New Band of the Week: Rogue Awakening

South coast rockers Rogue Awakening have crafted an enthralling alternative meets gothic metal sound that they describe as “heavy, epic and melodic.” Their engaging approach fuses chugging riffs and intense drums alongside deliciously melodic vocals.

The quintet, who hail from Horsham, Brighton and Eastbourne, began as a “weird product of lockdown” in 2021 with vocalist Kimberley and rhythm guitarist Tom. The pair lived on the same street in a time when you could talk to people but only from a distance. Kimberley discovered Tom was getting back into guitar to stay sane during the lockdown, told him she used to sing in a band and suggested they should start one. And the rest was history. They swiftly set about building out a band, starting with lead guitarist Ollie and, most recently, completing the lineup with the “crazy intensity and energy” of drummer James.

Describing the sound they’ve crafted since, the band told us: “I think we would say it was heavy but melodic alt/gothic metal. We have the powerful blasting drums coupled with heavy layered guitar riffs and bass rumble, and then you have Kimberley’s beautiful, clean and soaring vocals on top.”

Our latest taste of this is Remain Untamed, which was released last month. It opens up with building guitars then a big drum roll feeds into a powerful driving riff with crushing rhythm support. Kimberley’s big vocals take over and flow into a chorus with the alluring vocals, “Your words are venom, And I am drained, Your words are venom, I remain untamed, Even in my shadows, Even in my flames, I remain untamed.” The big guitar riff returns and drops into another verse and chorus, which ends with repeats of “I remain untamed” over a delicious spinning guitar lick. The pace slows as the intensity increases, with heavy drums supporting dramatic bursts of violin, setting up a dark gothic section led by Kimberley’s powerful vocals “I will not be tamed by you, No, I will not submit to you.” That sets up a final blast of the chorus to bring the track to a heavy conclusion.

Speaking ahead of the track’s release, the band told us: “We are very excited! We wrote this a while back, and knew we had something special and wanted to make it a big track on the EP that we will be releasing later this year.

“Kimberley wrote the lyrics as a rallying cry to everyone who has been told to conform and come in line with society’s norms and expectations. All the lyrics are things that people have actually said to demean and belittle her. It has a super aggressive intro and an epic chorus as well as an intense breakdown, so hopefully something for everyone. Plus, the video is wild. We filmed it in Brighton with some amazingly talented pole dancers, who even get to whip Tom at one point, so definitely worth a watch!”

Remain Untamed follows a series of singles over the last couple of years, including this year’s superbly dark Little Death and the more intense Bloodflow. They also released debut EP Feed Me Fire in 2023, which shows off plenty of diversity on the dark rock ballad Dark Thoughts and ends in style with their lively debut single Bored.

The Rogue Awakening sound has been inspired by a plethora of musical influences, with the band members’ tastes ranging from Kate Bush to Cannibal Corpse. “Big recent influences have been Bring Me The Horizon, Spiritbox and Sleep Token as we love what they have been releasing,” the band told us. “But I think this means we get a really interesting mix of ideas and influences in our music. We all take an active part in the creative process, which is great as there isn’t a huge pressure on one individual. It also means there is a variation to our songs depending on who came up with the original idea.

“That means our songs are all a little different depending on who came up with the original riff. But it’s great watching a song appear and become this tangible thing. Kimberley has a witchy theory that all songs exist in the ether, and it just takes a certain time or people coming together to find them and turn them into something real. We also like that our songs are a bit ambiguous, so we want the listener to interpret them as they want; we’ve had people think the same song is about totally different things!”

Rogue Awakening will be back in the studio this month, recording another track for their second EP, which they hope to release in November. They also have a busy gig calendar kicking off at Prince Albert in Brighton on 24 June, before playing Guilfest in Guildord on 6 July, The Temple Bar in Eastbourne on 1 August, The Bear Cave in Bournemouth on 6 September and The Ship in Gillingham on 22 November – and links to all those shows are on their Linktree. They’re also on the lookout for a small tour in the Midlands / northern England, so any promoters get in touch!

And the band added: “We’d love you all to have a listen and a watch of Remain Untamed and come along to see us live! We are so grateful to everyone who has listened to us and supported us and got us this far. We can’t wait to take it to the next level, and we want you all to be there to see it!”

You can follow Rogue Awakening on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads and TikTok, and check out their music on Spotify, Bandcamp, Apple Music and YouTube.