Single Slam: Meshuggah, Shape of Despair, Patient Sixty-Seven, Bad Llama, Arhat, Centinex, New Habits, Back on Earth, Vëlla, Embryonic Devourment, Ghost Toast and Famyne!

This week’s single slam features Meshuggah, Shape of Despair, Patient Sixty-Seven, Bad Llama, Arhat, Centinex, New Habits, Back on Earth, Vëlla, Embryonic Devourment, Ghost Toast and Famyne. You can read our thoughts about the latest singles from these bands below.

Meshuggah – The Abysmal Eye

‘The Abysmal Eye’ is the first taster single of Swedish extreme tech-metal pioneers Meshuggah! The song is taken from their upcoming ninth studio manifest, “Immutable”, released worldwide via Atomic Fire on April 1st, 2022.

It feels like forever since we’ve had new Meshuggah but the wait is finally over. The tech-death masters are back and back with aplomb. The Abysmal Eye is a beast of a track. One that features Meshuggah’s trademark extreme build, weighted by the foundations of complex and fascinating technicalities. It is a very heavy track but has a ballsy number of layers that give a deeper and richer sound. Even on multiple listens, you’ll still be finding new and interesting parts.

Shape of Despair – Forfeit

Finnish funeral doom icons Shape of Despair are now releasing the third track from their upcoming record ‘Return to the Void’. The new album will be released via Season of Mist on February 25, 2022 and ‘Forfeit’ is available to listen too now.

An 8-minute funeral doom epic, Shape of Despair bring the misery and then some with this new track. Where anguish is more than just a description, it’s a way life for this band. A slow moving, methodical, mentally-draining and dark level of grandeur makes this both exhilarating and petrifying. Forfeit your soul to the gloom. Check it out here.

Patient Sixty-Seven – Scattered

Patient Sixty-Seven – The meme-fiends who provide regular observation on the Australian and World-Wide metalcore community via their Instagram and Facebook feed have released their brand new single and video ‘Scattered’.

On the topic of the new single, vocalist Tom Kiely said that:

Scattered is our band’s most ambitious effort to date. The song talks openly and honestly about the hurt, the pain – the burden it places on anyone constantly at war with themselves and their addiction.

Moving and grooving, Patient Sixty-Seven drop one of their most powerful tracks to date in Scattered. A track with meaty metalcore heaviness, meaningful melodies and one hell of an anthemic chorus. This is music that gets you up and moving in the most passionate way possible. An absolute banger. Check it out here.

Bad Llama – Saline

Midlands-based alternative metal act Bad Llama have released their emotional new single/video, ‘Saline’.

Explains vocalist Kyle Jordan:

It’s about the cathartic process that song writing and music in general has for me, how liberating it can be to get thoughts and emotions onto paper and share something personal that even strangers can relate too.

There’s deep emotion running through this track like a thick vein. One that has heart and soul but also knows how to make you move. The alternative metal sound that have made Bad Llama a force to be reckoned with is at its most powerful and thought-provoking here. Effective melodies and a massive chorus make this one hell of a listen.

Arhat – Symbols

Arhat present a new single, named “Symbols” which will be included in the second conceptual album of the band.

They describe the album as follows:

The new album will be about initiation in the High Lore and mysteries in the Ancient Egypt. Or more precisely, a path one had to endure to become initiated in this Lore. Those who wanted to become initiated had to fulfil numerous tasks and overcome a lot of challenges. Each challenge was a marker of intellectual level and psychological stamina of a candidate. Those who failed the challenge with symbols were denied in passage to higher levels of the Lore. Every candidate had only one try.

In our album, which will be released soon, we will follow the candidate along the whole path of his initiation and try to learn the lessons which this path can open to us.

A groove metal track that has thrash and death influences, Arhat have an aggressive sound and the distinctive drive to get you up and head-banging. Spitting pure fire and delving deeply into the sound of the extreme, Symbols hits hard and tells us that we’re in for a banger when the whole album comes out. Check it out here.

Centinex – Armageddon

Sweden’s long-running death metallers Centinex are sharing a new track and music video “Armageddon”. The song is taken from the band’s upcoming EP “The Pestilence”, due out April 1st on Agonia Records.

A no-nonsense death metal blast, Centinex aren’t going to change the world here but they do deliver a strong bout of head-banging inducing heaviness. Aggressive, fast and very noisy from beginning to end. It’s a track that will get the neck muscles well and truly working overtime. Check it out here.

New Habits – Pulling Petals

Post hardcore group, New Habits are a band formed with a singular purpose and ethos – to inspire listeners to develop new habits of their own, to pursue the betterment of their own lives and relationships.

On the new single, the band comment:

‘Pulling Petals’ is a strong reminder to fans that it’s okay to create space to allow yourself to grow. It addresses the importance of nurture being part of our nature – how nurture can involve weeding out toxic people obstructing our nature.

One word immediately jumps to mind upon hearing New Habits’ new single and that is ‘anthemic’. The post-hardcore stylings are familiar, especially if you’re well versed in the modern edge to this sound, but New Habits are certainly not just jumping on the bandwagon.

Massive melodies, crunchy core heaviness and emotion-laden vibes, Pulling Petals is going to turn a ton of heads.

Back on Earth – Upside Down

Pop punk band, Back On Earth have released their new single ‘Upside Down’ featuring AJ Perdomo from The Dangerous Summer. They worked with artist and videographer Arthur Walwin for the making of the music video and released their song via the label Red Toad Music.

Thought-provoking, feel-good pop-punk with emotive, powerful, and relevant lyrical content. It’s the calling card of Back on Earth and Upside Down is no different. A sweet and impactful track that takes a mellow approach. One that really hits you right in the feels. It’s another strong effort from a band that rarely put a foot wrong. Check it out here.

Vëlla – Tormento

Portuguese metal band Vëlla have just shared the video for ‘Tormento’, a fresh version from the long-awaited debut album entitled ‘Coma’, released via Raising Legends Records. This version of the song features the Portuguese female vocalist Sienna Sally.

Comments guitar player Oz Vilesov:

This song was really fun to write and from the beginning we knew we wanted to have a female voice sung in Portuguese. Not only to convey more emotion but also to contrast with Pedro’s voice. Sienna Sally started singing this song live with us and then we invited her to re-record the song with her beautiful voice. She delivered a memorable performance that far exceeded our expectations and we are so grateful to her for that.

The melodrama is strong in this one, the guitar melody and methodical percussion enhanced by the voice of Sienna Sally. Though the crunchier chorus and more aggressive vocals of the chorus really sell the sense of grandeur. It’s a track that has the power to captivate with the entrancing vocals alone. Check it out here.

Embryonic Devourment – Never Ending Human Misery

US death metallers Embryonic Devourment have unleashed brutal new single ‘Never Ending Human Misery’, the second taken from their forthcoming album Heresy of The Highest Order, due out on 25th February via Unique Leader.

There’s no getting sick of death metal, especially when we have the likes of Embryonic Devourment plying their trade in the genre. Here, the metallers create atmosphere with an eerie introduction before exploding with technically sound vehemence. The smashing of the guitars is chaotic and cathartic, the vocals sound like gravel being spat up and you might wonder if you owe the drums some money. Such is the crunchy, savage speed and rhythm.

Ghost Toast – Chasing Time

Hungarian experimental progressive rock band Ghost Toast is set to release their fifth studio album Shade Without Color on March 3rd, 2022 via Inverse Records. The second single Chasing Time has now been released.

The band comments:

Chasing Time is contemplating about things you can’t change in the past, have to live with in the present and you either want or don’t want from the future.

A 12-minute instrumental epic, Ghost Toast’s progressive rock pedigree is on full show here. A track that is incredibly experimental, creating a soundscape that you can almost smell, taste and feel. There is emotion, there is heart, there is soul and there is meaning. At times, the melody will hurt but at others, the rock will breathe life inwards. The complex beauty of it all though, is what makes 12 minutes feel like half that. Check it out here.

Famyne – For My Sins

Garden-fresh trailblazers from the UK, Famyne drag doom kicking and screaming into the 21st century on epic new album “The Ground Below”. It will be released on May 13th, 2022 via Svart Records but to keep you tided over, Famyne have released the first track from the album called ‘For My Sins’.

The moodiness of this track can’t be understated, after all, Famyne do doom but as always, they’re not sticking to the standard conventions. This is epic but without an epic length. A track that isn’t dragged out and somehow feels like it’s designed to be played from the top of a mountain. As an early taste of what we can expect from this new album, it really creates excitement.