SMALL MERCIES

Where EP is short for ‘Epic Potential’

ARCHON Altiora PRIME COLLECTIVE

This Danish technical metalcore troupe’s debut goes like the clappers. With huge choruses and jagged, windmilling riffs, washed in ambience, fans of All Our Gods-era Architects will find plenty to get excited about here. ■■■■■■■■■■

DANNII LEIVERS

CROBOT Rat Child EP MASCOT

Four slabs of fuzzed-up greatness featuring Anthrax drummer Frank Bello, former Killswitch Engage frontman Howard Jones and Steel Panther tub-thumper Stix Zadina. The latter’s Everyone Dies

is a bit of a tear-jerker. ■■■■■■■■■■

DAVE LING

DROWN THIS CITY Colours We Won’t Know UNFD

A well-wrought and well-performed mix of punchy melodic metalcore fuelled by hardcore crunch alongside bursts of wistful melancholy, this rising Aussie trio’s six-track EP certainly makes for a very impressive calling card. ■■■■■■■■■■

SOPHIE MAUGHAN

CRASHFACE Heavy Infectious SELF-RELEASED

Loud, messy, energetic, catchy and cacophonous, this London two-piece deliver an explosion of punk, industrial, party-pop mayhem that is as hooky as it is abrasive and the recording is so immersive, it almost feels live. ■■■■■■■■■■

NIK YOUNG

DEAD WITCHES/ WITCHTHROAT SERPENT Doom Sessions Vol. 666 HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS

Dead Witches debut their all-new line-up, Spring Thompson deploying anguished wails and a punkier snarl, whilst Witchthroat Serpent sound like a more melodic Cough. ■■■■■■■■■■

KEZ WHELAN

LOWEN Unceasing Lamentations SELF-RELEASED

Lowen take a break from doom to explore exiled Iranian Nina Saeidi’s complicated relationship with her heritage. Singing lamentations in Sumerian, Akkadian and Farsi, the captivating power of her voice bears tangible grief. ■■■■■■■■■■

TOM O’BOYLE