In a pre-pandemic age, False Gods released a two track EP ‘The Serpent and The Ladder’, a twelve minute musical assault that blended industrial and hardcore influences with a pinch of sludge and black metal, improving upon their earlier work. Via a couple more digital singles and their eagerly awaited full length ‘No Symmetry…Only Disillusion’ (released between 2020 and 2023), the band cemented the feeling that their often uncompromising sound had enough power to take on many of the scene’s most intense bands.
Tag Archives: hardcore
THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #98
Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar, the place where we share some of the individual tracks that have landed in our inbox over the past few weeks. It’s an especially strong selection this time around, throwing a spotlight on a new, young band with a perfect take on an old sound; a punchy number straddling the line between indie and punk; a potentially frightening, riff-heavy number; something that falls within the boundaries of blues rock…and more besides. We think you’ll find something – or someone – new to fall in love with, and if so, it’s been more than worthwhile. Grab a cup of tea and dive in…
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NEGATIVE THIRTEEN – Recover What You Can
On their full length release ‘Mourning Asteri’ from 2022, Negative Thirteen tapped into a brilliantly heavy sound. The bulk of the material fused classic doom metal riffs with a sludgy aesthetic which resulted in a well orchestrated, uncompromising record. Unlike some doom-sludge acts, though, the album flaunted a brilliant production job which placed as much interest on the bass as the sledgehammer guitar parts. It could be argued that the material often valued massive riffs over any kind of immediacy, but there was no doubt that this band meant business.
Their 2025 follow up, ‘Recover What You Can’ is often just as heavy, but with a couple of tracks favouring an epic length allowing the doomy band more room for manouevre, it sometimes feels as if Negative Thirteen haven’t so much “branched out”, but descended even more deeply into their own world of sludge derived sounds.
SMOKE AxD – Vaya Con Dios EP
Smoke AxD (aka Smoke All Day) brings together artists previously associated with Madball, Crown of Thornz and Hatebreed, which, in hardcore terms, sounds like it should be pretty amazing. On this EP, those musicians bring some massive riffs, as you’d expect, and the vocal performances often attack like a concrete sledge. There are a lot of moments where the material sounds like something unearthed from the late 90s, so they’ve got that classic/nostalgic angle covered too. So, why then, do the five songs on this EP sound so…frankly uninspired?
Watch: Belgian metalcore act X-POZED share new video for ‘Back Down’
Back in 2012, five years after forming, Belgian metal crew X-POZED finally released their debut album. ‘Essence of Hope’ shared some strong material. For those who’d missed their earlier self-released EP, it was the kind of record that provided a strong musical introduction, with a couple of tracks that could certainly be cherry picked to show their range.