Dutch hard rock meets nu-metal band The Last Element aim to write songs that are “as aggressive as they are tender and as melodic as they are heavy” and they describe as “heartfelt, melodic and modern.”
The Amsterdam quartet of Jasper (vocals), Noah Grim (guitars), founding member Jan (bass) and latest addition Mark (drums) come from different backgrounds but share a love for the heavy music that brought them together. They hope their fusion of rock with electronic elements and epic soundscapes will resonate with people who are struggling with hardships in life – or simply want to headbang.
And on the sound they’ve honed, Noah tells us: “I guess, for us, the vocals are the most important part of our music, because that’s where most of the emotion comes from. Jasper’s lyrics and performance are always straight from the heart and mostly melodic. Though we don’t shy away from doing a couple of screams here and there!
“Our music is ‘modern’ in the sense that we incorporate synthesizers, electronic drum loops and epic soundscapes to give it a fresh feel and make it stand out from more standard rock songs with just drums, bass and guitar. And don’t get me wrong, I love myself some straightforward rock with just drums, bass and guitars, but with The Last Element we decided to take it that one step further.”
Our first taste of this is The Last Element’s second EP Chapter 2: Heartache, which was released in May. On the EP, Noah told us: “Yeah, the reception’s been good, especially the music video for Divided has been going really strong on YouTube. It’s reached close to 100k views in a month’s time, which I’m honestly really happy with. It’s also the first real music video that we did, so that makes it all the more sweet. If you haven’t seen it yet, please give it a watch. It won’t disappoint!
“The EP features three all new tracks and a new and improved mix of one of our older songs, Cut It Off, which we thought fit the theme of the others nicely. The EP opens with Waves, a lighter track which features an awesome guitar solo by Dutch songwriter and guitarist Jett Rebel, before immediately smacking you in the face with Control, which is arguably our heaviest track yet and features Dropout Kings’ Black Cat Bill. It then climaxes into Divided, which is quite experimental, boasting both very quiet and very loud parts and being our first track with a female vocal feature (which turned out amazing in our opinion – thank you Dreamhouse!)”
As Noah mentioned, the EP starts out with the relatively mellow Waves, which is dominated by Jasper’s engaging vocals. It concludes with a big instrumental section of various electronic elements, guitar chords, driving drums then a cheeky guitar solo.
Control starts with a bumbling electronic noise that drops into a big wall of guitars. An ominous verse featuring low electronic sounds and whispery vocals flows into more engaging vocals. It feeds into the chorus “Wasted and nothing, I keep forgetting that I’m, Just someone you, Like to call, And keep under control” and a big scream of “I feel so stupid.” A second chorus ends with light pulsing electronic sounds then Jasper goes into full Jonathan Davis mode with some cool vocal sounds supported by sweeping electronic sounds. And that tees up a big conclusion to the track. Check it out in the stream below:
Divided opens up with light vocals with piano support and backing female vocals from Milwaukee band Dreamhouse. The atmosphere gradually builds with various instrumental elements creeping in, before flowing into a catchy dual vocal chorus. It suddenly explodes into booming guitars as the female vocals burst into life with delicious flowing low-tuned guitars in support. Check it out in the video below. Cut It Off features chunky guitars and synth sounds and more intense vocals that bring the EP to a lively conclusion.
Heartache follows on from the band’s debut EP Chapter 1: Chaos, which was released last year and features three more bangers in Wreckage, Safe and Ego. But the band has an impressively long list of singles for you to dig your teeth into, including the excellent Broken and Gravity, which was released in 2017 and has over 600,000 streams on Spotify.
The Last Element’s members bring a range of musical influences to the table, with the obvious ones being bands like Bring Me The Horizon and Linkin Park. Noah and Jan like a bit of Breaking Benjamin, Red and Skillet, Noah and Jan gravitate towards more ‘modern’ bands like Prevail, Bad Omens and Architects, and Noah and Mark like progressive bands like Periphery and TesseracT. And, if you’re interested, all four have regularly updated ‘Top 15’ playlists on their Spotify page.
And on what inspires them to write music, Noah explains: “I guess it differs from band member to band member; as it probably does within any band. Personally, I just love creating music! While for Jasper, it’s pretty much all about releasing his emotion into the music, and since he’s the singer and main lyric writer the topics usually stem from his life and experiences. There’s darker themes of loss and insecurity, but they’re always contrasted with lighter themes of love and hope.
“On top of that, we all really enjoy the challenge of writing something we personally enjoy, but which will also be able to resonate with a bigger audience; and I think that’s pretty much the core of what we’re trying to do with The Last Element.”
As we spoke to the band, they were fresh from opening up for Asking Alexandria, and you can expect plenty more gigs to come shortly and new music on a continuous basis.
And Noah adds: “We really enjoy fan interactions, so if you, as a reader, still have any questions, or just want to have a chat, feel free to DM us on any of our socials. We’d love to get to know you and answer any questions you might still have.”
You can follow The Last Element on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and check out their music on Spotify, Bandcamp, Apple Music and YouTube.
Listen to The Last Element on our Spotify playlists GigRadar Electro, GigRadar Metal and GigRadar Rock
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