Combat achieve emo-punk catharsis on “Stay Golden,” title track of upcoming LP

Baltimore’s Combat formed a few years back, released their debut album Text Me When You Get Back in 2022 on Chillwavve Records, and now they announced a followup, Stay Golden, due August 16 via Counter Intuitive Records. It was produced by Origami Angel’s Ryland Heagy, and band leader Holden Wolf says it “was written in my freshman and sophomore year of college as I was trying to figure out how to act like an adult while also trying to tour in my band 2-3 times a year as well as continue to run the record label I had started when I was 15.”

“This is an album about struggling to identify with my own identity that I’d created for myself and most notably struggling to identify with the music scene,” Holden continues. “It’s about trying to understand what it means to ‘Stay Golden’ as a sort of ideal way of living to me and to the people around me.”

The just-released title track is out now, and it marks a pretty noticeable leap forward from Text Me When You Get Back. It’s a hybrid of indie, punk, emo, and even a little ska, and Holden’s scream-sung, soul-baring vocals are pure catharsis the whole time. Holden says that this song is the “center and tone setter of the whole record thematically and sonically.” Check out the track and its Austin Ryder-directed video below.

Combat will also be at The Fest this year.

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Tracklist
1. Intro
2. Stay Golden
3. Faith
4. Put Me In, Coach
5. Good News
6. Full Speed Ahead
7. Cool For A While
8. Weird Ending Explained, Pt. 1
9. Stay Golden (Reprise)
10. Happy Again
11. Merrow Lanes
12. Compound Sentences
13. Epic Season Finale
14. Weird Ending Explained, Pt. 2