Single Slam: In Flames, Solcura, Narrow Head, The Ocean, Waterlines, Stoned Jesus, Suicide Silence, Haken, Alex Yarmak, Handcuff, and Insomnium!

This week’s single slam features In Flames, Solcura, Narrow Head, The Ocean, Waterlines, Stoned Jesus, Suicide Silence, Haken, Alex Yarmak, Handcuff, and Insomnium! You can read our thoughts about the latest singles from these bands below.

In Flames – Meet Your Maker

Legendary Swedish melodic metal band In Flames have now released ‘Meet Your Maker’, the fifth single from their highly anticipated new album, Foregone. The band’s 14th studio album, it will be released on February 10th, 2023.

Front man Anders Fridén states:

When we started to write for Foregone, Meet Your Maker became the song that set the tone in terms of what we were aiming for sonically as well as thematically. You’ll see it’s everything you’ve come to expect from In flames and some. Enjoy and see you on the road in 2023!

A very strong offering from In Flames, one that is meaty and heavy. Meet Your Maker is a powerful blend of chunky groove, melody, and intensity. Not quite a throwback to their ‘classic’ sound, but certainly something that will please fans of the earlier eras of In Flames. It’s incredibly infectious and features a stunning guitar solo. Based off this, and the previous four singles, this new album has the potential to be considered one of the best In Flames albums ever.

Solcura – God Now

Solcura’s new single, God Now, was unleashed on the 13th of January 2023. The track is taken from their self-produced debut album, Serotonin.

Dark, moody, and heavy, this new offering from Solcura has a touch of abrasiveness to it. Albeit, nicely balanced with robust melody, jagged riffs, and rock catchiness. Notable as it hits the chorus, which has plenty of punch to it, while being groovy and energetic. A latter twist the structure is both unexpected and quite exciting. Imaginative music from Solcura. Check it out here.

Narrow Head – Caroline

US alt-grunge group Narrow Head have released their new single ‘Caroline’, another glimpse into their new album Moments of Clarity, out 10th February via Church Road Records.

Frontman Jacob Duarte says:

I’ve always thought Caroline was such a singable name. I’ve written dozens of songs using that name but never really brought them to life. I guess Caroline is a pseudo name I use for lyrics. Just rolls off the tongue. So, when people listen to this and think to themselves ‘who’s Caroline?’ I don’t think I know who they are either.

Pop-infused alt-rock, with a sheen of distortion covering it. Narrow Head’s Caroline has a melancholic feel overall but delivers thicker riffs and a hearty chorus that you just might find yourself singing along too. Mood altering and infectious, the succinct experience stays with you for a while afterwards. Check it out here.

The Ocean – Preboreal

Right off the back of a 6-month world tour the Berlin-based, atmospheric post-metal juggernaut The Ocean (Collective) returns with the new single ‘Preboreal’, the band’s first new music since the critically acclaimed Phanerozoic double album.

A band that knows how to challenge listeners, while always delivering exceptionally memorable music. The Ocean’s new track is a gargantuan combination of evocative synths post-layered melodies, reaching a crescendo at the end in staggering fashion. The lamentable and earnest tone is emotional throughout but it’s the power of the finale that most will remember. A stunning track.

Waterlines – König

Yorkshire metalcore upstarts Waterlines relaunched themselves to the world at the end of 2022, transitioning from their former life as Sertraline. The first single under their new name, The Halo Around The Horns, received huge fan and industry acclaim. Waterlines are starting 2023 exactly as they finished last year, with a huge new song to continue their momentum. Their brand new single, König, is out now.

The rebirth of this band continues to be something well worth taking note of and this new track might be the best showcase of their new direction. An intense blast of modern metalcore that spits and snarls with uncompromising ferocity and has some impressive melodic highs. Check it out here.

Stoned Jesus – Thoughts and Prayers

Ukrainian doom proggers Stoned Jesus have announced their first full-length in five years, Father Light, set for release on 3rd March via Season of Mist. They have also unveiled their new single / video ‘Thoughts and Prayers’, a fitting title given their current situation.

Lead vocalist and guitarist Igor Sydorenko comments:

I wrote these songs mostly in 2019, we worked on them through 2020, recorded them in 2021 and were ready to release them in 2022…and finally the first batch of them is coming out as Father Light in 2023! So this is neither our “pandemic” nor our “war” record, this is something I was really obsessed about many months ago – climate change, media numbness, corporations’ impact, social divisions…

But revisiting these issues years later shows that they’re still important and this is still something that resonates with us – and hopefully will resonate with many other people, too. Musically I think this is our most diverse and mature record to date, but there’s a good dose of old school Stoned Jesus there too!

Anyway, enjoy this one and fingers crossed for 2024’s release of Mother Dark – the moodier, more personal, more experimental sister album to Father Light.

An immense offering form Stone Jesus. A long-awaited return that comes with a thought-provoking level of moodiness. A little bit weird, a little bit dark, and a little bit captivating. The blend of doomy melody and progressive rockiness is extremely pertinent to the world situation that greets Stoned Jesus now as much as it did when it was first written years ago.

Suicide Silence – Alter of Self

Suicide Silence have shared a new music video for new single ‘Alter of Self’.. The track is taken from the band’s upcoming seventh album, Remember…You Must Die, due 10th March via Century Media.

Says guitarist Mark Heylmun:

Alter of Self, musically, is a step in a much more melodic direction than the tracks we’ve released as of late. It’s speaking a much different language, but still has all the bone-shattering groove and breakdowns you’d expect from us. Lyrically, the song isn’t difficult to interpret. It’s about doing such a large dose of mind-altering substance or substances that you begin to worship yourself as god. Tune in and drop out on this one.

Suicide Silence having some fun, while also delivering a meaty and monstrous death-infused tune. A bit more death metal than outright deathcore, but still impossibly heavy. The video will make you trip balls, alongside the band, but the music is uncomplicated and uncompromising heaviness as most have come to expect from this band. It’s a head-banger with a really nasty sounding breakdown. What more could you want! Check it out here.

Haken – Taurus

Progressive rockers Haken recently announced their seventh studio album ‘Fauna’, which will be released on the 3rd March 2023. The band have now released Taurus, the 3rd single from the album.

Ross Jennings says this about the track:

With such a diverse and eclectic array of material on ‘Fauna’, it was important for us to include a piece of music that represented the metallic edge of our sound which was exploited predominantly on ‘Vector’ & ‘Virus’, with our focus being on hard hitting riffs in odd time signatures.

The song’s lyrics were written roughly at the same time we all started hearing about the devastation and crisis happening in Ukraine. I was already writing the piece based on the annual migration of the wildebeests with strong references to people travelling in herds and strength in numbers. Suddenly I realised I had an anchor for what the song could be about and knowing this gives it all the more emotional weight; We’re all on some sort of journey towards salvation or enlightenment. Sometimes out of choice or not, we need to leave the past behind us and make new beginnings. We only have each other, and belief and hope are our strongest allies.

High-powered rock gold from a band that can do this in their sleep. Yet, that doesn’t mean they’re coasting by on past tricks. Taurus is bloody weird at times, fascinatingly weird, but constantly exciting. You’ll want to see where the diverse sound goes next and, in this case, you’ll always be surprised and elated by it. Check it out here.

Alex Yarmak – Roots Grow Deep

Alt-rock artist Alex Yarmak is back with his latest single ‘Roots Grow Deep’, the lead single from his upcoming album under the same name.

On the track, Alex delivers his hope for Ukrainian culture, delivering his mantra in both English and Ukrainian. Under the backdrop of Russia’s illegal war on Ukraine Alex dives deeper into Ukrainian culture and how both Ukraine and Russia are linked culturally dating back for generations even after their independence in 1991. Now after years of rising tensions and the ongoing war Alex looks to the future advocating a cultural shift in his country not bound by the shackles of the past and the lingering memories of the USSR, one that the next generation can claim is distinctly Ukrainian.

In his own words:

I want to draw people’s attention to the fact that we, Ukrainians, were heavily influenced by the Russian culture, so we need to cut those roots to feel finally, and completely, free.

A powerful track, the subject matter alone will tell you that, yet the way in which Alex Yarmak expresses his feelings is what really counts. It’s energetic, punky and filled with rock groove and getting downright heavy at times. The track is a twisting and turning experience, highlighted by a chorus that hits an exceptional high.

Handcuff – Holiday

Handcuff is a four-piece punk rock band hailing from London, UK. Their new single/video ‘Holiday’ is out now.

A really catchy number from these punk rockers, Holiday is a short slice of indie-infused and punk rock energised that has a touch of silliness to it but is delightfully memorable. At barely a minute and a half, it’s over way too quickly, but that just means you get to hit play again sooner. Check it out here.

Insomnium – The Witch Hunter

On February 24th, 2023, Finnish metal melancholists Insomnium will release their ninth full-length, Anno 1696, via Century Media Records. The third single and music video for ‘The Witch Hunter’ is out now.

Guitarist Markus Vanhala comments about the track:

This is a good example of a song growing and finding its own wings during the studio process. This one has a cinematic feel; the storyline needs the essence of journey moving forward. In fact, I made a Finnish vocal demo for this one, reading and screaming Niilo’s storyline, but only the name stayed and translated from “Noidanmetsästäjä” to English. But that’s another story and a secret version never to be found by outsiders.

An experimental offering from Insomnium. One that features their familiar melancholic highs and lows but also takes the listener on a wild ride of discombobulated rhythms and melodies. The chorus is an extraordinary part of the whole experience but across its near 6-minute runtime, Insomnium really do push themselves to even more spectacular levels.