New Band of the Week: Semprus

We were introduced to Guildford band Semprus with the adjectives “brutal, savage and ferocious,” so we of course had to delve deeper into the diverse technical death metal meets deathcore sound the band describe as “constant evolving chaos.”

And we weren’t disappointed, as Semprus offer up an engrossing fusion of crushing riffs, wild blastbeat drums, maniacal vocals and plenty more, making them one of the heaviest bands we’ve heard in some time.

The quintet of Travis Beckett (vocalist and songwriter), Aidan Lucas and Stavros Tagios (guitars), Fabian Pilinski (bass) and Harry Cook (drums), who came from a diverse range of backgrounds. It originally started out as Travis’ solo project started just to get some music into the world, but evolved into a live band when he met the right people.

And on the sound they’ve crafted since, Travis tells us: “The Semprus sound can be anything you like it to be, we can do beatdown, shoegaze, grunge, tech death, electronic. There is going to be something for everyone eventually, because everyone in this band is into many different styles and we want to try some, but also merge them!”

Our latest taste of this is new single INSANITY, which was released at the end of July. It opens up with a flickering electronic sound then a diving riff continues into a heavy opening section with pounding drums and wild vocals. The chaos picks up a notch with a stabbing riff and intense drums, then chugging chords feed into a section with cool high-pitched guitars and almost melodic vocals.

It soon hits new levels of insanity with huge blastbeat drums and a wild scream, then a cry of “Time to face your God” before dripping into vicious guitars, drums and screams. That feeds into a wild blitz of vocals that begin “Fuck the human race, I’m sick of it, All the noise and fake media, Swallow the poison, I can’t wait to see the end of days, I’ll kill you all my fucking rage is infinite.” That drops into plodding guitars that give way to faster guitars and vocals, which tee up a big atmospheric conclusion.

On the single, Travis says: “Reception for the most part has been great, considering it’s completely different from our last release Desolation. Some people expected Desolation 2, which wasn’t going to happen, we keep to our word and keep moving into new styles. That doesn’t mean we aren’t gonna do death metal again, but we really want to experiment with where we could take heavy music!

“For anyone who has not listened to INSANITY yet, expect chaos. The song is meant to represent what goes on in an insane person’s head, so don’t expect anything linear and just enjoy the heaviness.”

Insanity comes from Semprus’ upcoming second EP A Fractured Reality, which is out on 29 September. On the new EP, Travis told us: “We are very excited to get it out there. We went through hell and back writing and recording this EP. The writing started in late 2021 when I was in a really dark headspace, then we started recording in May 2022 just after our first show.

“It was going well but then our producer’s computer blew up and we lost parts to songs and we weren’t able to record until the producer could source a new one. We didn’t finish the EP ’til early 2023. For so much grief endured, I think it turned out great! We have some really emotional tracks on there, also some straightforward heavy ones, we hope you enjoy.”

And it follows on from their debut EP Desolation, which was released last January. Desolation is packed with tech metal intensity like the savage, gothic-sounding Genocide led by Travis’ slightly terrifying vocals, which culminate in a vicious low growl over chugging low-tuned guitars then a delicious technical guitar section.

The EP also includes the brutal The Sacrifice and the somewhat haunting final track Born Of Sin. But it’s led by the title track Desolation, which sets the scene with an opening cry of “As i call upon the great destroyer, The evil one crowned with flame, I his follower of untamed darkness, Shall lead you all to the gateway of annihilation” and a scream of “All hail the undead father.” Blastbeat drums kick in under cries of “All hail” before bursting into vicious fast-paced vocals.

Big chugging guitars take over under gruff vocals “You will face your desolation, At the hands of satan, I plant the seed of undead spawn, Bring forth the child of thorn.” That leads into a faster chorus with cries of “All hail the undead father, Call upon the stillborn womb, All hail the undead father, He will be rising soon.” The unrelenting drums continue through a rapid verse, then a cool spinning guitar lick supports vicious vocals, before the cries of “All hail” see it slow a little as the intensity build before two rounds of the chorus.

The drums suddenly drop out leaving chugging guitars, then a cry of “Desolation” ushers in an unnerving synth sound and heavy low-tuned guitars as the track comes to a ritualistic conclusion. Check it out in the stream here:

The Semprus sound is inspired by Travis’ love of dark music. He tells us his first obsession/inspiration was Korn, which helped him get through his younger years, then he got into the experimental nature of musicians like Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails) and Maynard Keenan (Tool).

And on what inspires their music, Travis explains: “It’s an addiction to me, I sometimes write two to four tracks a day. All I think about is music, literally… I think it helps me get through life, so emotions can be healed through songs, or anger can be awoken to hype yourself up for something. I myself think deep into my head, feel pain, sadness, anger, confusion, and just try to let it out while writing the instrumentals, and then I’ll use my voice and lyrics to pull what it is out further.”

Semprus’ second EP A Fractured Reality is out on 29 September, ahead of which they’ll release another single HATRED, featuring Bound In Fear vocalist Ben Mason. But Travis is already recording the vocals for their third record and they’re already writing for the fourth.

You can follow Semprus on Facebook and Instagram, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube. And check out more new metal through their label Slam Worldwide.

Looking for more new music? Listen to Semprus on our playlists GigRadar Core and GigRadar Metal.
And check out our monthly updated new music playlist GigRadar Fresh Tunes.

And check out the second in our NBOTW feature on YouTube, featuring Semprus’ new single INSANITY: