And with that, we're almost in the endgame. November is upon us, and with it the knowledge that 2024 is in its final throes, but that doesn't mean there aren't still brilliant new bands to discover from across the rock, metal and punk spectrum - quite the opposite, in fact.
Much as we have done each month, we have once again looked far and wide to find you the most exciting new bands around in November. This month, that takes the shape of some concept-heavy ambitious new talent from the likes of The Gloom In The Corner and Sgáile, as well as the sonically adventurous tones of industrial goths Black Satellite and Belgian post-metallers Divided.
You can hear the latest releases from each of those bands in the playlist below - happy listening!
The Gloom In The Corner
Imagine a world where Tyler Bates, Hans Zimmer and Coheed And Cambria team up to write the metalcore soundtrack to neo-noir action-thriller Max Payne. That’s effectively what Australian polymaths The Gloom In The Corner have done. Since their 2016 debut, Fear Me, they’ve told the twisted love stories of ancient warlords and time travellers in an unfolding narrative they call the ‘Gloom Cinematic Universe’, using fictional characters as a proxy for their own experiences.
“It can feel scary talking about raw emotional topics,” says vocalist Mikey Arthur. “Especially when it comes to depression and loneliness. But at the same time, music is an outlet, and the lyrics are an outlet; I have the ability to channel things in my own way.”
Take Clutch, a song from their 2022 full-length, Trinity, which seethes with rage, swinging between Earth-shattering breakdowns and symphonic string-laden hooks, while its lyrics draw on a harrowing experience Mikey had when he was 16.
“It’s a trauma response from when I was in a car with a drunk driver, which still terrifies me,” he says. “If I don’t talk about it then it’s probably going to eat me up, so the fact I can put it in a song and take charge and control of it is very cathartic.”
Drawing influence from sources as diverse as 90s crime-thriller Heat to rom-com P.S. I Love You, The Gloom In The Corner haven’t limited themselves thematically when it comes to fleshing out their conceptual universe. But while Trinity drew influence from “witches and wizards”, they’re setting their sights elsewhere for its follow-up. “I’m not going to pull from Harry Potter again, I’d rather pull from Romeo and Juliet!” says Mikey, and you can practically see the gears moving on the band’s next phase. Jack Press
The Jericho Protocol is out now via SharpTone. The Gloom In The Corner tour the UK with Cane Hill from November 21.
Sounds Like: Metalcore’s answer to the MCU
For Fans Of: Coheed And Cambria, Void Of Vision, Fit For A King
Listen To: New Order
Sgáile
Tony Dunn is quite the instrumentalist. In the past, the Scottish musician has lent his prowess to black metallers Saor and death-doomsters Falloch, but the ultimate showcase of his skills is under his solo banner, Sgàile, a one-man project combining technical proficiency with the emotional heft of atmospheric doom. There are more flavours to this particular cocktail, however, with black, progressive and thrash metal elements popping up across his output, sometimes even in a single song.
“The freedom of being able to work on a piece of music without fear of it being refused or scrutinised by another bandmember is actually one of the most fulfilling parts of the lone wolf approach,” explains Tony. “You answer to yourself, and, ultimately, to your audience!”
Traverse The Bealach, Sgàile’s new album, is a sonic adventure inspired by literal ones. ‘Munro-bagging’ means climbing to the summit of a Scottish mountain with an elevation of more than 3,000 feet – and Tony has personally scaled 50 of the country’s 282 munros. All that fresh air further piqued his fascination with, and deep devotion to, ecological conservation. The ‘bealach’ of the title is a narrow mountain pass, and the lyrics explore environmentalist issues.
“Climate change is something that is very close to me, and is a topic I’ll always write about,” he says. “My day job is in the renewable energy industry, so it’s always at the forefront of my thinking and something I’m very passionate about.”
Tony uses Traverse… to release his frustration with environmental disregard. It’s apparent in the atmospheric blackened doom, characterised by murky licks, expansive vocals and an overall aura thicker than the brush Tony’s trekked through, the Scot admitting that the lyrics were a challenge.
“I was trying to convey quite a troubled vibe – almost a struggle – with the lyrics,” he says. “But I have to be honest… I’m tempted to try another concept album at some point in the future.” Cervanté Pope
Traverse The Bealach is out now via Avantgarde Music
Sounds Like: If Scottish rain were shredding riffs instead of water
For Fans Of: Spectral Lore, The Ruins Of Beverast, Caligula’s Horse
Listen To: Lamentations By The Lochan
Black Satellite
“I’m never afraid to look into the darkness and see what’s looking back,” Black Satellite vocalist Larissa Vale ponders, lost in thought. “I appreciate the feelings that most people hide from.”
Larissa’s musical journey has led her to some bleak places. Look no further than Black Satellite’s 2020 single, Void; amid clashing instrumentation, Larissa sinks into the pits of horror, her distorted snarls proclaiming ‘there’s something wrong with me’. The track explores distress, questioning how far down the rabbit hole one can plummet. They weren’t always so dark, though.
Larissa met Black Satellite co-founder and guitarist Kyle Hawken in high school, and their 2017 debut, Endless, lingered on the lighter side of alt metal. Follow-up Aftermath weaponises the full force of industrial experimentation. It’s bitter, gritty and snarling, shades of nu metal peeking through the gothic darkness. The record boasts an onslaught of vocal layering and distortion – including some playful Easter eggs.
“I asked my Ukrainian mum, ‘What’s the worst thing I could say in Ukrainian?’” Larissa laughs. “So, I recorded myself saying something vile. Then we reversed it and nestled it into the bridge.”
The 2023 single Broken showcases Black Satellite’s dark, confident evolution. Contrasting growling vitriol with mesmerising melodies, it sees Larissa wrangling with her past, refusing to be an outcast forever sonic darkness will go down in the annals of metal history.
“I’ve a ‘shoot for the stars’ mentality,” she asserts. “I was figuring out who I was on Endless. With Aftermath, it was clear what music I needed to make.”
Larissa has already got the thumbs up from Cradle Of Filth, soon embarking on tour with the goth metal legends she considers “family”. She’s also been given the stamp of approval from Alice Cooper, the pair performing Feed My Frankenstein together during a Nita Strauss show a few years back. “Cooper thinks I can sing, so that’s good enough for me!” she smiles. Emily Swingle
Aftermath is expected in 2025
Sounds Like: Cerebral gothic alt metal, sealed with a kiss of industrial grit and experimental distortion
For Fans Of: Health, Korn, Starset
Listen To: Broken
Divided
By design, Belgium's Divided are a reflection of humanity in all of its complexity. More specifically, drummer and vocalist Pepijn Vandaele’s perception of humanity because, as he puts it, “I’m singing the words, I’m screaming them - I need to believe it.”
Formed in 2013 as an instrumental trio completed by bassist Staf Walschap and guitarist Jelle Rouquart, Pepijn eventually stepped up as the band’s vocalist, his frantic howl egging their jugular-aiming riffs to a frenzied peak. Second guitarist Torre Maertens joined in 2018, fleshing out an impenetrable vortex of guitars. Their debut album, Light Will Shine, is a multifaceted post-metal heap of jagged edges and behemoth ambitions.
For Pepijn, it was “a personal challenge to understand my anxiety”, he says, his knife-edge raw vocals on songs like The Warped Loop confronting his issues head-on. “I said to myself, I’m going to try to be as blunt as I can be.”
Pushed to the limit by producer Gilles Demolder (Oathbreaker), Divided crafted snaking paths of metal, shoegaze and hardcore that revel in emotional and sonic collisions. Following support slots with Brutus and Shy, Low, the Belgians are gathering some serious momentum, and they want to bring a human touch back to a scene they see as being too reliant on sounding “clean and correct”.
“We’re searching for the imperfect things,” says Pepijn. “We’re interested in taking different roads and making more natural-sounding albums.” While Divided is a therapeutic dumping ground for Pepijn, he concedes there’s a grander takeaway: “It’s a dark album. If you listen to it, you can hear that it has a dark vibe, but positive. It’s something that can be interpreted in many ways as a hopeful statement, and things will get better - light will shine.” Steven Loftin
Sounds Like: A swirling maelstrom of brute force, light-footed riffs, and the spilling of guts
For Fans Of: Converge, Brutus, Curse These Metal Hands
Listen To: The Vicious Loop
