Tooth & Dagger are back, and with their new single “A.T.T.A.S,” they’ve made a song that hits like a gut punch in velvet. The track is heavy with tension and gritty emotion from the first note, a reflection of relationships sinking further into their downward spiral. This is not a song about evildoers or moral failings, it’s a devastatingly honest look at being caught in a cycle of love that is both tender and tempestuous.
The opening riff forges an uncompromisingly heavy, grinding path, with riffs that don't quit, complementing the emotional depth of the lyrics. There’s a sort of hypnagogic draw here, the feeling that you are being pulled into a story you already know so well, a tale as old as time about cycles and repetitions, with no easy way to break them. On this basis, the vocals soar and scratch in turn, both beautifully aggressive. Every line feels lived-in, lived-through, a confession of one sort or another coated in distortion and dirt.
What makes “A.T.T.A.S”, one of her earlier singles, stand out is how it modulates fury and openness. Tooth & Dagger don’t just scream at the cycle, they shed light on it, providing us with a venue in which we can face our own struggles without judgment. There’s a relief release in the way the track rumbles and craters, a reminder of how acknowledging pain can be its own kind of power.
As the song draws to a close, the loop hasn’t necessarily broken, but you find yourself charged and undeniably moved. “A.T.T.A.S.” is another reminder of Tooth & Dagger’s knack for distilling the messy, complicated nature of love and human connection into something as heavy as it is heartfelt.