25 September 2026 – Ha•zel Balance Post-Hardcore Weight With a Delicate Touch on Debut EP

Los Angeles band Ha•zel release their self-titled debut EP through Sunday Drive Records, blending the physical punch of 2000s post-hardcore with the melodic melancholy of 1990s alternative rock. The group first attracted attention with "Eyes Meant 4 Me" in early 2025, and the five new tracks on Ha•zel reveal a band already comfortable with the useful art of not playing everything at maximum volume simultaneously.

Vocalist Julieta Burgos switches between English and Spanish, allowing quieter passages to create tension before thick guitars and large choruses arrive. Lead track "Piel Del Tierra" captures that dynamic particularly well, beginning patiently before opening into the kind of soaring chorus that makes headphone volume controls seem needlessly conservative.

What separates Ha•zel from straightforward nostalgia is restraint. The heavy sections carry more force because space surrounds them, while Burgos' voice remains central rather than being buried beneath a lovingly recreated wall of 1998 guitar pedals. The result sits naturally beside the current wave of young bands rediscovering shoegaze and alternative rock without simply photocopying the past. Ha•zel's first EP is short, but the identity is already clear: loud when necessary, vulnerable when useful and smart enough to understand that those two qualities are usually more effective together.