As the first haunting chord of the new Harm’s Way album, Common Suffering, reverberates, one thing is clear: this is not a band content with a status quo. But then again, the Chicago-based outfit has never been one to languish or rest on laurels. With visceral sonic landscapes that claw their way into your soul, the group has not only elevated the genre but has managed to capture a collective disquiet—a mirror reflecting our own internal and societal turmoil. The record is a departure from their earlier work, notably Posthuman, which was awash in minimalistic trappings. Common Suffering is neither minimal nor maximal—it’s elemental. Its tectonic riffs and deafening silences are the band’s primal scream against a world teetering on the brink of despair. Chris Mills, the drummer, is also a l...