Browsing Tag

Electro Metal

Re:O Mechanised Japancore with Gnarled Industrial Groove Metal in ‘Crimson Desire’

Posted on 13 August 2025

Re:O found the intersection between Bjork in her Army of Me era, Atari Teenage Riot and Static X in their latest mechanised juggernaut, Crimson Desire. Instead of hearing cogs grind in the instrumentals, you’re drenched in cataclysmic cascades of gnarled industrial groove metal pinched with hypersonic hooks that deliver the kind of escapism only possible when your synapses are scorched by searing hot machinations of electro-metal annihilation.

With one of the most magnetic breakdowns in metal since Machine Head dropped Game Over, the track twists your system into knots as you follow the whirling dervish of sheer momentum. Tying it all together are vocals sweet and euphonic enough to counter the rancour, yet ferociously affecting enough to ensure the intensity is never diluted. Every harmony cuts through with razor-sharp precision.

Formed in 2020 by vocalist, synth player and multi-instrumentalist Rio Suyama, the Japanese-British outfit has earned acclaim for their Japancore concoction of metalcore, industrial metal, J-Pop and dark pop. After reforming in 2023 with James Wright, Jon Roberts, James Stevens and later Alex Carli, they’ve stormed stages internationally and caught the attention of BBC Radio 1 and BBC Introducing Oxfordshire. With releases like Stains on My Soul, Ronin and The Haunted, Re:O has become a formidable force, but Crimson Desire pushes them into an even darker, more unflinching arena.

Crimson Desire is now available on all major streaming platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

KURO unveiled their electro-metal manifesto on how to bring down the alt-right with ‘Wake Up and Choose Violence’

Posted on 24 September 2023

As calls to socially progressive arms go, they don’t come much more compelling than KURO’s latest single, Wake Up and Choose Violence. With the harsh industrial metal instrumentals amplifying the lyrical volition that unravels as a manifesto of poetic vengeance, the sonically jugernautical Glasgow outfit reached the pinnacle of the punk ethos.

The blast beats hammer down as heavily as we should be coming down on the alt-right provocateurs who revel in the contempt they breed and their subsequent notoriety as the synthesis of the heavily distorted guitars and synth lines visualise the disorientating dystopic dissonance of our depressing modern epoch.

By pointing out how we fought for rights only to neglect them when it matters the most, the adrenalizing razor-sharp rap metal vocals cogently foreshadow a further descent into extremism, marginalisation, and prejudice unless we follow the titular command. Resistance isn’t futile; it is fundamental.

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KURO Said:

“Wake Up and Choose Violence is a reactionary track written in response to the sheer amount of audacious counter-reformative movements and laws placed by right-wing identifying groups. In simpler terms, we’re sick of our right to protest being taken away, the lack of racism being tackled, bills for trans and queer rights being blocked and the growth of far-right ideologies being accepted.

It is about standing up to all that, finding your viewpoint and sticking to it, and standing up for those who don’t have a voice. The music video exhibits this in which we included people from many walks of life and gave them a platform to express their viewpoints and show why it’s time for a progressive change.”

Stream the official music video for Wake Up and Choose Violence on YouTube, add the track to your Spotify playlists, or purchase the single on Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast