Posts Tagged ‘Metal’

Headless Kross / Pound Land – Headless Kross / Pound Land

Posted: 29 July 2025 in Albums, Reviews
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Cruel Nature Records – 12th September 2025

Cruel Nature have a solid track record for putting out some storming releases by bands who you could reasonably describe as ‘difficult’ but also ‘cult’. This is pretty much Pound Land in a nutshell. As for Headless Kross… The Glaswegian act’s Bandcamp describes them as ‘the ideal soundtrack to the slow unravelling of the world as we understand it. Their sound has been described as psychedelic doom – monolithic riffs, rumbling bass and primal beats lurk behind waves of effects, all strangely underpinned by ethereal shrieks of half heard words, possibly real, possibly not.’ That their name is – I’m assuming – an allusion to the fourteenth album by Black Sabbath offers something of a clue. The fact the label has pushed the boat out for an advance-order lathe-cut vinyl version of this release speaks for itself. At least in relative terms, this is a big ‘un.

Having toured together, they decided to put out a split release, and it’s pleasing to see these making a comeback – something Cruel Nature in particular has been spearheading. I’ve sung the praises of the split release on a number of occasions in recent months, and this is a perfect example of why they’re great: here, we essentially have an EP apiece from two quality acts who are – and this is significant, and absolutely key – contrasting and complimentary.

As the album’s accompanying notes are keen to point out, ‘The result isn’t your standard split album – it’s a sonic blood pact, equal parts homage and havoc’, going on to explain that ‘They also agreed to trade riffs and cover a song by each other: Pound Land tear into ‘Signed In Blood’ and Headless Kross unleash a doom-laden crushing riff-tastic seismic version of ‘Pathogen’.

Headless Kross are up first with their trio of ball-busting, sludge-trudge riffery. ‘The Thing Invisible’ is six minutes of thick, treacle-like riff-wading, with some extravagant solo work before the snarling, mania-driven vocals join the fray a couple of minutes in. Their take on ‘Pathogen’ is nothing short of devastating: a rabid roar tears over a thunderous trudge, and hints at how Pound Land would sound if they could be arsed to be angry or metal. The solo that breaks out toward the end is brief, but wild.

‘The Necessity of 3 Conditions’ is eight and a half minutes of relentless brutality. A Suicide-like throb pulsates: the drumming is almost buried in the dingy low-end mess and the vocals rip bling rage across the whole dingy grind.’

If you’re wanting some light relief, you’re not going to find it with Pound Land’s five tracks: operating here as a six-piece unit with Jase Kester back in the lineup and bringing layers of abrasion, they set their stall up straight away with the anti-capitalist, bollock-to-billionaires agenda served up neatly with their first track, ‘Fuck Off to Mars.’ It’s gnarly, twisted, dark, and despite the low-slung, dingy bass and rabid, reverby vocals which evoke Fudge Tunnel’s first album, there’s something about it that drags the listener in by the throat.

‘I See Crime’ is messy, dirty, but works, although I’m not sure if it’s because of or in spite of the angular contradictions of honking horns ad grimy guitars with a nasty low-end attack.

Nothing about this release is accessible: it’s low, slow, riffy, hard, heavy. Very heavy. Hypnotically heavy. It’s all the riffs, and is something special. Very special. Get this, now.

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Watch: ‘Schwedentrunk [Official Music Video]’ by Scalpture

Posted: 23 July 2025 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
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Skål! German death metal militants SCALPTURE unleash the new video clip ‘Schwedentrunk’ in the wake of the release of their new full-length Landkrieg (‘Land Warfare’), which hit the world hard on March 7, 2025.

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The title ‘Schwedentrunk’ (‘Swedish Drink’) refers to a torture method, which was allegedly used at first by the troops of Gustav II Adolph, King of Sweden but got quickly adopted by all marauding troops ravaging the German lands during the 30 Years’ War (1618-1648). It was executed by forcing liquid manure and sewage down the throats of its victims.

The video clip was partially shot during SCALPTURE’s release show at Rare Guitar in Münster, Germany on March 7, and on the subsequent tour with CARNAL TOMB.

SCALPTURE comment: “The track ‘Schwedentrunk’ has quickly grown into a favourite both of the band as well as during our shows since Landkrieg was released in March”, guitarist Felix Marbach writes. “Much of the footage was shot at our release show and also during the tour with Carnal Tomb. The live video captures the raw ferocity on stage, but it is also a reminder of the intense time that we were able to share with so many of you. With some summer festivals on the horizon, we are going to pick up right there, where we left off.”

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Belonging – Hollow Cells

Posted: 17 July 2025 in Albums, Reviews
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Dipterid Records – 18th July 2025

Christopher Nosnibor

That artists can have complete control over their creative output, artwork, and every other aspect of their releases, including the schedule, is often hailed as one of the great virtues of the age of the Internet, especially Bandcamp and Spotify. It’s also oft-said that quality will reach its audience regardless. But thanks to algorithms and the fact that most creatives aren’t best at (self)-promotion and have no budget to pay anyone else to do the job, it simply doesn’t happen that way. And so it is that Hollow Cells, the debut album from Portland-based sludge / stoner metal band, Belonging, self-released in May, is now receiving a vinyl release courtesy of Dipterid Records, which comes with proper distribution and PR – which is why we’re here now.

Social media is aclog with music fans dismissing the role of critics and music reviews, scoffing about how they’re worthless and their opinions not worth shit. But the fact is that unless you have a mate with their ear to the ground, or the algorithm delivers particularly favourable results – unlikely for a minor band who’ve taken the self-release route – the industry mechanisms of labels, PR, press, and radio can make all the difference. Back in the 90s, pre-Internet, I relied on print media and late-night radio to discover new music that wasn’t top-40 chart stuff, and would be as likely to seek out an album based on a negative review as a positive one. Because criticism goes both ways, and critical reading, while perhaps a dying skill, was essential in order to read between the lines. In short, a negative review isn’t – or at least wasn’t – necessarily a bad thing.

I’ve digressed. And I’m not giving Hollow Cells a negative review – because it’s a belting album.

There’s space and separation between the instruments, and the drums – which bring us into the first track, ‘Lady Vanishes’ – have that ‘live’ feel – as, indeed, do the rest of the instruments. This is a recording that captures speaker-quivering volume. The overdriven guitar is thick, driving, the bass hangs low and heavy. The songs are structured, but primarily constructed around the riff, and the riffs are epic. But there’s detail, too, which emerges from the monolithic sludgefest. The stop / start shouty aggro racket of ‘Ceiling’ starts out a bit Therapy? but then swerves to a place that’s more Fugazi, and it’s precisely this range that shows that Belonging have something more to offer than template stoner / sludge: the energy of Hollow Cells is exhilarating from beginning to end.

The six-minute ‘Birdwatcher’ ventures into more post-punk territory, with Bryce August adopting a growlier, baritone vocal style that, when paired with steely grey guitars, invites comparisons to Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, before the song veers in a very different direction that’s more anthemic indie than anything, but with guitars which are absolutely huge.

As it progresses, Hollow Cells becomes increasingly difficult to place, and all the better for it. It’s heavy, but melodic, grungy but not so much angsty. It’s more obscure 90s acts like The God Machine and 8-Storey Window which come to mind during the second half of the album, and with each song, I come to realise how short any genre-based pitch is doomed to fall. ‘Longhaul’ is classic 90s grunge, but works on account of being more Nirvana than Bush, while chucking in a dash of Shellac. The bassline is killer

Hollow Cells is bursting with emotional depth, an ache. But then there are blasting punk songs like ‘Bonehead’ which are more in the vein of …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead. And this is why Hollow Cells is so good: it never fails to confound expectation, and never fails to exceed expectation, either. It’s quality from beginning to end – a rare thing indeed. I don’t do stars, but if I did, this would be a 9.5.

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Ba’al – The Fine Line Between Heaven and Here

Posted: 14 July 2025 in Albums, Reviews
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Road To Masochist – 18th July 2025

Christopher Nosnibor

Perhaps I’m simply more aware, but it feels as if black metal and adjacent subgenres are experiencing a significant moment. Sign of the times? Perhaps. There’s a new wave of all strains of metal, and it’s not simply loner misfit teenage boys and middle-aged blokes who still live at home, working entry-level jobs and playing Dungeons and Dragons on a weekend. In fact, it’s anything but, and the old stereotype no longer holds water here in 2025. Metal offers a number of things: catharsis through anger and abrasive noise is perhaps the most obvious. In case you hadn’t noticed, the world is a dark and dismal place. It’s also terrifying, and run by cunts. And people seem to be losing the plot. Social and moral boundaries aren’t so much collapsing and being torn apart from the top down. Metal offers an outlet that’s safe and harmless, by way of an alternative to embarking on killing sprees. Connected to this, there’s also a certain escapism offered in the domains of metal, which operates on a number of levels. Finally, there’s a sense of community within metal circles: something I’ve touched on a number of occasions is just how safe and accommodating metal gigs always feel. A room full of misfits together is some kind of utopia.

Of the current crop, Sheffield post-black metal quintet Ba’al stand out, and this, their second album, is billed as ‘their most ambitious work to date’. Of course: bands, labels, and PR always say that. But a thirteen-minute opener is nothing if not a clear statement of ambition. It begins with gentle piano, delicate, emotive, atmospheric, evoking the sound of 2004 post-rock, of Her Name Is Calla – and when the guitars crash in, it’s sweeping, cinematic, as much And So I Watch You From Afar as anything overtly metal. It’s not until over three minutes in that storm clouds gather – and blow in fast. In an instant, there is a flurry of blackness, frenzied fretwork blurring into a dense backdrop for scorched, demonic vocals. But after the tempest and turmoil die down, there’s a further segment that could almost be a song in its own right that combines elements of neofolk and shoegaze. It’s softer, more melodic, but somehow ragged… and then they deliver a monumental sustained climax that it nothing short of obliterative.

I’ve seen a few comments on social media dismissing reviews for not being objective, as if we respond to music based on its technical merits rather than on an emotional level. Those making such comments are clearly cretins, because Oasis are shite whichever way you slice it, but if you want objectivity, Ba’al deliver emotional heft with eye-popping technical prowess. Within these first thirteen minutes, they bring texture, tone, dynamics, detail. Where can they possibly go from here?

It transpires that they’re only just getting going. ‘Waxwork Gordon’ opens delicately on a drift of chiming guitar. Rolling drums join, and there’s an evocation of trees and dappled shade – for a moment, before the gates of hell open and molten lava flows forth. But again, there are passages which border on the edge of folk and prog here. Instead of diminishing the power of the black, chugging riffs, they enhance their potency. The eleven-minute ‘Well of Sorrows’ is, indeed, riven with melancholy, but also rays of hope beam through in the form of some deft playing, clean sounds and bright tones, which intersect with sustained thunderous blasts, while the album’s penultimate track, ‘The Ocean that Fills a Wound’ weighing in at thirteen and a half minutes is the very definition of epic. For the most part, it’s rolling, mellow, again more neofolk than metal. But when they slam on the distortion and go for the riffs, they go hard. Closer ‘Legasov’ arrives in a squall of feedback and forges a molten course to the album’s conclusion.

The band’s willingness – nay, urge – to embrace more than metal tropes, and to offer a remarkably broad sonic palette is integral to their appeal. These are songs which expand the parameters of metal in myriad directions. There’s a lot to assimilate here. Joe Stamps’ versatility as a vocalist is a real asset, but collectively, Ba’al’s capacity to swing seamlessly between forms is remarkable.

There will be some for whom their range is simply too much. That’s their loss. The simple fact is that The Fine Line Between Heaven and Here is an incredibly bold, and wide-ranging work, that defies narrow categorisation. It’s a hell of a lot more than metal, that’s for sure. It’s immense. It will open your eyes. And it will probably blow you away.

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Burial / Thy Dying Light / Blasfeme / Cogas – The Fulford Arms, York 21st June 2025

Posted: 22 June 2025 in Live, Reviews
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Christopher Nosnibor

Last night, I spotted a post on Facebook from the Fulford Arms bearing the caption ‘hot day / sold out show = sweat dripping from the ceiling… f*cling awesome!’

And the gentrification of the grassroots venues we have left mean such occasions are a lot rarer than they used to be. And while for some punters it’s likely seen as a good thing, I personally do miss the sweaty mess aspect of packed-out pub venues, not because I necessarily enjoy being a sweaty mess, but because it was a part of the live experience, and you knew you’d been to a proper show if you came out absolutely drenched and having lost about 3lbs through perspiration.

And so it is that here we are at The Fulford Arms on the hottest day of the year so far. The thermometer in my back yard was showing 34°C earlier in the day. I found myself thinking ‘at least it can’t be as hot as The Mission at The Crescent, right? Or DZ Deathrays at the 50-capacity Woolpack in 2013… Surely?’ And it wasn’t. And not just in terms of temperature.

Cogas are a blackened death metal three-piece, with guitar, drums and vocals, plus face paint, chains, studs and random props. The seven-string guitar brings frenzied fretwork and some solid low end, and rapid fire kick drum action ensures the sound isn’t thin despite that lack of numbers. The singer looks really angry for the entirety of the set, and it works in terms of character, but it may be because of the amount of time he spends adjusting his mic stand. Towards the end of the set he wields an inverted cross of bones. Its relevance is unclear, but it’s an interesting visual.

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Cogas

Blasfeme have more and bigger spikes, more black face paint and more guitars: two plus a five-string bass. This combination ratchets up both the volume and density. They play hard and fast, the vocals are a demonic shriek. By a few songs in, half their makeup has disappeared, and with his office haircut the vocalist is transformed back to a more daytime look, but guitarist Vermin flails his hair furiously and they pound their way through a set of highly structured songs, predominantly culled from their latest album, delivered with a rare tightness, and there’s no denying their quality.

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Blasfeme

Thy Dying Light go darker still, with iron cross patches and black cymbals and shiny Spandex trews – plus a candelabra and a selection of horns and sheep skulls in front of the drum kit. the smoke seems to make the room even hotter, and by the end of the set, even the skulls looks like they’re sweating. The guitar/ drums duo – self-professed purveyors of “Cumbrian Black Metal” – deliver a set that’s raw and murky and true to the principles of black metal, seemingly have spent as long on their makeup as writing the songs. A big bearded guy in a Sunn O))) t-shirt emits a guttural growl between each song instead of applause.

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Thy Dying Light

Burial bring beards and shaved heads, and t-shirts with cut-off sleeves. Their sound is as burly as they look, meaning that sonically they’re solid, but the fact their inter-song chat can be summarised as “how are you doing York, you soft wankers” and “fuck off you sexy cunts”, I’d have preferred more songs and less bantz. There seems to be a lot of in-jokes, which the faithful are in on, calling for them to get their tits out, but it rather falls flat for the casual observer.

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Burial

Perhaps the heat was a factor – certainly, the moshing was minimal and the crowd were keener to rush the bar and get air between the bands than go nuts during their sets – but something about the lineup simply failed to ignite on the night. None of the bands were duds, by any stretch, but there were no explosive cathartic peaks, making for a night that would sit in the ‘middling’ bracket overall. And that’s fine: four bands for a tenner means £2.50 a band, and it’s hard to begrudge that, and as a showcase of a breadth of metal, it delivered.

Why Patterns – Screamers

Posted: 17 June 2025 in Albums, Reviews
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Human Worth – 11th July 2025

Why Patterns’ latest offering marks something of a shift from Regurgitorium, released back in 2022. I say ‘back’ in 2022 because it feels like a lifetime ago. Some of that is, admittedly, due to personal circumstance, but for most, 2022 was a very different time. We still weren’t all that long out of lockdown, for a start. We were still coming up for air, and finding our way – and likely crawling our way back to the office, while a lot of shops still had their Perspex screens in place. I remember in the checkout queue in Aldi just willing these weird cunts who had seemingly either forgotten the preceding year and a bit, or had lost all sense of how to engage, by looming and leaning over and pressing too close would fuck off. I revisit the context of the last album because it somehow managed to capture the mood in some obtuse way, and when I wrote ‘It’s fucked up. It’s deranged. It hurts,’ I could as easily have been referring to life itself at that point in time.

Screamers is different again. Or, if not so much, different, compressed, compacted, distilled, the intensity amplified by the concision of the tracks.

The crunchy, gnarly bass still dominates, and it’s snarling away and tearing strips straight out of the traps on the frenzied ‘After the Bullfight’. Clocking in at a mere minute and forty-seven seconds, it’s noise rock smooshed down to the tight parameters of grindcore, and with insane amounts of reverb, the stuttering, stammering vocal yelps from Doug Norton, the man behind the ‘Mouth Sounds’ owe an equal debt to Suicide and The Cramps, and this may be the spawning of industrial psychobilly as a new genre. Everything is overloading, the speakers are crackling with megawattage overload, and when ‘Clown in a Housefire’ blasts in, you actually begin to wonder if it’s supposed to sound like this of it your gear’s fucked.

One may cling in references to the Jesus Lizard and all the rest, but really, this sounds like a psychotic reimagining of early Blacklisters – specifically early because of THAT bass racket. But whereas Blacklisters were, and remain, quite song-orientated, at least structurally, Screamers sees Why Patterns take their template and smash the living fuck out of it by throwing it against a brick wall and stomping on it until there is nothing but splattered pulp. None of the songs – I mean, they’re not really songs, more demented blasts of discord played at three hundred miles an hour, all of the instruments playing at angles against and across, rather than with one another, the vocals the sound of a breakdown in real time. And listening to this as bombs and missiles are going off everywhere and no-one knows what is going on anywhere, I fin myself listening to this tumultuous mayhem and thinking ‘yep, they’ve done it again. This is the closest I’ve heard anyone articulate this moment.’ I mean, they don’t really ‘articulate’: as the title suggests, Screamers is a raw, primal scream. It’s a frenzied, lurching, gut-punching racket that rattles the bibs and kicks the balls, hard. Pleasant, it is not. Especially that grungy bass that churns the stomach.

There aren’t really any riffs: it’s just a relentless assault of jarring noise. ‘Nervous Laughter’ brings hints of the latest mclusky album, but does so with menace, malice, and a hint of the unhinged, and following on ‘Wind Up Chattering teeth’ is a minute and six seconds of rabid raving. It’s almost enough to make you want to puke.

Then there’s ‘Club Foot By Kasabian by Blacklisters’. It extends the joke of the original – since the Blacklisters song, ‘Club Foot By Kasabian’ wasn’t a cover, and had nothing to do with Kasabian, and so it is that ‘Club Foot By Kasabian by Blacklisters’ is a minute and a half of squalling, brawling, guitar-led abrasion. It’s somewhat reminiscent of Castrovalva in its deranged intensity, and frenzied, squawking disregard for decency. The title track is fifty-two seconds long. It’s rabid. It has to be heard to be comprehended.

The last track, ‘Buffoons and Barel Organs’ is both the longest and most structurally coherent. ‘Why do I cross the road? Why do I cross the road? Because I’m a fucking chicken!’ Norton hollers amidst a raging tempest of bass and drums.

Screamers is certainly appropriately titled. Every song is a brief but blistering assault. It’s full-on, and will melt your face, and as such, I wholeheartedly recommend it, unless you’re a wuss.

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Cash Bribe – Demonomics EP

Posted: 11 June 2025 in Reviews, Singles and EPs
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Futureless – 13th June 2025

Christopher Nosnibor

Formed in Brooklyn in 2019, Cash Bribe have released a couple of previous EPs, showcasing a sound that brings together a number of elements, but above all brings the riffs. And they’ve really turned things up a way for their latest offering, a few tracks from which we’ve already aired here at Aural Aggravation.

While it’s something of a vogue right now for bands of heavy, and particularly a metal, persuasion, to open an EP with a short intro track that’s delicate and atmospheric, and eases the listener in before hitting the pedals, Cash Bribe aren’t here to piss about with pleasantries or conventions, and the minute-and-a-half long opening track, ‘Feral’ arrives in a ferocious wall of feedback and hammers in hard and fast, a frenetic blast of raw and raucous hardcore punk that’s nothing short of savage.

Single cut ‘Bay of Pigs’ powers in before the feedback’s faded, and it’s propelled by some mighty drumming: Larry Koch is a hard-hitter, but what’s more, the drums are up in the mix and drive the track hard.

These are dark and difficult times globally, but America… America, WTF? Where to begin? It’s hard to articulate, and this is precisely why this EP is perfect, a spitting, savage roar, equal parts rage and nihilism. More often than not, I would unpack the social or political context, and perhaps explore my own reaction to the material in a reflective fashion. But sometimes, the task feel too great, and what’s more, the material speaks for itself. It’s positively explosive, and bludgeons the listener without mercy..

The title track is the longest, clocking in at exactly four minutes, and is maintains a hundred-mile-per-hour pace for its duration. There is no let-up on this EP: it is truly relentless, and the fury flames unabated. It’s all killer, alright.

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Belk + Casing – Liminal Veil (EP)

Posted: 8 June 2025 in Reviews, Singles and EPs
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Panurus Productions – 2nd May 2025

Christopher Nosnibor

Northern noisemongers Belk are no strangers to the virtual pages of Aural Aggravation: I personally first caught them live as a duo back in 2021, when I remarked in my review that as fierce as they were, they might benefit from some bass. I could never have imagined just how much. These days, their sound is dominated by some juddering low-end that’s practically arsequake. It’s as if they thought ‘you want some bass, eh, bastard? Here’s some fookin’ bass. BOWWWWWWWMMMM’. They’ve certainly evolved over the last four years – but what that means, in real terms is that they’ve developed methods of making noise that’s even more nasty and gnarly and generally unkind to the eardrums. This is a good thing, and ‘Flayed’, the first of their two contributions to this split release is a beast. It has a definite and undeniable sense of swing to it, a swaggering groove that’s somewhat unexpected. But what is expected – and delivered – is a crashing riot of noise, a juddering wall of distortion, squalling, dirty guitars, drums blasting at a hundred miles an hour and guttural vocals half-submerged by the swirling chaos, with tempo changes galore and simply all hell happening at once inn explosive, brutal frenzy.

‘Cloak of Bile and Oil’ begins a little more gently – and for a moment I’m reminded of the intro to Fudge Tunnel’s ‘Hate Song’, which inevitably bursts into shards of incendiary sludge and squall – and sure enough, so does this, the extended intro giving the deluge of noise even more impact when it finally does arrive. They describe their style as ‘Blackened Leeds Hardcore’ and this must surely be a definitive example of what that means.

Casing are an unknown quantity, and their two contributions are brief – the longest piece is just over two minutes in duration. The sound they offer is certainly no less abrasive or disturbing. There’s nothing to indicate what the initialisms of the song titles actually mean, but the electronic excursion which is ‘L.U.A.N.L.B.’ begins with some rumbling dark ambience, soon rent with the wail of siren-like feedback, before a wall of harsh noise distortion swells like a tsunami and swallows everything. In contrast, ‘D.T.H.D.T.C.’ launches headlong into a gut-churning blast of manic grind, with a nauseating bass churn to rival that of Belk.

What it lacks in duration (the four tracks have a combined running time of less than eight minutes), this release more than makes up in devastating intensity. Mission accomplished.

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Watch: ‘Timpul Întâilor (live at ProgPower 2023 feat. Costin Chioreanu) [Official Music Video]’ by Dordeduh

Posted: 6 June 2025 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
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Fascinating metal innovators DORDEDUH have unveiled a new live video for the track ‘Timpul întâilor’, which was recorded during their show at the prestigious ProgPower Europe festival at the Sjiwa in Baarlo, the Netherlands in 2023.

While the Romanians were playing, their compatriot and renowned artist Costin Chioreanu created a live painting at the venue, which was directly inspired by the music. His artistic process was projected onto the backdrop behind the band.

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DORDEDUH comment: “First I need to mention that ProgPower is a very special festival with a particularly nice vibe to it”, frontman Edmond “Hupogrammos” Karban writes. “It is very intimate but feels like a big family meeting. There were great shows and great bands, but the afterparty at that castle-like hotel that accommodates both the musicians and the audience is something else entirely. We had a really great time there. Therefore, I am especially glad that we did something special there with our amazing friend of so many years now, Costin Chioreanu. Everybody involved deserves that and we are grateful for this opportunity. This kind of memory, this kind of beautiful moment will stay in our memories. Luckily, this one memory got immortalised for all to see in this video. Hopefully, you will enjoy it, too!”

The track ‘Timpul întâilor’ is taken from the album Har.

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Watch: ‘Fading’ by Sledges

Posted: 22 May 2025 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
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From San Diego, California, Sledges is a four piece Alt-metal/Heavy-shoegaze band that blends genres like grunge, metal, shoegaze, emo/post-hardcore, and alternative to craft songs with catchy hooks and big riffs. The band’s goal is to create emotional/ heavy songs that you can sing along to.

Sledges is Philly Gomez (vocals and guitar), Alex Angulo (bass), Julian Romero (guitar), Mason Haidar (drums).

Sledges’ origin starts in mid 2020 taking place in the area of Chula Vista California. From the boredom and free time during the pandemic Sledges started as a three piece and wasted no time writing original material. During 2020 Sledges recorded and released their first single ‘Melting Lives’ which helped them start playing shows in San Diego and grow a local fan base. The group recorded and released more singles throughout 2021-2023 and added a fourth member to play lead guitar. Some notable singles during that time include ‘Headwinds’ (2022) and ‘Disgusting’ (2023).

In mid 2023 Sledges began to record their EP Losing Pace with Mike Kamoo who engineered, mixed and mastered it at Earthling Studios. Losing Pace is a four track EP that is catchy and ambitious yet heavy. The group took inspiration from bands like The Smashing Pumpkins, Nothing, Sunny Day Real Estate, and Hum with its heavy but lush wall of guitars while adding their own flavor. Sledges experimented with acoustic guitars, melodic choruses, drum samples and My Bloody Valentine-esque leads. The group wanted to simply write strong songs that can stand on their own.

Singer/songwriter Philly Gomez says Losing Pace is about a period when he felt broken from the struggles of balancing life and in the process realizing you are falling apart. With heartfelt lyrics and contagious riffs, Losing Pace was released on May 2nd 2024. With great reception the EP led the band to get signed by the label Quiet Panic and open for larger bands like From Autumn to Ashes, and Ringo Deathstarr.

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