German band Beyond Confidence have crafted a diverse metal sound that toes the line between modern metal, metalcore and post-hardcore and they describe as “catchy, emotional and honest.”
The Stuttgart band was formed in 2019 by vocalist Nico Dachtler, lead guitarist Sven Bürger and drummer Heiko Müller, who knew each other through mutual friends. They soon discovered rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist Dominik Bolter via Facebook, initially starting out under the name Visions before adopting the current name. The lineup was completed in January with the addition of bassist and backing vocalist Kilian Berger, a long-time friend who actually stood in for Nico when he was sick for two gigs in 2022.
The band started out with the aim of creating post-hardcore and metalcore without the screaming elements, which is evident in early tracks like Some Kind of Blue and Stray, which was released last year but was actually one of the first they wrote. However, Nico has been developing his screaming and shouting technique, which has led the band down the route of a modern rock and metal approach featuring low guitars and heavier breakdowns.
Our latest taste of this is the band’s new single Sleepless, which was released earlier this month. It opens up with a pulsing synth that drops into delicious low-tuned guitars, which give way to mellow vocals, rolling drums and light synths. It soon explodes into a big singalong chorus “I can’t sleep, You won’t agree, All the sacrifices made, Got me thinking, I’d much rather put it all behind me.” The pace slows as it drops back into a laid-back verse flowing into another catchy chorus.
The second chorus drops into drawn-out guitars, a stabbing guitar note and screamed vocals give way to a pulsing guitar note over heavy guitar chords and crashing cymbals. Engaging vocals jump in and set up a big final blast of the chorus.
On the track, Dominik told us: “The reception was amazing. Many friends and listeners told us they liked this one better than the previous stuff. Also, the messages and responses from ‘neutral’ sites like yours keep coming in way more often than before. We hit the 10k streams on Spotify in just a week – most other songs haven’t even gone that far since their release in total.”
Sleepless follows on from a series of singles over the last few years, as well as January’s debut EP Oceans. The EP features the engaging opening title track and a GR favourite Stray, which opens up with cool nu-metal meets punk guitars and features engaging vocals over lively guitars. Give the latter a listen in the video below:
Beyond Confidence’s members come from a range of musical backgrounds, which helps them incorporate different sounds and ideas into their music. For example, Heiko is a hardcore kid who also plays as a substitute drummer for hardcore bands, while Kilian played in a pop-punk band before Beyond Confidence and Dominik listens to everything from post-rock and nu-metal to black and death metal. While Sven grew up and is still stuck in 2010 metalcore, and Nico is into everything from pop punk to metalcore and hardcore.
And on what inspires them to write music, Dominik told us: “Nico’s vocals are quite emotional and about personal topics like fighting with depression and your inner struggles. I guess concerning that topic, our latest track Sleepless, as well, is quite easy to read.”
Beyond Confidence have two more singles lined up for release before the end of the year and have plans to get back into the studio to record more music. The band are also playing festivals across Germany throughout the summer, starting at Rebstock Festival in Fellbach tomorrow (Saturday, 30 May), and you can find the dates here.
You can follow Beyond Confidence on Instagram and TikTok, and check out their music on Spotify, Bandcamp, Apple Music and YouTube.
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