BITE DOWN – Ynoga
Release Date: 26th January 2024
Swedish metal from BITE DOWN is first on the menu as those bass drums get pounded and the vocals get heavy! Metalcore is well and truly back right now and merging it with a little death too is likely to get many people’s attention. The themes contained within ‘Ynoga’ point towards the struggles with mental health. Overall, this is a track with its finger right on the pulse.
Patient Sixty-Seven – No Place (feat. Aaron Gillespie of Underoath)
Release Date: 26th January 2024
Sticking with metalcore, but moving down under, Aussie metalers Patient Sixty-Seven have teamed up with Underoath’s drummer/vocalist Aaron Gillespie on the track ‘No Place’. Kicking of at a ferocious pace, the track utilises Gillespie’s experience perfectly, crafting a powerful soundscape around those signature cleans. If this track doesn’t get you fighting back against those demons, maybe spin it again and see if it works that time.
A.Moortal – Hall Of Mirrors
Release Date: 12th January 2024
Moving a little heavier here, American artist A.Moortal (get it?!) turns the pace down but the intensity up several notches. From the very start you can feel that this track may be a little ploddier than expected, but this feels like pure metal through and through. Even then though, there are sections of the track that are much more melodic than you’d think. An all round strong track that comes out of left field.
Know Your Exits – Eat Your Heart Out
Release Date: 19th January 2024
Long Island, New York, USA, based Know Your Exits take us on a more hardcore based journey on ‘Eat Your Heart Out’. Riffs for days kick off early on the song, ably backed by the huge vocals of Michael Gruber. With amazing artwork, a track that will have you considering destruction and a rawness that touches the soul, this is a tracks and subsequently a band, with huge potential.
Original Self – Better Directions
Release Date: 22nd August 2023
Rounding off one of the heaviest roundups to date, American metallers Original Self may not be the riffiest of the bands we’ve featured today, but ‘Better Directions’ goes hard emotionally. Taking on some of the huge challenges that life presents, the track is a modern take on metalcore with some borderline chanting, vocals that are clean but with a rawness that can only come from genuinely living the lyrics and a musical base that will have you moving along with it. A fun introduction to a band that can make a corner of the market their own with tracks this strong.