Blue Medusa is back with their new single “Crocodile,” and Alissa White-Gluz hasn’t lost an ounce of what made her voice stand out in the first place. The scream is still there, the cleans, and the huge choruses, but Blue Medusa gives her somewhere different to take it. It doesn’t feel like she’s chasing her old sound, and “Crocodile” is better because of it. The song has this uneasy, tense feel to it that hangs around the whole time, and it gives her voice something different to sit on top of. That’s what makes this project interesting so far.

The song itself plays into that feeling that something is wrong before you can even put your finger on what it is. Alissa described it as that instinct that something dangerous is nearby even if you can’t actually see it yet, and the song carries that feeling pretty well. There’s this constant tension sitting underneath everything, and it makes “Crocodile” feel a little more uncomfortable in a good way. Just like a crocodile in its swamp, when you know it’s there, it’s usually too late. The heavier parts hit harder because the song isn’t just going full speed the whole time, and when Alissa really lets the scream loose, it feels earned instead of just placed.

The video is perfectly depicted to keep that unease from the song itself but gives the song enough room to breathe visually. It also marks the first time Blue Medusa has shown the full band performing together in one of their videos, which makes this release that much more important. Alissa co-directed it with Vincente Cordero, and the darker look fits the single swimmingly.

Up until now, it’s been easy for Blue Medusa to get talked about mostly through Alissa’s name, but “Crocodile” starts to pull away from that. The video is the first time the full band has performed together on screen, and that matters more than it sounds like it would. You finally get to see not just who Blue Medusa is, but what Blue Medusa is. The band is getting ready for festival season, with appearances at Louder Than Life in Louisville, Kentucky, and Aftershock in Sacramento, California, before heading into more dates next year. There’s also the custom Nik Huber guitar Alissa used in the video, which was made with Shea Shepherd and includes pieces signed by Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein of Doyle and The Misfits and is going to be auctioned to support marine conservation. Between new music, new show opportunities, and everything being built around the project, Blue Medusa feels like something fresh, brutal, and all-around necessary for the genre, scene, and world we live in.