For most bands, eight years between records would signal a slow death. For WICCANS, it’s almost a flex. Or at the very least, just part of the cycle. The Denton, TX hardcore collective has never cared about momentum or market timing. They only reappear when they’re ready to burn everything down again. Their latest album, PHASE IV, marks the return of that combustion sound: leaner, meaner, and more deliberate than anything they’ve done before.
From the start, the record feels like a live wire snapping loose. The guitars grind with a raw, metallic pulse, while the rhythm section pounds forward like it’s trying to break free of its foundations. It’s unmistakably hardcore, but WICCANS warp the genre into something stranger. By threading psych-punk textures and southern rock grit, they craft a chaos that never loses its velocity.
PHASE IV showcases a band refining its own mutation.
What makes PHASE IV so gripping is its balance of control and volatility. WICCANS sound on the verge of collapse with every jagged turn, which feels violently unintentional. Yet, the group isn’t trying to evolve just for the sake of change. The feedback, breakdowns, and rhythmic shifts all hit with the weight of design, not accident.
It’s almost as if during their hiatus, the band has learned how to weaponize their chaos rather than be consumed by it. Unlike so many hardcore records that dull their impact through overproduction or nostalgia worship, PHASE IV finds power in precision. You can feel the band tightening the screws, making every hit sharper and every riff heavier.
WICCANS are pure conviction rendered in distortion.
You will hear no posturing here, no nods to trend. By the time the album reaches its final haze, it’s clear the band isn’t interested in revisiting old victories. PHASE IV seeks not to recapture past destruction but to master it. The result is a record that feels both feral and focused, brutal and intelligent. It’s a reminder that hardcore doesn’t need saving. It just needs bands willing to push it past its breaking point.
After nearly two decades of sporadic eruptions, WICCANS remain one of the genre’s few truly unpredictable forces. PHASE IV proves that even after long silence, they can still sound like the future: Loud, unrelenting, and completely their own.
PHASE IV is available for streaming on Bandcamp.