Vexed, Delaire The Liar, Saint Agnes and More: New Noizze – The 12 Must-Listen Tracks Of The Week

Summer hardcore? Check. Furious metalcore? Check. Noise ridden covers of an 80's synth-pop classic? It all happened last week. Here's the top 12 singles from last week.

Vexed – Anti-Fetish

Metalcore bruisers Vexed made significant waves in the scene with their debut Culling Culture, fusing barbaric vocals, vicious groove and tectonic breakdowns, all along with a knack for memorability and melody. After two long years away, they’ve returned with the lead single from second album Negative Energy, the ferocious, utterly monstrous ‘Anti-Fetish’ that’ll be stuck in your head for days like an icepick. The riffs have more bends than a diver that’s surfaced too fast, the drums are pulverising and vocalist Megan Targett somehow brings an even greater level of fury than before. Lyrically taking aim at expectations placed on bands that lump them into homogenous categories (the outdated, sexist “female-fronted” tag springing to mind), the band say of the song “We wanted to start with a huge riff and a strong message.” Mission fucking accomplished. – Will Marshall

Saint Agnes – Animal

Rock four-piece Saint Agnes return kicking and screaming with new single ‘Animal’, an unapologetic track chock full of the band’s trademark rage. Updating their sound from their blues inspired roots Saint Agnes embrace a noisy industrial punk vibe taking cues from Nine Inch Nails while keeping all of the swagger that’s made their work so endearing so far intact. ‘Animal’ lives up to its name, both with the literal animal screeches sampled in the track’s intro and with vocalist Kitty A. Austen’s unhinged fury. Complementing the band’s usual hard rock style guitar lines are distorted synths and punchy electronic drums, bringing in retro elements from the 70s to the 2010s. – Tom Bruce

Kublai Khan TX – Theory of Mind

Nobody does it like Kublai Khan TX. That’s just a indisputable fact of life. Matt Honeycutt and his crew have built themselves an untouchable reputation for writing songs that tap into the most primal parts of your brain. From the caveman riffs to some of the most antagonist vocal lines ever recorded, these guys do one thing and do it better than almost anyone else. Their new release, ‘Theory Of Mind’ is of course, more of the same, but we’re not complaining. It’s a song about, according to the band, “A weapons test of testicular fortitude”. The opening barrage of a simple yet enormous riff and Matt screaming “monkey see monkey do, so who the fuck made you” will be responsible for broken noses and sore heads for years to come. The track progresses with some trademark breakdowns, almost sludgy guitar parts and it all kicks off for real near the end with Honeycutt yelling “bitch” to precede all hell breaking loose. Is it clever? No. Is it big? It’s the aural equivalent of King Kong bodyslamming Godzilla. – Chris Earl

Militarie Gun – Very High

With its release not just coinciding with the arrival of the first rays of warmth this year but the announcement of their debut record Life Under The Gun – released June 23rd via Loma Vista – it feels that the new track from Militarie Gun is heralding the arrival of summer itself. A warm and blinding serving of summertime punk, ‘Very High’ harkens thoughts of those halcyon city summers spent on sun-bleached streets blasting classic hardcore in thanks to its endless hooks, urbanite swagger and hardcore punk sentiment. It’s impossible not be energised or bolstered with a sense of confidence by this track. – Dan Hillier

JOHN – Trauma Mosaic

Limitations? What limitations? As a two piece some would see this as a hurdle within song writing and put-up unnecessary barriers. John Newton (vocals/drums) and Johnny Healey (guitar), aka JOHN, continue to dismantle those obstacles in developing their sound after 2021’s ‘Nocturnal Manoeuvres’. New single ‘Trauma Mosaic’ opens with electronic drum samples something John Newton had been experimenting with his own solo work ‘Total Wkts’ previously. The chant like call of ‘Ancient. Set in stone’ echoes through and leads into an ebb and flow of the track. The nuance between sections as guitar and drums intensify and fade away with effortless feel. This is great preview of what’s to come on their just announced North American tour and hopefully more material soon on the horizon. – Adam Vallely

Delaire The Liar – Bite Trap

Fuzzy alt-rock, 2000s emo and post-hardcore collide in Delaire The Liar‘s new single ‘bite trap’, their first new music since 2021’s excellent Eat Your Own EP. Guitarist/vocalist Ffin Colley and bassist/vocalist Em Lodge trade lines in the verses, the backing screams from Lodge harshly counterpointing the emotionally fraught melody. The band chose this time to write conceptually rather than drawing on personal experience, and say of the song’s narrative that it “explores how people defend themselves and the ones they care about, and how those responses can be misjudged, irrational and charged even with the best intentions at heart.” It’s a real refinement of their sound, exploring new avenues without changing the core elements that make them one of the UK’s most exciting new prospects. With this and a short headline tour that featured another as-yet-unreleased song, 2023 will be very promising for Delaire The Liar indeed.  – Will Marshall

Lovebreakers – Attracted To Your Fashion

Another summer-infused belter, the latest single from Lovebreakers is a love song for the hottest of days. The second track from the Birmingham punks this year thus far, ‘Attracted To Your Fashion’ follows on from the recently released ‘Spark’ with it’s feverish sense of excitement and anticipation. Those who heard the band’s brilliant and criminally undersung LP debut Primary Colours will know what to find here; just irresistibly warm hooks and undeniable charm that sounds worlds away from the band’s urbanite hometown. – Dan Hillier

Sugar Horse – Head Over Heels (Tears For Fears cover)

If anyone was going to take a pop at covering a 80s new wave, synth-pop classic and somehow turn it into a post-apocalyptic hellscape of sound it would of course be Sugar Horse. Staying almost true to the pace of the original but adding their doom-laden flavour with huge drums and deep, spacious riffage alongside moments of vocalist Ashley Tubb’s vicious scream they create a brooding mood. Ashley sees this track as “a song about passion and the obsessive pursuit of said passion” and the Bristol quartet certainly do show said passion and love of iconic music through their interpretation of this track. – Adam Vallely

Buggin – Not Yours

Hardcore label Flatspot Records is making big moves this year and that’s not changing with this week’s release of ‘Not Yours’ by Chigaco hardcore unit Buggin. Full of rage, this track is riddled with influence from genres such as powerviolence and early punk. With artwork by the amazing Marc UÅ, this single has stepped up and shown that this next release will be both an audial and visual giant in the world of hardcore, possibly taking up ranks alongside bands like Scowl and Zulu. This track is definitely worth the listen and gives a wonderful look into what is to expect from these hardcore soldiers come the release of their new album Concrete Cowboys on June 2nd. – Nathaniel Maure

Mil-Spec – The Days Don’t End

Toronto is flooded with amazing artists right now, especially in its hardcore scene. With that comes Mil-Spec and their new single ‘The Days Don’t End’. Off their sophomore album with Lockin Out Records, which is set to release later this year and is co-produced by the band, the Canadian outfit has been busting their behinds to bring the best follow up to 2020’s World House. With that being said, this track comes in with an almost nostalgia inducing, melodic hardcore approach before slowly delving into a 90s/2000s skater punk vibe fitting of an early Tony Hawk game soundtrack. For anyone into the softer side of hardcore or just getting into “screaming music” while still trying to cure that heavy music itch, this track is going to be a perfect addition to the playlist. – Nathaniel Maure

To Kill Achilles – …And I’m an Addict

Take the emotional, fragile delivery and lyrical content of Being As An Ocean and add in some chunkier production and heavier moments and what do you get? You get To Kill Achilles. This is the second single from their brand new album, coming out in August of this year, titled ‘…And I’m an Addict’. The band have stated that this record will be a more positive affair than the last, focusing on recovery and taking control of your life. This track in particular deals with the relationship between an addict and their chosen substance. It’s raw and may be an uncomfortable listen for some, but through the catharsis there lies hope. It feels like a final goodbye more than an “I’ll see you again”, and though the instrumentation may be relatively simple, the pained, heart on sleeve delivery will stay with you. If you are struggling, you’re not alone. There’s light at the end of the tunnel and To Kill Achilles show it in a brutally upfront and honest way. – Chris Earl

Muriel – Seaside Painter

The debut single from Cardiff based soft emo band Muriel evokes images of sandy beaches on rainy days as much as it does the intricate sounds of artists like American Football and Tiny Moving Parts. The use of a nylon string acoustic as the driving force behind the track is inspired, accompanying frontman Zak Thomas’s mellow vocals and subtle slide guitar lines from math rock mainstay Andy Olivieri, bringing a 70s inspired soft rock vibe to the song. The understated complexity of ‘Seaside Painter’ could easily be missed on first listen and there’s a meditative pleasure in unearthing its many layers. This track longs for a good book and a glass of wine to pair with it on a quiet summer’s evening. – Tom Bruce