Bosola – Truth Man
Release Date: 2nd February 2024
Hailing from the north east of England, Bosola are approaching their third anniversary as a band, kicking off 2024 with new single ‘Truth Man’. The track is their first since July and will further cement their stature in and around the Newcastle scene, threatening to take their jangly guitars and punky vibes much wider. Merging that punk core with some almost indie style and a smidge of alt-rock means that Bosola are a band that can keep things shifting. Within the few minutes this song runs there are a few change of pace, a tonne of singalong vocals and an all round good time. Albeit whilst playing with the topic of living a lie.
KRIATURA – Armageddon
Release Date: 6th January 2024
We don’t get much music make it over here from certain countries, with Panama being one of them. A band on a mission to change that this year are KRIATURA, an outfit from Central America that are doing metal how it was always meant to be done. From the outset the track is intriguing. An intro that lingers a little longer than you would expect gives way to metal that could have arrived in your ears in a time machine from the 80s. ‘Armageddon’ implores you to drink some slightly warm beer and get those neck muscles warmed up.
Gabrielle Ornate – Enchantress of Sound
Release Date: 2nd February 2024
With an opening riff that sits firmly in between pop and stadium rock, vocals that are firmly in the category of the former and an all round atmosphere that gives no fucks, ‘Enchantress of Sound’ doesn’t so much as bring genres together as it just blatantly ignores them. There’s a lot to love here as Ornate’s confidence and attitude and it is something that will go a long way to winning over gatekeepers of both styles. A few years in the business already means that there’s a breakout just waiting to happen here!
Skøv – Tight Corridors
Release Date: 17th January 2024
Whilst the intro does sound like ‘Baggy Trousers’ is about to kick off, ‘Tight Corridors’ couldn’t be too different from that legendary Madness track. Polish punk/metal outfit Skøv are a band that are fast approaching veterans status as they enter their fifth year. The song is pointing multiple fingers at general society, plundering the planet for profit with little consideration for the consequences and that is the perfect backdrop for a track that ventures from a fast paced punk baseline through heavier sections and back to some delightful singalongs. This isn’t the first and likely won’t be the last time we cover Skøv.
Svain – Urartu Inferno
Release Date: 17th January 2024
Pushing things a little heavier for the finale, solo core outfit Svain is taking the opportunity whilst working alone to shine a light on topics that truly matter to him as a person. ‘Urartu Inferno’ is the latest effort from Svain, whose debut album Redemption dropped in 2023, and it is one that highlights the effects of conflict on Urtatu, the region known in modern times as the Armenian Highlands, that has been attacked multiple times over the last few millennia. You can feel the meaning this has on the artist as it pours out of a track that goes hard from start to finish, even during melodic sections.
Give these tracks and more a listen here: