1. Prowl - The Forgotten Realms (Montreal, Québec, Canada)
Genre: Crossover Hardcore Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7ACP45dQOuD5mJ8LWI3gH8?si=uCbzV5sbQiKlZLdvryLkqg 
2. Chat Pile - God's Country (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)
Genre: Death-grunge/sludge/industrial Metal Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4yRSUmhuSJ3KcIMljdh4fH?si=539qv5-URbujZRmFQ8pKJg
Throughout parts of the mid-western United States lie towering mounds of the waste residue from early 20th Century lead mining operations. Comprised of what is known as "chat," these hills of toxic, metallic dust dot the countryside as if they were headstones for communities destroyed by industrialization such as Picher, Oklahoma. These effigies would come to be the namesake for the Oklahoma based band, Chat Pile, whose grotesque and pummeling brand of noise rock has managed to terrorize listeners worldwide in only a matter of months.Intent on raising as much havoc as possible, Chat Pile was spawned from the bowels of the OKC underground music scene in February of 2019. Consisting of Raygun Busch (vocals), Luther Manhole (Guitars), Stin (Bass), and Captain Ron (Drums), the quartet brings with them a sludgy and starkly nihilistic take on noise rock. Channeling everything from the oppressive sludgy beat downs of Godflesh, the vulgar absurdity of The Jesus Lizard, and the rebellious, post-modern experimentation of Sonic Youth, the works of Chat Pile are bleak, brutal and genuinely terrifying. Few bands have a level of self-understanding as Chat Pile. Despite the infancy of the project, Chat Pile continues to be a standout among the sea of D.I.Y. music projects to come out in recent memory. Their brand of crass, crushing, and poignantly cynical noise rock fills an otherwise unaccounted for niche in today's underground music landscape.
- Evan Mester of Yer Scene
3. Dance Gavin Dance - Jackpot Juicer (Sacramento, California)
Genre: Progressive Rock Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6guC9FqvlVboSKTI77NG2k?si=wIPCH70CQGqyH4VC5IU8hA
Dance Gavin Dance has gone through some of the worst nightmares a band could possibly endure in the last few years. Not only was the music industry shaken to its core during the pandemic, the group lost longtime bassist Tim Feerick in April. To make matters worse, vocalist Tilian Pearson had accusations of sexual misconduct levied against him during the album rollout. Add on the multiple delays and obstacles during the Afterburner tour in 2021, and it’s a wonder the band is still standing to this day. If any band could make it this far, though, it’s DGD – a rare band spawning a subgenre and amassing a steadfast, rabid cult following supporting them every step of the way. Now, the time has come for the outfit’s tenth full LP, Jackpot Juicer, nearing twenty years of Dance Gavin Dance and showing no signs of slowing down with a whopping eighteen songs. - Mike Reitemeier of The New Fury
4. Stick To Your Guns - Spectre (Orange County, California)
Genre: Hardcore/Punk Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2sqrupqcoipb7UzVKApEnJ?si=10vU036rSniSCHpYZ9-lmA
Since emerging in 2003, Southern California’s Stick To Your Guns—Jesse Barnett [vocals], Andrew Rose [bass], George Schmitz [drums], Chris Rawson [guitar], and Josh James [guitar]—have merged socially conscious and outspoken lyricism with hardcore energy and hammering metallic force.
5. Anberlin - Silverline (EP) (Winter Haven, Florida)
Genre: Alternative Rock Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5v61OSg53KaQxGMpErkBNp?si=RFJmxNHBTyiPRVM-Ul5eSw
Since the beginning of 2007, the band consists of lead vocalist Stephen Christian, guitarists Joseph Milligan and Christian McAlhaney, bassist Deon Rexroat, and drummer Nathan Young.Anberlin signed with major label Universal Republic in 2007 and in 2008 released New Surrender, which peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard 200, with the first single, "Feel Good Drag", claiming No. 1 on the Alternative Songs chart, after 29 weeks in the chart. Prior to the release of their fifth studio album, Dark Is the Way, Light Is a Place, Anberlin had sold over 1,000,000 albums. On October 18, 2018, the band announced that they would reunite for one show on December 14 at the Yuengling Center in Tampa, Florida, as part of Underoath's Erase Me Tour. However, in March 2019, it was announced that the band would perform a series of headlining shows across Australia in May 2019. This expanded to an announcement of a 22-stop U.S. tour the following month. Young stated the band had no plans for a full comeback after the reunion shows. However, Christian revealed in May 2020 that they had reversed course and were in the process of recording new music.
6. Bastions - Majestic Desolation (Wales, United Kingdom)
Genre: Alternative/Hardcore Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/28I7fJRc6dm6a4Cq7kNSS6?si=rToQR0V3Q8Glvs34l2ZkaA
Seven years on from playing their final note onstage and unexpectedly ceasing all activity, seminal UK alternative hardcore band BASTIONS have announced their return. Eleven years on from the North Wales band’s revered debut album, Hospital Corners, BASTIONS will be releasing their second proper full-length , Majestic Desolation, via Church Road Records on July 29.
Majestic Desolation is proof that time dulls nothing. As visceral as they ever were, BASTIONS’ trademark darkened hardcore and unnerving melodicism still convulses and writhes with an air of disquietude. Lamentations of lost time, profound emptiness and grief permeate throughout the entirety of Majestic Desolation’s 25 minutes. No more earnestly is this showcased than the one-two punch of Slithering into Coalfields - with Burne’s howls of “All this loss, all these years” on the latter. Majestic Desolation is less a comeback record as much as it is a continuation of all that made BASTIONS a highly influential UK act in the first place, taking personal hells and finding the universality within them against the backdrop of a sonically ceaseless push and pull.
BASTIONS in 2022 remain as perceptive towards all that leaves us desolate and hurting, with Majestic Desolation knowing when to swing and when to swim in the malaise of it all. Seven years on from that final strangled note at iconic London venue The Black Heart, BASTIONS are back and that sinking feeling of desolation is here to stay.
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1. A Day To Remember - Miracle (Single) (Ocala, Fl)
Genre: Pop-Punk/Metalcore Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4NiJW4q9ichVqL1aUsgGAN?si=aY2j3G5QTdepFQlkOPSznQ
A Day to Remember (often abbreviated ADTR, and previously known as End of an Era) is an American rock band from Ocala, Florida, founded in 2003 by guitarist Tom Denney and drummer Bobby Scruggs. They are known for their amalgamation of metalcore and pop punk. The band currently consists of vocalist Jeremy McKinnon, rhythm guitarist Neil Westfall, percussionist/drummer Alex Shelnutt and lead guitarist Kevin Skaff.
2. Julien Baker - B-Sides (EP) (Memphis, Tennessee)
Genre: Indie/Singer-Songwriter Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/12zbUHbPHL5DGuJtiUfsip?si=SFwpN9cJR6CjOa8a3aNGnQ
Julien Rose Baker is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Her music is noted for its moody quality and confessional lyrical style, as well as frank explorations of issues including spirituality, addiction, mental illness, and human nature.
3. Wake - Thought Form Descent (Alberta, Canada)
Genre: Extreme Metal/Black Metal/ Doom Metal Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3eI8VStKilt8Wb2R4AD4vh?si=xiiaY-2wRWepvJrzp2tREw
Canada's WAKE have never been a band interested in repeating themselves, this abundantly apparent from their discography, having evolved with every release. 2020's Devouring Ruin made this more clear than ever, hammering the point home with the Confluence EP in the same year, and now they return with Thought Form Descent, their most dynamic, diverse and emotional release to date. "I'd describe the record as a place to reconsider what 'extreme' means. The words 'brutal', 'crushing', 'devastating' are overused adjectives for extreme music. We wanted to force people to confront the idea that 'brutal' or 'extreme' ideas aren't just blastbeats or angular tritones, or, more importantly, 'brutal' elements alongside pointedly passive elements can create their own experience that can channel both and neither." The result is eight nuanced tracks that run the gamut from relentlessly heavy to exquisitely beautiful, often simultaneously, and instantly grab hold of the listener, demanding their full attention. However, at the same time, they are lushly textured and densely layered, and offer more with every subsequent exposure, unfurling to show hidden depths, and taking WAKE to a whole new level.
4. A Knife in the Dark - One Way Needle (North Carolina)
Genre: Straightedge Hardcore Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0GDEf7Hw2SjCdpC4QXjmgA?si=_7BFThqcQAeOaoL9RojXDQ
A KNIFE IN THE DARK aren’t here to waste anyone’s time. Having made waves with the sheer force of last year’s Somewhere Between The Pew And The Fire EP – a record that wrapped up its entire business in a sub-six-minute runtime – the North Carolina straight edge crew are keen to round out what could be a potent one-two punch with a swift follow-up in One Way Needle. It’s another three-track release, and still only tips towards six-and-a-half minutes all told, but once again comes crammed with enough ideas and aggro to stand on its own stomp-ready feet.
5. Voluntary Mortification - Suffer To Rise (Lansing, Michigan)
Genre: Spirit-Filled Deathcore Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/12XK2l8weXGg8wkfdrAWqd?si=v9Grt6NcQHSUz31zBqVrDg
"We are a Christian deathcore band from Lansing, MI on a mission to proclaim the healing message of Jesus Christ through brutal music. As far as our name goes, Voluntary Mortification sums up the call of the Christian life: to voluntarily lay down our lives for one another and deny our very selves. We believe the idea of dying to yourself is pretty extreme - just like the very music we listen to and create."
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1. Senses Fail - Hell is in Your Head (Ridgewood, New Jersey)
Genre: Emo/Screamo/Post-Hardcore Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/591yCCsZCLXvaJ0Rg38vLZ?si=lUknaFs_SKqeam8SYwgWmA
On a very simple level, Hell Is In Your Head is a record about death. Yet Senses Fail’s eighth studio album is also much more complex than that. Divided into two halves – one set in the fictional world of TS Eliot’s epic 1922 poem “The Waste Land”, one in the more contemporary dystopia of today – it was co-produced by Saosin’s Beau Burchell, and is the first Senses Fail album that sees Buddy Nielsen, the band’s only surviving member, become the band’s sole creative force. The result is a dark, brooding record that Nielsen considers a musical and thematic counterpart to 2006’s second full-length, Still Searching, and which sees him embark on a philosophical and existential journey into not just death itself, but what it means to die. “This record attempts to go to the dark place of ‘What is it that we’re so afraid of death?’” he explains. “We’re afraid of death because of grief. Are we truly afraid of death because of death? Through my own therapy, I’ve learned you don’t even really have a clear understanding of death because it’s unknowable. And since you literally can’t die and come back, I tried to place the record in a much darker fictional place to help talk about those unanswerable questions.”
2. Rain City Drive - S/T (Sacramento, California)
Genre: Rock/ Post-Metalcore Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4rMxZovfLSDjEL9eI2pKo7?si=FV1oxyr6Tjq1t5FnLzooZw
The need and desire to evolve has an undeniable gravitational pull, especially within music, and with each new era a new sense of renewed purpose and definition is born. Rain City Drive (formerly Slaves) are embracing their next chapter with a powerful combination of authenticity and fervor, true to themselves, their fans and the legacy they now want to create for the next generation of the band. Singer Matt McAndrew (NBC’s The Voice) adds a refreshing pop-melodic swagger to the heavy riffs and songsmanship that has helped them amass a staggering 280 million streams equivalent to 263K album sales streams across their catalog, poising the band to make new waves within a genre ready for a shake up. With “Cutting It Close”, the first new track under their rebranded moniker Rain City Drive, the band have a blistering follow up to hit single “Talk To A Friend”, which is still in recurrent rotation on SiriusXM Octane. It marks an impressive beginning of the campaign for their new album that will release in spring 2022 alongside live shows as inspiring as the songs themselves, and fans ready to sing every note.
3. Yours Truly - Is This What I Look Like? (Sydney, Australia)
Genre: Emo/Rock/Pop Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/76NpRNEWMaNdOudixwOPRo?si=R3dTlf1kS5KSqkKWPBhsEQ
Australia’s are 2022’s must-watch in the alternative scene. Huge international touring credits, media and radio trailblazing and a burgeoning brood of fans are just some of the successes that back this band, but it’s the knack for punchy songwriting and performance deep in their DNA that makes this four-piece really tick.
From their hometown in Sydney, Yours Truly first broke out with their 2019 EP ‘’ (hear its standout singles ‘’ and ‘’) and went on to spend the rest of the year gracing stages including Download UK, Riot Fest and Good Things and supporting rock heroes including and on their international quests. In 2020 the band followed with their full-length ‘’, which saw the band awarded a laundry list of accolades including triple j’s Feature Album and Tone Deaf’s Record Of The Week, alongside band nominations for Rolling Stone’s ‘Best New Artist’ and ‘Best International Breakthrough Band’ at the UK Heavy Awards. Following the arrival of their urgent, pulsing and frustration-filled single '' in the latter half of 2021, 2022 finds the group stepping into a new era with the unveiling of ‘’. Short, sharp and instantly memorable, Yours Truly continue to knock it out of the park ahead of more new music this year.
4. Nightlands - Moonshine (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Genre: Alternative/Dream Pop/ Psych Pop Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6j1PJ7qiMlHAzkyPN3ldN6?si=KAq_ZPz1Qk-L6SzS-39zvA
The project of Philadelphia-based multi-instrumentalist Dave Hartley, Nightlands combines dreamy pop with the love of experimentation he grew up with thanks to his genetic engineer father. Hartley is also the bassist for , and began working on his own music in earnest when the group's album Slave Ambient was taking longer than expected to complete, and released his debut album, Forget the Mantra, on in 2010. Though his duties with -- who released Slave Ambient in 2011 -- kept him busy for much of that year, he also issued the All the Way and Covers EPs, the latter of which included a gorgeously hazy version of 's "Trouble." In 2013, Hartley dropped Nightlands' second album, Oak Island, which featured major-seventh chords (considered the most nostalgic-sounding harmonic grouping) in its songs. had a critical and commercial breakthrough in 2014 with Lost in the Dream and signed with . Hartley didn't abandon Nightlands, however, releasing the project's third LP, a set of spacy love songs called I Can Feel the Night Around Me, in May of 2017.
5. Goon - Hour of Green Evening (Los Angeles, California)
Genre: Fuzzy/Lo-Fi/Indie/Pop Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4NXLuWrShwLG44Had3qhw5?si=yAyjWPOuQZa_DbMYX9mQBQ
The evolution of Goon has come to full fruition on Hour of Green Evening. It’s the band’s most complete statement, engaging all aspects of their sound to stunning effect. The record conjures the nighttime suburban world of frontman Kenny Becker’s youth, a mix of concrete and cookie-cutter homes with the lush beauty of California landscapes. The album thrums with mystery, with the half-remembered past hazy as dreams, the mixed sense of comfort and longing for freedom so essential to youth. The world of Hour of Green Evening is lush and strange, populated by people dreaming, sleeping and waking, existing in that in-between space of the nighttime world.
6. Joey Cool - The Chairman of the Board (Kansas City, Missouri)
Genre: Rap/Hip-Hop Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1A8NEJYo3VW9aIZ6l55Dgu?si=C4pzzCslQNiZEXBczEqGpQ
Joey Cool is just that. Cool. The name is a reflection of his nonchalant bravado and swagger, but don't get it twisted. Though he may have this effortlessly “cool” persona, Joey comes for your head each and every time he picks up the mic. With a knifing drawl, fleet flow, and dense lyrics, Joey Cool transcends his moniker when he’s on the attack. His unwavering confidence and how he backs it up on the mic is what made Joey a pillar of the Kansas City hip-hop scene. Even before signing, Joey grabbed the attention of Strange Music emcees, boasting collaborations with Ces Cru (who featured Joey on their 2015 EP Recession Proof), Tech N9ne and JL. In fact, JL and Joey already have an electric chemistry you can see (anytime they perform together on stage) and hear (on the standout track “Catch A Wave” from JL’s album DIBKIS). Joey Cool, a seasoned veteran with a distinct style and an already deep relationship with Strange Music, made him the perfect addition to the roster. The Strange Reign release concert at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in front of 10,000 fans became the perfect place to make it official. Joey Cool’s history with Strange is what makes the future so exciting.
7. fromjoy - Away (Houston, Texas)
Genre: Metallic/Hardcore Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1o8nCox6ggFAOMN0vZBj6b?si=izB2Dl07RjyTbeNftBt_5Q 
8. Hissing - Hypervirulence Architecture (Seattle, Washington)
Genre: Black Metal/Extreme Metal Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6PyOMd6Pmzzj6sljpW8wMh?si=blip-0UzSBaGkFkT6fd83w
HISSING is an extreme metal group based out of Washington, USA. Founded in 2014 out of a mutual interest in mutilating sounds and exploring the outer limits of black and death metal, the group aims to desecrate expectations with each subsequent release. Their new album “Hypervirulence Architecture”, their first album in four years following their “Permanent Destitution” debut LP, sees the trio take their sound into more nightmarish, trance inducing, mercurial and mind altering sonic dominions.
9. Deathbringer - IT (Grodno, Belarus)
Genre: Progressive Metal/Technical Death Metal Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2Dl5GqSnBzfWB4QBLUGhJE?si=rVKdYIlSRAiYiRxnWfRDPA
DEATHBRINGER was formed in 2002 by Artyom Serdyuk. The band shared the stage with VADER, BEHEMOTH, MARDUK, HATE & many others. In November 2007 album "HOMO DIVISUS" was released by SOUND AGE PRODUCTION, was very well-received & got really positive reviews from all over the world & was re-released by MSR Productions in 2010. In September 2013 DEATHBRINGER entered MONROE SOUND STUDIO to record its successor.
10. Cerebral Extinction - Escape from Illusion (Italy)
Genre: Brutal Death Metal Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/60PRfvkdBoVCudUOrzOtlq?si=M3gTTkNCQTKajOwp2mUF3Q
"This is the third album from Italian brutal death metallers Cerebral Extinction.
Escape from Illusion delivers a punishing technical assault across 47 minutes of brutal material.
There’s a rather pointless intro that goes on for far too long, (as there almost always seems to be), but once this is over the band go for the kill with furious intensity. Blistering riffs, wandering bass, and vicious melodic bite are revealed in all of their precisely-applied glory. The band can certainly play, and their melodic and technical approach to brutal death metal is well-presented and realised.
The songs are fast and aggressive, but occasionally slow down to deliver a heavier breakdown or a mid-paced mechanical beating. They generally skew to the longer side of things for the style, which the band fill with a bewildering array of technical explorations and cruel jagged workouts.
If you’re a fan of bands like Archspire, Origin, Rings of Saturn, Cytotoxin, and Beneath the Massacre then Escape from Illusion is worth a listen. Cerebral Extinction have produced a solid example of technical brutality, so check it out and see if their brand of hostility is for you." - Wonderboxmetal
11. Behold! The Monolith - From The Fathomless Deep (Los Angeles, California)
Genre: Sludge Metal/Doom Metal / Stoner Metal Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/07mfSrRzytABKB1pkyAxLs?si=PyGci05_Rd6qFLXESN3lHg
In their fourteen years of existence, Los Angeles’ progressive sludge stalwarts BEHOLD! THE MONOLITH have experienced triumph, loss and all that is in between. Their 2012 release Defender, Redeemist was a breakthrough, described as a “musical reincarnation of the Wooly Mammoth” by Blabbermouth.net - but the passing of bassist and vocalist Kevin McDade in 2013 put their ascent to a halt. 2015 saw the release of Architects of the Void, which touched upon black metal textures, and the album cycle culminated in a 2016 European tour and appearance at Roadburn Festival. In 2019, Matt Price and Chase Manhattan returned to the band’s original power-trio format, adding veteran Menno Verbaten (Cryptic Slaughter, Expulsion, Lightning Swords of Death) on bass and vocals. The three have spent the last two years refining what made BEHOLD! THE MONOLITH one of Los Angeles’ greatest treasures over the last decade: lumbering iron riffs that kneel at the altar of Iommi, foam-mouthed roars, serpentine solos and Price’s innate love for southern licks and classic metal tics. “From The Fathomless Deep” is BEHOLD! THE MONOLITH’s darkest and most menacing record yet, an album that stares fearlessly into the shadows. The BEHOLD! THE MONOLITH of 2022 is not the same band we knew all those years ago: grizzlier, rougher-hewn and more technically visceral than they’ve ever been. A welcome reward for their decade-old following, and a ear-splitting surprise for those unbaptized.
12. Remains - Grind 'Til Death (Australia)
Genre: Grindcore/ Brutal Death Metal Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6Ka2qyIVVrnB8MhozM9D97?si=jEosS--aRXSKep9pH3G9Kw
Remains are grindcore/deathmetal maniacs from Melbourne, Australia formed in 2019 and featuring members of highly reputed bands Blood Duster, Captain Cleanoff, The Kill, Fuck I’m Dead, King, The Day Everything Became Nothing. Remains play extreme stadium grind with epic blasting assaults and windmilling rockin hooks to blow your fucken lids clean off. The debut album “Grind Til Death” will be out on July 15th, 2022, and was mixed and mastered by Joe Haley (Psycroptic) to guarantee total stadium grinding mayhem! Remains have been signed to Australian punk headbangers Disdain Records for the Australian release and the new Italian powerhouse Spikerot Records who’ll take care of the album release for the rest of the world. Having played numerous shows in their homeland including international supports slots for legendary bands such as "Obituary" and "Cattle Decapitation" the band are slicing their name into the Australian and soon the world extreme underground metal scene!
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1. Cultist - Let Me Feel Everything (California)
Genre: Spirit-filled Beatdown Music: https://open.spotify.com/album/5opvtN6NGds1Zk7KB7Gm9T?si=8dQYAhBgSfK0i7pVCv7R7g
Their new single ""Let Me Feel Everything"" released on July 7th has everything to satisfy your need for heavy music.
Cultist has also announced their recent signing to Facedown Records!
2. Viagra Boys - Cave World (Stockholm, Sweden)
Genre: Post-Punk Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2nAKP6etu8wXNnezKXgqgg?si=IdyYkkgJQfKVuIuTugfWdg
Some say Viagra Boys is something akin to a mirror for the absurdum of existence and illusions of realness, a twisted and ferociously bass-driven judgement on western society, a distorted 24/7 party on the acid highway going nowhere fast. Or perhaps more like a crude joke on modern masculinity, serving up escapist narratives lacking any form of self-preservation; like an obscure back alley door into the backwaters of the human psyche.
Metaphors aside, Viagra Boys is an unapologetically raw sextet comprised of classically trained jazz musicians, karaoke loving tattoo artists and seasoned hardcore scene veterans, churning out spastic, pulsating sounds from the sub levels of contemporary rock music - a bellowing, unstoppable force majeure of latter-day punk, PTSD disco and synthetically enhanced kraut. And as equal parts Iggy Pop and Hank Williams, singer and frontman Sebastian Murphy embodies all that which Viagra Boys are ultimately about; a fractured, perhaps disillusioned act, wrapped up and held together by inextinguishable bravado, explosive appearances and resourceful songwriting.
3. Organectomy - Nail Below Nail (New Zealand)
Genre: Brutal Death Metal Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6u35vrqf6Lh3EafXoJF6Qs?si=uGqokqSgS2mTAQcuCKoaRw
Hailing from Christchurch City, New Zealand, 'Organectomy' have been at the forefront of New Zealand's Slam and Death Metal scenes since first hitting the stage back in 2010.
Hailing as the brainchild of Bassist Tyler Jordan, Drummer Jae Hulbert, Vocalist Alex Paul, and Guitarists Sam McRobert and Ashton Moore, Organectomy's unique brand of 'Slamming Death Metal' incorporates aspects of Old School Death Metal, Melodic Death Metal, Brutal Death Metal, Atmospheric Death Metal, Technical Death Metal, and Slam into a twisted amalgamation of pure, sickening brutality.
Organectomy released their third album, Nail Below Nail, on July 8th, 2022 through Unique Leader Records. To support the album’s release, the band is embarking on multiple tours globally, including a headlining album release tour of New Zealand and an ambitious EU tour packed with festival appearances.
4. GWAR - The New Dark Ages (Richmond, Virginia)
Genre: Metal Music: https://open.spotify.com/album/6NwSOXAwB7H3njmkrGV3eC?si=sM3-iWLKRAqzmTQMwpVz3g
Thrash metal's answer to the more mainstream satire of Spinal Tap , GWAR is known for its grotesque costumes and blood-soaked, controversy-baiting live performances. Their elaborate mythology describes the group as all-powerful interplanetary warriors who came to Earth to enslave and slaughter the human race. Founded in Richmond, Virginia, in 1984, GWAR utilizes a rotating cast of musicians, artists, and filmmakers, known collectively as Slave Pit Inc.
5. Vancouver Sleep Clinic - Fallen Paradise (Brisbane, Australia)
Genre: Indie/Alt-Pop Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/77BznF1Dr1k5KyEZ6Nn3jB?si=rvb4GIQWQtKdJxyAktfdbg
Vancouver Sleep Clinic is the brainchild of an ambient singer, songwriter, and record producer Tim Bettinson. Starting in 2014, Vancouver Sleep Clinic enjoyed early success with the release of the Winter EP, receiving widespread support, and placements in film & TV. Vancouver Sleep Clinic then released its debut album Revival in 2017, earning recognition from new fans and critics alike. In 2018, the band collaborated with Drew Love (from a grunge duo THEY ) for the highly praised single .
6. Bad Breeding - Human Capital (Stevenage, England)
Genre: Anarcho- Punk Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/781vvvQYKgDjg3i90b7vtV?si=4v1M_JsIS-SGibaSxQ2mSQ
Hailing from Stevenage, England, -- the first new town to be declared under the 1946 New Town Act -- Bad Breeding are an anarcho-punk four-piece that deliver punishing blasts of ferocious punk that draws influence from the original British pioneers of the scene, , , and . Formed in 2013 by Chris Dodd (vocals), Matt Toll (guitar), Charlie Rose (bass), and Ashlea Bennett (drums), the group utilized their sense of anger, Stevenage's isolation, and the political landscape in the U.K. and the world as their starting point. Their first release, Burn This Flag, came the following year via . With their live shows gaining attention for their uncompromising performances, the four-piece also headed out on tour with the likes of , as well as playing their own headline shows. 2014 also saw them move away from labels and self-release their second single, Chains, selling it via online auction sites. They headed to Europe to tour with in 2015, and played numerous dates across the U.K. as they began recording their debut album. The eponymous release appeared in April 2016 and was once again self-released, with the group playing festivals over the summer before heading out on a headline tour. In 2017, Bad Breeding linked up with Hackney-based punk label and U.S.-based for the sophomore album Divide. Continuing with their relentless touring schedule for the rest of the year, the group rolled into 2018 with the announcement that they had signed to . With the label the perfect home for the group -- which was originally set up by members of various first-wave anarcho-punk bands.
7. Plague Years - All Will Suffer (Detroit, Michigan)
Genre: Crossover Death/Thrash metal Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6ITy6snh6DsKoBXuf6uCOL?si=8IJ-lePQSkSkGObltVr3fA
PLAGUE YEARS is a band every devotee of thrash, crossover, and death metal should know. Citing the group's Kreator, Sodom, and Slayer vibe with "a touch of evil," tastemaker metal magazine Revolver gushed that PLAGUE YEARS is "genuinely mean." In nuclear-sized fusion with thrash throwbacks like Dark Angel, the unrelentingly crushing quartet pays homage to hardcore-punk Michigan forebearers' Negative Approach in attitude and gritty local gangster rappers in spirit.
Like the beloved neo-thrashers Power Trip, Plague Years mine the glory days of thrash. But their postmodern version adds down-tuned guitars, death metal elements, hardcore vocals, and massively muscular riffage. It's like the noisy rage of classic Sepultura combined with the might of Obituary. The devilish, down-tuned, death-worship of Plague Years serves as a demonic calling card for the Motor City foursome. It's a brutal counterbalance to their otherwise like-minded metal revivalists.
8. The Machinist - All is Not Well (Queens, New York)
Genre: Extreme Metal Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/50WDTKRSrvgZrQMWMw0QWQ?si=DDfZ2x7XRTifBxkHX_Bqxg
Since its inception, this twisted brainchild has embraced all aspects of extreme music. Their eponymous 2016 album rode the wave of groovy and melodic deathcore, but much like that aged whiskey you stole from your pop’s liquor cabinet as a teenager, their sound has since matured. In a time plagued by the monotony of trends, every band must rise to the challenge of originality by painstakingly honing their sound. The Machinist did it with death on the brain. The universal, if not eerie theme presents itself through Lovecraft-inspired album art and the conjuring of a dead language for the album title itself. Nothing is off limits in their writing process. The diverse background of each member builds a creative foundation to address a range of hard-hitting social issues with relevant-and often enraged-perspective. Lyrics about their arrant rejection of systematic racism, the hypocrisy of religious institutions, or reclaiming one’s life in the in the wake of sexual assault, all find a way to circle back to our inevitably fleeting mortality...In Death We Trust.
9. End It - Unpleasant Living (Baltimore, Maryland)
Genre: Hardcore Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5YlX74SFjWauq32aKLwAYn?si=QI8ZK7MWRnuPf9vSIA-42A
END IT hail from Baltimore, MD and they want you to know it. Formed in 2017, the five-piece have pride for the city and often address the unease mixed with hope that stems from the community they live in. The band came on strong with the release of their self-titled EP the same year they started, and followed it up with 2020’s One Way Track, gaining them notoriety amongst the hardcore scene. END IT are set to release follow-up Unpleasant Living on their label home Flatspot Records this July. Recorded with Kevin Bernsten at Developing Nations Recording, Unpleasant Living delivers with ferocity and purpose. The message? Mind your business.
The band takes heavy influence from ‘90s hardcore, having already drawn comparsions to acts like , , and . They’ve also shared the stage with a diverse group of artists, ranging from Cro-mags and Life Of Agony to Turnstile and Lil Ugly Mane, and will add to that list this year as they plan to play shows as much as possible. With absolutely no sign of slowing down, END IT is to be liked at face value or not. The choice is yours.
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