Brighton nu-gothika quartet and Noizzefest alumni Knife Bride announce their second EP sorry about the plague with explosive, high-energy new single ‘crucify’. Break-beats meet cutting edge modern metalcore riffage while vocalist Mollie Clack strikes a convincing balance between pop sensibility with an attitude and fearsome aggression, allowing the band to expand upon their character study of the fictional titular “Bride”. Her knife is razor sharp, her poison enticing and before you know it, you’ll be humming along to her confessions like a mantra. sorry about the plague is due for release on April 24th during the band’s UK tour in support of this year’s Noizzefest headliners Calva Louise. – Avrian O’Brien
Portrayal Of Guilt treat us to another double single in anticipation of their impending new album …Beginning of the End to our morbid delight. Where previous double single ‘Ecstasy / Human Terror’ presented the newer, heavily industrial and nu-metal influenced sound PoG have been inching towards with their more recent works, ‘Object of Pain / Death From Above’ return to more familiar ground and yet, with new perspective. Both tracks are brooding, somber slow-burners with ‘Death From Above’ leaning more heavily into the previously mentioned Chat Pile-esque sludginess whereas ‘Object of Pain’ is an exercise in building uneasy atmosphere, featuring raspy whispered vocals and an easy connection to be made with Nine Inch Nails‘ ‘Closer’. The Austin trio continue to carve a path of their own, refusing rigid categorisation and instead embracing an eclectic amalgamation of extreme music influences to usher their sonic dark magic into the world and we cannot wait to hear what else they have in store upon …Beginning of the End‘s release on April 24th. – Avrian O’Brien
Progressive metal, krautrock, stoner and post-metal? Why, it’s Elder of course and ‘Through Zero’ is our first peek into the Massachusetts’ upcoming next psychedelic sonic adventure. Based off of the nine minute long journey this eponymous lead single embarks us upon with its many nooks and crannies borrowing bits and pieces from a wide array of progressive music genres, Through Zero is likely to be a vividly diverse and colourful record that might just delineate a new era in the band’s career following the in-between, transitional space marked by last year’s excellent Liminality /Dream State Return EP. Keep your eyes peeled for Through Zero, out on May 29th. – Avrian O’Brien
a forest certainly piqued a fair bit of interest when they where announced for this year’s 2000 Trees. After all, at the time of announcement, they had no recorded output. It was understandable why many where querying why such a festival where booking an act with no released material. But with one listen of ‘Something I Need’ their booking is more than just understandable, and not just for the name of the project alone. The debut single from the London based newcomers, ‘Something I Need’ is a pacifying, wistful and melancholic air of folk inspired alt rock that’s just as refreshing as a deep breath of woodsy pine-scented air. Those with a love for acts such as Mark Lanegan, Bon Iver and others of their bleak ilk will find plenty to adore here, and if this is anything to go by, a forest’s set at Trees this year may certainly come to be a festival highlight. – Dan Hillier
Brighton’s danciest three-piece CLT DRP take aim at those who hold women and femme-presenting artists to unrealistic expectations on the spectacular new single ‘What Is She For?’. Despite being one of their simpler arrangements, ‘What Is She For?’ still has that signature CLT DRP bounce centred around Daphne Koskeridou’s disco punk hybrid drumming and Scott Reynolds continuing to make a guitar sound like literally any other instrument. Annie Dorrit continues to show why she is one of the most exciting talents in music with her inimitable, powerful vocal that turns chorus to rallying cry with effortless transition. Sure to be a new crowd favourite in the live environment, ‘What Is She For?’ is just the latest pure banger from a band that know how to do nothing else. – Kevin Ashburn
Our favourite Bristolian oddities are back. Taken from their second LP Back Into The Womb – released 26th June via Church Road – ‘The Exploiter of Art’ is a rallying call against streaming services and the soulless bastards that profit off them. In true Sans Froid fashion, this is a boundless track that draws inspiration from the realms of jazz, prog and even soul in order present something truly bohemian. In an age where the music industry overculture seems to demand conformity, Sans Froid continue to be a crucial band. “The Exploiter of Art is mainly about how streaming has killed off any remaining respect that artists had for themselves, crowds and big bald idiots are reaping bare P instead”, say the band on the track. “Also, musicians have to sell their souls and market themselves as “content” for very little payoff, like droplets of dopamine here and there but if you stop doing it you’d probably die or something.” – Dan Hillier
The new Kulk track runs at a not so lean 5-minutes long, but after listening to it, you might think otherwise. It’s so well put together that it blends into something that feels shorter and punchier than it actually is. Grinding guitars and feedback lead the track off, backed up with delicately placed orchestral strings, and towering slab like drums. This here is a track of anger and rage, but also catharsis, and sets up the upcoming release nicely, Kulk clearly have a well developed idea of what they want to do, and by gosh do they nail it. The darkness will loom large on the album, and we can’t wait for the night. – Rob Bown
Leeds emo/math rock outfit Love Rarely are on the cusp of releasing their debut album Pain Travels via Big Scary Monsters on 10th April and they’ve now released ‘Severed’, what is presumably the final single from it. As has become their stock-in-trade, there’s technical, jangly guitar lines that entwine around vocalist CJ’s powerhouse voice that takes in vicious shrieks to emotionally fraught melody. Every track on the album charts their lives and is deeply personal; as the band explain, “Severed is an exploration of the emotions you feel when having to cut out an alcoholic and hostile family member. Even though they brought so much pain, the relief is also tied in with a dash of guilt that you couldn’t help them change. It ruminates on the positives that draw you in and the negatives that pushed you away.” – Will Marshall
If you mashed together the aggressive hip-hop of Death Grips, the dancey electro punk of MSPAINT or CLT DRP and the new wave eccentricity of The B-52s you’d get a homunculus resembling New York oddballs Lip Critic. Performing as a novel four-piece featuring a pair of drummers and an electronic noise setup backing frontman Bret Kaser, Lip Critic have risen from underground oddities to one of the experimental scene’s most watched acts, now on their latest single ‘Jackpot’, the quartet show an unprecedented amount of sonic range. In just over three minutes ‘Jackpot’ drags the listener through overstimulating sample-led electro punk via breakbeat inspired electronic beats and into an unexpectedly calm finale which draws more from Aphex Twin than Ho99o9. Showing plenty of growth from their 2024 debut Hex Dealer, Lip Critic are ready to take on the world with their scattershot mix of experimental genres. – Rowan Bruce
The Queen of Goth has done it again as A.A. Williams creates a perfect slice of late winter gloom with the latest single ‘Hold It Together’, taken from her upcoming album Solstice. Opening with a gorgeous piano-led melody and Williams‘ inimitable vocal, ‘Hold It Together’ lulls and takes you into its chest before breaking your heart as it builds, layer by beautiful layer to its dramatic crescendo. The final act leaves you breathless as it slowly, softly, lays you down and pats you on the head in dark comfort. A.A. Williams has quietly been the best at this for years, and ‘Hold It Together’ just further adds credence to that claim. – Kevin Ashburn
Only a group as eccentric and creative as Bristol based duo Mutant-Thoughts can teach a lesson in astronomy with a danceable space-rock anthem like their new single ‘Syzygy’. For those who slept through science classes, a syzygy is an alignment of three or more planets in a straight line, Mutant-Thoughts take this concept to heart, aligning catchy South American inspired beats by session drummer Paolo Adamo with driving distorted bass and swirling layers of vintage synths for one of their most dramatic yet accessible tracks yet. While fans of acts such as Spiritualized and 65daysofstatic are sure to appreciate all the intricately layered electronic textures, Mutant-Thoughts have carved out their niche as a uniquely memorable and catchy voice in an otherwise unapproachable scene. – Rowan Bruce
Sincere Engineer‘s frontwoman Deanna Belos is incapable of writing anything that isn’t irresistibly hooky and gloriously full-hearted. Off the back of smashing through a winter run that took in Common Thread as well as solo duty opening for Spanish Love Songs, Belos is not slowing down, and that’s exactly what she’s wrestling with on ‘Cooler’ There’s an early 2000s pop-punk purity at the heart of the signature Sincere Engineer sound that perfectly blends with a more raw and heartfelt upstart spirit, and the results here are as life-affirming as ever. The central hook nods to both the pedal-to-the-metal spirit of Judas Priest and the messiness of figuring things out while in constant motion. If this first single is anything to go by, the upcoming record will be an absolute blast. – Pete Wall
Fuelled by despair at the state of the world, ‘Ex-Human Shield’, the latest single from Bristolian misery-merchants Sugar Horse, is a direct shot, fired at those who destabilise our world for profit. As apocalyptic scenes adorn the news-feeds, fuelling divisive algorithms, they take aim at the mega-capitalists and warmongerers, evoking the daily dread of a world that punishes compassion. Vocalist Ash Tubb, delivers his scathing sermon, amidst a barrage of harrowing noise, hulking riffs and thundering, war-like drums. And there’s an urgency, undercutting the sluggish, swaggering groove that elicits an atmosphere of both weariness and panic. They blend world-ending riffs with moments of serenity, as Ash, sarcastically opines “You do the best you can, for those who’ll buy” against droning synths and soothing shoegaze guitars. Miserable, yes but never without a sense of humour. “You’d leave us with nothing” howls Tubbs, but Sugar Horse have left us thirsty for more. – Niall Creane
The third LP from the German independents, Amnesia sits in the middle of an venn diagram constituting of a daft amount of spheres. Whilst directly inspired by the likes of Rolo Tomassi, The Ocean and Between The Buried And Me, here, Monosphere infuse their sound with motifs of post-metal, prog, tech-metal, post-rock and even metalcore in order to create something that’s genuinely quite chameleonic in approach. Should one imagine the bands aforementioned coalescing with the likes of Hippotraktor, Silent Planet, Cult of Luna and The Faceless then they probably won’t be too far off from what this record sounds like.
Now, yes, this all does sound quite convoluted. Dare say a bit messy. Many a band in this area of music have aimed for this kind of genrephobic approach – not all have been successful in reaching their targets. But Amnesia is concise and approachable. Whilst this record may not be as a musically labyrinthine as the records that came before it, Monosphere have essentially cut the fat from their sound on this record in order to present a more accessible and digestible slice of heavy experimentalism. Essentially, if you’re into any of the bands previously referenced or a fan of the more heavy and techy artists hosted by the likes of ArcTanGent, you’ll find plenty to adore here.
With that in mind, and with Amnesia released tomorrow independently, stream the record exclusively early and dig into the track by track below.
Instead of creating an intro for our album, we’re kickstarting it right away with this track. Heavy layers, influences from Cult Of Luna to The Faceless, The Zenith Passage, as well as the typical trademarks that have shaped the sound of Monosphere within the last 5 years. This track has it all and felt like a perfect opener for Amnesia, that technically started with our 2025 double-single Lapse – which now functions as a prologue to the album.
I’d say ‘Anomia’ is a prototypic Monosphere song. We’re tangling so many genres and influences on this one that it feels like we’re shapeshifting each 8 bars, but somehow hold it together with our musical integrity. The breakdown that ends this track might be one of the ugliest ones we’ve ever written and our producer Justin really nailed the mix.
This song is basically a mixture of my love for post-black metal and the groove-focused prog / metalcore influences that we’ve had from day one on. It’s also a third part to our double-single Lapse and picks up many ideas, motifs and elements that we’ve already showcased before. One of the album’s strongest tracks and the first single we dropped – for a reason.
Well the last album was released in 2012, so a lot has happened since then. Our drummer Jason (Howard) and guitarist Grant (Beeden Clayton) weren’t in the band back then, so it’s their first album with us so they’re mega excited. For myself and Johnny (Newman-Hay) the exciting part is getting it released on vinyl, and with Drongo Records helping us out as well. It’s exciting for all of us really, and almost feels like a completely different band to the first album.
Part of the reason it’s got heavier is that I’ve always been into post-hardcore and screaming throughout all my time singing, I’ve just never been doing it properly. I’ve been afraid to scream because I’ve always felt on the edge of wrecking my voice. But because of lockdown, I had two to three years and endless short clips of various screaming coaches and vocalists so I’ve picked up loads from that. I’ve probably been screaming in my car practicing from 2020 trying to get it right and I’ve found I’m not wrecking my voice anymore, so as soon as I could get that screaming in and not wreck my voice I just wanted to do more of it. We’re all into heavier music so it made sense that we’d evolve into this current sound at some point.
I would always just say it’s because I can’t write a traditional song and our older stuff maybe sounded more like it was going that way. I think in my head, I just couldn’t do it and strived towards going wherever the song takes me rather than trying to limit it to a traditional structure. As a band we’re all on a pretty similar page of what we want it to sound like, and I guess we always have the groundwork of previous incarnations of the band. Grant for instance he was just a fan of the band and we used to see him at gigs and over the years, we became friends. He genuinely enjoyed the stuff that we were playing, so he has a fondness for that kind of sound, but when you’ve been doing it as long as we have, the sound is going to change and we’re going to evolve. The math rock scene, it’s been and gone and come back again so it wasn’t intentional to get heavier and emigrate to a new scene its just the natural process of where we are.
I’m a huge fan of Love Rarely its absolutely amazing what they’ve done, they’ve taken elements of all my favourite kind of bands, they’ve nailed it. But I’ll be honest I don’t go to as many gigs so it’s a little bit harder to hear new bands unless we’re playing with them and since we’ve started gigging again there’s been loads of great bands, but all very different as well.
I’m not sure about that, we still feel like we’re building our reputation but maybe somewhere along the way we’ve influenced someone.
Is there any point of telling you about this song? We all know you’re going to be listening this off that name alone. Still, if you need any further persuasion to get this in ear holes, know that ‘Shag Slags Not Flags’ is a banger that’s as comedic as it is poignant. Taken from the band’s upcoming EP suitably titled Epeepee, ‘Shag Slags Not Flags’ sees Glasgow’s Cowboy Hunters mocking the kind of knuckle-dragging keyboard warrior racists your weird uncle is mates with on Facebook whilst drawing parallels between their inherent unhappiness and their probable lack of sexual gratification. It’s great fun, but beneath the jokes it’s still a sobering reminder of the cultural rot eating away at the foundation of our country. It’s no wonder why Cowboy Hunters are quickly becoming one of the most hotly tipped names in UK punk going from songs like this. – Dan Hillier
Underground UK math rock trio A-Tota-So return with new single ‘Death Rattle’, signalling a new and exciting chapter for the band. Not only do they write fun, energetic songs where math, noise and post-rock blur together, but they also have the rather unique and entertaining specialty of inviting a wide variety of vocalists from the UK and Irish scenes to perform on their otherwise instrumental tracks both live and on record. ‘Death Rattle’ however, is the very first instance of the band handling vocal duties themselves, with guitarist and now vocalist, Marty Toner stepping up to the mic. The result is a brooding reflection on struggling to keep up the pace when time indifferently rushes by, driven by fretboard work that swirls and jigs and a both introspective and intricate Tool-like quality to both guitars and vocals up until the track’s closing release of tension. Similar to last year’s Alpha Male Tea Party release, A-Tota-So not only take the leap from being instrumental to implementing their own vocals with success, they are enriched as a result and we cannot wait to hear how this new approach pans out next month at Noizzefest. – Avrian O’Brien
Me Rex has long taken an unorthodox approach to emo, and ‘Protection Runes’ doesn’t challenge that. Bound by breakbeats and the falsetto vocals of Myles McCabe, this new single sees the trio less leaning into their electronic inspirations and more diving straight into them. In fact, such is the focus on dance music even long time listeners will be forgiven in doing a double take. This is still the same band we’ve loved from the beginning though. Documenting how Germanic runes have been adopted by far right groups and how the very nature of such runes can be equally perceived as both threatening and protection, this track effortlessly contains the intracity, tenderness and charismatic articulation that has long defined Me Rex. If anything, this further highlights how truly unique and adventurous this band can be musically without ever compromising their core ethos and personalty. We can’t wait to see what’s next from the band following this. – Dan Hillier
Portrayal Of Guilt have announced their upcoming new album …Beginning of the End with industrial and nu-metal influenced double single ‘Ecstasy / Human Terror’. Frontman Matt King has made it no secret that Korn were a major influence behind his dissonant guitar work but this has never been more apparent than on these new tracks alongside synthetic-sounding industrial percussions and a deep, grumbling sludgy bass tone akin to their friends in Chat Pile, themselves also heavily influenced by the nu metal founding fathers. Portrayal Of Guilt continue to play around with their sound from one release to another. From blackened screamo to electronic or even chamber music reimaginings of their devilish and punishing spin on black metal and hardcore, the Austin trio embrace experimentation at every corner and clearly, this is them in their industrial nu-metal arc. …Beginning of the End releases 24th April via Run For Cover Records and is certain to have many more surprises up its sleeves while expanding upon the band’s bleak and gruesome vision yet retaining its distinctive core strengths and identity. Apocalyptic music for apocalyptic times. – Avrian O’Brien
Whilst it was written following the first Trump presidency, the new single from NYC post-punk noiseniks A Place To Bury Strangers feels more pertinent and important now. Documenting how cruelty and sadism have become not just normalised but institutionalised as political tools by right wing parties, the corrosive noise of ‘Acid Rain’ feels like it’s released just at the right moment, especially given Trump’s latest temper tantrum of a war in Iran. It may not be the most pleasant of songs given its genre and message, but this a crucial reminder of how we must rally against both violence and the encroachment of fascism peddled by self-proclaimed strongmen leaders. – Dan Hillier
