Summer downpours. Typical. With glorious weather for seemingly every major metal festival since the pandemic, it was inevitable that eventually we were going to see the scale flip, and unfortunately both Wacken and Metal Days have suffered this week from torrential rain. But, we can't get too sad - especially not when there's still so much great new music to dive into.
But first, the results of last week's vote! There were plenty of solid names in the running last week, including KK's Priest, Sevendust and Heart Of A Coward, but it was new blood that won the day as Conquer Divide's New Heaven took top spot over the latest efforts from Of Mice & Men - who took a very admirable second space - and deathcore rising stars Slaughter To Prevail.
We have a similarly diverse selection for your listening pleasure this week, covering everything from trad metal - thanks to Doro and Green Lung - to thrash (Nervosa), metalcore (Waterlines, The Word Alive) and even bands that defy traditional genre boundaries (Crosses, Vukovi, Twin Temple). As ever, we want you to tell us which songs excite you most and represent the very best alternative music has to offer in 2023, so don't forget to cast your vote below! And as we're starting a new month, you'll find our massive playlist for the best songs of 2023 at the bottom of the page. Happy listening!
Crosses - Invisible Hand
Almost a decade since their last full-length album, Chino Moreno and Shaun Lopez’s electro-infused project Crosses have announced that new album Goodnight, God Bless, I Love You, Delete. will be released on October 13. New single Invisible Hand is all shimmering synths and blaring bass, a slinky and seductive number that has echoes of 80s goth in a near industrial framework, and elsewhere the record promises a collaboration with The Cure's Robert Smith. Exciting stuff, and yet more proof that Chino has a midas touch even away from his work with Deftones.
Doro (feat. Rob Halford) - Living After Midnight
The Metal Queen and the Metal God unite! Granted, we’ll admit we wish that Doro and Halford were joining forces to rule over an entirely original composition, but there’s an undeniable magic to hearing the pair teaming up on one of Judas Priest’s most iconic tunes, foot-tapping, fist-pumping heavy metal fun at its finest.
Prong - Non-Existence
The dial might swing decidedly more towards groove metal than thrash these days, but Prong’s sound remains remains remarkably unchanged even after 35 years. Non-Existence is a welcome return, riding atop tight riffs and bouncing grooves whilst delivering fist-pumping hooks that could come right from the city’s legendary hardcore scene. So business as usual from the New York group, and a pleasing sign of things to come on new album State of Emergency, due for release October 6.
The Word Alive - Hate Me
It’s testament to both the evolution of The Word Alive as a band and metalcore as a genre that Hate Me bares little to no resemblance to the sound of 2010’s Deceiver. The band’s latest single - taken from new album Hard Reset, out August 25 - is exemplar of the pop sensibilities the genre has taken on in recent years with the success of bands like Bad Omens and Bring Me The Horizon, going for massive production and anthemic choruses that play up to the genre’s arena-filling potential.
Twin Temple - Burn Your Bible
With their debut album, Twin Temple more than ably proved the seductive prowess of their satanic Doo-Wop, so it’s no surprise they’ve stayed the course on new single Burn Your Bible. Subtle as a sledgehammer and as delightfully OTT, the track comes from the band’s upcoming third album God Is Dead, set for release on the oh-so-perfect Friday the 13th of October. Coif up your hair, stick on a slick suit and get grooving - this track is a floor-filler.
Vukovi - Creep Heat
As anyone who has seen Vukovi in the six years since their self-titled debut can attest, there is an irrepressible energy at the heart of the Scottish band that makes them utterly irresistible. New single Creep Heat throws everything from nu metal, djent and electro-rock to alt-rock anthemia into a blender and then supercharges the whole thing with lightning - it’s a fascinating mix, and feels perfectly in keeping with what you’d expect from a band that will be supporting Babymetal when they tour the UK in November.
Blood Command - The Plague On Both Your Houses
Stomping hardcore meets blistering black metal in Blood Command’s latest single The Plague On Both Your Houses. Granted, the Norwegian band have been tinkering with that same formula for well over a decade now, but that doesn’t make Plague any less potent, the shifts in pace and tone delightfully jarring as blast-beats give way to almost pop punky choruses, all delivered with a sense of infectious zeal that has us itching to hear new album World Domination when it arrives September 29.
Green Lung - Mountain Throne
When UK occult doomsters Green Lung played Desertfest in 2022, they attracted such a large queue that it appeared they could have filled Camden’s Underworld twice over and still struggled to get everyone in. It’s testament to their status as one of Britain’s most exciting stoner/doom bands, and it looks like the band are branching out even further with their upcoming third album This Heathen Land, dabbling in NWOBHM-style gallops that show the UK is more than ready to throw down with excellent US trad-stoner crossover groups like Wolftooth and Spirit Adrift.
Nervosa - Seed Of Death
Having to rebuild your band twice in the space of three years could break the back of most groups, but Brazilian thrashers Nervosa aren’t ones to shy away from a challenge. Seed Of Death is the second single from the band’s upcoming fifth album Jailbreak - due September 29 - and shows that bandleader Prika Amaral has only further strengthened her songwriting prowess, tackling Teutonic blackened thrash and anthemic melodeath at the same time, resulting in a potent, explosive song that hones in on the band’s most incendiary aspects.
Waterlines - Anti Human
Ahead of their appearance at Bloodstock festival next week, Waterlines have unveiled new single Anti Human. It’s a stark contrast to the nu metal stylings of previous single Prey, twinkling notes of electronica underpinning a fiery, roar-along metalcore banger that could give Architects, While She Sleeps or Bury Tomorrow a run for their money.
