Two years on from their acclaimed EP release ‘Polarity’, Night Thieves build upon an already solid alt-metal sound when parts of their eagerly awaited full length ‘Metaxis’ take a chunkier turn. The grooves and beat laden melodies that made the EP so appealing are still present, and Jess Moyle’s vocals retain their hugely accessible sound, but the best of this album’s songs present a more confident sounding unit.
Valerie Forgione – aka Lovina Falls – creates a strange and sometimes dream-like world on her 2025 EP ‘Would That It Were’. Its five tracks create a great extension of the sounds shared on 2023’s ‘Calculating The Angle of Our Descent’, bending pop, synth, dream pop and melodic 90s influences into new shapes, on material that invites its audience to listen closely.
Those paying attention to the UK’s indie, shoegaze and dream pop scenes early in 2026 might have already discovered ‘Find Me There’, a fantastic track from Wiltshire based Shapes Like People. A fantastic single that sounded like the perfect dream pop throwback to 1993/1994 with its Cocteau Twins inspired shimmering guitar lines and clean vocals, it suggested that the upcoming Shapes Like People album would potentially be great.
Tooth Gore’s ‘For Losers, By Losers’ was one of the best albums of 2025. The artist’s mix of melodic indie, surf rock, pop punk and 90s inspired alt rock created a varied but coherent listen, and at the material’s strongest, Kobi Joe’s command of a chorus was more than clear.
The previous two singles from UK metal band Night Thieves managed to convey very different aspects to their huge sound. ‘Obsidian’ shared a love for early Linkin Park and Paramore, but added a heavier edge that worked brilliantly against a great vocal, blending retro alternative and slight goth influences with ease, while ‘Mycelia’ unleashed a heavier sound, driven by pneumatic drums bringing more of a metalcore edge. By retaining a clean vocal, this still managed to be very accessible.