Single Slam: Body Count, Octavia Wakes, Zeal & Ardor, Revoid, Sense of Noise, Babymetal X Electric Callboy, Heartline, Handcuff, Defences, and Nightwish!

Today’s single slam features Body Count, Octavia Wakes, Zeal & Ardor, Revoid, Sense of Noise, Babymetal X Electric Callboy, Heartline, Handcuff, Defences, and Nightwish. You can read our thoughts about the latest singles from these bands below.

Body Count – Psychopath (Ft. Joe Bad)

Body Count are back with ‘Psychopath’ – their first new single since 2020’s ‘Bum-Rush’, which won a GRAMMY ® Award for Best Metal Performance. The explosive new track, which features Fit for An Autopsy vocalist Joe Bad, shows Ice-T and crew on maximum killing overdrive and primed for the next chapter of the legendary L.A.-based band’s 35+ year career. Long-time collaborator Will Putney (Knocked Loose, The Ghost Inside) produced the song, which is out now via Century Media Records.

It’s amazing that Bodycount are as relevant now as they were over three decades ago and that they continue to deliver bangers. Which sums up the thrashy groove sound of Psychopath perfectly. It’s a proper head-banger with a mix of Slayer and Biohazard vibes thrown in. Bodycount at their heaviest, with the emphatic stamp put on things with the guest vocals of Joe Bad.

Octavia Wakes – Gossip

Octavia Wakes are an exciting up-and-coming alt-rock band from the Midlands, blending genre influences including rock, metal, punk & alternative to make something truly unique. Their latest single ‘Gossip’ is about being pushed into a fight that you didn’t start, had no interest in participating in, but definitely know how to finish. They will release their debut EP ‘Little Doses’ featuring the singles ‘Appetite for Misery’, ‘Villain’, ‘Damned’, ‘Gossip’ & ‘Maybe’ on the 7th June 2024.

With very catchy alt-rock rhythms and plenty of heart and soul in the vocals, Gossip is an ear-worm track. Octavia Wakes have been rising in prominence on route to this EP release and this track is only going to enhance their popularity. It’s a very enjoyable listen. Check it out here.

Zeal & Ardor – Clawing Out

Zeal & Ardor isn’t just a band; it’s a living and breathing entity. Like any other sentient being, it consumes, evolves, and transforms from one season to the next. It has only sharpened its claws, lengthened its teeth, and steeled its nerves over the years, growing more undeniable and unpredictable in the process.

After delivering gentle, harmonious new song ‘to my ilk’ on the announcement of their new album ‘Grief’ last month, now the Swiss iconoclasts delight in flipping the table over delivering snarling, staccato new single ‘Clawing out’.

Ringleader Manuel Gagneux proclaims:

We like to surprise people. So of course after releasing our softest song to date with “to my ilk” we want to create some whiplash with “Clawing out”! Not satisfied with a mere heavy riffed song, we elected to borrow some elements from other musical styles to further the impact. Revel with us in righteous violence – justificatum malum factum.

Now this is more like it. Don’t get me wrong, I liked ‘to my ilk’, but my favourite version of Zeal & Ardor is the one that gets darker, heavier, and experimental, and this track offers all of this and more. It’s wonderfully weird, with a ritualistic vein running through its murky tone. Another fascinating piece of music from a band that continues to amaze and inspire. Check it out here.

Revoid – Everything

Brisbane metalcore act Revoid share an ode to their former selves on new single, ‘Everything’, and have announced it as the leading single from their upcoming EP, ‘Evergrey’ out everywhere Friday July 19th.

The track is a vulnerable offering from the perspective of vocalist Dale Dudeson, a love letter of sorts to every version of himself that has paved the way to where he is now. Everything acknowledges that even through the darker points, each version played an important role.

Explains Dudeson:

‘Everything’ is filled with regret and guilt, dedicated to every version of myself. I was never the best person, even for myself, but every version of me had purpose and importance and value, and through everything I’ve done and all I’ve been through, I would be lying if I said I don’t miss certain versions sometimes. Growth has never been an easy thing, so I believe it’s important to honour what I was, and what sacrifices it took to get here.

An immensely powerful track that is stuffed with feeling. This new single finds Revoid expanding their metalcore sound into even deeper emotional depths and with that, crafting something that is much more effective. Sure, it’s metalcore, but the focus is on the more melodic side, so when the heaviness hits here, it really freaking hits. This is a damn fine track.

Sense of Noise – Nameless World

Sense of Noise is a modern Latin metal band from Mexico. They recently released their new single ‘Nameless World’, accompanied by a music video where the band shows a little bit of their culture.

A big sounding body-shaking and head-banging listen that has a lot in common with melodeath. Infectious groove, a soaring chorus, and plenty of heavy beats, it’s a track that kicks some serious ass, especially as, near the end, we get some of the Latin infusion that draws comparisons to the likes of Ill Nino. Check it out here.

Babymetal x Electric Callboy

Babymetal and Electric Callboy, two of the most influential bands right now, have collaborated on a new song that will make you dance and sing: ‘Ratatata’. This song masterfully fuses the signature styles of both bands, seamlessly blending their worlds and pushing the music to exhilarating new limits, with a music video once again produced and directed by Schillobros.

Babymetal comment on the new collaboration:

Unbeatable! Let’s “Fu Fu” together with RATATATA!

Electric Callboy add:

Working with BABYMETAL was so much fun. We joined our creative forces and, in the end, we brought together the best of both worlds. We love RATATATA!

This track and this team-up is as polarising as it gets, with detractors of both bands likely to come away hating its poppiness and simplified metal style. However, fans of either band won’t care about the miserable side of metal as they’re far too busy dancing and singing along to its anthemic infectiousness. Is it a great song? Absolutely not, but it’s fun, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Check it out here.

Heartline – Lovers

Adelaide alternative metal quartet Heartline share their vivacious new single ‘Lovers’. Thematically encouraging a break from the monotonous day-to-day, ‘Lovers’ fights a cause to find the beauty in the little things and live with intention.

The band shares:

The daily routine can so ruthlessly take away the colour in our lives. It’s so easy to fall into: wake up, go work a job that doesn’t fulfil or inspire us, go home, sleep and repeat. But when we can break through with our mind’s eye and see all that makes life beautiful and something to be cherished; when we start living with the intention to love – the little things and the big, we find a new direction that is our own – and become a Lover.

In a world of ‘heard it all before’, credit must be given to Heartline for consistently offering up fresh ideas and interesting takes on familiar metal elements. Call it alt-metal all you want, but it’s so much more, and that is what captures the imagination. Intensely heavy, erratically melodic, featuring modern ‘core’ elements, but shifting style constantly, it’s an impressive effort.

Handcuff – Crawling

London-based four-piece Handcuff find a home somewhere in between noisy indie-rock and fast punk and hardcore, describing themselves as “short songs for bored people”. Ahead of their UK tour, they have released their new single, ‘Crawling’.

This is awesome. It’s as simple as that. The blend of indie-rock with punk-infused hardcore is baffling, but so damn exciting. Chaotic and fun, it’s a really unique sounding track that barely passes the two-minute mark, leaving you wanting so much more. The Handcuff train might be one you want to jump on now before it shoots off down the track. Check it out here.

Defences – Gold in the Dark

Future alternative metal greats Defences present their stunning new single/video ‘Gold in the Dark’ via Long Branch Records.

Melodically powerful music with a ‘cinematic’ edge, this new track from Defences shows just how ambitious this band is as far as layered modern metal goes. While there is nothing ground-breaking here, it is anthemically pleasing and has a wicked heavy breakdown.

Mastiff & Tayne – Trapped Inside the Void (Remix)

After the resounding success of their highly praised album Deprecipice, the fierce sludgecore band Mastiff have enlisted the help of the Dublin-born, London-based industrial group Tayne to elevate the intensity to new heights on their latest remix release, ‘Trapped Inside the Void’.

Comments Mastiff:

We didn’t think it possible that anyone could make Mastiff sound even more abrasive and obnoxious, but it turns out Tayne is even more irresponsible with human hearing than we are!

Adds Tayne:

Mastiff are the purveyors of disgusting music so trying to make them sound heavier was never going to be achievable. We decided to go with a new Beta sequence on this one, we kicked up the “4d3d3d3” and added some “hat wobble” to the track. We are stoked with the results. Hopefully it’s something that people will listen to and say…’now Tayne I can get into’.

Creating a level of nausea few will be able to stomach, while also sounding delectably unique, this is the remix you never knew you needed. Tayne’s intense industrial sound fits the bestial style of Mastiff really well and the result is insane. Not just because it is really fucking heavy, but because it has melody and these erratic trippy elements. Check it out here.

Nightwish – Perfume of the Timeless

Still, Finnish symphonic metal legends Nightwish fill this word with life, when they announced their tenth studio album at the end of last month. Now, nightwish have officially launched the pre-order for ‘Yesterwynde’. To celebrate the news, Nightwish have opened the door to their newly-built universe a tiny bit and allowed their fans a first glimpse of ‘Yesterwynde’ with the first single ‘Perfume of the Timeless’.

Tuomas Holopainen shares his thoughts about ‘Perfume of the Timeless’:

You are the result of an unbroken chain of millions of ancestors and their loves. ’Perfume of the Timeless’ reminds us all of this amazing fact. And if you’re not amazed, listen to it again, because it’s important.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but Nightwish have released an extravagant song that is majestically cinematic. Yes, it might be what we all expect now, but that doesn’t stop it being impressive each and every time. Perfume of the Timeless is very impressive, instrumentally building up to an abundance of familiar Nightwish melodically-charged rockiness. It really is epic, and all elements of this band find themselves on form here.