Cober Mouth are a band who’ve never been afraid of genre-hopping. On their 2024 single ‘Open! Shut…’, they chopped in many of their already familiar alternative elements for swathes of rap and R&B, and on their current track ‘Steride’, they introduce heavy synth loops and an almost industrial level of heaviness to their cornucopia of noise.

It’s a short track, so nothing has been left to chance. Almost immediately, the band hits the listener with a pulsing rhythm, then a heavy groove, and then an almost sludge-like guitar sound. Each successive layer is more intense, and when the vocal attacks – in this case, a part angry, part slurred rap, drawing heavily from nu-metal influences – the band sound like a true force of alternative metal.

Everything here seems more concerned with creating a slamming, heavy sound designed to send an audience into a frenzy – especially those still young and physically able to handle a mosh pit – than sharing any immediate hooks, but between some hefty DJ elements, a grinding bass and some really aggressive drumming, the music has more than enough power to hold its own.

A few plays uncovers more of an energetic quality to the dual vocal, with the growled vocals challenging the emotive yelps in a way that calls back to Craw’s ‘Lost Nation Road’, but chances are, you’ll come away from this being more thrilled by the sledgehammer heavy riffs than anything else – especially once the band decide to drop in a classic hardcore breakdown as a parting shot.

Cober Mouth have always been uncompromising, but in terms of making a heavy statement, ‘Steride’ is off the scale. You can check out the track in full below.