mast_img
Photo Credit:
Sugar Horse
August 14, 2021|FEATURES

New Noizze: The 12 Must Listen Tracks Of The Week

Not living it large in a field in Derbyshire this weekend? Here's some of the best new songs from across the rock and metal world for your hearing pleasure.

Sugar Horse – Shouting Judas At Bob Dylan

The latest single from their forthcoming debut The Live Long After, ‘Shouting Judas At Bob Dylan’ shows Sugar Horse‘s knack for marrying doom, shoegaze and elements of hardcore into an enthralling combination. Opening with shouts and grinding, serpentine guitars, it bludgeons and batters. Frantic drums and desperate yells suddenly stop, a quiet passage lulling into a false sense of security before sung vocals croon atop the same fast-paced drumming. Their ability to shift seamlessly from quieter passages to the louder moments – which are just as varied in themselves – gives it an entrancing quality. Despite describing themselves as “decidedly average”, Sugar Horse continue to prove that they’re anything but that. – Will Marshall

Thrice – Robot Soft Exorcism

To say Thrice are influential and revered doesn’t really do them justice; their take on post-hardcore laid the blueprint so many bands have followed over the years and their Alchemy Index albums saw them bring a more experimental side of themselves to the fore. Following on from ‘Scavengers’, their latest single ‘Robot Soft Exorcism’ sees them channel their inner Radiohead. It’s a more relaxed, but still unsettling experience. It opens with electronics and is built around arpeggiated guitar lines with a towering chorus. On the song’s name, the band explain “The track’s title may sound familiar to those who are aware of David Dark. The American author and teacher coined the term in a Twitter thread, exploring a metaphor in an attempt to help us distinguish between harmful and destructive systems and those that inhabit and benefit from them.” – Will Marshall

Turnstile – FLY AGAIN

Not merely content to release some of the summer’s best songs with their previous singles, ‘FLY AGAIN’ shows Turnstile taking a more straightforward rock path that’s no less expansive or anthemic than before. A dramatic piano introduces the song before launching full throttle into a groovy riff guaranteed to get heads bobbing and fill rock club dancefloors – especially when the chorus hits. No less mammoth than their other choruses, its repeated shouts then give way to a short guitar break and we move back to a verse that’s just as likely to inspire mass singalongs live. It stands in stark contrast to earlier singles like ‘ALIEN LOVE CALL’ and clearly shows just how varied and engaging their forthcoming third album, Glow On, is sure to be. – Will Marshall

Trivium – Feast Of Fire

Not merely content to blow everyone away with the incendiary ‘In The Court Of The Dragon’, Floridian metallers Trivium announced their tenth studio album and its next single, ‘Feast Of Fire’. The video was filmed in their brand new practice space – an old aircraft hangar, of all things – and the song itself is every bit as catchy as its predecessor. A serpentine bassline underpins riffing that wouldn’t be out of place on Silence In The Snow with a chorus that soars like the titular dragon. It’s a more pared-back affair than the previous single which serves to underscore Trivium‘s versatility and range. Giving an insight into the song and their writing process, bassist Paolo Gregoletto had this to say: “There’s always that one song you aren’t expecting when you begin writing a new album. It could be a riff written on the spot in the rehearsal space, a lyric that pairs just right with a melody, or in the case of Feast of Fire, sitting right there in front of us in the middle of a demo that Corey brought in. We were well into pre-production at [recording studio] Full Sail when we all decided that something about the demo we had tracked was good but could be even better. Our producer Josh Wilbur even had in his notes: ‘Bridge is special, maybe so special it needs its own song.’ We tore the song apart and began again on the spot.” – Will Marshall

Beach Riot – Wraith

Taken from their newly announced debut – the cooly titled Subatomic Party Cool – the latest offering from the Brighton fuzz poppers Beach Riot is a scuzzed up necksnapper that showcases the band’s dichotomy of incandescent melody and abrasive textures. As potentially one of the band’s most urgent and desperate tracks to date, ‘Wraith’ more or less delivers on its name; draped in classic 90s static, the effortless catchy track dances around a tormenting schoolground lyrical hook. “Jonny hits the hi hats so fast on this one that his hands are actually playing 5 seconds in the future compared to the rest of his body”, state the band on the track. “Also it’s a song about your life force being slowly drained away in a fading relationship and there’s nothing you can do about it but watch and brace yourself.” – Dan Hillier

Blanket – In Awe feat. Kadeem France

There’s a reason why Blanket have become such a coveted name within UK post-rock, and the group’s latest single is concrete evidence that they’re truly something extraordinary indeed. Featuring no less than Loathe’s Kadeem France on guest vocals, ‘In Awe’ fully lives up its titular promise due to its fragile beauty, sweeping instrumental manoeuvres and periods of full bloodied metallic punishment. A track of ethereal density that’s both weightless and crushing, the track follows on from the band’s other two singles from their forthcoming new record Modern Escapism. With the new album releasing September 10th and with the band teasing their new manoeuvres into the waters of shoegaze, post-metal and esoteric eclecticism, Blanket are on course to be the next big achievement in the world of post-rock prior to the end of the year. – Dan Hillier

Mastiff – Repulse

A miserable band from a miserable town. That’s how Hull’s Mastiff describe themselves and it does not do them justice in the slightest. Theirs is the sound of existential rage, misery and nihilism funnelled through blackened sludge, hardcore, death metal and more. Latest single ‘Repulse’, from their upcoming album Leave Me The Ashes Of The Earth is bowel-emptyingly heavy, a mid-tempo bruiser that thrashes, grooves and screams its way through a four minute run time. Its final moments drop the pace into a funereal dirge with bellows of “So repulsive / the way you’re torturing us” that sound dragged from the very depths of hell itself. It’s a whirling tornado of anger, apathy and disgust aimed squarely at the entire world, revelling in its own desolation and destruction. Listen at your peril – but make sure you do listen. – Will Marshall

LLNN – Obsidian

Ever wondered what the apocalypse sounds like? LLNN know, and it sounds like their upcoming record Unmaker. The band have described the album as ‘a stupefyingly unforgiving affair: abrasive and vile, at times effervescent and escharotic, and finally absolutely smothering, suffocating, terminal’ and latest single ‘Obsidian’ suits that description to a T. Opening with crushingly heavy guitars, it’s underpinned by unnerving electronic elements as the throat-shredding vocals preach Armageddon. “Obsidian is about something unknowable consuming and devouring everything in it’s path to become a part of it,” the band say. “Like an ever-expanding blob of flesh. It might be a metaphor for something…you decide.” – Will Marshall

Frank Carter And The Rattlesnakes – Go Get A Tattoo feat. Lynks

Frank Carter and his Rattlesnake cronies lean into the groove on new track Go Get A Tattoo, with a danceable bassline backed up by upbeat pop drum beats. “Smash your sadness, go get a tattoo”, a mantra that we’d imagine anyone with ink on their skin will sing back at the band with joyous reprieve, Go Get A Tattoo is a glorious celebration of returning to the things we love now that lockdown after lockdown seems to be finally over. The track comes from the band’s upcoming 4th record ‘Sticky’. – Elliot Grimmie

Crown The Empire – In Another Life feat. Courtney LaPlante

Metalcore mob Crown The Empire have recently confirmed they’ve been working on a new album and have given their first taste of it with latest single ‘In Another Life’, featuring the phenomenal vocal talents of Courtney LaPlante (SPIRITBOX). Vocalist Andy Leo says of the song, “‘In Another Life’ was the first song we wrote while working on our new album in the studio. Because of COVID, my life got completely derailed and I was getting very little sleep. My entire identity was so wrapped up in my ability to sing and tour the world that having that taken away from me made me feel like a ghost.” It’s incredibly heavy with Crown The Empire’s trademark angular, groove-laden riffs colliding with caustic roars as well as Courtney’s serene singing and vicious screams. – Will Marshall

Death Blooms – Shut Up

Hot on the heels of their opening set at Download Pilot that saw them crush it despite such a long absence from stages, nu-metallers Death Blooms just announced their debut album Life Is Pain along with lead single ‘Shut Up’. Vocalist Paul explains ​“This is a bite back at the shit-stains on society who look down on other people and who think they’re somehow better, and treat others as if they’re worthless. You might think you’re special, but you’re wrong. You’re just the same as me.” Marrying the bounce of nu-metallers with the crunch and electronic elements of modern metalcore, Death Blooms create an incendiary cocktail of sounds that are both abrasive and memorable. – Will Marshall

Bailer – Gateway Drug

Ahead of the slot at this year’s Bloodstock Festival, metallic hardcore outfit BAILER have given us the first taste of their upcoming album with lead single ‘Gateway Drug’. It might clock in at under three minutes, but the band cram a lot in during that time and clearly show why they’re hotly tipped as one of the most exciting underground bands to come out of Ireland. On the new single, vocalist Alex O’Leary states: “The root of addiction is misery. I feel like if misery was a drug, it’d be the gateway drug to a life consumed by addiction for those who may be exposed to it too often or too early. This song highlights the acceptance that there might be no escape from suffering, but it’s not the problems you face, its all about how you deal with them. That’s what matters.” – Will Marshall

All tracks can be found in our essential playlist.

Check out and follow the playlist here.