moths to Flames.