Heavy Shrug | Viscera 12" Vinyl LP PRE-ORDER

PRE-ORDER - AVAILABLE 9/20.

Philly-based post-hardcore outfit Heavy Shrug have announced their debut LP Viscera onBad Catt Records. Following their 2023 split E.P. Bugs and Stuff, Viscera comes out swinging on album-opener "Lazybones" that quickly acquaint you with the band's mix of hard-hitting grungy energy and gloomy, atmospheric touches that create an apt backdrop to the album's lyrical themes of helplessness, self-loathing, and anxiety over a world that's quickly burning down. The album feels much more expansive than its 8-song track list might suggest, each song twisting and weaving through movements and songs-within-songs, establishing themes to draw you in before pulling a hard left to something totally new. Keary hammers the point home with his deeply emotive vocal style that turns from contemplative to sneering on a dime, and hits everything in-between. It's exciting and unnerving, and despite (or maybe commiseratively because of) all the doom and gloom, it's fun as hell. Keary's lyrics explore both the personal and political, often linking the two. "I went down to a protest downtown from the depths of my isolation" he laments on the track "Stuck in a Breakdown," diving into the generational helplessness and apathy induced by culture-war brainwashing and impending environmental collapse. "Green Souls" is a mournful contemplation on losing oneself and being asked to change for a relationship. "Promise that I won't run away / promise that I'll obey," Keary sings over the album's most gentle arrangement, leaning heavily into the band's ambient side. The band started recording Viscera in late 2023 with Ben Green at Ivakota Studios in Washington, DC. Green had recorded the band's earlier work, and has worked with the likes of Ex Hex, Loud Boys, and Jill Scott. Following a break for Keary and Catoe's wedding and the birth of their first child, the band did a second round of tracking Green in early 2025, and additional tracking with Matias Van Order Gonzales at Cart Recording Studios in Philadelphia, with Green mixing the album. Viscera was mastered by Manae Solara Vaughn at Chicago Mastering Services. Viscera comes out September 19 via Bad Catt Records.