Andrew Benge
April 6, 2025| Dan Hillier |FEATURES
Straight Girl, Igorrr, We Lost The Sea and More: New Noizze – The 12 Must-Listen Tracks of The Week
You know the deal, here's the best singles of the week.
Straight Girl – God
A lot has changed since Straight Girl released their last single. A lot hasn’t changed too; one thing being right-wing extremists using religion to justify violence. Such is the theme of ‘God’, the first single from Straight Girl in half a decade. Releasing prior to their final shows later this month, ‘God’ is a thumping, ferocious and understandably confrontational electropunk big-beat anti-anthem that see’s Straight Girl leaning into the villain role that they’re often branded with. “I’m playing fully into the villain role that the queer community so often gets branded with”, states Straight Girl on the track. “I’ve pushed it to the extreme, as a retaliation against right-wing extremists that use religion to excuse their violent politics. I’m your god now, bitch.” – Dan Hillier
Igorrr – ADHD
Igorrr has always been such a singular presence in the heavy music scene and their rise to popularity in their homeland of France and then beyond is perhaps just as curious given how challenging and bizarre their music can be. Originally focusing more on mixing breakcore with lyrical, baroque music, Igorrr started incorporating more and more organic metal influences alongside a slew of other improbable influences from across the world and different epochs. New single ‘ADHD’ feels like a wonderful summerisation of that journey, hinting at a return of emphasis on the original breakcore and baroque interminglings, with the songwriting, production, riffs and quirks that have brought Igorrr to headline stages across the world. Igorrr’s upcoming new album Amen will be out on September 19th and promises to continue their legacy of making heavy music as eccentric, unpredictable and fun as they possibly can. – Avrian O’Brien
We Lost The Sea – A Dance With Death
It’s been 5+ long years since Triumph & Disaster blessed fans’ eardrums, but we finally have the first taste of new music from post rock royalty We Lost The Sea. ‘A Dance With Death’ comes from their new album A Single Flower out 2 July, it’s near 10 and a half minutes of instrumental post rock bliss. Repeated motifs crop up all over it, echoing each other and evolving into an avalanche of sound. There’s moments reminiscent of 2015’s gut-wrenching Departure Songs – certainly no bad thing. It’s only available via their Bandcamp for now (where you can also preorder the album) or with a studio performance video on YouTube, but it’s a diversion well worth your time. – Will Marshall
Suds – State of Everything
Dropping just prior to their upcoming European tour alongside Macseal, one might expect the new single from Suds to be somewhat of a bleak experience with a title like that. But misery ain’t the Suds way. Retelling the whirlwind the indie-emo quartet have experienced following the release of their debut LP back in 2023, ‘State Of Everything’ once again see’s Suds radiating the wistful charm and refreshing warmth that made that aforementioned debut just so refreshing. It’s easy to look around at the state of, well, everything right now and despair, but at least Suds remain a source of warmth in a world gone cold. – Dan Hillier
Sleep Token – Caramel
Rising from underground oddities to one of the biggest bands on the planet in just a few short years, anonymous, genre bending collective Sleep Token finally address their newfound fame on their latest single ‘Caramel’. Keeping the edgy hip-hop inspired flow of their previous single ‘Emergence’ with eerie beats and metalcore chugging guitars, frontman Vessel channels the band’s frustration at their legions of over-enthusiastic fans, specifically calling out those who’ve dug into band members’ personal lives despite their insistence on staying incognito, in his trademark crooning voice before the track explodes into a Deafheaven inspired blackgaze breakdown. In just three years Sleep Token have gone from respected innovators in the UK’s alternative scene to Download Festival headliners, ‘Caramel’ gives a rare glimpse into the people behind the mask and how they’re handling their unprecedented ascent. – Tom Bruce
Pillowprince – Care About
Lifted from their upcoming EP Pretty, Baby! – released April 25th via Dune Altar – ‘Care About’ is outpouring of grief and rage in the wake of the Club Q shootings that took place in November 2022, where five people where were murdered and 22 others injured by an anti-LGBTQIA+ extremist. As one can imagine, this may not be comfortable listening experience, but it is crucial. Animated via the atmospherics qualities that shoegaze and slowcore invite, ‘Care About’ is a calm, composed and wonderfully crafted single that bares a sense of urgency that counters stereotypical perceptions of the genre. This may primarily be an ode to lives lost, but also it’s also more than that; it’s a call for empathy in a time of an escalating bigotry, and a call to protect a community that many wish to destroy. – Dan Hillier
Static Dress – face.
Their first official single of 2025, following on from the (so far) video-only release of ‘death to the overground’, Static Dress‘ ‘face.’ is a whole minute longer and a lot more melodic – though that’s solely from the inclusion of occasional melodic vocals. Otherwise it’s a frantic, caustic stab of post-hardcore excellence from the Leeds outfit. Frantic, visceral verses give way to fraught choruses that continue to echo the very best of 2000s post-hardcore in the vein of Glassjaw without ever sounding like a nostalgia act. With any luck, this is only the first taste of what we’ll be hearing from Static Dress this year. – Will Marshall
To The Grave – Sawed Off
Australian deathcore squad To The Grave drop their second single of the year and follow the same path of previous single ‘Forced Diet Reassignment’, keeping a sinister edge at the forefront of their music with Dane Evans’ haunting vocal delivery beating down on you like a storm in the middle of the Atlantic. Adding to the vocals the band are keeping the music low and slow, traversing into more of a beatdown hardcore jaunt but keeping up the deathcore scenery that grips their audience. To The Grave, if anything, have shown how they can flawlessly grasp another genre like it’s their own and twist it around their roots. – Liam True
LIK – Morgue Rat
Like death metal? So do LIK, and they make it sound good. ‘Morgue Rat’ is taken from the imminent Necro out 18 April on Metal Blade, and it’s some seriously riffy fun. A mid-paced stomper that chugs, grooves and churns, it’s also got some (as ever) seriously sick subject matter. Guitarist/vocalist Tomas Åkvik explains the song is “partly inspired by infamous Californian necrophiliac Karen Greenlee… It‘s a heavy, groovy song about a mortician who can‘t keep her fingers away from the dead.” Thoroughly gross, disturbing and perfect death metal fodder, then. – Will Marshall
Your Spirit Dies – Unjust God
Your Spirit Dies love when metalcore had At The Gates riffs. Drawing inspiration from the Swedes along with a healthy dose of Trivium and Unearth, they’re one of the most exciting newer metalcore bands, and they’ve yet to release an album. ‘Unjust God’ comes from that debut My Gnawing Pains Will Never Rest, out 2 May via MNRK Heavy, and in short? It rips. Don’t let its clean guitar intro fool you; when it kicks in, it accelerates to breakneck speed before throwing a curveball chorus a la early Killswitch Engage before going straight back to warp speed. Inspired by the Book of Job, it tells the story of someone pushed beyond their breaking point who turns their back on religion entirely. The same book also inspired the album’s title, hinting at a particularly hard-hitting examination of belief and relationship with power and faith. – Will Marshall
Lights – Surface Tension / White Paper Palm Trees
Lights has been steadily evolving since 2009’s The Listening, and her two latest singles from upcoming sixth album A6 encapsulate the two distinctly different ends of her journey. ‘White Paper Palm Trees’ is a callback to that era, directly so with its lyrics referencing “February air” and its oft higher-pitched vocal. It’s not purely aping her early work though, Lights examining how she feels about the person she was then and introducing a modern slant to it. ‘Surface Tension’, by contrast, is pure modern Lights as it channels both new wave and darkwave. Most interestingly of all, when the videos are played next to each other (perhaps mute one) they both interact, walking from one frame to the other or throwing bits of paper to make palm trees out of. It’s a fascinating move that shows off the breadth of A6. – Will Marshall
Higher Walls – So Much, For So Long, For So Little
Taken from their upcoming EP No End – self-released April 25th – ‘So Much, For So Long, For So Little’ is an absolute stomper of a single releasing in a time where action in the streets is needed more than ever. Marching with the iron determination reminiscent of bands such as Terror and Hatebreed but the blood in it’s veins pumping with the fury of the modern UKHC scene, here, the London hardcore unit Higher Walls rally against the brazen arrogance of how our leaders prioritise profit over people via perpetual war, the dismantlement of administrative departments and general disdain for the people they’re meant to serve. – Dan Hillier
