Playlist for August 12 – 25
Quick playlist highlights:
– The Serpent’s Tears is Denis Shaforostov’s new band. If you’ve been around for a while, you’ll remember Denis from Make Me Famous and Drag Me Out. He was also the vocalist on Asking Alexandria’s album titled ‘The Black.’ He’s super talented , but he jumps around a lot, and I think that’s why he hasn’t made it big – he just needs to focus his energy in one place. He said that Drag Me Out is in the studio recording an album so maybe this is just a side project? The most interesting thing to me is that this band has a dedicated screamer which means Denis is singing and only adding a few layered screams. That’s kind of surprising given his ego and the fact that he’s a very good screamer too.
– Kingdom of Giants is releasing a new EP on September 20. It’s been four years since their last album so I’m kind of shocked that they’re just coming back with an EP. The songs have been great, but ‘Passenger’ took them to the moon in 2020 and I don’t know if they’re effectively capitalizing on that momentum. Love the dudes and just want the best for them.
– blessthefall is coming out swinging on these last two singles! Their 2018 album was pretty lackluster, especially compared to ‘Hollow Bodies,’ so I’m stoked to see the heaviness make such a big return.
– I didn’t put Dead Rabbitts right next to blessthefall on purpose, but I laughed when I noticed so I’m not changing it. (Craig Mabbitt, the vocalist of Dead Rabbitts and Escape The Fate, was the vocalist of blessthefall from 2003-2008). Honestly, Dead Rabbitts has been pretty hit or miss for me, but this one is good. Craig is a legend so I like to keep tabs on what he’s doing.
– Traveller has been grabbing my attention recently. They’re a German metalcore band with emotional lyrics and interesting ambiences that offer some reprieve from uncharacteristically heavy moments.
– Gaerea continues to impress. I haven’t been as plugged into black metal, death metal, or the more experimental genres this year, but these guys are phenomenal. The music video for this song is especially cool. I like that the lyrics are pretty easy to follow for how heavy they are. At this point, I think Gaerea will be the highest ranking band on my end of the year list that isn’t standard metalcore/deathcore.
– The Amity Affliction is going to release a re-recorded version of ‘Let The Ocean Take Me’ to celebrate its 10-year anniversary. The band also said, “we are finally an independent band and able to work with independent labels that want to put the music first and can offer us fair and reasonable deals, not the predatory deals that were ubiquitous when we were younger.” I’m guessing that they didn’t make a lot of money from the original version so they’re pulling a Taylor Swift and re-recording it to try to establish their own revenue stream. I haven’t been a big fan of re-recorded albums lately, but we’ll see how this one goes. It’s definitely lower, but I like how Joel’s screams used to sound more.
– The Narrator is another German metalcore band. It’s been a while since a band has embraced the meme and mentioned “the undertow” (listen to 0:36). They’re getting ready to release an album, but I can’t find the release date. Five of the songs are already out though so I’m guessing it’s soon. As a side note, I’m tired of hearing 50% of an album before it even comes out.
– Tilian has released his first song since being kicked out of Dance Gavin Dance. It’s not heavy enough for me to go back to it, but fans of his vocals will be satisfied.