Shelve whatever plans you have – it’s time to catch up on this week’s brand new noisiness. A new bunch of freshly-minted singles will give lovers of everything from prog-metal pummellings to post-metalcore bangers something to chow down on.
Before all that, though, last week’s results. It was an epic two-way battle between Alter Bridge and Nightwish, which saw each band marshaling more people than the armies in Game Of Thrones and Lord Of The Rings combined. But there was only one winner, and that winner came dressed in top hats and corsets. No, dummy, we don’t mean Alter Bridge – Nightwish pipped them to the post with their live version of Noise.
Thanks to everyone who cast their vote. Now it’s time to do it all over again, with 10 new classics-in-waiting. Get ready… go!
Gojira – Our Time Is Now
Mother nature’s rowdiest warriors have released their first new song in eighteen months. Our Time Is Now is a no-frills groove/death metal attack armed with a marching drumbeat and virtuoso guitar tapping. Then, an invigorating chorus and that solo pick up on all the arena-ready qualities that made Gojira’s last album, Fortitude, so victorious. If you’re an American football fan, you’ll also hear this on the soundtrack of Madden NFL 23, out today.
Architects – A New Moral Low Ground
Not even two years after Architects dropped For Those That Wish To Exist, the British metalcore idols are gearing up for their next album, The Classic Symptoms Of A Broken Spirit. A New Moral Low Ground is the album’s fourth single, and shovels more hooks, squealing solos and anarchic roars into everybody’s earholes. Vocalist Sam Carter has called this cut “one of my favourites from the record”, so it demands to be heard.
Powerwolf – My Will Be Done
Get your white face paint out and brush up on your Latin, because heavy metal’s favourite Catholic church-inspired werewolf sex cult are back. My Will Be Done is a standalone single (as Powerwolf themselves say, “No sign of a new album, just new music for you!”) that comes barely a year after last year’s full-length Call Of The Wild. Unsurprisingly, it packs all the same extravagant melodies and swelling organs. That’s not a euphemism.
Cage Fight – Eating Me Alive (feat. Trevor Strnad)
TesseracT guitarist James Monteith continues to swap prog for brash hardcore riffs in his Cage Fight side-project. Eating Me Alive is lifted off of the Londoners’ self-titled debut and is dedicated to the memory of Black Dahlia Murder frontman Trevor Strnad, who leant his pipes to the apoplectic single. The band also say his support of singer Rachel Aspe is what got them started, since James first contacted her shortly after Trevor shared her Statutory Ape vocal cover online.
Witch Fever – Beauty And Grace
These hotly-tipped UK doom-flecked grunge-punks have just released their new EP, Beauty And Grace. The title track was unveiled the day before as a single and fills up its two minutes by raging consistently – and damn hard. The riffs crunch while singer Amy Walpole barks her typically against-the-grain lyrics: “Forsaken by Christ, I’m losing my faith. Carry my thorns, I put that shit on.” It’s an accurate representation of the rest of the EP, which is just as punchy and pissed-off.
Epica – The Great Tribulation (feat. Fleshgod Apocalypse)
With their bombastic strings and singer Simone Simons’ squeaky-clean melodies, Epica normally inhabit the merrier end of the symphonic metal spectrum. However, on new single The Great Tribulation, orchestral death metal nasties Fleshgod Apocalypse tempt the Dutch sextet to the dark side. The Italians’ choirs, operatic vocalist Veronica Bordacchini and screamer-in-chief Francesco Paoli bring the once-triumphant bunch to the edge of the apocalypse. This and more guest spots will be heard on Epica’s Alchemy Project EP, out November 11.
Tallah – For The Recognition
Nu metal revivalists and generally noisy tykes Tallah have continued the scramble towards their second album, The Generation Of Danger, with For The Recognition. The track is nothing but pure rage filtered into three and a half minutes, as singer Justin Bonitz snarls and raps over chugging riffs and barrelling drums. By the end it’s broken down into a glorious squealing mess. The rest of Generation… will follow on November 18.
Eluveitie – Exile Of The Gods
Hurdy-gurdies and blast beats, together at last! Eluveitie have released their second single this year in the form of Exile Of The Gods, which follows June’s Aidus. It packs all the harps, flutes and violins typical of this Zürich eight-piece, but the soul of the track comes from clean singer Fabienne Erni, who wails that infectious chorus. A new album hasn’t been announced yet, but with previous one Ategnatos now three-and-a-half years old, it’s overdue.
Soen – Snuff
On November 18, Swedish anthem-dispensers Soen will release Atlantis: a live-in-the-studio album that strips their prog metal jams down to acoustic ballads and then adds strings on top. In the run-up to it, they’ve unveiled their cover of Slipknot’s iconic Snuff, which uses violins, double bass and a piano to accentuate the tragedy to cinematic levels. Also, singer Joel Ekelöf’s voice turns Corey Taylor’s gravelly lamentations into operatic howls. Is it blasphemy to call this as good as the original?
Woods Of Desolation – Far From Here
On Far From Here, Australian black metal misery merchants Woods Of Desolation are once again shoving their acolytes into walls of sound. The second single off of the New South Wales solo project’s impending album, The Falling Tide, is a dark odyssey of chords with screams so tormented they’re practically gargling. At least there are some shoegaze guitars to offset the hopelessness. The remainder of the nihilism arrives when The Falling Tide rolls in on December 9.
