THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR: A NEW YEAR’S EVE LOCK IN 2025

We’ve reached the end of another year, and the Real Gone Singles Bar has gone from strength to strength. As is always the case, we’ve received far more submissions over the past six months than we could possibly hope to cover, and ended up with a lot of great tracks that just didn’t find a home in the original weekly columns. Some things are too good to pass by, though, so as is traditional, we’ve rounded up twenty of the best tracks that didn’t get covered upon release and created the Singles Bar New Year’s Eve Lock In! We’ve got a great new wave inspired track, a couple of absolute bangers from the metal world, a little Americana, some jazzy yacht rock, funk, power pop and goth. With the help of a couple of singer-songwriters along the way, we hope there’s something in this selection for almost everyone as we count down to midnight…

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Watch: Asylum Road share new video for ‘Mirror Of Oblivion’

Blending elements of groove metal and melodic hardcore, with influences from Machine Head and Sevendust, Irish band Asylum Road delivered some absolutely massive riffs on their brilliant EP ‘The Fear’ in 2024. A couple of the vocals might have split opinion with their genuinely abrasive approach, but from a musical standpoint – and looking at the material in terms of tightly played, classic metal, without sounding at all dated – the material was first rate.

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OPHELIA’S EYE – Severance EP

The material on the debut EP from Swiss metallers Ophelia’s Eye (2024’s ‘Catharsis’) was played with the confidence of a band with a much bigger body of work to their name. The five tracks blended thrash, metalcore and a pinch of hardcore in a way that made the band sound utterly unshakeable. A few great influences were shared along the way (it was hard to ignore the tones of classic Machine Head on ‘Stay Close, We’re Dying’, but it was also good to hear a potential love for blessthefall and Lamb of God creeping through on other tracks), but no matter what the influence, the material showcased a band who were clearly superb musicians.

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Listen: Ocean Planet share the brilliantly heavy ‘Devastate’

Ocean Planet waste no time in grabbing their audience’s attention on ‘Devastate’. The opening bars attack with pneumatic rhythms offset by a twin lead guitar sound worthy of peak Trivium. From there, the Reading based band branch out with an arrangement that feels a little more original when they blend elements of melodic metalcore with prog metal, creating something that sounds absolutely huge. The interplay between the heavy guitars and tight rhythm section is impressive throughout, and on the rare occasion the band lightens up, some very melodic guitar work creeps through an intense arrangement. A hefty and aggressive vocal based around a hardcore influenced growl mightn’t be to everyone’s tastes, but it fits the music brilliantly, helping Ocean Planet sound genuinely fierce.

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Watch: Ophelia’s Eye share a new video for ‘Severance’

In August 2025, Ophelia’s Eye made a grand statement with ‘Enter The Arena’. The track presented the ultimate in heaviness, without moving into extreme territory. The opening riffs blended top notch metalcore with a pinch of groove, which made the band sound like Lamb of God with sharper edges. The body of the track blended pneumatic rhythms with a heavy downtune, taking a metalcore sound into even heavier and darker realms, and while the vocals appeared abrasive, they were never impenetrable.

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