1. Webbed Wing - Right After I Smoke This… (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Genre: Rock/Alternative Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5WtT8OzAjn0fJ6tondvHrI?si=Rx7Y3fiYTE-9CXDs_ET4aQ
Following a decorated career with Philly rock group Superheaven, singer and guitarist Taylor Madison meanders into newly-refined songwriter territory with the inception of Webbed Wing in 2018. Joined by Jake Clarke (drums) and Mike Paulshock (bass), the band fully realizes their innate genre-blending musicality. Webbed Wing’s somewhat simplistic approach to songwriting explores what it means to birth a sad song without fully killing a mood, paired with a soundscape laden with nostalgia and a tasteful pop-rock resurgence. Taking notes from the likes of The Lemonheads and Teenage Fanclub, Webbed Wing encapsulates everything lyrically gripping about indie and everything vibrant about modern pop. While also expertly intertwining the heaviness of metal and the earnesty of country, the band blends all these different aspects of their craft into something highly palatable and new. Between early Webbed Wing releases, like 2019’s Bike Ride Across the Moon (Disposition Collective) and forthcoming recordings on 2021’s What’s So Fucking Funny? with Grammy-nominated producer Will Yip (Code Orange, The Menzingers, Mannequin Pussy, Circa Survive) via Memory Music Label (Bartees Strange, Anthony Green), there’s an obvious level up in production, honing in on Webbed Wing’s natural maturity as both an artist and a creative.
2. Aortes - Devouring Gloom (Lithuania)
Genre: Doom/Ambient/Metal Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1zxU64Z5fKgqGrsTdMwz0M?si=k0J43hRnQD6vRvMBrDLfmw
AORTES (previously, AUTISM) started out in 2012 as an instrumental solo project of guitarist Tomhetas. The Crawling Chaos (2013) proved to be the start of a string of releases that showed a heavier sound, a consistent concern for storylines, and an ambitious conceptual vision. In 2016 they became a full line-up live band and recorded Film Noir (2017), a dark and invasive opus dealing with alcoholism, drugs, and physical and psychological abuse. In Have you found peace? (2019), a conceptual album, the band teamed up with Krzysztof from the post-metal act ROSK who became the first vocal performer in the history of the band. In 2021 Andrius has joined the band to take full-time vocal duties after appearing on the band’s single Immersion (2021). Now available is Their latest release: Devouring Gloom.
3. Principius - Peace Through Afflication (Montreal, Canada)
Genre: Melodic Death Metal Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4ySnQCqyIPtuKDaHd1Gy1c?si=1iTOg0IJTf2Xoxm7ivv4fw
Principius is a female fronted melodic death metal band from Montreal Canada. It was formed in 2019 and now consists of Axelle Doyon (vocals and lyrics), Hugues Berger-Pelletier (guitar, music and lyrics), Jeremie Henneuse (bass) and Michel Gagne-Bouchard (Drum). Their music showcases strong guitar harmonies, fast drums and complex vocal performances. Higher pitch screams, to deeper growls, to sometimes classical clean vocals and belting, it is overwhelming to think this is coming from the same person. Hugues founded the band that originally started as a basement hobby. Attending different metal shows in the Montreal area provided the motivation to make the band an official project. Recruitment began and Axelle was eventually the first of the new members.
4. Can't Swim - Thanks but No Thanks (Keansburg, New Jersey)
Genre: Rock/Alternative Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/62elZbH5Iop8UPcChp7OrU?si=IxPJD8JKSCCrZTSHyUxfAA
One of New Jersey’s prodigal sons once mused “who says you can’t go home?” – but CAN’T SWIM have never really left their Garden State surroundings. Sure, they’ve certainly logged tens of thousands of miles over the past seven years, bringing their cathartic blend of rock, punk, and emo to audiences around the world on bills with A Day To Remember and Senses Fail and at festivals like 2000trees. But at their core, Can’t Swim are innately Jersey through and through: from the ghosts of Tri-State hardcore giants that oscillate through their high-octane sound to the very garages and studios where those songs take shape. Now, the band plant their Garden State flag even deeper on their fourth LP, Thanks But No Thanks, an album that quite literally finds them going back to their roots. After wrapping another slate of hard touring for 2021’s Change Of Plans, the group – vocalist Chris LoPorto, bassist Greg McDevitt, guitarist Danny Rico and drummer (and honorary Jersian) Blake Gamel – decamped to the Shore, insulating themselves in the comforts of home while working to hone in on the most elemental components of the Can’t Swim sound. “This was honestly the most fun we’ve ever had making an album,” LoPorto muses. “We’ve reached a point as a band where we’re able to stop overthinking and instead just do what feels right. I think it’s brought a lot of joy back into our music.” Joy has rarely been a word associated with Can’t Swim – awash in tempestuous lyricism and muscular energy since breaking into the underground with 2016’s Death Deserves A Name EP – but there’s a self-referential wryness to LoPorto’s lyrics on Thanks But No Thanks that winks its way through the album’s 10 songs, along with a finely tuned melodic edge that balances out the band’s more brooding nature. With guitarist Rico overseeing production, mixing, and mastering (a position he held on 2017’s debut LP Fail You Again and 2018’s This Too Won’t Pass), first single “me vs. me vs. all y’all” is Can’t Swim’s most fully realized pop song to date, name-checking The Cure, The Lemonheads and Eddie Vedder, while the album-opening “Nowhere, Ohio” offers a playful tribute to the Alkaline Trio classic “Radio” in between stabs of downtuned guitars. “It’s much easier to write songs from a mental standpoint these days,” LoPorto says. “It was a warzone in my mind there for a while, but present-day Chris is at peace and having fun.” But don’t conflate fun with frivolity. The same emotional heft that’s made Can’t Swim a cult favorite in the scene – and earned them musical co-signs from the likes of Taking Back Sunday’s Adam Lazzara and Beartooth’s Caleb Shomo – is front and center on Thanks But No Thanks, from the sorrowful summer 2022 single “I heard they found you face down inside your living room,” mourning the death a close friend, to the classic punk rallying cry “ELIMINATE,” which tackles the gun violence epidemic with a strength-in-numbers call to arms. In this way, the evolution of Can’t Swim as a band is really evident: What once were presented as insurmountable obstacles on previous albums are now framed as hard-but-necessary lessons that need confronting in to move forward and grow, calling upon new levels of resolve and strength to dull down life’s demons. Through it all, the band have been able to truly block out the noise and let their conscience resonate loudest of all. “We’ve had so much advice from people throughout the years,” LoPorto says, referencing the album’s title. “There’s been a lot of people in this revolving door now, and a lot of advice that knocked us off the track a little bit. Ultimately, we realized no one knows us better than us, so let’s just trust ourselves to do our thing.” Four records in, it feels like Can’t Swim are just now hitting their stride. They’ve stretched their wings over nearly a decade, dabbling in everything from frantic hardcore (2019’s Foreign Language EP) to ethereal indie (2020’s Someone Who Isn’t Me EP), yet have once again found their way back to their musical home. “As a writer, we’ve always wanted to experience different sounds and explore different vibes, but I think that sort of exploration is pretty much done,” LoPorto says. “I feel perfectly confident in being ourselves at this point.” The next few years will take them far away from their own beds as these songs reach audiences around the world – but that’s a sacrifice the band is willing to make because of how much these connections truly mean. “My dad once told me, ‘Even if I won the lottery, nothing I could ever buy would mean as much as what you have with this band,” LoPorto says. “To look out in the crowd and see people with Can’t Swim tattoos blows my mind; that’s why I never understand when bands get so wrapped up in numbers and how they can get bigger. I was a garbage man in Jersey City when I was 23, and now I’m supposed to be bummed we only hit 200,000 monthly listeners? Come on. To have anyone care is enough.” - Via Purenoise
5. Acres - Burning Throne (Portsmouth, United Kingdom)
Genre: Melodic Post-Hardcore Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3y43zXffnLmhyQD1K4QCmD?si=HhMJmPFdTrqudoOcpsdicA
Following the incredible success and adoration received from 2019’s stunning debut ‘Lonely World’, a record that harnessed melody and melancholy to devastatingly gorgeous effect, Acres found themselves playing the biggest shows of their career so far and achieving things they had only previously dreamt about. But when the world around them suddenly felt so uncertain, they had a choice to make of what they should do next. Instead of rushing out with something that they didn’t fully believe, they locked themselves away and painstakingly created something that not only represented where they had been but also where they wanted to end up. Acres return with crushing, cathartic and perfectly crafted accounts of what it means to stare into your own oblivion and learn about who you really are from it. First single 'Burning Throne' showcases the band’s heaviest material to date whereas the second, 'Hold On' sees them at their most melodic, poignant and honest. Acres have injected every ounce of their soul into their next chapter, something that they are immensely proud to have as a vital part of their story.
6. Necropanther - Betrayal (Denver, Colorado)
Genre: Thrash Metal / Death Metal Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2Fe3uMYgjeDjg9JIIV3yxa?si=loqJ6FKaTZiujkfqLol9iA
We are NECROPANTHER. Short, thrashy death metal songs from a dystopian future. Denver, Colorado. Paul Anop: Guitar, Vocals. Marcus Corich: Bass, Vocals. Joe Johnson: Guitar. Haakon Sjogren: Drums
7. Ocean Of Grief - Pale Existence (Athens, Greece)
Genre: Melodic Doom Metal Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0FyJgGUsFZlg1M2WS1ckwr?si=vf0AzQR8Ra-zB9aDy2M7lw
Ocean of Grief's melodic doom/death dates back in 2016 in Athens, Greece, with their first musical endeavor, the "Fortress Of My Dark Self" EP, released by GS Productions, deeply influenced by the sound of Slumber, Enshine, Draconian and Saturnus. The gloomy but melancholic feeling of the EP, was followed by the self-released single "After a Long Time" and eventually the band's first full length album "Nightfall's Lament", released by Rain Without End records, diving even deeper into darkness and despair. The band is now releasing their sophomore album, Pale Existence, with an even darker and more melodic tone, allowing the listener to get lost in somber but immersive soundscapes.
8. I Call Fives - Not For Everyone (Washington Township, New Jersey)
Genre: Pop-Punk Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3vsi8vM5Xs8p1NEQuZWP70?si=b9uczxFlRlW5FteE8hZGrw 
9. Full of Hell & Primitive Man - Suffocating Hallucination (Ocean city, Maryland, Denver, Colorado)
Genre: Grindcore / Doom Metal Music: https://open.spotify.com/album/7uAidSfsq30KuUAu2UeQO6?si=5u_67bE2R-SMCng54-JHUw 
10. Rath & The Wise Guys - Paradise (Tampa, Florida)
Genre: Beach Punk / Skate Rock Music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0dY4LJN4YX1UFlWgluk30Q?si=f2Ir3RD2S4StVbc41OnoqQ
We're a beach punk skate rock band from Tampa Bay, FL ready to party with you!
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