Sacramento doesn’t usually get the credit it deserves when the heavy music conversation rolls around, but DONT YOU DARE are out to change that — loudly. The modern rock duo, styled defiantly without an apostrophe, have officially released their debut EP “S.O.S” via The Artery Foundation, and they’re pairing the drop with the gut-punching new single “Burning Out.”

Formed when poet-turned-frontman Noah Duarte teamed up with guitarist Matt English, DONT YOU DARE blend the swagger of nu-metal with the controlled chaos of metalcore — and then drag it all through three years of emotional wreckage to see what comes out on the other side. Spoiler: it’s a five-track EP that hits like a long-overdue scream into the void.

“Burning Out” is the kind of song that doesn’t ask for your attention — it takes it. English describes the track as a portrait of “emotional burnout turned anger and resentment of trying to save a toxic relationship that keeps taking pieces of you until there’s nothing left to give.” The line “Everything I love has left me now, everything I love is burning down” lands like a final exhale, the moment fantasy and reality stop pretending to coexist.

Listen to “Burning Out” and stream the full EP here: https://stem.ffm.to/dontyoudaresosep

For Duarte, “S.O.S” isn’t just a title — it’s a literal distress signal carved into five songs. “Every song is a different situation I went through emotionally or literally,” he says. “Late nights, days that didn’t seem to end, staring at the ceiling with questions running through my head and no answers in sight.” Three years of “long, headache-induced sessions” and screaming “until my voice gave out” have been compressed into a record that introduces DONT YOU DARE as a band that doesn’t deal in half-measures.

The EP also nods to the people in the duo’s corner — manager Matt Scarpelli and The Artery Foundation’s Eric Rushing, the guy who, in Duarte’s words, “went out on a limb and gave us a chance.” Considering Artery’s track record of launching acts like A Day To Remember, Motionless In White, Beartooth, and Dance Gavin Dance, that bet looks like a smart one.

S.O.S EP TRACK LISTING:
1. S.O.S
2. DIE4ME
3. BURNING OUT
4. BLACK & BLUE
5. I LOVE THE MISERY

Catch DONT YOU DARE on the road in California this summer:
5/22 — Roseville, CA — Goldfield Trading Post (with If Not For Me, Colorblind + Windwaker)
5/29 — Anaheim, CA — Parish Room at House of Blues (supporting Arankai)
6/5 — Los Angeles, CA — Moroccan Lounge (with Carry the Day + Silent Vice)

Whether you came up on Sacramento’s basement-and-VFW-hall circuit or you’re just looking for your next favorite band to scream along with at full volume in the car, “S.O.S” is the introduction DONT YOU DARE deserve. Press play, turn it up, and let it burn.