Heaven, as us corporeal beings imagine it, is peaceful, painless, and – necessarily – a result of death. If their aggressive-yet-melodic industrial-shoegaze is any indication, Nuclear Daisies are comfortable with such both/and realities. Released last month, Rob Glynn, Alex Gehring, and Robby Williams’ second album is dedicated to Gehring’s late stepfather; in these bittersweet dichotomies, the band presents what they imagine to be our loved ones’ First Taste of Heaven. Opener “Honey in the Wound” booms with a Prodigy backbeat, then flows seamlessly into “Dandelion Wine,” which trades that frantic energy for a head-nodding crawl. Glynn and Gehring harmonize throughout, the former’s straightman drone and the latter’s elvish chirp swirling into an androgynous chorus. Yet the Ringo Deathstarr bassist also takes the lead on highlights like lead single “Infinite Joy.” “Angels, can you hear me?” she cries – though written as a prayer for her stepfather’s recovery, it plays, in the aftermath of instrumental elegy “Untitled,” like a call to the departed from earth. A half-hour of skittering electronica and layered, processed guitars gives way to “333,” a nine-minute closer more interested in hypnotizing grooves than sonic annihilation. “Happiness, it comes and goes,” the vocalists sigh. After all of the project’s tribulations, the finale signals hard-fought acceptance: a loving goodbye, a much-needed exhale.
Nuclear Daisies
First Taste of Heaven (Portrayal of Guilt Records)
This article appears in September 19 • 2025.