Still Depths - Like Hell!
Self-released
Released on July 18th, 2025
For fans of noisy, raw, and lo-fi music, Still Depths is a Vancouver-based act that simply must keep your eye on. The group formed in Calgary in 2019 when Brendan Chiu, Megan Rollinson, and Justin Perdomo joined forces to make some of the noisiest noise rock to bless our ears. Over the last half a decade, Still Depths have released records like their debut Pioneers Eat Dirt (2022) and Best plan for your life (2023). And at Cups N Cakes Network we had the opportunity to team with Still Depths to premiere their latest album Like Hell! which came out on July 18.
Like Hell! as a whole is an endearingly crass noise rock album living up to the impulses of the band’s sonic tantrum. Admittedly, the band set no guidelines to ensure they gave way to their rawest composition based all around the recording process. As Brendan and Justin shared: “we just hit record and focused on ignoring fussiness.” In a way, the band subverted the use of a studio by using it not so much as a place to produce, mix, and master the album but instead they treated it as an instrument in and of itself to exploit its rough edges and extraordinary spontaneity. The end product is an album that can appeal to listeners who are fans of wide-ranging artists such as indie rock like Car Seat Headrest and LCD Soundsystem, queercore like An Albatross or The Blood Brothers, or other fellow noise punks like Black Eyes.
The opening track “Mixed Skid” showcases the dynamic sonic palette that Still Depths has to offer with lofi synthesizers and drum machines, crunchy basslines and fuzzy guitars, and grimey glossy production that really makes its chorus shine. This relatively clear mix gets tossed out of the way with the blown out banger that is “Feel Real” which is as bratty and intense as these kinds of sounds can get. The following track really slows things down into a more toned down and atmospheric sound: “American Alcoholic Author” has this absurdist stream of consciousness meandering lyricism reminiscing of something as eccentric as the 249-page fanfic script of Marijuana Simpson (seriously, listen to the song while reading Homer’s monologue in page 14 this script on Internet Archive and they will hit real good together). This may be my favorite song in the record given how odd it is all around.
This first leg of the album really gives a sense of what Still Depths is all about. Along the way there are other excellent tracks like: “In Love With My Dog” which is a blown out bratty with pitched down vocals and sidechained kick drums that make this noisy track have some bounce. “Basshead” has this very energetic vocal delivery on a song that teethers between a very indie rock song and an absolutely noisy breakdown. I have to highlight “Boy Fight” because the title alone hooked me and got me really paying attention to this belligerent stripped down noisy track that culminates in the repeated chanting of “boy fight” sometimes sounding like “fight, boy” — if you ever wanted a good bar fight song, this may be it. “Dope as Dope” feels like it belongs in a rave for noise punks with its pumping beat that makes me think of Lil Texas if he gave up the DJ deck for a noise music rig. This comes to a stark contrast with a Spanish take of “In Love With My Dog” with the cutesy “Enamorado Con Mi Perro” which is one of the softest takes in the album sounding like Pinc Louds and Radiator Hospital. And last I can’t go without shouting the titular track which was featured in the vignette found-footagesque music video that came out for it. There is a reason why this track was a single, it is one of the strongest tracks in the whole album.
This is all to say that Like Hell! by Still Depths is an incredible noise rock album with such a fun sound that I think all sorts of listeners will get a kick out of. I really envy everyone who got to attend their album release show on August 15 with an incredible line up like Girly, Devours, and M0E1, that’s just bound to be a good time. Truly a victory lap like no other after touring with Preoccupations.
