Alternative metallers The Fear had a very successful 2025. Not only did they release their debut ‘Falling Forward’ to a raft of online praise, but the band also got to tour in support of nu metal legends Snot. Not content with that, they also found time to record a bunch of festive tunes which, released as the ‘Christmas Time’ EP pretty much the moment December reared its very cold bonce, showed that the lads not only had a serious work ethic, but also a sense of fun.
On their previous releases, recorded as collaborative affairs with The Mission’s Wayne Hussey and The Awakening’s Ashton Nyte, the music from Beauty In Chaos took on a distinctly goth influence. This double shot from Michael Cirovolo and friends takes on an entirely different guise. Not only does Cirovolo take the helm instead of enlisting a high profile guest vocalist but, musically, the material takes a huge swerve into a musical landscape that fans mightn’t expect.
debdepan (always lower case) are a Margate based duo who’ve been pitched as making “genre-blurring” music that’s “influenced by dance, art pop and grunge”. Sometimes, labels don’t work. Sometimes they’re so wide of the mark, they’re laughable. Sometimes, though, they can be pretty useful, and in this case, that short description is about as accurate as you’ll find. It certainly gives the listener a fair idea of what to expect when heading into debdepan’s excellent debut ‘Lovers & Others’, which presents five slabs of dark, danceable alt-rock which casts its net as far back as the 90s for influence, with a pinch of Curve and Garbage, but also has an ear on the contemporary.
Often when covering world famous tracks, it’s important to put your own stamp on the work. Once in a while, though, a track will come along that’s so perfect, a great cover won’t necessarily need a lot more than a huge amount of enthusiasm applied to make it work. Such is the case with the version of The Beatles’ ‘Help!’ recorded by Nashville based hard rockers Kalamity Kills.
In 2021, The Stripp contributed a couple of brand new tracks to a split EP with Electric Frankenstein. At that point, the Aussie band only had a sole EP to their credit, but their material ran rings around the veteran punk and roll band. Electric Frankenstein still sounded good, of course, but they were no match for the fiery, still new band who’d been paired with them.
A few years on, it seems that The Stripp have lost none of their spark. Released ahead of a full length album, this pair of tunes capture all of the sharp edges and the genuine excitement of their earlier work.