PREMIERE: Pagan - Good Grief

Melbourne-bred 'blackened rock'n'roll' outfit Pagan have unleashed scorching new cut Good Grief on the world, and The Music is stoked to be premiering the frantic, ferocious track today.

Trading in hip-rocking riffs and deep bottom-end grooves, vocalist Nikki Brumen tears through her lyrics with unbridled, snarling energy while bandmates Xavier Santilli, Matt Marasco and Dan Bonnici provide appropriately aggressive instrumentation that lurches from driven rock vibes to a thunderous, angst-riddled march towards its conclusion.

It traverses a lot of sonic ground in the intervening five-and-a-bit minutes, and highlights the band's ability to go above and beyond the easy crutches of heavy music (namely, distortion and breakdowns) to craft a deceptively layered, frequently surprising and always enjoyable thrasher of a tune.

If you dig what you hear above and are in the vicinity, Pagan will be launching Good Grief with a gig ritual at The Tote, Melbourne, this Friday, 22 April. They'll be joined by Outright, YLVA, Love Mess (all the way from New Zealand!) and Sasketchawan.

For more information, see the band's Facebook page.