If you’ve read any of our recent articles, you’ll have seen us reference discovering new bands through Groover, a music submission and discovery platform. With that in mind, we wanted to drill down into what Groover is and summarise a few of the most recent submissions we’ve received.
In the past, we’ve used a handful of other distribution platforms, including the likes of MusoSoup and SubmitHub, which help us discover new bands. So what makes Groover different? Well, the project started in France in 2018 with the aim of addressing the issue that “the connection between artists and music professionals is broken.” As the site’s website states, more than 400,000 songs are released daily on Spotify, making it more difficult than ever for bands to stand out from the crowd.
Groover aims to connect artists with media outlets, playlist curators and record labels to help them get listened to, gain feedback and achieve coverage. In the last seven years, they’ve garnered over 6 million pieces of feedback and 2.4 million shares for artists, and they now have nearly 3,000 active curators. Thankfully, as a media publication, I’m able to filter the submissions I receive based on the genre, moods and attributes and, potentially equally importantly, the ones I don’t want – which, in theory, means I’m less likely to receive tracks that aren’t relevant.
Through the platform, we can directly email artists to arrange a quick written interview, which enables us to put together the articles we’ve written over the last month or so. However, some of the bands we reached out to didn’t reply or haven’t completed our interviews, so I thought we’d discuss their music in chronological order:
Feldspar – What Makes Us Stay
Feldspar grew up a stone’s throw from the Pope’s residence in the Vatican City – and we’re sure even His Holiness could appreciate the band’s high-energy hardcore punk sound. What he may not appreciate is the band’s self-description as “the Godless folk two blocks from the Pope.” The band features dual male and female vocals and explores the mass commercial of Western spirituality, human psychology and environmental concerns.
Feldspar sent us their What Makes Us Stay?, the opening track of their debut album Old City New Ruins, which was released in September. It opens up with a building riff that continues under laid-back vocals that explode into heavier screams, chunky guitars and big rolling drums, which lead into an engaging chorus led by high-pitched vocals. The pace drops with a light guitar lick, then dual vocals before a raucous outro led by the chorus vocals.
You can follow Feldspar on Instagram, and check out their music on Spotify and Apple Music.
Fear The Lions – Heads Up Buttercup
American band Fear The Lions offer up an exciting punk rock sound that takes a stand against oppression, poverty and the system. The band released debut EP Dying To Be Me, which was produced by Grammy award nominee Andrew Berlin, who’s worked with the likes of Rise Against, in 2021, followed by a series of singles.
The most recent is Heads Up Buttercup, which was released in December. It starts with acoustic chords and light vocals, which give way to chunky chords and rolling drums that continue under engaging vocals, which flow into a catchy chorus. Punky chords jump in and feed into more engaging vocals supported by a lone bass with guitars gradually creeping in as the intensity builds to a powerful outro.
You can follow Fear The Lions on Facebook and Instagram, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music, Soundcloud and YouTube.
Mantra – End Of Chapter
Seattle’s Mantra have mastered the art of contrasting the heavy and the light in a powerful alternative metal sound that fuses delicious melodies, introspective lyrics and infectious energy. The band draws on elements of alternative metal, progressive rock, post-grunge and hard rock to craft an engaging but intense sound led by the superb vocals of Violet Sky.
Mantra sent us the intoxicating End Of Chapter, the epic final track from their debut album The Moth, which was released last month. The track begins with a repeating lick over heavy guitars and crashing cymbals and the atmosphere darkens with a lilting riff. Violet’s engaging vocals take over alongside the atmospheric instrumentals and gradually build in intensity before dropping into light guitars. It jumps into a big chorus of more intense vocals, before a short verse gives way to pulsing bass and light guitars, then a lone bassline – which gives us the feeling it’s about to explode. And it soon does – as a stabbing guitar riff is joined by Violet’s powerful guttural screams, which give way to a light guitar. A heavier rhythmic riff jumps in and supports engaging vocals that conclude the near-7-minute track.
The album is packed with more great tracks like Drown Me, Vacant Images, 30 Pieces and the wonderful Immortal Lullaby, which features huge shifts from delicious melodic verses into sections of brutal vocals. So this is a band we’re definitely keen to hear from.
You can follow Mantra on Facebook and Instagram, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
Pyrecult – Chains
Taking the heaviness up a notch, brings us to French blackened hardcore band Pyrecult. The Parisian collective reformed with a new lineup after a five-year hiatus with their new EP Voluntary Serfdom, which was released in November.
From the EP, the band sent us Chains, which starts out with crushing drum rolls that give way to vicious screamed vocals and rhythmic guitars. Delicious chugs of guitar intersect violent screams as the thrashy goodness continues, before dropping into a huge breakdown of powerful guitars and intense vocals. The pace increases driven by huge drums, before dropping into another cool rhythmic section, which ends with a wild scream as it grinds down into another vicious breakdown to bring the track to an end.
You can follow Pyrecult on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok, and check out their music on Spotify, Bandcamp, Apple Music, Soundcloud and YouTube. And you can catch them on tour across France, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Swiss, Belgium, Austria, and at Hellfest.
In The Abyss – The Pathway Amongst The Blood
Keeping things heavy takes us to Czechia with black metal meets symphonic metal band In The Abyss, who are currently working on their second album. The band sent us their ominously titled single The Pathway Amongst The Bloody Ruins, which was released in 2023. It dives straight into piercing guitars and horns over wild drums, with the horns coming to the fore under gruff vocals. That gives way to a driving guitar riff supported by relentless drums, which give way to more vicious vocals. The atmosphere builds towards a powerful, symphonic conclusion.
You can follow In The Abyss on Facebook and Instagram, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music, Soundcloud and YouTube.
GoGo – War
Portuguese/British band GoGo offer up a diverse rock sound that began with the vision of Gogo do Mal, who was joined by Joel Cabeleira. The band sent us their second single War, which was released in May. It begins with electronic noises and a busy bassline that drops into cries of “War” and feeds into a lively opening verse, before a brief chorus and another engaging verse. A high-pitched lick comes in and gives way to almost spoken vocals that end with heavy guitar chords setting up a lively conclusion. They’ve since followed that up with Crow Me, which was released in November.
You can follow GoGo on Facebook, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
Midas Royal – Open To Change
Midas Royal is a New York City solo artist who blends the raw power of rock with deeply introspective themes. He began creating music through the pandemic, which resulted in a prolific stream of over 100 songs.
Midas sent us his latest single Open To Change, which was released at the end of December and is the second in a series of five tracks being released before the end of March. It opens up with a siren sound blasting away under chunky guitars, which continue under Midas’ engaging vocals. It flows into a delicious chorus of flowing vocals supported by guitar chords, before a little guitar lick leads back into a verse. The second chorus ends with chugging guitars and echoey vocals that give way to a meandering guitar solo setting up a final chorus.
You can follow Midas Royal on Instagram, and check out his music on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
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