We're officially six months into 2024! The year has already provided us with a glut of fantastic new albums to explore - you'll find our picks for some of the best here - but that also means we're only halfway through what 2024 has to offer us.
Thankfully, that also means a whole heap of brilliant new bands to discover! As with last month - and indeed, every other month this year - we've scouted high and low to find you the best, brightest and most interesting new bands around.
This month we've got high fantasy power metal from All For Metal, reggaeton-meets-metalcore from Future Static, muscular prog metal from Whom Gods Destroy and all-star metalcore mob END. You'll find the latest releases from each of the bands in the hefty playlist below, so stick it on and discover new bands you can love. Happy listening!
All For Metal
Embracing Manowar and high fantasy, European sextet All For Metal share a love of escapism through otherworldly realms – and they decided the world needed to hear about it through the medium of glorious, (plastic) sword-swinging power metal.
“People are really stressed nowadays. Our music is more about entertaining than the message,” explains Antonio Calanna, one of the band’s dual vocalists alongside Tim ‘Tetzel’ Schmidt. “I was always playing with fake swords when I was a kid – now I play this music, wear armour onstage and have a sword in the music videos. It’s so fun!”
They’re well aware of the inherent cheesiness of what they do, and unashamedly lean into it. Onstage, you’ll see every member wearing armour and leather like the warriors of old; playing at London’s 229, they even bring out backing dancers in similar garb.
The overall effect is a heavy metal extravaganza, Tetzel towering over the crowd like a singing barbarian while his comrades in arms supply rousing anthems to get blood and fists pumping. If there is a message of any kind, it’s right there in the name, and self-titled song All For Metal: ‘It’s all for metal / And metal for all’ Tetzel and Antonio sing in unison over classic riffs as indebted to Judas Priest as they are Battle Beast.
Elsewhere, there’s the war-drum stomp of Goddess Of War and meadhall singalong Born In Valhalla, which pairs charging riffs with dramatic spoken word and over-the-top synth melodies. It’s also clearly written by people who care deeply about what they’re doing and have a real love for the subject matter.
“We’re serious musicians,” Tetzel contends, “and we write catchy music. But we do it to have fun with everything else. Our music isn’t silly, but the themes are.” Will Marshall
Gods Of Metal (Year Of The Dragon) is due August 23 via Reigning Phoenix.
Sounds Like: If Conan the Barbarian made power metal
For Fans Of: Manowar, Hammerfall, Battle Beast
Listen To: All For Metal
END
Sometimes you get an itch that just has to be scratched. Maybe you want a beer, or a pie, or, in the case of End, to play some heavy-as-fuck metalcore that annihilates everything in its path.
That’s where guitarist Will Putney found himself back in 2016, and clearly not busy enough slinging riffs with Fit For An Autopsy or engineering other bands’ records, he started fielding the idea to pals who’ve played with the likes of Counterparts, Misery Signals, Shai Hulud and The Acacia Strain.
“There were no plans,” says Will. “We thought we’d probably make one record, get it out of our system and then go back to whatever the fuck we normally do.”
That, thankfully, wasn’t how things panned out; the band are now two LPs, a live album and a scattering of EPs into an increasingly savage career. Their latest record, The Sin Of Human Frailty, sees the band expanding on their grinding metalcore, dragging industrial elements into the mix and offering guest spots to members of Heriot, Pig Destroyer and Full Of Hell.
“We’ve been gravitating towards more extreme places,” explains Will. “We’ve been intentionally doing things that are more broken-sounding and more uncomfortable. The band has been a little more off the rails than we originally thought it would be, and that unpredictability adds to the chaos. We like the music to throw people around, to have them ask, ‘What the fuck is happening now?!’ That sort of energy makes everything more destructive.” Alex Deller
The Sin Of Human Frailty is out now via Closed Casket Activities.
Sounds Like: Savage, dissonant, grind-influenced metalcore full of unexpected twists
For Fans Of: Will Haven, Vision Of Disorder, Full Of Hell
Listen To: Thaw
Future Static
“In Spain, metalheads and reggaetoneros [young people involved in the reggaeton culture] hate each other! It’s a massive thing,” says Future Static vocalist Ami Cook, explaining how the choice to cover 2004 reggaeton hit Gasolina helped her reconnect with her past growing up in Barcelona.
Now based in Melbourne, Australia, Ami helped form Future Static in 2021 – and they’ve since performed around the world. Guitarist Ryan Qualizza explains the Gasolina cover came about after a night of listening to 2000s hits after a gig.
“Originally it was a bit of a tongue-in-cheek thing,” he admits. “But I had no idea how much it meant to Ami, bringing the two worlds of reggaeton and metal together.”
“Rock people in Spain see Gasolina as something in poor taste, almost as if we were insulting metal by doing a reggaeton cover, and vice versa.” Ami adds. “It’s interesting to see the polarity, but I was stoked to blend the two worlds, cause I always loved both.”
Future Static’s debut album, Liminality, was released at the end of 2023, and much of its lyrical content explores Ami’s childhood. While Gasolina recalls music she enjoyed growing up, songs like Roach Queen explore more traumatic experiences.
“I lived in an apartment full of cockroaches,” she says, shuddering. “I’d dream that they were going in my mouth every night and then I would wake up and vomit!”
Rather than suffocating in her traumas, Ami uses Liminality to grasp for a brighter future. “The album’s vibe is very dark, but there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel,” she explains. “If someone was in a dark place, our hope is they could listen to it and see that friends can do amazing things together.” Naomi Sanders
Liminality is out now via Wild Thing. Future Static play Radar festival in July.
Sounds Like: Shockwaves compelling you to mosh, no matter what
For Fans Of: Conquer Divide, Bad Omens, Motionless In White
Listen To: Roach Queen
Whom Gods Destroy
After two albums, Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal said prog metal supergroup Sons Of Apollo had “split into fragments”. Despite that, the former Guns N’ Roses guitarist never stopped writing with ex-Dream Theater keyboardist Derek Sherinian and, from those splinters, they forged Whom Gods Destroy.
“We can’t deny that we came from Sons Of Apollo, but this band is much heavier and proggier,” Bumblefoot explains, praising their songwriting dichotomy. “We’ve taken the intensity knobs and turned them up; Derek is into vintage stuff, whereas I like to push the envelope, so we give each other shit and find the middle ground.”
The band are completed by the rasping, pitched vocals of Dino Jelusick, their “monster of a drummer” Bruno Valverde and Yas Nomura on bass, a talented guitarist who’s previously shredded with Steve Vai. They may have supergroup-sized shoes to fill, but that’s of no concern to Bumblefoot.
“All that stuff is bullshit,” he says. “It’s not a popularity contest. The guys aren’t household names, but I think they will be - there’ll be a generation of people saying ‘I grew up listening to those guys.’”
The band’s first chapter finds Dino’s seismic, aggressive-yet-accessible melodies caught in an angular undercurrent defined by Derek’s cinematic soundscapes and Bumblefoot’s “evil twin” guitar riffs. However, with the album already written before Bruno and Yas joined, expect the band’s sonic personality to evolve into a much hairier beast as they begin work on album two.
“There’s nothing these guys can’t do,” Bumblefoot concludes. “We really have no limits.” Phil Weller
Insanium is out now via Inside Out
Sounds Like: Dream Theater grinding their teeth on Pantera riffs with epic, bellowed vocals and oodles of acrobatics
For Fans Of: Dream Theater, Meshuggah, Whitesnake (on steroids)
Listen To: Crucifier
