Diaries of Doom

There’s something brewing in the Black Country right now, but Kensei are showing the world that it isn’t just the beer. After bulldozing the Birmingham Metal 2 The Masses in 2024 and destroying their slot at Bloodstock Festival - hopefully the first of many - their first full-length outing is a confident, tightly-wound assault that blends razor sharp melodeath with the heft of 00s metalcore. Possibly the biggest pit the New Blood Stage saw in 2024 The ominous Intro sets the scene like an oncoming storm before End of Days makes its entrance with impact, crushing the listener with thrashy, harmonised riffing and tasty drum fills. Vocalist Dave wastes little time snarling venomously across the verse, with a big melodic chorus and a blistering breakdown that’ll see a future bruise or two in the pit. As album openers go, this one lays the foundations well. It's a real statement of intent. Lucid , which follows, might just be the crown jewel here. Its Phrygian-flavoured riffing bring...

  Stoke-based quintet Era's End will round off a busy year with the release of Over Throne , due on 29th December. With the attitude of pop punk, the intensity of metalcore, and catchy hooks that bands of a much bigger size would be jealous of, will this give them the lift they deserve? Starting off with a thrashy riff and a full-throttle, driving rhythm, the instrumental work is great. A soaring, charismatic lead vocal from Amy directs the flow, and they waste no time setting the scene. The track is less than three minutes long, so they keep it short, sweet and snappy, with focused songwriting that doesn't try to cram too much in. The chorus packs a punch with its metalcore feel and layered screams, complementing Amy's soulful cleans. Beth's gloriously gritty bass tone in the mix gives the track a nice crunch. It has to be said that the production here is also really impressive. There's a noticeable sonic difference c ompared to their previous work . Over Throne...

Following two EPs in 2019, Birmingham hardcore trio Creature have returned with ten minutes of aural assault to deliver  Haunt . With stark lyricism dealing with austerity, complicity, and the state of the nation, the band accompanies this with filthy, to-the-point, in-your-face metallic hardcore. It's not for the  faint-hearted, nor is it meant to be. All four songs whizz by in less than three minutes each, though there's a lot going on in a short time. Musically, it's a really interesting listen, with unconventional structures and off-time rhythms for starters. Each member has time to shine; take the interesting bass work in the 'Grey Ghosts' chorus, or t he sludgy guitar bends around the halfway mark of 'All', the dynamic drum performance over 'Creeping', just to name a few moments. 'Lines' starts off math-y and frenetic before unexpectedly launching into some of the catchiest vocal hooks across the whole EP.  It's a huge musical state...

Nu metal has seen a real resurgence in the last few years after seemingly being out for the count a decade ago. Is it really twenty or so years since the likes of Iowa, The Sickness, Infest, Chocolate Starfish, Issues, Significant Other, Toxicity and Slipknot came out and were on everyone's playlists mixtapes? In its newer, updated form, modern nu metal bands (new nu metal?) are keeping it current by adding in metalcore or djent influences that didn't really exist back in the 90s, putting one foot of this new wave of bands firmly in the present, but with the nostalgic feel that will appeal to a wider and older audience. I do think that this style and sound could be one of the big things about mainstream metal in the 2020s. VantaBlack are one of these new bands. So new, in fact, that there's barely anything on social media from them from before lockdown began. The Nottingham four-piece say that they 'take influences from the likes of Korn, Static-X, Limp Bizkit, Papa ...