Mad About Rock

  Following the success of their recently released single “Choke On Your Mistakes”, in which they openly and harshly criticize today's cancel culture, DARKNESS SURROUNDING now deliver another impressive preview of their upcoming album “Is There Salvation?” (release date: September 19): “Achromatica” (release date: August 29). With “Achromatica” the Wuppertal-based quintet brings another multi-layered track between melodic death and metalcore, accompanied by a creative and symbolic single video that both musically and visually captures the state of an increasingly polarized world. “'Achromatica' is about increasingly pronounced black-and-white thinking as well as the inability to see the big picture and perceive nuances”, explains the band. The song thus reflects a social climate so characterized by sensory overload and algorithmic simplification that nuances are lost, while the common ground seems increasingly unattainable. The accompanying music video plays with contrasts,...

  South London-based metalcore unit AFTER SMOKE CLEARS have shared the first taste of their upcoming sophomore studio album, Intentions, (coming later this year via self-release) in "Unintelligent", a no-holds-barred display of unabashed metalcore fury. Recorded and produced by Meyrick De La Fuente (Exist Immortal, VEXED, Eschalon), "Unintelligent" is a blistering, brutal and honest metalcore anthem that feels in equal measure emotionally potent and acutely aggressive. The band states: "Unintelligent is a song about being treated like shit. Berated, and made to feel insignificant, the lyrics tell the story from a beginning, where you've heard these things said to you for so long you become accustomed to them, that you've become a permanent resident inside your own personal hell. The sample ‘Hell is real’ pays homage to the millions of people around the world, living in their own personal hell, sometimes being gaslit into thinking it's not actually a...