REVIEW

The debut album from Nashville, Tennessee shoegaze band Lockstep.

Comprising Austin Rolison (vocals, drums), Matt Schumacher (vocals, guitar, noise), and Tanner Ihrie (bass), Lockstep blend shoegaze with elements of doom metal and post-rock. Their sound balances brain-rattlingly heavy guitars with the dreamlike textures associated with shoegaze.

The band's defining trait is the psychedelic distortion of their guitars and their rough-edged noise textures. The sound is crushing enough to evoke a sense of claustrophobia, yet the guitars never simply fill every inch of space. Instead, they pull back and surge forward like waves, creating a constant tension between restraint and release. Drifting through the distortion, the vocals are pale and fragile, drenched in reverb, bringing an ethereal quality to the otherwise overwhelming sound. There are echoes of SOM and trauma ray in their approach, but Lockstep push the weight even further.

Compared with their previous EP, the gloom is somewhat less pronounced, with warmer and more pastoral moods emerging throughout the album. The darkness, however, has not disappeared. #4 “Soft Gauze Of Time” is a prime example, pairing deeply sorrowful vocals with guitars that move in unison alongside them, gradually building in intensity before reaching a cathartic climax. It stands as one of the clearest expressions of the album's darker side.

Closing track #8 “Return” begins on a bright and serene note. That calm is soon shattered by shrieking, siren-like guitars, followed by blunt, concrete-heavy riffs that come crashing forward. By the final stretch, the sound has transformed into a raging sea of distortion and noise.

Rather than relying on sheer heaviness alone, Lockstep use contrast between stillness and movement to make their walls of sound hit harder, while carefully paced dynamics give the album a strong sense of momentum. One of the standout heavy shoegaze releases of the year, this is an ideal listen for fans of trauma ray and Holy Fawn.

Lockstep are also set to hit the road across North America with REZN. Given the hypnotic heaviness shared by both bands, the pairing feels like a particularly natural fit.