Back with some more great tracks for your perusal is the Singles Only piece. Get stuck in.
Transients – Scratch The Surface
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Kicking us off with a bout of pure energy and emotion are Transients with their metalcore anthem ‘Scratch The Surface’. With vocalist Joe having this to say: “For me, it was a need to express my feelings about everything that’s going on in the world. I guess that’s where a lot of the political lyrics came from… just a need to vent.”. Has there ever been a more relevant time for a track? The song has all of the usual metalcore markers, drums and riffs that combine together to punch you in the gut, a mixture of growls and clean vocals and the sort of atmosphere many other genres can only dream of. Metalcore may be saturated at the moment, but Transients are in a great position with songs like this to step above the noise and make a name for themselves.
Downfall 2012 – Attack Point
Sticking to tracks with an atmosphere with have ‘Attack Point’ from American metallers Downfall 2012. The song’s intro feels like nu-metal through the years has all been pulled into one and spat out with a twist. The harsh vocals are fairly standard for the genre but the combination of the clean and harsh vocals is pleasing for the ears. Musically, think Coal Chamber when you think of the bass and drums and you’re not far off. This is a heavy track that is particularly accessible for anyone that hasn’t kept up with nu-metal all that much.
Mannequin Death Squad – Blue
Australian duos aren’t something we really come across too often and on the basis of Mannequin Death Squad we can’t tell if that’s because there aren’t many or they’re don’t think they could do it as well as this. ‘Blue’ is the latest track from the pair, released a couple of weeks ago, and focuses fully on the pain of splitting up in your teen years. El says: “Blue is a song I wrote at 16 years of age in my 90’s poster drowned out room. It feels to me like an angst break-up song. It’s about who we vilify when we’re feelin’ kinda blue.” If you’re into the 90s grunge style of music then you’re going to like this. It’s fuzzy and dirty and just what you need when the weather’s a bit shit and you’re hating someone. Pump this one up loud!
Ryan Vanicin – Saltwater
Following on from that grunginess we hit up Ryan Vanicin again and this time it’s his track ‘Saltwater’ that is the focus. Musically the track isn’t necessarily pulling up many trees, even with its fantastic transitions between elements. It’s vocally where the song steps it up though. Ryan‘s vocals have more about them than so many vocalists around at the moment and on each track they suit the style perfectly. Here they’re honed right in on that grungey sound but still sounding entirely new and fresh. This is a slow-paced, yet perfectly timed plod of a track that has so much personality and atmosphere to it.
Down To The Bunker – The Asylum
Finishing us off in style today it is Down To The Bunker and their track ‘The Asylum’ from their album released last week entitled Misery. The Swiss band are blending vocals of a similar ilk to Gojira with music that draws inspiration from so many modern metal bands. In two minute forty-four second track you would run out of fingers counting the different styles. This is all achieved with such strong cohesion and has created a track that is as heavy as it is melodic. This is music that crosses genres and makes everyone happy. Get your ears stuck in now!
That’s this weeks singles reviews, please check out the tracks above and give them a listen in our embedded Spotify playlist below. Thanks for reading!
You can also catch up on all of the tracks featured in 2018:
