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Today marks the return of ska-punk pioneers The Mighty Mighty BossToneS with the release of their 11th studio record ‘When God Was Great’ via Hellcat Records. Co-produced by longtime collaborator Ted Hutt (The Gaslight Anthem, Dropkick Murphys) and Rancid frontman Tim Armstrong (Transplants, Jimmy Cliff), ‘When God Was Great’ is the culmination of their extensive and all-embracing career and sees the band bringing back friends, tourmates, and bandmates from the past for a sonic celebration that stresses the power of perseverance and human connection during tumultuous times. The album features 15-tracks that initially arose out of a collective sense of loss.

“We were lightly writing songs before the insanity without any sort of timeline in mind. All of a sudden, the world changed and benchmark events in a very long career that we were looking forward to, such as playing with the Madness at the Greek Theatre, were taken away from us,” explains frontman Dicky Barrett. “With all of this time on our hands, we started writing at a quickened pace and we were really inspired. As grim as everything around us was in the outside world, this was the most fun we ever had making a record.”

Weezer’s long-awaited 'Van Weezer' is out as well. The band’s fifteenth studio album, produced by Suzy Shinn (Panic! At The Disco, Fall Out Boy), derives from the deepest roots of Weezer - metal! What has metal got to do with Weezer, you ask? In his earliest years, Rivers was a huge KISS fan; Brian was a big Black Sabbath fan; Pat worshipped at the altar of Van Halen and Rush; Scott loved Slayer and Metallica. The last time this vein of harder rock was mined by Weezer was on their much-loved 2002 album Maladroit; Van Weezer is primed to take that album's sonics many steps further courtesy of Shinn.

Also out today is Useless ID’s best of album, ‘Most Useless Songs,’ which vocalist and bass player Yotam Ben-Horin describes as “songs that work best live, songs that have stood the test of time, songs that carry an interesting story, and songs that have been regulars in our sets throughout the years”.

Cold Moon’s debut album ‘What’s The Rush’ is out on Pure Noise Records. The Northern California-based quartet of long-time friends including members of The Story So Far and Set Your Goals, are releasing their debut album, which comes with songs that are miles removed from pop-punk stalwarts The Story So Far and the more hardcore-tinged Set Your Goals, but they still carry the same intrinsic urgency and emotional resonance that colored their other projects.

Members of Milwaukee bands like Sex Scenes, NO/NO, Surgeons in Heat, Saebra & Carlyle, and King Eye & the Squirts formed Rexxx over beers and a late 70’s-early 80’s power pop soundtrack. While the band’s debut album was released digitally last year to local acclaim, but Covid put their tour plans on halt, so the rest of the nation really didn't get to experience the band in all their glory. Thankfully Big Neck Records has stepped in to give "Pure Pleasure II" the vinyl treatment.