Winter, Hazelfire’s third full-length album released in 2019, can be incredibly serious about mental health issues one minute, then dripping with stylish satire from dark, captivating humor the next. It’s that juxtaposition, mixed with the trio’s ability to bounce from metal-ish horror punk to familiar-sounding alt-rock, that makes Hazelfire an idiosyncratic force. There’s a trail of sadness that runs through Winter, but, like always, band leader Hazel Kuran paints a vivid, intense, sometimes direct, sometimes strange portrait of exactly what’s on his mind. That results in something honest, imaginative, unpredictable, relatable and, most importantly, unlike anything else. —Scott Recker
This article appears in December 11, 2019.