PREMIERE: Stream Topdown's new album "The Earth & All Its Pavement" in full

Wednesday, September 16, 2026 - 13:40

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Thomas

Austin post-hardcore outfit Topdown are streaming their soaring, hard-hitting new album The Earth & All Its Pavement ahead of its digital release on September 17. Physical editions on CD and LP are set to follow later this fall on October 23 through Diverse Chorus Records and Sweet Cheetah Records.

Formed in 2024 after a group of coastal transplants connected online in Austin, the five-piece rapidly built momentum following their self-titled debut. The Earth & All Its Pavement showcases a band whose creative chemistry has fully locked into place. Because several band members double as experienced audio engineers, the entire record was written, recorded, and produced completely in-house—capturing the same raw, crushing energy they deliver on stage.

Musically, the album pulls from late-’90s and early-2000s emo, hardcore, and pop-punk. Muscular guitar riffs and infectious hooks anchor a vocal performance that balances raw, anguished screams against atmospheric, reverb-soaked melodies.

Track-by-Track Breakdown by vocalist Grace Bertman

"Adrenaline"

This is about the addictive euphoria you experience when being intimate with someone you have that passionate connection with. Shoutout to my beautiful wife for being the inspiration behind this song.

"Dissonance"

This is an older song that I initially wrote and recorded on acoustic guitar - back before Topdown was a band. It’s about two people not being right for each other and learning that you don’t quite know how to love another person properly. Sometimes the tumultuous relationships you have teach you the most about yourself. It’s never easy facing your own hurtful behaviors, and sometimes you can’t even see them in the moment. It’s important to remember these lessons so that you can grow and go through life not repeating the same mistakes.

"Paranoid"

When you experience discord with the person you love it feels like the world is ending. Passion and vulnerability make room for a certain level of pain and fear. The amount of bliss you can feel from another person’s love allows for an identical amount of disastrous emotions. As rewarding as love is, it is equal parts terrifying.

"Coping"

My entire life has been a struggle to process emotions. Mental health problems have cursed me for as long as I can remember and substances became a routine of self medication at a very young age. It wasn’t until three years ago that I was able to abandon those patterns. When you stop using drugs and alcohol, you think that all the biggest problems in your life will just go away. There is some truth to that, and you certainly deal with a lot less catastrophic situations/consequences - however you are still left with the biggest problem which is you.

I was faced with the harsh reality that the reason I even started doing those things in the first place was because of the way I feel inside. There will always be a part of me that years the escape those substances provided me and there will always be a part of me that craves the chaos of that lifestyle. I still wish I could find a way to make my head quiet for just a moment, however I am embracing the noise. I am embracing emotions instead of pushing them down. I remember just how dark things were and I quickly become so grateful to be present, even when being present means feeling everything - the good and the bad.

"(to a fault)"

Some calm in between the noise.

"Sentimental"

This song means a lot to me. The first Topdown album was written right after I got out of rehabilitation for drugs/alcohol, and it was the most cathartic thing I could have done. I was able to release so many emotions, writing about the extremely dark years leading up to me getting better. At that point in my life, I was just learning how to be ok. How to float on the surface. How to be a person again.

Since that time I have been able to grow and thrive in ways I never thought possible. Life started exceeding my expectations far beyond belief. I never gave myself the chance to truly get to know myself or love myself, I had been covering up my soul for longer than I could remember. I started to realize I had value. The thought that the world would be a better place without me no longer held me down. I started to see the beauty in things all around me, I started clinging so dearly to the life that was almost taken from me countless times in addiction. The guilt, the pain, the trauma, the sadness, the mistakes, and everything I thought I could never let go of, now show me the importance of every moment we get to experience during our time on this earth. Looking back I don’t think I would change a single thing, the perspective you gain through painful experiences can be so profound depending on what you do with it. The album ends with these words: “Turning pages, I feel weightless, things don’t hurt so bad anymore. Photographs, I don’t look at. I don’t live there anymore.”

My wish is that this song gives others hope. I encourage everyone to take a moment to appreciate where you are, who you are with, and hold close the beautiful experiences you have. There can be light, even after pure darkness.