Leveler, the 2025 EP from Wisconsin-based heavy rock band Vaureen, feels like the sonic aftershock of a long-delayed reckoning. Released August 22 via Rising Pulse Records, the six-track collection arrived nearly seven years after the band’s full-length Extraterra and carries the unmistakable imprint of the pandemic that stalled their momentum. Frontwoman Andrea Horne, still the primary songwriter, channels that collective unease into something both visceral and hypnotic.

The band’s self-described sound—“Sabbath joined Siouxsie and Sonic Youth for an epic weekend mushroom trip”—has never felt more precise. Shoegaze haze collides with grunge sludge and post-punk angularity, anchored by Kellii Scott’s (Failure) thunderous drums and Michael MacIvor’s (Candiria/LaMacchia) prowling bass. Opener “Corvus Mellori” wastes no time, a two-minute blast of distorted riffage and crow-like shrieks that sets an ominous tone. “Mortal Creatures” stretches into richer territory, its layered harmonies and tumbling guitar lines framing lyrics that wrestle with frailty and fleeting connection: “Mortal creatures flesh and bone / Trying as we might— / To stay alive.” The song’s winter-apple imagery and spectral refrains linger like frost on a windowpane.

“Night Goat” delivers the EP’s heaviest groove, while the remixes of older cuts—“Love Is Dead (Secret Remix)” and “Sand and Mud (Deadverse Remix)”—reveal Vaureen’s restless creativity, stripping songs down to skeletal electronics before rebuilding them with new menace. Closer “Last Call” is the emotional peak: Horne and collaborator John LaMacchia trade raw, yearning vocals over a slow-burning crescendo that feels like the last round at a bar that’s already closed.

Leveler isn’t a comeback so much as a leveling—clearing space for whatever comes next. At just under twenty minutes, it’s concise, focused, and strangely comforting in its darkness. For longtime fans and newcomers alike, it’s proof that Vaureen’s trip is far from over.