July is the month that festival season continues its long march, where many of us descend on fields and venues to watch an array of our favourite artists. While seen as one of the quieter moments in the year for releases, it is one that has delivered in quality, not quantity. deathdotgov and Abrupt Decay both dropping superb albums, and then of course, PSYCHO-FRAME, dropping what will likely be seen as one of the greatest deathcore records. As always, we now dive into other records that caught our imaginations in the month of July.
Swoon – Soft Collapse (Independent)
There is a fierce charm to Swoon’s return on Soft Collapse, with impeccable riffs on their grungegaze styled tracks such as “Echoes Fade Into Dust” and “Enamoured”. They’ve taken the warmth and heart of that sound and have added their own bite to the now popular genre, with “Nightshade” bursting out into a hardcore track. Swoon’s songwriting ability proves itself through tracks that build into their heavier moments, before collapsing into gorgeous clean vocals, such as on “Dead Weight”. With this latest record, Swoon deserve much more attention, and one can only hope they get it. – JE
FFO: Moodring, Fleshwater & Sowing
As She Prayed For God – As She Prayed For God (Independent)
Once in a while, we need some good ole fashioned rip-your-face-apart core. As She Prayed For God have crawled out of the jagged metalcore womb with a self-titled entrance that serves as another sledgehammer stroke on the revival scene’s warped anvil. Chugs and riffs as raw as open wounds are splattered throughout from start to finish. Thankfully, we are becoming less blastbeat-deprived these days, and As She Prayed For God is another commingled swath of exhibitionists that have released a debut that is akin to seasoned veterans in terms of pure quality. – SC
FFO: Delilah, A Winter’s Remorse & Long Goodbye
Get Me The Knife – Demo (Independent)
A masochist’s wet dream would likely involve being curb stomped with spiked boots that just got dipped in the waters of a waste treatment facility. While it’s difficult to achieve such a high, Get Me The Knife offers the next closest thing from a sonic perspective with their debut demo. Effectively grimy, seething, and the relentlessness of a cracked-out meth hound, Get Me The Knife’s infection-riddled burst onto the deathcore revival scene embodies everything that has made this movement the Renaissance it’s become. – SC
FFO: In Your Last Moments, Birthoftragedy & Blown Apart
Ranges – Sin (A Thousand Arms)
Sun is a record that takes me back to the early days of post rock, and it provides such an accessible take on the genre that it would make a good entry point. Before the term “doomgaze” was coined, a sound was being practiced by the likes of This Will Destroy You and many more, and that covered styling is the key to Sun‘s sound. The slow, glittery, dark dreamscapes of “Prodigal” and “Their Eyes Sewn Shut” will prompt the body to grimace and sway along to every climax. In all of the builds and decays the rhythms come into focus, communicating a diligent and solemn studio atmosphere. Their last release, 33, is sonically very similar but is in comparison a bit of a behemoth (well worth getting lost in, mind you). A more succinct album is a wise move at this point in their discography, sitting comfortably among Ranges’ classic The Ascensionist. Sun is not an especially experimental take on the genre, but it is approachable, sincere and immediately nostalgic. – DT
FFO: We Lost The Sea, God Is An Astronaut & Jakob
Pomfret & Delirium – False Point (Independent)
Pomfret & delirium are two emo bands defining the modern Midwest scene, hailing from plains and the mountains respectively. Both artists are early in their discographies yet have been incredible productive – delirium already have four releases out in sixteen months, including a split with Ferris Wheel Regulars and their own EP, and Pomfret have a full LP. These four tracks are full of post hardcore and midwest emoisms, demonstrating the potential that both bands are brimming with. As usual, a split lets you play favourites, which for me are “This Thing Between Us” with its a classic two-act structure, massively shifting gears for its ending, and the tappy, woozy closer “This Thing Between Us”. – DT
FFO: Cloud District, Ben Quad & Oolong
Ex Agent – New Assumptions… (Independent)
Ex Agent have been hard at work on the UK’s live circuit for several years, remaining mysterious with the single “Clutch/5” as their only identifying document. Now that we have New Assuptions…, they’re perhaps even harder to fathom. At their most extreme moments such as “…” and “Jessie’s Christ”, they create a precise cacophony with their assembled chamber rock instrumentation, including brass, piano, guitar and mad, mad vocals. The quiet passages like “And The Way She Shakes His First At Them” release all that urgency, using every ounce of dynamic range to become as quiet as possible. Only at the end for the “Credit Song” do they lift their shroud of irony to resolve the scene in a certain imperfect tranquility. – DT
FFO: Shearling, Kayo Dot & Kieran Leonard
A Life Spent – Arise From Ruins (Tarnished Records)
Metalcore revival in ‘25 has hit a stride, with superb releases dropping each week that are rewiring the genre back to its strongest iteration. With such riches now emerging in this space, A Life Spent is one from July that stood out with a sheer force. Exemplary riffs create a landscape of sound in many tracks, that the likes of Killswitch Engage and Shadow Falls showcased back in the 00s. Adding an extra bite with hard-styled breakdowns that will have rooms headbanging and throwing hands, Arise From Ruins has made for an exceptional release. – JE
FFO: Scorched Mind, Blood On My Hands & Sacrament
Witherhode – Words of Corruption (dawnbreaker)
On their debut Words of Corruption, Witherhode has kicked the door down and then some more with the sheer violence at hand. Drawing on the heaviest parts from hardcore, metalcore and blackened death-metal, Witherhorde create a vicious wall of noise that appeal to listeners from a range of genres. A gnarly sound that delivers Black Tongue-esque riff work before moving into a brutal breakdown, what Witherhorde have crafted takes a hold of the ear and mind in a wonderfully violent manner. – JE
FFO: Gorge, Weeping & No Cure
Estranger – Aether Nethr (Independent)
Estranger have steadily worked towards this debut LP over many years, and it’s been worth the wait. On Ather Nether the good things come in twos: both guitars absolutely shred throughout the record while both players sing in the exact style of the most celebrated post hardcore from the 00s. It taps into the same well of inspiration that At The Drive-In and The Mars Volta found to make their impact. Ather Nether is consistently strong, making it difficult to pin down anything essential, except for the whole experience. Early showcases are “Never Odd Or Even” with its panic chords and winding complexity, and “Miser In The Mausoleum” is the more fragile cut with the record’s strongest chorus. The combo of “Sift Through Sands”/”Ritual Of Spheres” and the closer “Where The Acorns Grow” are proggier turns that take the band to space. It saves its biggest tracks for the end – “Mirror Drinker” is an incredible showcase of their prowess in terms of technical talent and songwriting chops. – DT
FFO: Blood Mountain era Mastodon, The Fall Of Troy & Thursday