Dan Hillier
Converge are already metalcore legends and their collaborative Roadburn set as ‘Blood Moon’, with Chelsea Wolfe, Ben Chisholm and Stephen Brodsky, only further cemented that. So when a full collaborative album was announced this year, several years after that fateful tour, it’s safe to say hype levels are high along with expectations. Bloodmoon I will arrive November 19 and, in anticipation, the collective have released the first single ‘Blood Moon’ and – frankly – it’s everything we could hope for. Chelsea Wolfe’s haunting voice entwines with abrasive post-metal and vicious roars from Converge’s Bannon and Cave In’s Brodsky. It’s haunting, emotive and harrowing throughout its near 8 minute runtime. The push and pull of influences could easily tear a project like this apart but here, with the pedigree of the members involved, it’s a towering example of collaborative songwriting and post-metal. – Will Marshall
Returning to the carefree expressionism and creativity that popularised the post/math-rock sound of the late noughties, the latest track from London’s Codices is a colourful and vibrant ode to twisting and pulling nature of experimental instrumentalism. A sure fire hit for anyone with even the passing interest in bands such as Brontide, Alpha Male Tea Party or Enemies, ‘Chat Bot Dialogue’ is a precisely calculated yet simultaneously fluid entanglement of exploring bass lines and sidewinding riffs that skirt through passages both pacifying and threatening. Much like their upcoming record Vivid, this is intentionally sporadic in nature and showcases what can be achieved when math rock and post rock are unionised in the same space. – Dan Hillier
Progressive melodic death metallers Be’lakor have unveiled the second single from their upcoming album Coherence. Showing their knack for brutality and melody in equal measure, the powerful roar of George Kosmas is married with a knack for atmospheric, multi-faceted songs. Clocking in at nearly seven and a half minutes, it packs in multiple twists and turns while ensuring all the while they lose none of their power and reputation for melodeath mastery. On the album, the band had this to say: “we’re excited to share this album after five years of quite intense work on it. It’s pushed us in many ways. Coherence has two of our longest ever songs; it has some really substantial instrumental tracks; it’s heavy and progressive in places, but still full of the melody that drives our work. The album’s lyrics also explore quite different ideas to those of our earlier albums.” – Will Marshall
A bit more of a sombre, relaxed and dare say exotic outing, ‘Drive Me Home’ is a subtropical gleam of warmth from the indie math pop stalwarts Orchards. The second track to be taken from their upcoming Trust Issues EP – out November 26th via Big Scary Monsters – the track further see’s what is commonly refereed to as the “happiest group in math pop” treading down some dark lyrical pathways all whilst sounding musically upbeat and vibrant. Such a contrast isn’t necessarily a new phenomena for Orchards, especially with their debut Lovecore displaying such a brilliant nature at times, but this latest single shows that Trust Issues is set to revolve around a such a polarising dichotomy. Still regardless of it’s subject matter, ‘Drive Me Home’ is a sparkling shot of heat perfect for this coming Autumn.
Stoke boys Black Coast have offered up another straight up rager from their forthcoming record Outworld. Their new track ‘Mental’ hits hard, with underlying themes of resisting being dragged down by your own mental health, this defiant anthem is full of meaty nu-metal riffs and vicious tormented vocals. The band have a penchant for wearing the throes of inner turmoil on their sleeves, with many of Outworld’s pre-release singles honing in on the innermost pains of the mind and putting them on display. This kind of open conversation lyrical output we’ve seen previously championed by OG nu-metal artists like Linkin Park and Papa Roach, and through Black Coast makes a most welcome return. – Elliot Grimmie
Atlanta’s Mastodon need little to no introduction; their sound has grown from rumbling sludge to mind-bending prog and all signs point to their upcoming double album Hushed And Grim being every bit as progressive and eclectic as their output to date. Latest single ‘Teardrinker’ features a winding melodic riff that soon gives way to a haunting vocal performance from Brann Dailor. There’s a sense of yearning and looking back, which seems only appropriate given the band’s musical exploration of grief, this time centred round the loss of their long-time manager and friend Nick John. The call-and-response vocals give way to a warbling guitar solo before the song ends in a collapse of distortion and drumming, proving once more why they’re one of the most treasured and eclectic bands in metal. – Will Marshall
Unveiled as part of a collaboration between video game The Elder Scrolls Online and Trivium, the band’s latest single ‘The Phalanx’ originally started life as a demo from the Shogun days. It’s undergone some reworking since then as they agreed that now was the time to bring the song to life. From the opening guitar line it’s clear we’re in epic Trivium territory and over the course of its seven minutes, ‘The Phalanx’ shifts between stomping thrash groove and soaring choruses.The final two minutes of the song are a serious contender for the best few minutes they’ve ever penned; lush strings courtesy of Ihsahn underpin a gradual crescendo with a vocal melody that pays off in the biggest way. ‘The Phalanx’ is yet more proof that Trivium are at their best when they embrace bombast and maximalism. – Will Marshall
Revolting, rank and quite literally sodden with bile, this track lives up to the expectations provided by it’s namesake. The latest track from Rotherham natives Swamp Coffin, ‘Welcome To Rot’ is simply what it implies; it’s an invitation to their repulsive and pungent sound, one deeply rooted in the mire of 90’s NOLA sludge and UK death metal metal and one set to be further explored in their forthcoming record Noose Almighty, which releases November 26th on APF. Yet, what separates them from their peers is their inherent and subdued emotion, with the forthcoming record exploring subjects of trauma, depression and austerity, which vocalist Jon Rhodes expands on; “Something not a lot of people know is the day that we were due to travel to London to record our 2017 demo me and my wife were woken up at 2:30am by the police to tell us her brother had been killed in a car accident. When we eventually got in to the studio a month later it made that demo session all the more emotional as he and I we were close, he’d always been a big music lover and I was gutted I never got to share any of this with him. 9 months after his death we had a housefire that left me and my family without a home for 6 months so the two events were massively influential.” – Dan Hillier
Whilst post punk and genres of similar ilk have seen a massive revival in recent years due to the success of certain artists that truly don’t don’t need specifying, there’s been a recent counter resurgence of acts using the sound of the genre to combat the problematic traits that are inherent in the scene. One of these acts are The Byker Grove Fan Club. Self-proclaiming themselves as “post macho noise pop”, the group’s take on the genre is self aware and self conscious take on the genre that combats the chauvinism and toxic masculinity that’s rampant in the scene. ‘Ren Man’, their latest single, showcases this brilliantly. A righteous stab at the so-called “nice guys” that use feminism as a thinly veiled guise to hide their predatory natures, the track is an acidic and corrosive affair that’s bitterly sardonic in a way that harkens thoughts of Cassels, DITZ and LICE. It’s a welcome breath of fresh air, both musically and thematically, and with their debut EP landing next Friday it serves as a preface to a release that’s crucially required within the post punk and noise punk circles. – Dan Hillier
Yes, a song titled that coming from a band called this is abound to be a punishing affair. But ‘Drilling Your Head’ is both absolutely barbaric and effortlessly shows how 200 Stab Wounds have become such a sensation in the States. Taken through the group’s hotly anticipated debut Slave To The Scalpel which releases next month via Maggot Stomp – we really don’t need to tell you this is a death metal track – the single is a throwback to the unrestrained core qualities of death metal. It’s needlessly violent, coated in viscera, positively stomach turning in subject matter, and above all else, absolutely thrilling. Simply, this is berserking extreme metal without gimmicks or lacklustre compromises. – Dan Hillier
“Gaslighting takes on many forms and our willingness to subject ourselves to an illusion knows no boundaries. However rotten and hollow the core – we still buy into the idea of purchasable raptures, frail salvations, an escape from modern meaninglessness”. That’s how Danish blackgaze outfit MØL describe their latest single ‘Vestige’, taken from their upcoming second album Diorama. A scintillating blend of black metal, shoegaze and post-rock, the song alternates between white-hot blasts of fury and soaring, epic melodies. While the verses sound like vitriolic indictments, the guitar lines of the choruses take flight and offer some respite. It’s proof once again that MØL are frontrunners of the modern blackgaze scene and, along with the other singles released so far, seem to be setting out potential AOTY status for Diorama. – Will Marshall
Hailing from Scotland, the alt rock fellowship North Atlas’ latest single ‘Ire’ features mammoth drums, elements of electronica and a stomping, pulsing rhythm.. Their sound sits somewhere between countrymen Biffy Clyro and the tortured industrial of Nine Inch Nails, their anthemic songwriting underpinned by darker themes and electronics. ‘Ire’ deals with mental health struggles; vocalist Leon D. Hunter says of the song, “Sometimes you think maybe the ‘monster’ of mental health is making you stronger by giving you something to strive against. Other times it’s easy to believe it’s destroying you. Both are probably true – but for some, there’s undoubtedly a monster up in there, totally unaffiliated, doing its own chaotic business in your mind-temple. This song is about being in both a good and bad state of mind simultaneously, the good being you, the bad being an imposturous monster.” – Will Marshall
Jason Aalon Butler’s hardcore outfit Pressure Cracks have returned with a blistering belter, latest track ‘Cancel Couture’ enlists Eighteen Visions frontman James Hart for a three minute assault on the eardrums. In Jasons own words (via Instagram) the song is “a critique on how we as people and a society will castigate others for things we do not hold ourselves accountable for”. It’s ferocious, it’s relevant, and as ever Jason and his bandmates are putting themselves at the forefront of another important conversation in regards to our own music communities and how we tackle the idea of being a community within wider society.