Leeds band Surya deliver a thrilling metal meets deathcore experience that fuses crushing riffs, vicious vocals and thundering rhythms with melodic soundscapes in a sound they describe as “brutal, groovy and ambient.”
The band was started by Joey Morrison (guitar and backing vocals) and Nik Johnson (drums) but, in their words, the early days were a bit chaotic. They experimented with a post-metalcore vibe that didn’t quite work as planned, but finally found their position as they went through a series of lineup changes. They brought in Tom Wiseman on guitar, before vocalist Mark Curry completed the jigsaw to perfect the Surya sound.
On that, the band told us: “We have been likened in the past to Orbit Culture, Currents and Bleed From Within. We have a very distinctive sound and don’t like to keep to one subgenre, you’ll find a lot of influences within our tracks. Some have tech influences, others lean towards metalcore, and some are straight-up deathcore. All infused with an ambient soundscape.”
Our latest taste of this is Eternal, which was released in June. It opens up with distant synth sounds that continue under a darting guitar riff and stabbing guitars, before a big growl tees up a powerful opening verse led by Mark’s vocals. The pace slows with whispery vocals before flying into vicious vocals that flow into a huge chorus, which ends with ominous synths and a little growl. That flows into another intense verse, which slows down before a massive chorus. The pace slows again, ending with crushing guitar chords and wild vocals over the ambient synthscape, before flying into a final blast of the chorus.
On the track’s release, the band said: “Amazing, we have been incredibly grateful of the feedback, many have been telling us it’s our best song to date, so now we have a lot to live up to! It’s definitely one of our most accessible songs, it has the signature Surya sound and breakdowns throughout though, so expect the heaviness of deathcore infused with a catchy melodic chorus.”
That follows on from the band dropping their superb debut EP Immemorial last year, and an equally intense single Sentiment earlier this year. The EP is packed with delicious deathcore goodness, including its wild opening track Crows, which features a particularly fun little stabbing guitar riff and, for something a little different, you can check out in their one-take vocal playthrough. We also love the sound of the relentless Shattered Thrones and the deliciously vicious closing track Absolver, which you can check out in the video below.
The Surya sound draws on the band members’ wide range of influences, from Blink-182 through to Lorna Shore. And on what inspires them to write music, they told us: “The ongoing state of the world, personal situations we have been through, many topics really, a lot are left open for interpretation as we like the listener to be able to bring their own meaning to the songs.”
We first featured the band ahead of their slot at Bloodstock last month, courtesy of winning their Metal 2 The Masses competition. On that, they said: “Insane, it’s been an absolute blast! We have been humbled and so grateful to have had the feedback and reactions from a M2TM venue that isn’t actually in our area, as we travelled to Burnley for our heats. The fact that we were surrounded by people that had never heard us and managed to win against such strong competition was amazing.
“And Bloodstock… what can we say? How can you top that experience? The tent was absolutely packed with people spilling out into the field, Circle pits from the first to the last song, crowd surfers and our very own special ‘Waltz Pit’ for our final song Crows… Amazing. Sophie stage soon yeah? Fingers crossed.”
Surya are currently putting the finishing touches on three more songs that will complete their second EP, which we’re very excited to hear. You can also see the band live at the DMC Brewery in Leeds on Halloween, playing alongside Derbyshire band Raised By Owls.
And they added: “We do it for the fans and all the people who come and see us. We want our music to make you feel something and if it does, and it makes you want to listen more, we have done our job.”
You can follow Surya on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
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