Pulverize, the second full-length album from Milwaukee group HUMID, doesn’t waste time. Opener “Infrared” begins with a bang—an instant wall of towering, bashing drums and swirling, distorted guitars—and keeps that bang going for a full three minutes. Make that a full 30 minutes: The rest of the record toggles between heavy shoegaze and arena-sized ’90s alt-rock, but that initial insistence, that initial urgency, hums throughout.
HUMID began as a solo recording project for Milwaukee musician Matt Tomashek. An entirely self-performed debut, One Dimensional Hell, appeared in 2022; Pulverize-era HUMID includes a bassist (Sam Gargulak) and two guitarists (Ben Schuelke, Luke Proell). It’s still mostly Tomashek on the record, though: Tracks like “Swerve,” “Memory Leak,” and “Deju Vu Head” alternately crash and soar, while “Stag,” “Bend,” and the exceedingly hazy “Loitering” slow things down for moments of bruised beauty. Floating amongst it all are Tomashek’s vocals—hushed, reverb-drenched, equally bruised and beautiful. “A swirling wave that screams our dismal array,” reads the official HUMID self-description, and we couldn’t have said it any better.
HUMID may retain some of its bedroom-project isolation on record, but its live iteration is anything but reclusive. Catch the full band October 25 at X-Ray Arcade, where it will play in support of the Fight Dice record release show. A fall tour kicks off on November 1, and will culminate in a homecoming/record release show at Cactus Club on November 21.
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