On November 4th, 2025, I was surprised to find out that New York natives Aligns had sleeper dropped their newest album onto Bandcamp, as well as  a single of the same project the week before that. Aligns had last released music in 2022, and they hadn’t put out an album of this size since their popular album Signal in 2015.

Though Aligns has been around for 15 years, Hz is somehow an improvement on all of the band’s previous work. Few bands can consistently get better over such a prolonged period of time, and Hz is effectively able to morph the sound of their 2022 Monarchy EP with a sound reminiscent of their 2017 album Brooklyn. The members of the band as of 2015 are Jacques Barbot on lead vocals and guitar, and Mark Bell on drums and backing vocals. Aligns is primarily a blues and heavy rock band, though they become heavily electronic in their production which often features overlaid beats. While this most recent release has only ten songs, all are roughly three minutes in length. Aligns isn’t the type of band to release ten short songs and call that an album. While the lead single veered towards blues, the rest of the album features heavy rock that long-time fans can get excited about.

Despite their lack of steady releases, Aligns technically hasn’t gone anywhere.They’ve been playing gigs regularly anywhere from Rome, Italy to Kingston, Jamaica despite not technically being on tour.  However, they have indeed been lax on the official drops for us fans who can’t trek down to the Big Apple. 

In an interview for their album Signal, they described their creation process as basically peak garage band type stuff. Aligns is not a band that does “writer’s retreats” – they simply jam together for fun and when they come across a diamond in the rough, it becomes one of their songs. 

The lyricism of Aligns has slowly gotten more political. While Hz is less outspoken than Monarchy, it certainly has a great fighting spirit. The first song “SHOULDA SAT DOWN” is a real rock-heavy diver. It’s a strong piece about the band’s continued persistence, and how settling down and taking a break in today’s grind culture is like being invisible. In songs like the above, Aligns strikes a good balance between drums and electric guitar. 

Their next song, “ENERGY,” has a slower start but ends up being a very effective energy-builder. It discusses the band’s need to build excitement and anticipation within the album. The riff for the song is a very solid, rolling one that underscores the powerful lyrics while still coming to the foreground loudly when it needs to. Bell holds off in the beginning, allowing Barbot to draw the listener in with some solid electro sounds that overlay his guitar line. Quite quickly after that, Bell throws his weight and  holds down his end of the song expertly. Bell’s cymbal usage really makes the song, which allows Barbot’s electro-style sounds to slide in and out, while not taking center stage. 

On their song “2IN2U,” Barbot opens with a bluesy riff while Bell accompanies with some soft drumwork. I find the way the lyricism contrasts with the increasingly intense rock sound in a way that’s quite entertaining.I really enjoy their song from their single “Skiptaphonic,” as Barbot comps acoustic guitar over his electronic sounds and usual guitar. The electric rather fulfills the role of filling the background in the song and only takes stage when appropriate. 

I’d personally categorize Hz  as blues rock. On Hz, lyricism takes a back seat to make way for the incredible instrumentals. Bell uses his influence sparingly—each drum hit is slow and deliberate, and a cymbal may crash where needed, but overall, it’s very reserved. The other song they put out before the full release of the album is “Nymphs (Moving Away)”, which is very similar in tone to “Skiptaphonic.” 

Their next song “TRY ME” brings the energy all the way back to the max. It immediately bursts  its way out of the speakers with drums, guitar, and vocals screaming. “TRY ME” is their shortest song, and it’s quite sweet as well. This is a punchy song in vibe, with a solid refrain and lyrics that fit with the head banging vibe. 

Their next song “REMEDY,” has a similar vibe to “ENERGY” because it uses more bluesy riffs.Bell has a pretty sick double tap beat on the toms, and the shifts in intensity throughout the song are enjoyable

I’ll let you discover the other songs yourselves, but I’d say that due to the albums relatively small size, it’s not hard to get through unless you’re not a fan of electric guitar driven music or heavy rock. Despite Aligns’ extensive discography of Aligns, I believe they’ve proven again and again that they’re a band in the Brooklyn scene that everyone should keep their eye on.