Dying Wish – ‘Fragments Of A Bitter Memory’
Fusing the groove and stomp of New Wave of American Heavy Metal with the chaos of metalcore and hardcore, Portland bruisers Dying Wish just announced their forthcoming record and released its lead single and title track, ‘Fragments Of A Bitter Memory’. It’s a deeply personal song, discussing frank topics from alcoholism to violence, abuse and living in fear. Vocalist Emma Boster says of the lyrics, “season of life forever change healing the fragments you still control” that they refer to her constant struggling to heal from this trauma, along with the line “I would bury you if I could” because even after therapy and a decade of healing, violent revenge seems the easiest and most satisfying way to cope with this. The band’s sound is, unsurprisingly raw and uncompromising, rooted in a scene for which fighting for justice and equality is a cornerstone of its ethos. – Will Marshall
Deafheaven – ‘The Gnashing’
Deafheaven caused a bit of a stir indeed upon the release of the first single from their forthcoming LP Infinite Granite. Whereas the band first earned their globally renowned status for kickstarting the ongoing current wave of blackgaze, June’s ‘Great Mass Of Color’ saw the band once again defying genre expectations by completely cutting the extremity from their work and bringing to light the total change in direction that Infinite Granite is set to host. ‘The Gnashing’ – the second single from the impending Sargent House released record – continues to offer a tantalising glimpse into new the era of Deafheaven. A shimmering and damn near enchanted radiance of dreamy alt-rock that’s led by kaleidoscopic tones that lean into the band’s shoegaze tendencies, ‘The Gnashing’ may not reassure those desperately hoping for a return to the band’s black metal roots, but for the rest of us, it’s a hypnotic glimmer into what is set to be the band’s most riveting work to date. – Dan Hillier
Yours Truly – ‘Walk Over My Grave’
Aussie pop punk outfit Yours Truly put out one of last year’s most anticipated and best debuts with Self Care, a story of mental health, coming to terms with yourself and life itself. It was a warm hug from a best friend that took an unflinching look at life’s twists and turns. The band teased a new era for them, with new single ‘Walk Over My Grave’ seeing them enter that new era for the first time. The song explores the idea of someone haunting you, and wondering if you haunt them in return; whether anything you ever said stuck with them as what they’ve said or did stuck with you. It’s based on vocalist Mikaela’s own experience with someone abruptly leaving her life, saying that she ended up pulling over while driving to write lyrics for it. Stylistically there’s the pop-punk people have come to know and love but they also flirt with melodic post-hardcore, even toying with a breakdown towards the end. It’s a maturing of their sound that’s sure to win over new and old fans alike. – Will Marshall
Black Coast – ‘Strangers Skin’
A chugging great riff, mesmerising vocals and a slight twinge of being dangerously close to the edge, the blokes from stoke are fast proving themselves the underdogs to watch with their latest release ‘Strangers Skin’, the fourth single form their forthcoming debut record Outworld. Blending the lines between nu-metal, hardcore and grunge, Black Coast might not be setting the trend but they sure as hell perfect it, mixing in groove and melody with hard hitting metallic noise. As proven with this. they excel at what they do and absolutely deserve a place in the spotlight on any new music playlist. – Elliot Grimmie
Cold Night For Alligators – ‘Nostalgic’
Despite Copenhagen’s Cold Night For Alligators offering an undeniably brilliant take on technical progressive metal, the group have always jettisoned out of the metal community in thanks to their unconventionally idiosyncratic delivery and as a result, have been on receiving end of some stick from the elitist kind. Documenting this is the group’s latest single ‘Nostalgic, a soaring and expertly crafted slab of appeasing djent focused prog that showcases the band’s more mature side. “We’re a weird band and have gotten quite a bit of hate over the time, both in person and online”, states vocalist Johan Pederson. “Now we finally wrote a proper “metal” song, so it seemed appropriate to write about this. I guess this is a kind of loving middle finger to a metal scene that we come from, but don’t really fit into.” – Dan Hillier
Wolves In The Throne Room – ‘Spirit Of Lightening’
Continuing on from the release of previous single ‘Mountain Magick’, atmospheric black metallers Wolves In The Throne Room have unveiled the latest single, entitled ‘Spirit Of Lightning’, from their upcoming album Primordial Arcana. Of the song itself, the band commented “Spirit of Lightning returns briefly to the earthly plane as a tribute to the human connections forged in music. Metal is a community that’s bonded together through music and spirituality. This song is an homage to that community, that brotherhood and the virtues that can be espoused through it—going all the way back to the progenitors of the genre.” There’s a thick, woodsy atmosphere throughout as only they can conjure, with the frostbitten tremolo picking and howls of black metal but shot through with the beauty and grandeur of the natural world, marvelling in its incredibility. This is the band’s first completely self-contained work; all aspects of composing, recording, production and mixing were done at their own Owl Lodge Studios in the woods of Washington State and the level of care invested is clear; Primordial Arcana is set to be one of their finest works yet. – Will Marshall
Fortitude Valley – ‘Baby, I’m Afraid’
Featuring members of Martha and Night Flowers whilst serving as a creative outlet for Durham-based Brisbanite Laura Kovic, Fortitude Valley offer bubblegum scented power punk in a manner irrefutably slacked and relaxed. Demonstrating this in a fashion reminiscent of halcyon days of 90’s Weezer and The Weakerthans is the group’s latest single ‘Baby, I’m Afraid’. Depicting a stalling relationship and the impending fallout that’s destined to follow, ‘Baby, I’m Afraid’ is a brilliantly awkward and slacked anthem that’s constructed around a plethora of scalping riffs and lazily ensuring riffs. Taken from the band’s forthcoming self-titled record – which releases October 29th via Fika Recordings – this is evidence that Fortitude Valley is most likely set to be the sleeper hit of the year. – Dan Hillier
Chapter And Verse – ‘After Midnight’
Chapter And Verse are bonafide superstars in the making. Relentlessly churning out banger after banger, new single ‘After Midnight’ provides a rebooted, fresh take on the British alternative rock style of music. Josh’s silky smooth vocals entwined with the infectiously rhythmic beat of the drums, the helicopter chop tempo of the guitar, combined in such a formula you’d be forgiven for thinking they must be veteran mainstays in the scene upon first listen. If you’re familiar with Chapter And Verse at this point in their career then you’ve stumbled upon something very special indeed, a band so flawless in their execution it feels as if they should be headlining shows to crowds of thousands already. To deny Chapter And Verse a prosperous future for their career would seem nothing short of criminal at this point. – Elliot Grimmie
Strange Bones – ‘Jungle’
Another frantic barrage of hyperactive energy from Strange Bones, their latest single ‘Jungle’ is a frenetic, electrically charged power smash from start to finish. This is as DIY underground punk as it gets, this Blackpool outfit have been steadily pushing their way up through the floorboards over the past few years and it feels like any moment they could suddenly take flight and burst right through the ceiling. They’re a band that does things their own way and there’s no other artist truly quite like them out there right now. Simply, they’re in a league of their own, unmatched and unfaltering through their sheer force of will and they are style and substance both manifest and unparalleled. – Elliot Grimmie
Trivium – ‘In The Court Of The Dragon’
Hot on the heels of last year’s acclaimed What The Dead Men Say, modern metal champions Trivium sent out a few cryptic teasers in the run up to the sudden unveiling of their new single, ‘In The Court Of The Dragon’. Any doubts people might have had, given some past releases, should now be well and truly assuaged. Two albums into a mid-career renaissance, Trivium show absolutely no signs of slowing down. We open with a roar of the title and one of the hardest riffs they’ve put to tape and Alex Bent’s effortless blast beats sit under a soaring chorus later. Not content to merely write a stone-cold banger, they also drop in one of the year’s finest mosh calls with “The stars have died and the heavens will go up in flames!” that’s sure to incite some giant pits. Trivium are arguably at their best when they go big, and it doesn’t get much bigger than this. – Will Marshall
All tracks can be found in our essential playlist.