Shannon Smith’s breakthrough single, 2023’s ‘Dance The Night Away’ introduced the Australian singer songwriter in fantastic style. The track’s upbeat nature, driven by stabbing keys, bright horns and a shamelessly infectious, wordless chorus presented a near perfect homage to the AM radio sounds of the past. It would have been easy for him to follow that with something equally uplifting, but instead, he chose to explore moody balladry and country influences on the tracks that followed.
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Watch: Mourning Wood share new video for ‘A Grave Vacation’
By opening with an absolutely thunderous drum part, ‘The Grave Vacation’ by Mourning Wood instantly grabs the attention. Then, with the addition of a jagged rhythm guitar, the band powers forth with a huge sound that places the best aspects of 80s metal into a slightly more contemporary arrangement that shows off their sense of force with some instantly classic riffs.
Listen: The Quality Of Mercury share new single ‘The Voyager’
Things have taken a surprisingly heavy turn in the Quality of Mercury camp. ‘The Voyager’ – the first single and title track from the band’s second album opens with a riff that, unexpectedly, blends the density of classic shoegaze with the dark edge of doom metal. This, as you would expect, sets about crushing the audience in a very direct manner.
Listen: Vulgarithm unleashes ‘Another Lie’
Five months ago, Vulgarithm released their single ‘Welcome To The Forgotten Show’, an angry workout blending dance beats and spoken word verses with an absolutely blistering chorus where the artist clearly looked to ‘Filth Pig’ era Ministry for influence. The verses might not have struck a chord with the rock and metal audience immediately, but the riff on the chorus came with such a force it was hard to ignore. With a sharp edge and an absolutely classic industrial sound, the rockier elements of the track helped to form the one man band’s best track to date.
Watch: Keep This Up share new video for ‘Remedy (For The End)’
On a pair of singles issued in 2024, Keep This Up shared a strong blend of melodic post-hardcore with more than a hint of emo. On ‘Blossom’, in particular, the way the band fused speed driven angst with vocals that sounded if they were either on the verge of tears or exploding under the weight of pent up fury owed as much to the mid 00’s as the present.