In a world filled with great music and with new rock bands appearing on the scene weekly, chances are, you’ve not heard of Sleazy Money…yet. The British rock band have been making inroads into a career on a run of hard rock singles beginning with 2024’s ‘Problem Since Day 1’, a track which very much laid down the Sleazy Money blueprint with a barrage of tough riffs borrowing the energy of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal with the all round sleaziness of the US glam scene from 1987. In just four minutes, it was immediately clear that the marriage between Connor Palmer’s tough vocals and Joe Florence’s incendiary guitar riffs provided a solid union, and with the presence of a really tight rhythm section, the band were capable of whipping up some seriously old school melodic metal thrills.
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KEELEY confirms headline tour for 2026
Since the release of their ‘Brave Warrior’ EP in 2021, Irish-Anglo band KEELEY have been a great source of thoughtful indie and shoegaze sounds. Their songs, mostly based around the disappearance of traveller Inga Maria Hauser, have provided a superb vehicle for the charismatic Keeley Moss, and whether delivering shimmering, atmospheric tunes (‘To A London Sunrise’) or really catchy pop-rockers (‘The Glitter & The Glue’), the band’s output has managed the rare feat of maintaining a high quality even with a prolific release schedule.
Watch: Ward XVI share new video for ‘At The Window’
The opening drones of Ward XVI’s current single ‘At The Window’ immediately advertise something with a grandiose heart. This almost cinematic stance is perfect for the band, since it captures their huge sound in an instant, and when providing a massive backdrop for the verse’s more goth-tinged leanings, those keys sit naturally between a darkwave unease and an orchestral flourish, reminding listeners that this shock rock act doesn’t “think small”.
Watch: Orchid Symmetry share new video for ‘Like The Sun’
Formed just before almost the entire world went into a pandemic related lockdown, Orchid Symmetry have released a steady stream of digital singles and a couple of EPs since 2020. The best of the singles, 2022’s ‘Monsters and Demons’ eschewed most of the band’s heavier tendencies in favour of an ominous sounding riff that reworked alternative sounds from the 60s for a contemporary hard rock crowd. Parts of the melody sounded if they were distantly related to ‘House of The Rising Sun’, whilst other elements conveyed the all round moodiness of The Doors and the strange paranoia at the heart of Love’s ‘Forever Changes’. Despite taking various older elements and throwing them into a blender, a very natural vocal and occasionally abrasive guitar tone provided a more contemporary sound and also a very strong link with prior Orchid Symmetry tunes.
Premiere: Check out the new single ‘Susciety Gurl’ from Philadelphia’s Lunison
Lunison’s debut EP ‘See Me As A Friend’ presented five tracks where a rock core sound was twisted into some very interesting shapes. ‘Name Three Songs’ managed to open with a riff that mixed garage rock and an almost post-grunge dirtiness, only to turn that on its head with a huge, melodic chorus full of ringing guitars sounding like a throwback to a great Gin Blossoms tune; ‘Smile, Cruel World’ borrowed from a couple of The Black Keys’ more groove-centric numbers, but added a more melodic vocal, again, calling back to a world of 90s pop-rock sounds, and ‘Velcro’ introduced a reverbed, 50s guitar twang in places, which set against a pumping bass and harmony vocals ended up sounding like a funky take on something from Arctic Monkeys ‘AM’.