2023 is bound to go down in history as the year that Welsh three piece Chroma really made it big. This year they’ve played shows as close to home as FOCUS Wales and as far afield as the DMZ Peace Train Music Festival in South Korea and SXSW in Texas, signed with independent tastemakers Alcopop! Records, they’ve announced a show supporting the iconic Foo Fighters and now, after over five years of singles and live shows they’re ready to release their highly anticipated debut album Ask For Angela. The trio, formed of drummer Zac Mather, bassist Liam Bevan and singer/guitarist Katie Hall, bring together the sounds of Royal Blood, Lambrini Girls and Catatonia for an entirely fresh take on the alt-rock genre filled with chunky riffs and personal, introspective lyrics.
From the album’s scorching opener ‘Don’t Wanna Go Out’ it’s clear that Chroma aren’t here to mess about, bringing an early Arctic Monkeys level of musical storytelling to this raucous alt-rock track while retaining their restrained lyrical wit. Keeping the track simple with a constant, fuzzed out guitar riff and repeated chorus of “Don’t wanna go out but I’m going out anyway”, ‘Don’t Wanna Go Out’ eloquently paints a picture of a regretful night out with only a few lines per verse. Frontwoman Katie Hall’s vocals stand out on this single, remaining strong while building from a raspy whisper to a boisterous shout.
Grindcore and all it’s related abrasive movements have long been genres specialising in sudden, swift and concessive force. The musical equivalent of a being on the receiving end of an unprovoked glassing in a flat roof pub if you will. However, the genre – much akin to every other musical movement on the alternative spectrum – has been the victim to relentless experimentation as of late, with many an artist haphazardly splicing motifs of grind with other more remote sounds. Results have varied, but it appears a common causality of this frenzied splicing is the softening of grind’s bluntness. Thankfully, there’s plenty of acts within the UK scene staying true to grind’s filthy roots. Atomçk are one of them, and nothing highlights this more than the band’s utterly frantic new record Towering Failures.
The third LP from the South West grind ruffians, Towering Failures is anything but it’s namesake. Comprised of 19 tracks with the longest spanning two minutes 40 seconds, Towering Failures is a throw back to the halcyon days of grind where the inherent filth is void of any impurities or feckless gimmickry. It’s short, snappy, obscene, comical, and like all good records of this nature, would give your grandmother psychosis. However, this is not rehashing nor reskinning of the products of the acts that pioneered the grind game all those decades ago. By building upon the adventurous nature of their sound established in their previous records and by perfecting their tone, this record see’s Atomçk carving out their own squalid cavity in the scene.
For the better part of six years, The Callous Daoboys have existed as an entity driven by the desire to be an undefinable band nearly incapable of being accused of any genre. Their 2022 album Celebrity Therapist brought this mission to new heights, presenting a collection of their most thoughtful songs to date, proving they were capable of being more than just heavy and noisy and weird, but also incredibly moving and innovative as well. Vocalist Carson Pace illuminated the band’s intention to make certain that every song on the album had some kind of hook – a hook truly in the pop music sense – and it showed as the band broke into a whole new level of mass appeal. This is all said to give context for the fact that in the three songs that make up their new EP God Smiles Upon The Callous Daoboys, they have somehow managed to double down on that growth and tremendously exceed the expectations set by Celebrity Therapist.
Where God Smiles Upon the Callous Daoboys succeeds is in offering their most accessible material to date not only without sacrificing the chaos and noise they are known for, but in fact while ramping that up as well. The opening track, ‘Pushing the Pink Envelope’ begins with a brief synth laden intro with some mainstream rock sensibility, a singular moment of relative calm that allows the listener to brace themselves before immediately launching into a heavy breakdown. One thing about this EP is that the breakdowns scattered throughout it largely avoid being too ostentatious, a trademark of the mathcore label the band often gets assigned, and focus largely on being pure 90s metalcore style kill-each-other moments. This too, however, is immediately interrupted to lead into a barrages of seemingly disparate sections that range from breakcore, chaotic mathcore riffs, salsa and hyperpop. It’s a song that refuses to stand still for too long, reminiscent of bands like The Great Redneck Hope or the finer moments of I Set My Friends On Fire’s debut album You Can’t Spell Slaughter Without Laughter, constantly bouncing between sounds and styles so rapidly it feels impossible to keep up.
Clearly, new label Prosthetic Records agreed, snapping them up swiftly to embark on the journey that became their second album, In My Saddest Dreams, I Am Beside You. The band stated very clearly that they never set out to make Modern Grotesque 2, and without beating around the bush, they’ve succeeded by every metric. While its predecessor took shape in a stop-start process as the band refined their lineup and sound, In My Saddest Dreams… is their first time consciously writing a full album and it shines for it.
‘Good Reasons to Freeze to Death’ opens the album with a post-rock swell, from jangly guitars into a bloodletting, screamed chorus. At once conjuring thoughts of MONO along with Touche Amore and moments of Deafheaven, it’s an arresting start to the album that, while not revealing Dreamwell’s whole hand, sets the stage for the emotionally fraught, beautiful album to come. ‘Studying the Greats in Self-Immolation’ flows naturally from the opener, gently serene guitars building through its opening ninety seconds to a furious conclusion. Even from just two songs, this is already a very promising album.
While the moods ebb and flow and emotions change, the band balance it masterfully; ‘Lord Have MRSA On My Soul’ sees vocalist KZ Staska switching between a vulnerable melodicism and vicious shrieks, particularly when drummer Anthony Montalbano pushes the song into blastbeat territory, echoing the frenetic chaos of Botch or the blackened majesty of Deafheaven. It’s extremely clear that it’s an album where Dreamwell truly flourish creatively. They set up clear parameters throughout the album that, rather than hinting at their own take on the genre, allow it to grow and be nurtured.
Being a fan of Beartooth and absorbing their discography is almost like having VIP access to the mind and thought processes of frontman Caleb Shomo. His public battle with depression & self-hatred has been in the fabric of Beartooth’s releases since day one, but with The Surface, the wallow and misery of previous efforts has been left behind to make way for a new path of acceptance of self and recovery. If you want the gloomier outputs, look backwards. But if you want to understand Shomo‘s journey to sobriety and positivity, The Surface will take you on it with him.
As the band press forwards into the album’s title track, their metalcore roots are still very much implemented and are still their sound with the more melodic elements we know and love them for. And with lyrics like “might have pushed it to the limit, but I’m not dead yet” is a sign of resilience in Shomo and how he’s bounced back. The more pop punk upbeat vibe of The Surface carries on over to the rest of the album. Make no mistake, the more upbeat feeling does not impact their abilities to create a solid metalcore album. Blending the lines between aggression and poppier efforts is done sublimely by Beartooth. Although Shomo does play all the instruments in studio, and does a blinding effort at this, there is no doubt that when the band hit the stage to showcase this effort that guitarists Will Deely & Zach Huston will be able to shred harder and more violently on tracks like Riptide & Look The Other Way.
Modern Technology are arguably one of the noisiest twosomes on the planet. They combine elements of sludge, heavy metal, and noise rock to create an ungodly cacophony belied by the make-up of the band. Social conscious forward thinking music is the order of the day here and Modern Technology are gonna provide it. From the tortured calls to arms, to the driving drums and fuzzed out Black Sabbath bass there is little room here for quiet, and no space for inaction. Drummer Chris Clarke outlines the bands intentions to, “reflect how we can be so blind to the real threat of existence, by being focused on ourselves,” and it is clear from the outset that this audible onslaught is going to reflect like a well-polished chrome petrol tank.
The album was recorded in December of 2022 after being conceived during the lock-down period of 2020. This has led to the birth of an absolute monster. Conditions of Worth is a racket in the best possible way, from the quiet(ish) introduction on the first track ‘Dead Air’, to the swirling, psychedelic, maelstrom that is ‘Believer’, Conditions of Worth pounds the listeners mind into a saddened and angry mush, before delivering it up to Modern Technology’s cryptic lyrical stylings, your brain on consumerism is the metaphorical food for thought.
