Trenton’s ASTROKATZ brings together five musicians with years of experience across different projects, but “Guiding Light” feels less like a calculated supergroup statement and more like a band discovering what happens when everyone throws their personality into the same room. Jack “Brump” builds the initial ideas, Joy helps shape their structure, and the full lineup fills them out with guitars, bass, keys and synths.
“Guiding Light” immediately grinds forward with fuzzy guitars, thumping beats and bustling cymbals, while Brump’s high voice cuts through with an engaging tension. The song’s pacing keeps shifting, giving its riffs room to breathe before pushing the listener onward. The physicality in the track makes its darker subject matter surprisingly headbang-friendly.
Underneath that energy, though, is a story about isolation, regret, and being trapped inside your own thoughts. The song looks back at past choices and people who have been lost, capturing that uncomfortable wish to return to a simpler version of life. ASTROKATZ gradually turns the perspective outward. The past cannot be rewritten, but it can become something to learn from, and personal transformation becomes a way of carrying lost people forward.
Interestingly, the song did not begin with a grand concept. It grew from a riff that Brump stumbled upon, with the section after the first chorus becoming an early building block for everything that followed. Recorded at Landmine Studios in New Jersey with engineer Dylan, the track retains that organic sense of discovery.
At the end of the day, “Guiding Light” finds a satisfying balance between emotional vulnerability and sheer rock momentum, turning regret into something you can feel in your chest and still bang your head to.
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Review by: Naomi Joan