Newsletter 14-03-22: Varials LP3, Electric Callboy, Thornhill Mixing + More

Varials Finish Recording On LP3

Last week hardcore unit Varials confirmed they had finished work on their third full-length record, which will likely be set for release later this year. The record will follow up 2019’s In Darkness, which was the final release to feature frontman Travis Tabron. Now of Erase Me, Trabon later attributed his departure to the use of racial slurs within the band.

Originally touring with Varials after Tabron’s exit, new vocalist who went under the name of “Sky” was planned to be their new frontman. A new track was due for release to unveil Sky as their new vocalist and a five track EP was recorded and penned in for release in 2021. Sky quietly departed the group and was replaced by guitarist and backing vocalist Mitch Rogers, who made his debut as vocalist last year at Furnace Fest. With Rogers now on vocals, James Hohenwarter has replaced him on lead guitar. While the first single with Rogers at the helm is yet to be announced, Varials have a music video lined up for the reveal.

Eskimo Callboy Unveil New Name “Electric Callboy”

German metalcore unit, Eskimo Callboy have announced the changing of their name to Electric Callboy due to the derogatory nature of the phrase “Eskimo” to Inuit people. Along with a video, the band released this statement:


Hey friends,today we have big news for you!

Some of you that watched our last videos might have expected it already, but today is the day that we change our name!

From now on we are ELECTRIC CALLBOY”

ded some more videos with lots of more information… but with the senseless violence that is happening to the people of the Ukraine at the moment, it just doesn’t feel right to push that topic any further. Still, we don’t wanna wait any longer with our name change with the knowledge we gained during our journey.

So here we go!

We hope you like our new name as much as we do!

Ethan McCann Responds To Criticism Over Thornhill Mixing

Off the back the release of Thornhill’s most recently single “Hollywood“, guitarist Ethan McCann has responded to recent criticisms over the mixing of frontman Jacob Charlton’s vocals. In an Instagram story in response to a Q&A question reading “Will we hear Jacob’s vocals in the rest of the album considering his vocals were buried in the last mix?“, McCann wrote:


I’m glad this was mentioned. A lot of the effects that Jacob chose to use were a stylistic choice, the same way you create a guitar tone to try and paint a certain picture. We all chose to keep them as saturated as they are and at the level they are because that is exactly how we want wanted you to hear the music.

We don’t like listening to super pristine, modern mixes nor did we think it worked with the music we were writing. We wanted it to sound different, nostalgic, have some character compared to the super polished stuff you hear these days. Everything you hear was completely intentional.

It wasn’t some producer pushing us a certain way (Jacob and I produced the whole album), it wasn’t the label, it wasn’t George Lever, we went through about 8 mix revisions fine tweaking everything so it sounded exactly how we wanted it to. If anything we told him to turn down the vocals because we preferred the sound of it.

Thornhill have displayed a departure from their historical sound, mostly recently heard on their debut album The Dark Pool. Leaning into similar sounds of Muse and Deftones, the former of which Charlton admitted in an interview he has never listened to until the comparisons emerged, the Australian unit came under fire for the vocal mixing on their recent singles. Most recently brandished by Loathe on I Let It In And It Took Everything, shoegaze influences which include obscuring or distortion of vocals to blend them in with the wider sound have made their way into metalcore. With Thornhill now embracing that on their upcoming record, Heroine.

Releases For This Coming Week

Here are the confirmed releases for the week commencing March 14th:

Monday, 14 March

Silverstein – Die Alone (feat. Andrew Neufeld) / Single

Tuesday, 15 March

Across the White Water Tower – If You Died Right Now, What Would They Remember? / LP
Yours Truly – Lights On / Single
Nova Twins – Cleopatra / Single 

Wednesday, 16 March
Any Given Day – Apocalypse / Single
Space of Variations – vein.mp3 / Single
We Came as Romans – Plagued / Single
Monuments – False Providence (feat. Mick Gordon)
Vukovi – Lasso / Single

Thursday, 17 March

Moodring – TBA / Single
Our Last Night – F.E.A.R. / Single 

Friday, 18 March

Breathe Atlantis – Overdrive / LP
ERRA – ERRA (Deluxe) / LP
LANDMRVKS – Lost in the Waves (The Complete Edition) / LP
Space of Variations – IMAGO / LP
Converge – The Poacher Diaries (Redux) / EP
Josh Travis – NO REST / LP
A Sense of Purpose – All the Grief Was Gone / EP
Daine – Quantum Jumping / EP
Thumper – Illusions of Granduer / LP
Lethal Injektion – Sleepless Nights / Single
Throw the Fight – Snake Mountain / Single
A Sense of Purpose – All the Grief Was Gone / EP
DONTFEEDTHEBIRDS! – Tonight / Single / Single
Imantero - To Hear (Awareness) / Single
Beartooth – Below [DELUXE] / LP
And Hell Followed With – Infinite Sequential Visions Of a Sphere Of Hate (feat. Kyle Anderson of Brand Of Sacrifice) / Single
Kubrick – Mannequin / Single 

With the single “Plagued“, We Came As Romans will announce their upcoming album Darkbloom, set for release later this year.