It was inevitable, wasn't it? After three Download Festival events of glorious weather, the UK's biggest rock and metal festival was long overdue a downpour and while we won't count out a last-minute scorcher - this is UK summer, after all - it looks like the odds just weren't with rock and metal fans this time round.
But that's fine, because we have a whole heap of fantastic new music for you to dive into. Starting with the results of last week's vote! No surprise that last week's cross-band collaborations did so well; Halestorm finished in a very admirable third place, narrowly pipped for the top runner-up position by deathcore brutes Oceano. But nobody was taking the crown from Lamb Of God, whose all-star team-up with Malevolence and Kublai Khan reigned supreme.
This week we've got some real meaty heaviness for you to sing your teeth into. There's brand new music from The Black Dahlia Murder and Nails, super-speed wildness from hardcore punks Doubt and Shavo Odadjian digs past his SOAD roots to the extremity beneath with new project Seven Hours After Violet, not to mention more melodic fare from the likes of Charlotte Wessels, Bruce Dickinson and Knife Bride. As ever, we need you to tell us which songs excite you most, so don't forget to cast your vote below - and have a fantastic weekend, rainy festival weather or no!
The Black Dahlia Murder - Aftermath
The 2022 passing of Black Dahlia Murder vocalist shook the metal world, tributes pouring in from across the metal spectrum. Although the band made no secret of their plan to continue with guitarist Brian Eschbach taking over vocal duties, there's a sense of keen interest in how their new music would sound. As it turns out, they're still very much The Black Dahlia Murder, Aftermath bursting forth on thrashy riffs, blackened blast-beats and a healthy dose of melodeath snarl-along sensibilities, the single arriving just in time for the band's slot at this weekend's Download Festival.
Seven Hours After Violet - Paradise
System Of A Down bassist Shavo Odadjian hasn't exactly been idle in the 19 years since the band's last albums, but his pursuits in everything from acting and film scores to art haven't seen him pop up with new musical projects. That changed in 2020 with the trap act North Kingsley however, and if fans were a bit disappointed in that band's lack of metallic heft, they'll be bouncing off the walls after hearing Seven Hours After Violet. The band's debut single Paradise might well be the most heavy thing the bassist has ever put his name to, explosive death metal passages undercut with a decidedly SOAD-friendly melodic passage that shows Odadjian really is returning to his roots with this new project.
Charlotte Wessels - Chasing Sunsets
Chasing Sunsets is a gorgeously cinematic confirmation that although Charlotte Wessels has parted ways with Delain, her sense of grandeur and epic scale remains. There are fiery, tech-metal guitar tones, nimble, floaty melodies and sublime vocal performances throughout the track, Wessels continuing the stunning run of form she set on 2021's Tales From Six Feet Under and it's Volume II sequel in 2022, while the announcement of tour dates - including a run supporting prog metallers Vola - should get fans plenty excited for things yet to come in 2024.
Bruce Dickinson - Resurrection Men
Bruce Dickinson is a man of many talents - but playing guitar isn't usually listed among them. That's certainly not the case on his latest solo single Resurrection Men however, the metal legend contributing his own licks to a track that offers a sense of romantic Americana with sweeping riffs that could come straight from a Western before Dickinson breaks out a Dick Dale-style surf guitar tone.
Nails - Imposing Will
After effectively imploding after the release of 2016's superb You Will Never Be One Of Us and member departures leaving vocalist Todd Jones as the sole remaining player, it's feels gloriously tongue-in-cheek that grindcore monsters Nails' new album is called Every Bridge Burning. Naturally, Imposing Will is an utterly vitriolic burst of venom and nasty, grinding riffs, flying by in less than 90 seconds and leaving us all gagging for more - thankfully we don't have to wait long as the album will be with us August 30.
Doubt - The Hard Way
Sticking in the realms of super speedy blasts of nastiness, Baltimore hardcore punks Doubt go hell for leather on new single The Hard Way. A bouncy, frenetic bassline sets up a frenzied dash to the finish, the band deploying some crossover thrash riffs to great effect that has us wanting to bodyslam ourselves through a wall. Taken from Doubt's new EP Held In Contempt - out July 12 - this one is pure, tooth-gnashing brilliance.
Bleed From Within - Hands Of Sin
Bleed From Within's year looks to be getting busier and busier. Not only will the band be playing Download Festival in the UK this weekend, but in December they'll be playing to arenas with Slipknot, so naturally new single Hands Of Sin catches the Scottish group on fiery, anthemic form as they produce an anthem worthy of the massive rooms they'll soon be dominating. There's no word on exactly when we can expect a follow-up to 2022's excellent Shrine just yet, but with new material to sink our teeth into we dare say it could well be on the horizon now.
Knife Bride - Melancholia
Speaking of bands on the festival circuit this year, Brighton's brilliant Knife Bride are set to bring their brand of nu gothika to both Download and 2000 Trees in coming weeks. New single Melancholia is all acrobatic riffs and soaring choruses, blurring genre lines as it adopts bits of metalcore, alt metal and more in a wonderfully invigorating package. Come rain or shine, we expect this one to be a festival favourite.
Winterfylleth - Dishonour Enthroned
Summer might be upon us in the UK, but as black metal veterans Winterfylleth are keen to remind us, colder times are always just around the corner. Four years since The Reckoning Dawn, the band are howling back on frost-bitten new single Dishonour Entrhoned, a gorgeously dramatic raging storm of utter extremity that has us eagerly anticipating new album The Imperious Horizon, due September 13.
Rezn - Indigo
Arriving just in time for the release of their new album Burden, Chicago psych-doom troupe Rezn reach out into the cosmos on latest single Indigo. Churning bass-lines roil beneath cosmic and ethereal guitar melodies that sound like the soundtrack to some eldritch horror from beyond the veil, or in short exactly what you'd want from some top-tier doom metal to take you into the weekend.
