Static Electricity: Alt. Metal’s Carbonstone Sends a Bracing Jolt of Heartbreak on “White Noise”
It takes a special kind of talent to equate a doomed love affair with the dropout of an electronic signal. And that’s exactly what Baltimore, MD’s own Carbonstone are up to on their current single, the splintering relationship post-mortem “White Noise.” Like the poetic equivalent of a lightning round on The $100,000 Pyramid, the song sits us down and whisks us through a harrowing rundown of the category “Things That Break Up.” The top two answers? A failing radio transmission and a once-happy human coupling that’s likewise about to be lost forever.
Drawing from the vast emotional warehouse you’d expect of a band that describes their sound as “industrial alternative metal,” the song merges hard-hitting guitars with catchy vocal hooks and sweeping synths in a way that wrings the full emotional potential out of nu-metal’s melodic heaviness and the harsh alienation of electronica. His voice dripping with the kind of heart-on-sleeve lamentation this music was made for, lead singer/guitarist Corey James mourns a vanishing love connection that’s dissolving into static as morning turns to daybreak.
Can’t hear you cutting out
Feels like I’m falling forever
Lost in this upside down
Somewhere I can’t be found
And now this wavelength is severed
We’re nothing but white noise now
“Delving into themes of heartbreak and disconnection, ‘White Noise’ resonates on a personal level,” says the East Coast Music Review. “It speaks to anyone who’s ever navigated the turbulent waters of strained relationships. The lyrics are poignant, speaking volumes of the emotional turmoil that comes with such experiences. But ‘White Noise’ isn’t just about the heartache; it’s about the journey through these complex emotions, and Carbonstone has crafted this journey masterfully.”
Listeners are just as ecstatic. The song has landed in the #1 spot multiple times on several reporting radio stations, and it recently passed the 13-week mark as the most requested track on Indie Rage Radio. Its melodramatic appeal has only been underlined by a suitably discomfiting music video, which the band shot at the York County, PA, attraction Kim’s Krypt Haunted Mill—inside a giant drainpipe during a vicious January snowstorm.
“The entire team did amazing battling the frigid elements and hellish tunnel reverb for hours as the snow continued to pile up around us,” the band says. “And yes, we wore ear protection. Haha!”
“White Noise” is the latest strike in a blitz of activity Carbonstone launched in 2019, when the band returned from an extended hiatus with a reconfigured lineup. (In addition to James, the group now includes Josh Provencio on guitars, Eric Dee on bass and Ted Hile on drums and programming—with added excitement and embellishment from “Frankie” the Nightmare Hype Bear). The last three years in particular have brought a non-stop barrage of immediately indelible singles, all accompanied by slickly produced videos awash in Gothic and/or brutalist imagery. There was 2023’s pounding, imploring “Damaged Like You,” and before that the haunting “Pins & Needles” (a duet with Chrystal James of Anoxia) and the aggressively electronic “Scream” (the video to which racked up over 10,000 views in the first five days).
That’s all been on the heels of the 2021 release of Dark Matter, the band’s first full-length studio album. Its own singles, “AM Trauma” and “Hush,” each held the #1 spot simultaneously on two separate radio stations (Boston Rock Radio and The Sound 228) for well over a month straight. “AM Trauma” nabbed more than 100,000 spins on Spotify, and “Hush” did equally impressive numbers on terrestrial, airing in multiple countries and placing on the Secondary Market Rock charts.
In addition to being masters of their own material, the guys in the group have a real knack for reimagining and industrializing the work of others. Dark Matter featured an eye-opening cover of the Deftones’ “My Own Summer (Shove It),” and Carbonstone’s discography of standalone singles includes a novel take on the ’80s classic “(I Just) Died in Your Arms” by Cutting Crew that earned the praise of that band’s vocalist, Nick Van Eede.
Carbonstone is currently shooting a video for its forthcoming cover of Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise” while preparing for a new album, which will be its second full-length musical manifesto. Still basking in their nomination in the category of Best Metal Band at the 2024 Maryland Music Awards, they’re continuing to melt faces on the live front, adding one victory after another to a year that’s seen them share stages with the likes of Orgy, Cold, Priest, Drowning Pool, Saliva, Adelitas Way, Vampires Everywhere, Nita Strauss, Diamanté and Any Given Sin.
Next up is a high-profile musical marathon set for Saturday, Aug. 24, at The Recher in Towson, MD, where Carbonstone is second on the bill to Stone Horses and appearing above Devil in Disguise, Weathervane, and After the Broken. Come on out, and be ready to make some “Noise.” Because the bond between this band and their fans is one connection that’s only going to get stronger.