The metal scene is in unbelievable shape right now, and to prove it, we've got four particularly killer new bands for you to get stuck into this month. From former Nervosa members finding new life courtesy of some grizzly death metal to Rob Trujillo's son Tye striking out on his own in style, it's all going on, so let's not mess about. Cast your eyes below to read all about the young artists in the metal scene we're excited about at the moment.
Crypta
When Crypta formed in 2019, it was as a death metal side- project for then-Nervosa members Fernanda Lira [vocals/bass] and Luana Dametto [drums]. But within a year the band had taken on a life of its own, the pair simultaneously leaving the thrash group after “growing apart” from the band’s founder Prika Amaral after playing together for more than a decade.
“We weren’t friends anymore, but we loved the band so much that we didn’t know what to do,” Fernanda admits. “When we started writing a new Nervosa album, we didn’t like what we were writing, and that was the breaking point for me. I can’t fake the music I play.”
Crypta clearly have no such issues. The band’s 2021 debut, Echoes Of The Soul, charted in both Germany and the US, and the following summer the quartet played the 85,000-capacity Wacken festival before being invited to open for Morbid Angel and Revocation on a 2023 tour across the United States.
“We were invited onto that Morbid Angel tour by Trey [Azagthoth] personally,” Fernanda remembers, still beaming over the fact. “That was extra special! Before the tour, he watched so many videos of us playing live.” New album Shades Of Sorrow is their second in two years and offers all of death metal’s finest grizzly cuttings. There’s tremolo picking and the mandatory roars, but the band also deal in death/doom heaviness and slicing lead guitar lines à la early melodeath.
“Luana has always been a death metal drummer”, Fernanda says. “[When Crypta started] I wanted to experimentwithmyother songwriting abilities. I had been writing thrash for nearly a decade – I’m still challenging myself with every new album.”
As for the future, Fernanda knows exactly what she wants it to hold for Crypta. “I wanna tour with Arch Enemy, Behemoth, Cannibal Corpse and Opeth”, she laughs. “And I won’t rest until I do!”
SOUNDS LIKE: If Obituary worshipped black metal and had Bill Steer on guitar
FOR FANS OF: Cannibal Corpse, Nervosa, Carcass
LISTEN TO: Lord Of Ruins
Ottto
Remember people losing their freaking minds during Stranger Things when Eddie Munson ripped through Master Of Puppets? Of course you do. Well, the guitar part you heard on the show was actually played by one Tye Trujillo, son of Metallica’s Robert, and bassist in his own excellent band Ottto.
“It was wild to be part of such a huge pop culture moment”, Tye tells us with a grin. “I was honoured to be asked, but, really, our goal has always just been to get metal out there to as many people as possible.”
OTTTO themselves are certainly passionate about all things heavy. They might be sickeningly youthful, but their debut album Life Is A Game sounds like a band way beyond their years. "We're inspired by the classic heavy music of the 80s and 90s," vocalist and guitarist Bryan Noah Ferretti says. "All that great metal and rock that was part of the mainstream invasion still sounds relevant today. That's a goal of ours, to help bring rock back where it belongs."
Life Is A Game could feasibly do its part in that respect, taking classic thrash, crossover hardcore and alt rock hooks and squashing them all together with the enthusiastic zeal of youth, less concerned with fitting into pigeonholes as making the music they love.
"We'd all been in bands before," Tye says. "But there's something in this band that has been really freeing."
SOUNDS LIKE: A teenage and excitable Alice In Chains jamming Suicidal Tendencies and Agnostic Front covers
FOR FANS OF: Suicidal Tendencies, Turnstile, D.R.I.
LISTEN TO: Skyscraper
Wallowing
Sci-fi and heavy metal have always been happy bedfellows, but few acts ensconce themselves so fully in the genre as Brighton’s Wallowing. Accompanying their sludged-out prog-grind with comic books, trading cards and a live set featuring futuristic costumes and dry ice, they’re less a band than a multi-sensory experience.
“Our approach isn’t just about writing or performing”, explains vocalist/ synth player Mx. “We’re interested in anything we can do to immerse people in this universe. Depicting the story in graphic novels or creating action figures helps make it more real for everyone. Plus, we’re all massive nerds and they’re all things we’re interested in, so it makes perfect sense.”
Thankfully, this side of things shows no sign of abating, as bassist R suggests: “We’re constantly striving to be bigger, better and more ridiculous”, he says. “If the debut was us falling out of our cryostasis pods in a groggy rage, Earth Reaper sees us engaging the engines full throttle and blasting into the abyss.”
Though guitarist T suggests the band started out as an “overwhelmingly silly solo project”, there’s no denying how serious things have become. And while their continuing sci-fi saga might seem worlds away from our Earth-tethered existence, there are commonalities. “While sci-fi is great for escapism, it tends to have dual meanings”, says T. “These stories allow their protagonists to escape the ‘evil tyrannical overlord’ - something us Earth dwellers don’t currently have the pleasure of doing.”
SOUNDS LIKE: A space opera soundtrack scored by fans of prog, grind and doom metal
FOR FANS OF: Cryptic Shift, Parius, Pig Destroyer
LISTEN TO: Cyborg Asphyxiation
Allfather
Some bands hide their politics behind vague lyrics, but not Allfather. On their third album, A Violent Truth, these Rochester sludge brutes rage against the far right with riffs and roars.
“We wrote the lyrics pre-pandemic, about Trump, people at the [American] border in cages, the Tory party becoming more and more far right, and the mess that was Brexit”, vocalist Tom B. tells Hammer. “The song Take Their Eyes was inspired by an article that talked about how Trump and the Tories were testing moral boundaries. How comfortable were people with seeing children in cages? Turns out, people were quite comfortable.”
Allfather formed a decade ago, after Tom and bassist Andrew Day bonded over metalcore bands like Vision Of Disorder. Their goal, despite the fury of their downtuned music, is to make metal a safer, more tolerant place.
“We want people to understand that heavy metal can be a safe space for people that aren’t just white dudes, which might be difficult for us, because we’re a bunch of white dudes”, Tom laughs. “But our shows are welcoming to all people, all across the board. If you stick our record on, we want you to enjoy the heavy metal!”
SOUNDS LIKE: A riff-powered sludge metal attack against gatekeepers and oppressors
FOR FANS OF: High On Fire, Crowbar, Iron Monkey
LISTEN TO: Take Their Eyes
