When it comes to “bringing the riffs”, Divided By Design really don’t mess around. ‘Collapsing Reality’ (taken from the band’s current album ‘Stages To Osiris: Rebirth’) moves through various complex moods, exploring different aspects of very technical progressive metal, providing a brilliant showcase for each of the musicians, but particularly capturing guitarist Liam Stephenson in absolutely blistering form.
Here’s a great new recording from a familiar name. Axel Rudi Pell has maintained a prolific presence on the European metal scene since the 80s, and although on the basis of the current single ‘Sanity’ he’s still very much living in that decade, the results are very strong.
During the last weeks of 2025, London based alt-metal crew Night Thieves released ‘Obsidian’, a rather grandiose sounding single that blended the gothic tones of Within Temptation with the emo-ish/technical edge of early Linkin Park, creating a perfect hybrid sound that really suited Jess Moyle’s vocal style.
Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar, the place where we explore some of the more interesting individual tracks that have landed in our inbox over the last few weeks. This time out, we’re pleased to share an absolutely cracking debut from some Scottish indie rockers, an uncategorisable recording that fuses at least three different genres, and even find some old favourites taking a massively unexpected approach. There’s also a slab of garage rock, some synth imbibed pop and a different approach to power pop to be found along the way. As always, we hope you find something new to enjoy!
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Between forming in 2022 and releasing their debut in 2026, New Hamsphire’s The Selectmen had doubled the size of their line-up, but on the basis of the material that forms the ‘POP! RIP…’ EP, it was definitely the right move. On these five songs, none of the eight members are in any way surplus; the band’s extended membership really breathes life into a blend of ska and soul in a way that sounds invigorating, despite the influences being somewhat obvious. Not that great ska needs to break new ground, of course. It’s about rousing an audience, and that’s something The Selectmen do particularly well.