Unearth’s eighth release ‘The Wretched; The Ruinous’ presented fans with an uncompromising thirty six minutes worth of pure metal. The US metalcore band pulled out all the stops to deliver a truly heavy set which pulled together the strongest elements of their crossover sound. The album’s highlights really showed how broadly the band could apply their heaviness for mixed results: ‘Eradicator’ drew from the groove metal of Pantera’s ‘Far Beyond Driven’; the brilliant ‘Broken Arrow’ slowed down just enough to show off more of a timeless hardcore approach; ‘Dawn of The Militant’ applied angular rhythms against a slow and sludgy groove before dropping into some superb thrash passages, effectively showing off the full range of the band’s talents, and ‘Mother Betrayal’ even found time to drop melodic arpeggios and goth influenced vocal passages into something derived from classic Lamb of God. ‘TW;TR’ was one of 2023’s strongest metal discs – one of those records that offered fans of extreme sounds something great, no matter where they chose to drop in.
Tag Archives: metalcore
HOLLOWKIN – Confessions & Failures EP
A new arrival on the metal scene in 2023, Bath based HollowKin have a sound that doesn’t pull any punches. They’re an impressively heavy unit, but unlike some of their would-be peers, they’re not just content with exploring a perfect metalcore sound, or driving forth with a world of thrash riffs which pay homage to their heroes and influences. The five tracks which make up their 2024 debut draw from a broad array of metallic fare, taking in intensive prog metal, groove metal and a pinch of doom and hardcore, along with a whole world of metalcore, creating something that’s sometimes familiar, but always without compromise.
Watch: Skye unveil new video for ‘Last Memory’
In 2022, British metal act Skye released their ‘Foundations’ EP, which shared three contemporary sounding tracks, blending a pleasingly heavy tone with a melodic core that advertised them as the kind of band who’d have a crossover appeal.
Watch: Rising stars Alchemize share new track ‘Bad Motives’
A new name for 2024, Manchester crew Alchemize have only released a handful of singles, but have already gained very positive praise from some rather major outlets. They’ve been officially playlisted by Spotify, Tidal and Apple Music, and already been championed by BBC Radio 1.
PARADIS – Paradis EP
Metalcore outfit Paradis pull no punches on their self-titled debut EP. From about thirty seconds into the opening number ‘Boneyard’, the London based band truly go for the throat in terms of riffs. Following a lengthy synth based intro, the number crashes into a heavy groove where the rhythms mix metalcore anger with the kind of complexity you’d expect to hear from a prog metal band like Periphery, combined with the dirty guitar tones to match.