Browsing Tag

Highly Suspect

Download’s Future Bill Starts Here: Black River Renegade’s Next Mistake Is Blues-Rock at Its Hardest Hitting

Posted on 20 July 2026

Any playlists featuring Highly Suspect, Royal Blood and Rival Sons would be remiss to look past the latest hard-rock hit, Next Mistake, from Black River Renegade. The Norwich four-piece have taken their modern approach to bluesy hard-rock riffs and sent a rampage across the UK rock and metal scene; Next Mistake alone carries enough force to raze the stagnating monotony of the circuit to the ground.

In the red-hot hit, which becomes a battle of will between sirens and sense, you can hear the seductive serpentine roots of hard rock under the sleek amplification of crashing drums and low-slung basslines. Black River Renegade honour classic-rock influence without embalming it, bringing the form forward through pornographic guitars, sharp songwriting chops and hooks that land straight in the sternum.

Following a busy 2026, including support for A Thousand Horses at Norwich Arts Centre, sets at the Royal Norfolk Show and Aldeburgh Festival’s Big Day Out, plus bookings for HMV Live & Local and the John Peel Centre’s Emerge night, the band’s live reputation is clearly catching up with their recorded output.

If Download Festival ever dared to look past legacy and novelty acts for the top of its bill, Black River Renegade would be a fitting charge into the future of rock.

Next Mistake is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Hivesong Lit the Fuse Between Carnal Chaos and Glam Revivalism in ‘Electric Fever’

Posted on 13 June 2025

Hivesong will leave hard rock fans hot under the collar and everywhere else when Electric Fever drops on June 13th. With a discernible deep reverence to overdriven guitar hooks and salacious vocals that will resonate with anyone who can’t resist IAMX and Highly Suspect, Electric Fever delivers everything it says on the titular tin by paying homage to the glam rock era, tinging it with modernistic dark innovation and augmenting every element until Electric Fever ensures your speakers will be shaking in the aftershock following the outro. If there’s an orgasmic rock playlist on Spotify, Hivesong have earned a spot.

There’s no passive listening here, only full-body surrender to the sonic carnality conjured by the Chattanooga duo who were never designed for background noise. Channelling the swagger of Ziggy, the Sabbath-grade seismic pull, and the studio bite of Royal Blood, Hivesong have clawed rock from its coffin and reminded the faithful how transcendence can feel when it’s shrouded in distortion and lust.

Their shows are rituals. Their guitars, relics. Their sound, a sermon from the altar of righteous noise. And on record, they carry that same sermon with cathedral-shaking force. No part of Electric Fever tries to reinvent the wheel; instead, it straps it to a jet engine and lights the fuse. It’s theatrical without parody, guttural without regression, indulgent without losing control.

Electric Fever is now available to stream on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Swim in the alt-rock riptide of Sharpened.Lives’ latest single, drifter

Posted on 25 September 2024

Groningen founded, Mainz based most cutting trio, Sharpened.Lives, continue to sell sanctuary to the disenchanted through their introspectively iron-wrought, expansively influenced alt-rock single, drifter.

The track resonates with the seductive depth of Deftones and carries the visceral punch of post-hardcore giants like Alexisonfire, all while infusing the intricate time signatures reminiscent of InME and the cutting-edge aesthetics of Highly Suspect.

The backbone of ‘drifter’ is its gnarled basslines that churn beneath chameleonic vocals, which oscillate between tender harmonies and guttural outpours. The guitar work is nothing short of incisive, crafting hooks that are as magnetic as they are sharp, ensuring that once you’re pulled in, there is no getting out unaffected.

Drifter presents a rare sonic experience that engulfs you by being far more than the sum of all its cultivated parts; it demands total surrender to its raw, emotional pull. The track’s glitchy, tumultuous breakdowns are potent enough to sideline even the most revered BMTH records, making a clear statement about the band’s intent to redefine the boundaries of heaviness and emotional depth in music.

For anyone who has felt adrift in the often chaotic current of reality, don’t hesitate to dig in. Their upcoming EP, ‘st//tches’, promises to be a continuation of this powerful dialogue with their listeners.

drifter was officially released on September 6^th; stream the single on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Lewis Shepperd sharpened the teeth of his alt-rock hooks for his latest single, Bite

Posted on 27 May 2023

Forget the latest single from Royal Blood; Southampton’s Lewis Shepperd is more highly suspect than, well… Highly Suspect in his bass riff-driven, grunged up, and modernistically garagey track, Bite.

Entwining melodicism in the same vein as Nirvana’s Heart-Shaped Box around the higher-octane elements of this spectrally sublime feat of more Emo than Placebo alt-rock resulted in a multi-faceted incarnation of accursed seduction.

The guttural vocal breakdown towards the outro is a stark contrast to the placid harbingering harmonies that led to the fierce middle-eight that could give Frank Carter a run for his money.

After recording and mixing Bite at home, it was none other than Pete Maher (Pixies, Linkin Park & The Rolling Stones), who mastered the monolithically sharp release that will impale you on the hooks.

Bite was officially released on May 25; stream it on Spotify, or check out the official video featuring model & actress Ola Johnson on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Sweden’s Ember Street created the ultimate anthem for the disillusioned age with ‘Searching’

Posted on 18 November 2022

Taken from their debut album, Arrival, Ember Street’s cutting-edge hard rock lead single, Searching, is an affirming anthem for our disillusioned age. With touches of Billy Talent and Highly Suspect to the vocals that spill across the crunchy guitars, anthemic drums and basslines that tightly fit into the frenetically hooky furore of Searching, Ember Street evidently have what it takes to become one of Sweden’s premier hard rock bands.

After getting their rock stripes in various projects, the four-piece utilised their money-can’t-buy synergy in the creation of their debut album, Arrival, which has been in the works for over a decade. Clearly not ones for instant gratification or half-baked hits, Ember Street is one that many rock fans will want to walk down to get their heart-in-throat hard-rock fills.

The official lyric video premiered on November 4th; watch it on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Andrew Curtis disrupted the stagnancy in the rock scene with his viseral-with-fervour alt-rock hit, Unholy Smoke

Posted on 12 November 2022

Running in a similar alt-rock vein to Highly Suspect with added Pixies Trompe le Monde era grit in the melodically brashy guitars that weave through the expertly carved hooks, Andrew Curtis’ latest single, Unholy Smoke, packs a raucous punch. Undeniably, it’s a visceral-with-fervour hard hitter that any staunch rock fan will want colliding with their eardrums.

The UK-based multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and songwriter is also revered in the cinematic world after writing and acting in three feature films. Away from the silver screen, Curtis (AKA Motel Ghost) is working on his debut LP to rectify the contemporary issue of stagnancy in the rock scene. If it contains the thematic energy of Unholy Smoke, it’s set to be a resounding success.

Unholy Smoke dropped on October 30th; check it out on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Tin Zelkova achieved the heart-in-mouth and jaw-on-the-floor affect in their rock single, Soul Shaker

Posted on 31 October 2022

After the launch of their debut self-titled album, the three-piece rock powerhouse, Tin Zelkova, became one of the most refreshing names in the genre. The standout single, Soul Shaker delivers a tight rhythmic furore, complete with extended guitar solos and a sense of soul that has been scarcely seen since Soundgarden.

Steven Thompson’s melodically hook-rife vocal lines as a bright and intimate contrast to the murky and overdriven guitars is a mesmerising combination that will be an instant hit with any fans of Highly Suspect, Royal Blood and Badflower.

After writing more than 30 songs by the summer of 2021, the Louisville-based outfit distributed their demo EP and started gracing stages in their hometown. But my god, there’s nothing local about the gravitas in their sound.

Shortly after the release of their first studio-recorded single, they were airing across a plethora of radio stations and performing with the likes of Tantric, Texas Hippie Coalition, Local H, Resist & Bite, Native Sons and many others. If the music industry is still capable of crating iconic acts, my money is on these guys.

Soul Shaker was officially released on September 30th. Check it out on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Spotlight Feature: Rewind to Vince Spano’s grungy alt-rock revival, RELAPSE

Posted on 24 July 2022

We’ve kept our eye on Vince Spano’s increasingly luminous career for a while. With his latest single, RELAPSE, the Texan prodigal son unveiled his most striking alt-rock aesthetic yet, while simultaneously dealing with the proclivity for fear around the notion of romantic regression.

The single, the first to be released from his upcoming EP, The Prescribed Project, delivers rock nostalgia as you’ve never known before. With vocals that are somewhere between Soundgarden and Highly Suspect against the warmth of vintage tubes and overdriven distortion, RELAPSE is as rhythmically arresting as it is revolutionary sultry.

Here is what Vince Spano had to say on his latest single

“This is my first single off my new EP, The Prescribed Project, it’s a project that I have been working on for a very long time in hopes of bringing the sound of the music I grew up on, back into the mainstream to inspire a whole new generation of people.”

RELAPSE was officially released on July 22nd; check it out on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The UK’s most promising electronic post-rock pioneers, Bear Witness, have released their temperamentally visceral stormer, Thorn in My Side

Posted on 18 April 2022

If you ever found yourself with a soft spot for Celldweller, Highly Suspect or InMe, the Brighton-based Electronic Alt-Rock duo, Bear Witness have exactly what it takes to rekindle your affinity for viscerally raw turbulent tracks. Their latest single, Thorn in My Side, is practically post-rock pornography.

Around the overdriven scuzzy guitar riffs, there’s enough of a melody to leave you hooked in the temperamental rhythms, and perceptibly, Bear Witness know just how to use spatial effect and build tension throughout their sonic stormer.

Unsurprisingly, we aren’t the only ones hooked on Bear Witness’ refreshing candour and blisteringly off-kilter signature sound. They’ve already been lauded by the BBC, played to crowds at The Camden Assembly, and are currently semi-finalists in the Isle of Wight Festival’s New Blood competition.

Thorn in My Side will officially release on April 15th. You can check it out for yourselves by heading over to Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast