Browsing Tag

Nu Metal

Drink Proverbial Cool Aid’s Latest Alternative Single, Sick & Pool Hall

Posted on 4 June 2023

While we expected some degree of ingenuity from an outfit with the moniker Proverbial Cool Aid, we immersed ourselves in more innovation than what we bargained for with their latest single, Sick & Pool Hall, featuring Vince B and J Q Music.

Waiting until the four-minute mark in the track that spans just over six minutes to bring in the vocals was a bold move, especially when the build to them consisted of little more than crunchily distorted vintage tones spilling from the guitars and staccato rhythms, but the progressive track stood as a testament to the good things come to those who wait adage.

After some Kyuss-esque interludes and a  funky bassline laid down by Jack Law, the rock meets rap vocals start slathering the single with a fire that will leave smoke pouring through your speakers long after the fadeout. Sick & Pool Hall may just be the most original entry into the nu-metal genre after the turn of the century. The Houston-based sludge up luminaries are clearly ones to watch.

Stream the latest single from Proverbial Cool Aid by heading over to YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

TITVN reached the height of visceral volition in their Nu Metal take on Deathcore, The Alpha One

Posted on 17 March 2023

The Cali aural aggravators, TITVN, reinvented the wheel as much as their own signature sound in their amalgamation of Deathcore and Nu Metal in their bruisingly dominant hit, The Alpha One.

Slipknot may have left the heavier instrumentals behind them in their last few albums; TITVN picked up the discarded weight and amplified it to the nth degree in their gutturally juggernatic hit that puts as much volition into the vocals as it puts into the expertly timed blast beats and future-embracing metalcore breakdowns.

Even as no stranger to the metalcore icons that reigned supreme at the turn of the century, the energy in The Alpha One is enough to leave Lamb of God, Architects, and As I Lay Dying sounding weaker than Nickelback (sorry Chad).

The official music video for The Alpha One will officially premiere on March 17th; prime your speakers for it before you hit YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

BackIVBlood – Cuts: Cowboys from Cwmbran

Posted on 24 January 2023

The recently forged South Wales metal three-piece, BackIVBlood, is laceratingly sharp in their debut single, Cuts. With elements of Pantera, Drowning Pool and Static X all legible in the adrenalized off-kilter ride through their progressive furore, it’s impossible not to get sucked into their grungy alt-metal antagonistically cathartic antics.

The caustically sharp vocals rail across the consistently evolving instrumentals that lustfully flirt with nu-metal in the rhythm section, stylise the ferocity with dynamic hard rock guitar licks and add nuanced layers of industrial metal to the fresh production, which unravels as an amalgam you’ve never tested the capacity of your neck with before.

Based on this exceptionally promising debut alone, the juggernautical powerhouse can count on me to be at the front row on their future tour dates.

Listen to Cuts on Spotify and YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Thurtythree painted an off-kilter picture of PTSD in his single, Traumatized

Posted on 9 August 2022

In his latest single, Traumatized, Thurtythree used every ounce of his existential-driven talent to reflect the visceral of PTSD. If you know, you know, if you don’t, Traumatized will paint a vividly off-kilter picture.

On top of Echo and the Bunnymen-Esque atmospheric guitars in the intro, the up-and-coming artist adds Linkin Park-reminiscent electronic effect and genre-obliterating vocals, which toy with dark trap and post-hardcore in the same breath.

The ardent ingenuity of the track leaves us with no room to question why the San Francisco-born artist has been able to amass a loyal fanbase. On top of his originated sonic style, fans can always expect resonant realism from the lyrics and the vocals in equal measure. Needless to say, he is one to watch.

Traumatized is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Felicia became the ultimate nu-metal domme by subjugating Boris Johnson in her latest music video, Revolution Business

Posted on 20 July 2022

Even though Boris Johnson does a pretty good job of humiliating himself (and the rest of us while he’s shambolically at it), it was still beyond cathartic to see Felicia sonically flaying him in her latest seductively rebellious nu metal music video, Revolution Business.

It deserves to go just as viral as the video shot by a bewilderedly unsuspecting passer-by when they stumbled on the scene of Felicia dominating Boris Johnson in the market town of Grantham.

The video, (available to view here) has now garnered over 380,000 streams on Facebook, but what is infinitely less measurable is the true impact of the video, which provided a brief reprieve from the existential weight imposed by the futility of faith in our democracy.

How many iterations of “we need a revolution” have you heard recently? Well, now we have the start of one, and Bradford’s most creative antagonist inarguably became one of the most iconic contemporary mononym-toting artists in the process.

The pop-bitten track that instrumentally highjacks your rhythmic pulses through the juggernaut of a cadence keeps on giving. From her originated demurely rapped mischievousness to the screamo lyrical hook “fuck the music business, this is revolution business”, which made her the ultimate metal domme, it is frenetic socialist perfection. My Ruin will never hit the same again.

Fund the revolution by purchasing the track on Bandcamp or check out the official music video via YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

New Plague Radio’s single, ‘Methamphetamine Dance’, from their debut EP, ‘The Beeswax’.

Posted on 6 April 2021

If any hip hop track has the force to throw you right back to the 90s, it’s New Plague Radio’s single, ‘Methamphetamine Dance’, from their debut EP, ‘The Beeswax’.

By mashing up Beastie Boys-style rap vocals with cutting guitars that would be right at home in an Incubus track, it’s a riotous amalgamation of 80s – 00s culture. If New Plague Radio were the first band that came to mind when nu-metal and rap-rock genres were mentioned, the genre would get plenty more respect.

With the dynamic energy deftly carved by the chaos in the instrumentals combined with smooth rock vocals and existential rap aggression, if you don’t feel your heart rate quicken as New Plague Radio’s single unravels, you might want to check for a pulse.

New Plague Radio’s debut EP is now available to stream via Spotify.

You can check out the official music video for Methamphetamine Dance that was funded by their (well-invested) stimulus money via YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Skunk Funk pulled back the curtain with reggae-rock ska-punk single ‘Welcome to the Freakshow’

Posted on 4 March 2021
Skunk Soup by Skunk Funk

If you could imagine what it would sound like if Insane Clown Posse grew up, gained some debonair flair and a reggae-rock ska-punk style, you’ll get a good idea of what to expect from Skunk Funk’s latest single ‘Welcome to the Freakshow’.  Funk has never been more theatrical.

With sunny staccato rhythms around cutting post-punk tones and elements of surf rock and nu-metal thrown in for good measure, Skunk Funk’s sound went far beyond psychedelic and wandered into the realms of absurdity – and that’s no bad thing. Skunk Funk delivered a unifying track bound to appeal to the outliers of society who were strange before reality became a hyper-normalised recipe for serotonin deprivation.

Welcome to the Freakshow is available to stream and download via Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Absideon revives nu metal with their new wave sound in ‘Ephemeral’

Posted on 1 January 2021
https://absideon.bandcamp.com/track/ephemeral

Kicking off with a delicately picked, reverb-soaked clean guitar part before launching into the full-on aural assault of distorted guitars, heavy drums, and thundering bass alongside twin, intertwined vocals, ‘Ephemeral’ from Texarkana duo Brett and Casey – a.k.a. Absideon – is a riotous storm of melodic metal which screams from the speakers and launches itself, bodily, at your earlobes.

There’s obvious comparisons with Linkin Park, System Of A Down, or Seether, but the melodic rock and clever timing shifts set ‘Ephemeral’ apart from the welter of generic sound-alike Nu-Metal wannabes; there’s some serious musicianship on show here, for sure, but the duo also clearly have talent in abundance around both vocal and production duties. ‘Ephemeral’ is the opening track from Absideon’s new-this-week six track EP ‘Reflections’, and on the basis of this it promises to be an absolute firestorm of a record.

Check out Absideon on Spotify and Facebook now.

Review by Alex Holmes

JKR – Disaster: A Relentlessly Progressive Feat of Alt Rock Aural Dynamism

Posted on 22 December 2020

Anthemic American Rock, Darkwave Electronica, Indie and Rap all collide in JKR’s phenomenal single ‘Disaster’. If it has been a while since you’ve felt any discernible emotion, hit play and feel the evocative weight of this relentlessly progressive feat of aural dynamism.

Disaster is just one of the singles to feature on the Seattle-born, China-residing artist’s 2020 genre-obliterating album ‘Star Crossed’. The soaring vocal hooks combined with the sonically cutting reverb-laden guitars ensure that listening to this track half-heartedly isn’t an option.

JKR’s ability to orchestrate tracks which carry as much appeal to fans Soul Asylum to fans of Linkin Park will undoubtedly stand him in good stead. He’s undoubtedly one to watch.

You can check out Disaster for yourselves by heading over to SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

Grindcore meets Sludge Metal in XMALCOLMX’s humanity damning single ‘MAN IS THE PREY’

Posted on 16 December 2020

Sludge Metal, Black Metal, Nu Metal and Grindcore all cataclysmically collide in the 2020 album from  XMALCOLMX, ‘MAN IS THE PREY’. Each track exhibits the Stockton, California-hailing artist’s experimental style which has set the benchmark for boundary-pushing within the DIY music scene of Northern California. If you want the best introduction to XMALCOLMX’s addictively visceral sound, hit play on the title single.

The progressive track kicks off with distorted trepidation and hostility before rhythm starts to break through the caustic sonic sludge and punky protestive vocals bounce along with the monumental progressions. With an aural curveball at every turn in the tight instrumentals and the vocals proving to be just as versatile, MAN IS THE PREY quickly entices you through the addictively rhythmic abrasive energy

You can check out MAN IS THE PREY along with the rest of XMALCOLMX’s sludgy masterpiece for yourselves by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast