Premier Jester aren’t afraid to mix genres. On their previous single ‘All I Ever Wanted’, the UK band managed to fuse metalcore riffs with R&B vocal melodies, programmed drum loops and blasts of synth drawing from a dance-oriented sound, and – latterly – some fierce hardcore breakdowns to create a truly intense experience.

Despite covering a lot of musical ground, it wasn’t necessarily the kind of track that would click with a broad audience, but the band deserved full credit for thinking outside of the box. At the point where it started to feel as if metal had nowhere new to venture, Premier Jester took the crossover sounds of Cober Mouth and Pendulum, and mashed them together to create something very smart.

The genuinely dense riffs from that number re-emerge almost instantly on the heavier ‘Slow Dance’. In doing so, the track feels more immediate in terms of attracting an alt-metal crowd. Playing like a blend of doom and metalcore, the opening riffs come with a speaker-busting intensity, and the emerging vocals capture a similar anger, whilst a pulsing synth accentuates the band’s love of crossover sounds. Moving into the first verse, everything takes on a pure metalcore stance, but those looking for a touch more melody should be attracted to a strong chorus hook where clean vocals and heavier synths share a sound that comes across like a more intense Linkin Park.

Eventually, the two opposing styles collide on the second verse, with the heavy and pneumatic elements coloured by stabbed synths. In case this suggests Premier Jester are lightening up, an insanely heavy middle eight blends a hardcore breakdown with melodic death metal growls, before the track is ultimately sold by one more hit from a great chorus.

As before, Premier Jester aren’t making rock and metal sounds by numbers, or attempting to create something that’ll necessarily appeal to everyone. In terms of huge riffs, though, ‘Slow Dance’ is one of their strongest tracks to date.

Check out the new video below.