We're closing in on the Autumnal months, but that doesn't mean our ears aren't still full of brilliant new music. As festival season dies down and release schedules ramp up (there's a lot to come in the next couple of months) it can be difficult finding great new bands to check out - but that's where we come in!
As we do each month, we've hunted high and low to find you some of the best and most exciting new bands around, covering everything from thumping modern metal (Defects) to trad metal revivalism at its best (Tailgunner), Danish post-metal (Kollapse) and even Austrian folk-tinged black metal (Perchta). You can read about all of those bands below, as well as check out our massive playlist with the latest releases for all. Happy listening!
Tailgunner
Tailgunner bassist Tom Hewson is a problem solver. After waiting endlessly for a new band that sounded like the ones he idolised as a kid, he decided to start his own. One look at that band and you can tell what Tailgunner are aiming at, presumably from the back of a battle-scarred Avro Lancaster.
“Someone wore one of our Crashdive t-shirts to a Dave Mustaine meet and greet and sent us a video,” Tom says with glee. “Dave said ‘We haven’t had artwork as cool as that in 30 years!’ It was amazing.”
Dave Mustaine’s not the only metal legend in their corner, either. When former Judas Priest guitarist K.K. Downing announced his first live show with KK’s Priest, Tailgunner were hand-picked as support.
“He said he’d been waiting for a band like ours to come along since the first Def Leppard album,” Tom reveals. “Trying to play it cool when someone like K.K. says that to you was pretty hard!”
From their high-top trainers and denim jackets to the Vic Rattlehead-esque album art, duelling guitars and lyrics covering wars, flags, empires, angels, conflict and unending glory, Tailgunner are faithful to an era where ‘heavy metal’ and ‘metal’ were one and the same. But for Tom, the point of Tailgunner isn’t to ape the old school – a label he rejects – but to capture classic metal’s triumphant spirit. “I want people to listen to us and feel like they can take on the world,” he says. Jack Oughton
Guns For Hire is out now via Fireflash
Sounds Like: A New-New New Wave Of British Heavy Metal
For Fans Of: Megadeth, Saxon, King Diamond
Listen To: Crashdive
Kollapse
There are two key components to Kollapse’s songwriting process: “Slow and painful,” guitarist and vocalist Peter Lund jokes.
Anybody listening to the Aalborg, Denmark-based trio’s new album Ar (Danish for ‘scar(s)’) could probably infer that. Like their 2021 debut, Sult, Ar pairs caustic post-metal with Gojira-grade stomp, pitting pulverising drums and bone-crunching bass against jagged guitars and larynx-shredding vocals. How do three people summon so much noise?
“I think we push against each other instead of merging it too much,” says drummer Peter Drastrup. “I’m always telling the guys to play different parts!”
“It can be a real pain in the ass trying to write like this,” bassist/vocalist Thomas Hansen confesses. “But when we get it, we can definitely feel that this is what we were aiming to do.”
The album’s diaristic lyrics are equally laborious. But every piece of Ar – the calculated dissonance, the screaming desperation, the unrelenting brutality – is a necessary struggle.
“Art has to be functional in some way,” Thomas explains. “At some point, I’ll be dead. And if nobody remembers this music, or if nobody listens to it, that’s OK. But for me, the process of just making it allows me to get some sort of… not catharsis, but a way of fighting back or pushing back against how unjust life is sometimes. And I hope that people take something positive [from it] when they listen to it.” Bryan Rolli
Ar is out now via Head
Sounds Like: A primordial stew of sludgy, blistered post-metal
For Fans Of: Sumac, Neurosis, Gojira
Listen To: Dekomposition
Perchta
When she's not crafting uniquely vibrant music with Perchta, vocalist Frau Percht is a midwife. Amother herself, playing such a trusted part in one of life’s most extraordinary miracles means she’s encountered the most intimate and challenging aspects of womanhood head-on.
It’s also where her desire to create a vital space exploring stories and struggles of femininity within black metal stems from, most notably on their stunning new album, D’Muata.
“It’s a responsibility that we take very seriously,” she explains. “Through our music, we seek to celebrate women’s contributions while addressing the challenges they face daily. It’s about creating a space where voices are heard and experiences are valued within the black metal community and beyond. It’s also brought me closer to my own femininity and view of my societal roles. I’m extremely proud, and it’s such an honour to be that voice for women.”
Such pride also extends into celebrating their community, rooted in their home in the Austrian state of Tyrol. From using instruments forged in the forests they grew up enraptured by, to utilising the Tyrolean dialect in their expansive, tribal and gorgeously caustic compositions, it’s their way of keeping traditions burning bright, and sharing them far and wide.
“The nature and the landscape of the areas we grew up in and are surrounded by are a natural inspiration and source of strength,” Frau explains. “For others to find themselves within those aspects of our music serves as a reminder of the universal power of art to inspire. Perchta is more than a band; it’s a celebration of cultural heritage, artistic expression, and the bonds that unite us as human beings.” Jack Rogers
D'Muata is out now via Prophecy.
Sounds Like: Empowering and enchanting black metal with traditional techniques and feminine strength at its core
For Fans Of: Moonsorrow, Enslaved, Wolves In The Throne Room
Listen To: Hebaam
Defects
Tony Maue got his first break in music as the guitarist in The Raven Age. But even as that band soared to higher stages, he knew something was missing. When he met Harry Jennings, the then-drummer of SHVPES, the pair decided to form Defects in 2019, drawing on their shared love of bands like Atreyu and Bullet For My Valentine. “Defects is a chance for us to spread our wings,” Harry explains.
The bulk of their debut album, Modern Error, was written while the band were stuck at home during lockdown. Their first show when restrictions lifted was a revelation. “It was like I’d blinked and the last two years hadn’t happened,” Harry recalls. “I thought I’d never get to go onstage again and experience the ecstasy of sharing music.”
“I was so overwhelmed,” Tony confesses. “I went offstage and had a bit of a breakdown!”
While the band found catharsis in performance, their songs have also offered some therapy. Tony cites Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington as his “lyrical idol” and has confronted his own demons through music, songs like Scapegoat, Goliath and Echo Chamber dealing with childhood traumas after he was taken into care at a young age.
“There are some songs I’ve said I just can’t perform live,” he admits, explaining he treads a fine line between catharsis and retraumatising himself nightly onstage. “When Scapegoat was written, it just oozed out onto the page, and I’m really proud of what I’ve managed to convey. Hopefully people can relate to it in their own way.”
But while writing for Defects might help Tony to process his trauma, he also sees it as a way of putting that in the past, and looking ahead to a brighter future. “We are a phoenix rising from the ashes,” he says happily. Jen Thomas
Modern Error is out now via Mascot.
Sounds Like: Metalcore with a melodic edge, waging a lyrical war on the modern world
For Fans Of: Bury Tomorrow, Architects, Of Mice & Men
Listen To: End Of Days
