Single Slam: Hangman’s Chair, Thaw, Sergeant Thunderhoof, Tayne, Those Who Dream, Seething Akira, Ocean Grove, Hidden Mothers, Rat Salad, and Tribulation!

Today’s single slam features Hangman’s Chair, Thaw, Sergeant Thunderhoof, Tayne, Those Who Dream, Seething Akira, Ocean Grove, Hidden Mothers, Rat Salad, and Tribulation. You can read our thoughts about the latest singles from these bands below.

Hangman’s Chair – 2 AM Thoughts

Following A Loner album released in 2022, the French doom metal band Hangman’s Chair returns today with a brand single ‘2 AM Thoughts’ featuring Dool. The two bands will also be touring together in Europe this year.

Hangman’s Chair stated about ‘2 AM Thoughts’:

The idea of collaborating with Raven Von Dorst doesn’t come from nowhere, we’ve been thinking about it since our last album. If we had to invite someone, it has to be Raven, we’ve known each other for quite a while long time now, played shows and partied together. Moreover, we share the same sensibilities. When the opportunity of touring with Dool became reality, it was the perfect time to record a song as one to solidified our bond. We came with music and words, Raven came with magical haunted voices. The title of the song speaks for itself, it deals with insomnia and thoughts you can experience during those moments such as anxiety, anguish, stress and doubts. The video is kinda special for us, we filmed our childhood friend Kéo Nackphouminh during his everyday life, struggling against his inner demons for years and being clean for 3 years now. For those wo don’t know, he was the very first singer of Hangman’s Chair appearing on our first album. Things have finally come full circle.

The reverb in this track is immense, but it’s just one aspect of a collaboration that is immense all over. Two fabulous bands creating a deep, moody, and dark piece that oozes thick feeling and atmosphere. Unsurprisingly, the experience is heavily textured and while its vibrancy comes from the darker shades of colour, it exists none the less.

Thaw – Wartenberg Wheel

Poland’s black/doom/sludge experimentalists Thaw preview their upcoming album ‘Fading Backwards’ with a new single titled ‘Wartenberg Wheel’. The album is slated for October 25th via Agonia Records and will coincide with a tour of Poland.

A subtle introduction, with its building feeling of dread, can not prepare the mind for the melodic depth that emerges as this track goes on. Thaw’s approach is so laidback, but the darker vibes that run through it are disconcerting. Its hold gets tighter and tighter as it goes on, until it starts to feel suffocating. Which leads to crashing and smashing as a cacophony of heavy doom-infused sounds are unleashed. A fascinating listen. Check it out here.

Sergeant Thunderhoof – Blood Moon

Sergeant Thunderhoof return with the release of their fifth studio album ‘The Ghost of Badon Hill’ on November 15th 2024 via Pale Wizard Records, the follow up to 2022’s acclaimed album ‘This Sceptred Veil’. A concept album, set in the 4th Century AD and delving into Somerset’s famous Battle of Badon. Ahead of the release of the album comes its leading single ‘Blood Moon’.

It’s so good to have this band back and to find them on such incredible form. This first single off the new album is delightfully grand and filled with a ton of heart and soul. Sergeant Thunderhoof pouring so much into telling their story via a heavy, robust, and melodically charged epic. One that has so many infectious moments and an overall feeling of importance. Like what is being displayed here must be heard. It creates a myriad of feeling, and it might take a couple of listens to fully unpack, but it’s worth every second.

Tayne – In This Trend

Hailing from Dublin and now based in London, Tayne have unveiled their electrifying third single, ‘In This Trend’.

Matthew Sutton (vocals / bass) explains:

With a post-punk ethos in mind we wanted this song to feel like every pay off was another massive climb. The chorus is almost an anti chorus, it’s angular and grinding.

This song is a nauseating comparison to having an out of body experience watching yourself on a never ending loop, feeling hopeless and sick. So self-deprecating and always pushing that self-destruct button.

As boundary pushing as always, this might be the best song that Tayne have put out so far. A song that is richly industrial, has excitable post-punk layers, and an overall danceable vibe that just works so well. It is weird, but it is wonderful. Before you know it, you’ve had it on repeat several times over. Check it out here.

Those Who Dream – It Surrounds

Perth emo-pop-rock sweethearts Those Who Dream share the second single, ‘It Surrounds’, off their long-awaited EP ‘Therapy Machine’, out October 18th. The single targets the lack of support musicians receive from industries that claim to aid and empower when the reality is quite the opposite.

Explains vocalist Josh Meyer:

The creative industry is one of the most underfunded, overlooked industries I can think of. Whether it’s lack of government funding towards creative arts, artists forced to give up music or take on double jobs to fuel their creativity, venues taking merch cuts, Spotify pulling back on revenue streams or airlines making travel a nightmare for every touring artist. Everybody consumes art, but as soon as that industry cries for help it falls on deaf ears.

People need creatives in the same way they need sunshine to feel awake. IT SURROUNDS is a heavy reminder that if we don’t start nurturing this fragile industry, the world will lose a valuable lifeline, and nobody will understand the weight of that until it’s too late.

You gotta love a track that is overflowing with passion and belief and that is what we get with this peppy and energetic body shaker. Those Who Dream’s ability to be alternatively anthemic while having masses of melody and flecks of groove, is on impressive display here. It’s a really lovable track that gets stick in the head. Check it out here.

Seething Akira – Sunflower Shadows

Seething Akira have released the new single ‘Sunflower Shadows’. The third single from their upcoming new album ‘Cancel Estate’ set for release on October 25th.

This is bloody wonderful. Offering up some grin-inducing pop-punk vibes, twisted by emphatic electronica and contrasted by some of the heaviest blasts. This is Seething Akira at their most accessible, but also their most experimental, and their most intense. Every aspect of this band coming together in impressive style. It’s impossible to not love.

Ocean Grove – Last Dance

Australian Oddworld collective Ocean Grove have released their new single, ‘Last Dance’. Which comes from their upcoming new album ‘Oddworld’, out on November 22nd via Oddworld Records in Australia and SharpTone Records for the rest of the world.

Vocalist Dale Tanner says:

We knew this song was going to be a really important opportunity for storytelling. We felt the impact of how powerful the music was before any lyrics were written and this warranted an equally powerful motif. We all sat down in the bunkbeds of the farmhouse we had converted into a home studio, with a setting sun and determination to not leave the room until we had an arrangement of words proportionately epic. ‘LAST DANCE’ emerged as an apocalyptic symphony of sorts. It grapples with this idea of facing the death moment, whether that be of the planet or a loved one, and how we can be presented with one last opportunity for a loving embrace, and a conscious presence in that confronting reality. It’s the anthem for any listener to find solace and deeper meaning in the inevitable impermanence of everything.

Heavily focused on soothing melodies and offering up a certain amount of comfort with its chilled-out approach, this new single offers up an interesting contrast between retro alternative sounds and modern rock infectiousness. It’s got a thick vein of emotion running through it, a chorus that ramps up nicely, and leaves you feeling a bit wistful. All good stuff. Check it out here.

Hidden Mothers – Violet Sun

Hidden Mothers, the progressive post-hardcore band from Sheffield, UK, will release their debut album ‘Erosion / Avulsion’, on the 29th of November 2024 via Church Road Records. The final single from the album, ‘Violet Sun’ is out now.

Get the tissue ready, this one is going to make you feel. The road to this album has been paved with gold so far, but this is the exclamation point on the demand that you must hear this record when it is released. Hidden Mothers have found even deeper and dark depths to draw intensity from, but from a heart-wrenchingly melodic place. All while having the errant progressive aspects and devastating power of post-hardcore on display as per usual. It is a staggering showcase of this band’s incredible creativity.

Rat Salad – Preggo

Birmingham-based rock band Rat Salad have released their much-anticipated debut single, ‘Preggo’. A raw, narrative-driven track about a father spiralling into rage and confusion after discovering his teenage daughter’s unexpected pregnancy.

An energetic banger with a really interesting story being told throughout, Rat Salad makes an impression with this debut single. Offering up plenty of reasons to groove and move to their exciting rock sound, especially as its all about the riffs. A strong chorus would have been nice, but it’s a small complaint as the overall track features plenty of banging moments. One such being the big injection of pace that comes around the halfway point. Check it out here.

Tribulation – Murder in Red

Sweden’s goth metal maestros Tribulation recently announced the release of their forthcoming 6th studio album ‘Sub Rosa in Æternum’, due 1st November via Century Media Records. The first long player after their award-winning album ‘Where the Gloom Becomes Sound’ in 2021 they’ve also dropped a cinematic music video for the record’s fourth single, ‘Murder in Red’.

Guitarist Adam Zaars comments on the new single and lyric video release:

Draped in the velvet of violent cinema Murder in Red is our operatic homage to the beauty of the macabre. Haunting and deadly. With a lot of encouragement from the band, Brendan went full Giallo on the video, conjuring up his inner Argento to create this truly memorable music video filled with references and passion. It was a pleasure working both with him and Damon again!

A fitting track for this time of the year, especially as Tribulation’s gothic sound almost always has a ‘spooky’ vibe. We like it spooky though and this tracks use of synth gives it a really darkwave retro feel too. There’s a definite continuation of Tribulations’ reinvention here, recognisably them, but also not quite like anything else before. The gloomy melodies are great, but it’s all about the synth in this one.