“Thank you for your kind words. For this album we didn’t actually want any strong theme or concepts to dictate the music in any way, not even the album name itself. We simply wanted to experiment and write music as freely as possible, without being bound too much to an overarching concept. Our original intention was to create a purely instrumental album – no lyrics, themes, concepts of any form – however this did change during the recording process when we decided to add lyrics on two songs – ‘Faceless’ and ‘Spheres’. Lyrics, and even the speech samples can be a very subjective thing, so we will let your own perception unravel the story encapsulated in these for now. It was almost half way through the recording process that we felt ’Symbiosis’ encompassed not only the emotion of the album, but also described the process in which we work – so consciously or unconsciously after that point, this symbiotic theme did start to blend and weave itself into the music somewhat. To us Symbiosis represented what we have been attempting to achieve over the past decade – a blend of light and dark, moments of stillness coupled with intense power, a blend of different ideas. Even though it is the album title, we feel its roots go much deeper.
Related: Nordic Giants – Symbiosis | Album Review
“Again, based on our first answer, we wanted the music to speak for itself, so without any lyrical content in-mind throughout a lot of the album process, instead of drawing from personal experience – these songs evolved naturally from within. Musicians, artists, inventors, anyone with the ability to tap into the true power of the right hemisphere of the brain are often referred to as channellers or conduits, drawing information from higher sources, possibly from the Quantum field that connects every living thing, possibly from even outside of our three dimensional realm completely – who knows! The mysteries of the mind, the brain, or the human heart (which has more neural pathways than the brain itself) is something for each of us to individually discover, but wherever these emotions, these notes or rhythms come from – we are just blessed we can transpose them into a medium that can be enjoyed by almost everyone – and music is that powerful weapon we choose.”
“We understand that every person will receive the album in a completely different and unique way – that’s part of the challenge of writing music. As for the methodology behind capturing the emotion, I don’t think any artist could give you the exact formula. All we can do is build upon our level of musical knowledge, song writing, and production skills – and use these tools or gifts as best we can. Society used to describe this kind of process as having lofty thoughts or higher order thinking; now it’s described as being deep or having deep thoughts. No matter the subject – the deeper you can go inwards, the more self knowledge you will uncover and the deeper the emotions you will be able to bring to others through music or any other medium.”
UK noise-makers Heriot have been making waves ever since they announced their signing to underground tastemaker label Church Road Records and released their first single with them, ‘Dispirit’. We got in touch with them at the very start of 2022 to talk about their past year, what they envision the band to be, and what the future holds.
“I would maybe say, Heriot is a way for us all to, as friends, get together and voice all of our angst, all of our issues, all of our collected feelings towards things and present them in a way that is heavy, that is raw and that is honest,” vocalist/guitarist Debbie Gough explains when asked to describe who Heriot are and their aim with the band. Their influences are many, spanning hardcore, even ambient and industrial, as Deb is happy to expand on. “I think, obviously there’s bands like Nails. For me, Oathbreaker is definitely a big one. Maybe Knocked Loose and Fuming Mouth too, and industrial elements are a big one for us, even Deftones-y kind of stuff. We don’t talk about that often, but it sometimes comes through!” There’s those obvious Nails comparisons, as well as the raw aggression and riff-craft of Power Trip that “me [Deb] and [vocalist/bassist Jake] Packer always talk about when we’re doing stuff… that old school vibe mixed with abrasiveness and industrial elements.”
Despite this, and as drummer Julian Gage freely admits, everyone being into “a lot of different stuff”, it’s when they come together that it all coalesces into something special. “It’s just a melting pot of lots of stuff! I think together, it’s quite unique. There’s a lot going on even though it’s quite abrasive and noisy, but it’s still different.” Guitarist Erhan Alman agrees, and adds that “there’s never a point we’re all listening to the same band either. I don’t think I ever chat to Julian, Deb or Packer about what they listen to right now, which is weird because we write music together!”
Last year’s single ‘Ingsoc’ was a bruising affair and Burner‘s new single ‘Rat King Crown’, that debuted alongside the announcement they’d signed to Church Road Records, is just as savage. Death metal, hardcore and blackened tremolo moments are all tossed into their melting pot of brutality, with the end result being a just over two minute blast of ferocious, blasting metal punctuated by a gargantuan breakdown. As if this maelstrom wasn’t enough already, it’s also peppered with Converge-esque riffs that twist and turn through the song. Taken from their upcoming debut EP, it was recorded with the legendary Lewis Johns, whose involvement is a sure sign of confidence from someone in the know, that Burner are something special indeed. – Will Marshall
Hailing from Washington D.C., Design Flaw are a post-everything band who cite influences from Cult Of Luna to Deftones to Alcest and Caspian. Such a broad church of influences could sound messy but on all their songs it’s masterfully executed, especially latest single ‘Andromeda’, with swirling post-rock and soaring vocals underscored by desolate screams. Drawing in elements of shoegaze, it paints in vivid colour and poetic lyricism their experiences during the writing of the EP, which was informed by the Black Lives Matter protest and Capitol insurrection; unsurprising given the events occurred in their home city. ‘Andromeda’ culminates in Cult Of Luna-esque pulsing post metal laced with blackgaze; it’s a scintillating blend and for a band only on their debut EP, shows the sky really is the limit for them. – Will Marshall
Another outburst from the Oddworld™, Ocean Grove‘s latest track ‘Sex Dope Gold’ is a big fat rock anthem, with silky smooth vocals, sweltering guitar and a big beat behind it. The band seem to be going for a more anthemic approach with new material for their upcoming album Up In The Air Forever, yet as always for the Aussie trio there’s a lot of room left for genre variety and musical experimentation,. Fusing together tried and tested elements from popular 90’s genres like rock, britpop and grunge, the band have concocted their own recipe to bring classic, familiar sounds into a fresh and vibrant new future. With that familiarity serving as a thematic bridge for the record, this leaves the band able to explore all kinds of pathways branching outwards, fusing old with new, creating their own hybrid of retro-future sound. This is the sound of the Oddworld™, any there’s no telling exactly what could come next. – Elliot Grimmie
Forming midway through the last decade and originally coming into creation as a solo project, Grivo are a terminally despondent proposition for an equally despondent age. Whilst their homestead of Austin may be known for it’s humid climate, the band’s output is anything but sun-kissed; throughout their work shoegaze reminiscent of the likes of Hum and Slowdive is filtered through their monochromatic lens and mixed with the granite-textured motifs of Nothing and further enamelled with fatalist downtempo pop sensibilities. The end result is a sound that is bleak, low, oh-so slow yet methodological and suffocatingly atmospheric.
Whereas their 2018 debut LP Elude saw Grivo establish such a sound, it’s their new second record Omit that see’s the band fully embellishing the atmospheric qualities within. From the opening doom laden drawls of ‘Trammel’ all the way to the shimmering gloom of closer ‘There’, Omit is a thick shawl of noise that’s warming, yet wholly suffocating. Even as it ebbs and flows from tenderness to full-scale shoegaze density, the pressurised atmosphere this record manifests is utterly engulfing, never once diminishing or diffusing through mismanagement. It’s intense, but not in an aggressive way – more-so in a way that’s intoxicating and enchanting.
Related: Grivo – Omit | Album Review
It’s unlikely this miasmic sound of Grivo and Omit won’t stay obscure for too much longer, especially the backing of Church Road Records behind them and an upcoming tour with Slow Crush ahead of them. So with that in consideration, we got in touch with Timothy Heck (Guitar, vocals, keyboards) for a chat on their influences, artistic approach and more.
“Long songs with few words. Most would label us as a heavy shoegaze band.”
“Musically we listen to everything from Tejano to Grindcore. As far as inspiration, our personal devotions, meditation, nature, and reading.”
“I can’t say that it has anymore than anywhere else we have lived. It has its ups and downs like any boom city.”
“We’re feeling really good! It took us a while but we all feel that we finally captured what we wanted.”
Giving the fact that Cheerbleederz are made up of members of Fresh, Me Rex, Finish Flag and the now sadly defunct Happy Accidents, it shouldn’t be too surprising that their new single ‘Cute As Hell’ is an utter catchy as hell belter. Standing as the first track rom their upcoming full-length Even In Jest, ‘Cute As Hell’ is gem of a track of that see’s the trio substituting frivolous gimmicks for a sense of fun melodicism that’s instantly infectious “It’s an anti-commercial ode to fancying somebody and having no idea what’s going on in their head”, state the band on the track. It’s also about how scary love is, because you have to give up control and surrender yourself to this tidal wave of impulsive emotion. When we were working on the album, ‘cute as hell’ was literally the last song we wrote; the lyrics are playfully ironic and also have a constant kind of manic energy that definitely stems from the deep, restless depths of the pandemic.” – Dan Hillier
It’s hard to pinpoint a band more versatile than the simply undefinable HEALTH. ‘Cold Blood’ is a testament to their eclecticism. A collaboration between them and Lamb of God, the track is a flesh tearing ordeal that mares the metal titan’s aggression with HEALTH’s sense of cold allure and fatal foreboding. The end result is an uneasy yet decimating hybridisation of the best of both bands that highlights how HEALTH are able to devote and mould themselves to any genre they are presented with with effortless ease. Regardless though, the release of ‘Cold Blood’ coincides with the announcement of DISCO4 Part II, the second chapter of their collaborative project which will see the end results of them working alongside names such as The Body, Poppy, Nine Inch Nails, Backxwash, Perturbator and many more coming from all four corners of the contemporary music echelon. If Part I was anything to go by, then Part II is set to be a showcase of the talent of the global scene presented through HEALTH’s unique lens. – Dan Hillier
The second single from their upcoming album Caged In Gold, ‘The Empty Gesture’ picks up where previous single ‘Wraiths Of Memory’ left off, conjuring a storm of blackened riffs and discordant, grinding noise. At a hair under three minutes, it’s a storm of righteous fury that, as their debut Debt also did, takes aim at unfair systems, taking their aural sandpaper to ears and tearing down systems designed to oppress and worsen inequality. “The lyrics were heavily inspired from a lecture by the writer Russell Banks on immortality, titled Feeding Moloch: The Sacrifice Of Children On The Altar Of Capitalism,” the band state on the songs origins, this time applying them to Trump (the amoral force) and his QAnon following. If seething, blackened grinding hardcore is your thing, Helpless have got just the thing for you. – Will Marshall
The latest member of the Church Road family, Candescent A.D. will be at once familiar to fans of metalcore and metallic hardcore but with a flair entirely their own. A barrage of drums greets eardrums before vicious screams cut through like glass. Stirring melodies collide with the savagery and it culminates in a breakdown big enough to sink the Titanic all over again. It’s taken from their upcoming EP, Dissociation In Three Factions, due out April 1 and follows last year’s frenetic singles ‘Napalm Grifter’ and ‘In Living Colour’, upping the emphasis on melody without sacrificing any of the intensity. – Will Marshall
Tapping into the math-pop sound enjoyed by acts such as Orchards and Tubelord, the new single from FES is an irresistible dose of musical sugar that’s abound to be savoured by anyone with an affection for bouncy energy and killer melodies. The first single to be taken from their debut LP With Regards From Home – released April 29th via Small Pond – ‘Clarinet’ see’s FES mourning the death of their inner child and grieving the long lost simplicity of childhood through contrastive high-octane energy, sidewinding tempo switches and vibrant math-focused riffs. It’s this dichotomy between somber lyrical subjects and upbeat math-rock that has allowed to the band to become such a subject of acclaim in UK math-rock scene already, but with their upcoming LP and the backing of Small Pond behind them, FES are well and truly poised to become the next big success story in the math-rock world. – Dan Hillier
Recorded during their main stage set at last year’s Bad Pond, Small Pond Records’ own annual festival in Brighton, as one can expect, the video is exactly what you can expect from a Sugar Horse performance; it’s oppressively intense, dangerously alluring and attended by people who are unsure whether to awkwardly bop around or slip into the fetal position and let the void beyond the veil retake them. You can watch it below.
“Here’s some video evidence of us playing Bad Pond 2021. A yearly gathering of artists run by our gracious overlords Small Pond Records”, states vocalist and guitarist Ashely Tubb. “After an unreasonably early start, an uncomfortably humid drive down and the unexpected sight of a biker festival happening right outside of the venue….the day turned out pretty fucking cool I must say! All the bands slayed and it forced us to get a bit of Vitamin D.”
