If you had to book a show for an audience of half-Pop fans and half-Metalheads with the promise that no one would walk out, it would seem like an impossible task. But book Welsh band Holding Absence for a show like this, and everyone’s jaws will be on the floor before the first song finishes.
It’s not every day you come across a band with members from Hong Kong, Israel, and Germany, giving them such universally diverse perspectives as the shameless genre-benders of PLAIINS – let alone ones with the musical chemistry to create an EP like Puppet (Self-Released). Through a seamless blend of punk, indie, hardcore, and alternative rock, the multicultural trio uses their range of experiences to oppose political issues from around the globe. Thus, making them lyrically relatable across nations, as well as sonically appealing to indie and punk fans alike.Continue reading
While the leading names in Nu-metal are ones that started twenty to thirty years ago, bands like Sicksense bring high hopes for the genre’s future. Testing the limits of the style Linkin Park and Korn made history with, the group shares their second EP, Fools Tomorrow (Sound Escape Agency), a sequel to their debut EP Kings Today. They each promote the idea of holding on tight to the throne earned from major achievements, stating that it could always be pulled from right under you if your hard work ceases.
When any kind of metal band promotes their new material as “the heaviest music they’ve ever made”, it’s usually met with eye rolls from fans who have heard this very promise time and time again from their favorite groups who failed to deliver. Hearing this from The Amity Affliction, a group that has always stood on the lighter side of metalcore, I was one of the skeptical ones. Ever since the Australian quartet released their instant classic Let The Ocean Take Me in 2014, each album following has paled in comparison.
Until now.
Breaking through the UK with their enchanting blend of alternative rock and metal, British quintet As Everything Unfolds continue developing their recipe for success with their sophomore album, Ultraviolet (Long Branch Records). The record’s name is inspired by a metaphor for gaining new perspectives on life and is an astoundingly fitting descriptor for the aural experience achieved by each track’s dynamic arrangements.
Having approached their twentieth year of being a staple in the metalcore scene, the prodigies of Atreyu still haven’t lost their spark (no pun intended) with the new EP The Hope Of A Spark (Spinefarm Records). Drawing from the commonalities of the quintet’s personal lives, each song is truly a shared effort among the five of them – not only musically, but conceptually.
For a band that hasn’t changed their sound much over the course of almost twenty years, Pennsylvania quintet August Burns Red miraculously continues to stay not only relevant but one of the most widely respected acts in modern metal.
A great deal of today’s biggest metalcore fans consider the 2000s to the 2010s the golden years of the genre. Bands such as Michigan-based For The Fallen Dreams who have continued on since the MySpace era help to maintain the style’s raw spirit with their ever-evolving nu-metal twists – and their new self-titled album (Arising Empire) is no exception.
Starting in the nineties and still continuing to this day in 2023, it’s safe to say the Riot Grrrl movement isn’t dying out any time soon. New bands such as all-female hardcore punk trio Death Pill continue to emerge from the shadows, and this one has a debut album that’s tough to forget once crawled through unsuspecting ears.
Metalcore has evolved significantly since the early 2000s, with countless bands finding their own creative strategies to embrace the melodic side of the genre without forgetting about its metal roots. Rising up from Marl, Germany, Our Mirage solidify what makes their brand of metalcore special with their somber yet hard-hitting tone as well as their captivating ways of storytelling. Their sophomore album Eclipse (Arising Empire) takes the heavy rock riffing and balances it with atmospheric touches that bring out a certain delicacy amongst the havoc.