Our latest On The Radar article offers up a bumper episode of new music by 16 bands from all over the world. This collection of great new tracks features bands from Australia, Germany, Italy, Norway, Romania, Sweden, the UK, Ukraine and the US.
You can listen to all of these bands and many, many more in our range of Spotify playlists, which you can find at the bottom of this page and via our Listen To GigRadar page. But for now, get your weekend started by checking out these 16 new bands in chronological order.
A Date With Destiny – Armageddon
Bristol duo A Date With Destiny were our New Band of the Week last February, when we discovered a sound that they described as “genre-bending metal.” The band just released their first single of this year, Armageddon, which they tell us is their heaviest yet.
The track opens up with rolling drums that continue under a low-tuned riff before a big scream ushers in heavy opening vocals. That flows into a melodic chorus “Is this the Armageddon? Is this the storm before the calm? Is this Hell frozen over? Or am I born to suffer? This is beyond redemption, Is this all written in my fate? Scripted through constellations, In the Armageddon now.” The chunky guitars return, then lo-fi drums and a building guitar riff build up to another chorus that ends with a crushing outro.
You can follow A Date With Destiny on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and check out their music on Spotify, Bandcamp, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Deezer and YouTube.
Citizen Rat – Fry
We discovered Australian quartet Citizen Rat back in March, and enjoyed their unapologetic, mid-core sound that’s packed with chaotic energy, big riffs and catchy hooks. The Sunshine Coast band just released FRY, which features Polly Cooke from Brisbane punk band Mitch, Please and they say “pushes their sound to even greater extremes.”
FRY opens up with a high-pitched guitar sound that drops into punky guitar chords, which give way to frontman Dartanyon’s fast-paced vocals. The pace picks up, then drops into dual vocals for the chorus “I spoke to God but I sent her away, She has no place for me to stay, The devil helped me as I cry, In my own heaven I will fry.” The guitar chords jump back in and drop into Polly’s feisty vocals supported by Dartanyon, before another chorus ends with a prolonged scream and crushing guitar chords. That sets up a more intense version of the chorus, before the track concludes with heavy guitars and a big guitar lick.
You can follow Citizen Rat on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
Connect The Circle – A Sun Without Brightness and Wolf In The Sky Pt. II
Norwegian progressive metal band Connect The Circle fuse powerful vocals and groovy guitars in a dark and melodic sound, which we discovered in our article in June. Back then, frontman Arild Fevang told us: “I would say that Connect The Circle has a very distinct sound. We are a very different band now than when we started out in 2018, but if you put on any of our albums or songs, you will be able to tell that it’s us. I think that has a lot to do with the way Kenneth Brastad and I write together, and the fact that my voice is very recognisable.”
The band released their album Wolf In The Sky at the start of August and sent us a couple of tracks from the record. The epic A Sun Without Brightness, clocking in at nearly 8 minutes, opens up with an intriguing vocal noise that gives way to a wall of guitars and drums, then chugging guitars end with a cool spinning riff that tees up a dramatic verse led by Arild’s engaging vocals. An epic tale continues before briefly giving way to a darting riff over powerful drums, returning in an atmospheric verse that ends with a spinning guitar, then powerful chords and choral backing vocals. That tees up a dramatic chorus “Is this the end of the world, What is this mystery above, A constant dark in the sky, A sun without brightness,” which drops into cool proggy guitars teeing up a dramatic outro.
Penultimate track Wolf In The Sky – Part II (of which Part I is the album’s second track) begins with engaging vocals, stabbing guitar chords and delicious little keyboard interjections. A delicious little guitar lick takes over and gives way to a darting guitar riff, which hands the baton to a piercing guitar solo. The vocals return to bring an end to a short, sweet, but brilliant track, before the album concludes with another epic in the near 10-minute-long Hundred Years Of Silence.
You can follow Connect The Circle on Facebook, Instagram, Threads and TikTok, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music, Soundcloud and YouTube.
Dark Aries Project – Save the Number 66
We discovered Italian solo venture Dark Aries Project back in December, unearthing a metal and post-metal adventure influenced by horror, artificial intelligence and sci-fi themes. The project is the brainchild of Ilinx, who aims to blend horror themes into modern metal focused on the subject of Mena, the protagonist of The Arrival, a God born from the Project 66 experiments that give rise to a spirituality fuelled by AI.
The band’s latest single, Save the Number 66, immerses listeners in the reality of dystopian planet Sophya. It offers a glimpse of a future that includes android cats, Archons, and a rogue rebel, which may be explored further in a future album.
The track opens up with a lively guitar lick over heavy drums, which drops into repeating descending notes before heavier stabbing guitars. The fun lick returns before a child’s giggle breaks things up, dropping into a mysterious section to bring the track to a conclusion.
You can follow Dark Aries Project on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, and check out their music on Spotify, Bandcamp, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and YouTube.
Defences – Lithium Kiss
One of our all-time favourite discoveries, we’ve featured Hertfordshire metal band Defences no fewer than eight times since featuring them as our New Band of the Week way back in September 2017. It’s safe to say they’ve been on an exciting journey since, touring across Europe and playing Download in recent years.
The band dropped their latest single Lithium Kiss yesterday, on which they say: “The inspiration came from one of our members’ personal experience being prescribed the mood-stabiliser Lithium for a couple of years, and the frustrations and difficulties that came along with the benefits. When treatment stopped, rather than feeling like before, there was instead a feeling of being almost hyper-rational, rather than feeling like they could react instinctively and naturally.
“Lithium Kiss is NOT about not taking your medication and taking care of yourself, and we would never want it to come across that way. It’s instead a crystallisation of a paranoia that we are consumed by illness and treatment, adversity and reconciliation. The Lithium Kiss is our way of referring to this relationship, the symbiotic necessity for difficulty to bring about individual growth, whilst ensuring that it does not come to consume you.”
The track opens up with atmospheric synths over vocalist Cherry Duesbury’s light vocals, before a hit of guitars tee up a mellow opening verse. It flows into a singalong chorus “I’m slipping under your spell Can’t help but underwhelm, I got it under my skin, That Cinnamon, Cinnamon, And I’m a mess, never felt quite like this, I’ll pick the stitch, know that I can’t resist, Should I give in, let it all come undone, For that Lithium Kiss.” Heavier guitars kick in and drop into another laid-back verse that ends with vocalist William Alex Young’s heavier vocals teeing up another chorus. Repeating lines “I gotta get it” tee up a heavier section that drops into crushing guitars and a huge scream, which sets up another big chorus.
You can follow Defences on Facebook, their Facebook fan group, Instagram and Twitter, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
Die Tired – Why Won’t You Wake Up?
American trio Die Tired, who we first discovered in January, fuse elements of classic rock, heavy metal and pop-punk in their foot-tapping, singalong rock’n’roll sound.
The band just released Why Won’t You Wake Up?, which explores how people are shaped by controlling forces like media, social pressures, and religion, is their first single with new guitarist Matt Orlando on board. On the track, drummer Brandon Ballantyne said: “This song is about shaking off the voices that tell you who to be. We want people to ask themselves what it means to live for them, not for everyone else. Matt has added a whole new dimension to what we do. The music feels bigger, more dynamic, and more alive than ever before.”
It opens up with a light guitar lick, then rolling drums and light guitar support Matthew DeAngelis’ laid-back vocals. It gradually builds up to a big catchy chorus, “You know my name, What colors do you see? Influence reality, Figures and shapes, Alive for you and me, Influence reality.” A heavier second verse supported by palm-muted guitars flows into another chorus, which ends with guitar chords that continue under cries of “Why won’t you wake up” teeing up a powerful conclusion.
You can follow Die Tired on Facebook and Instagram, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
June Turns Black – bloodbox
Romanian band June Turns Black aims to thrill and confuse your musical senses with an enthralling experimental and diverse electronic noir alt-rock sound. When we discovered the band in July, guitarist Dan Nicolescu told us: “Never assume you know what you’re going to be listening to. Honestly, you might get a blisteringly heavy song with Rach screaming her lungs out over breakdowns or a sultry and atmospheric track that makes you question your life choices. Or somewhere in between. You might cry, you might dance, or you might open up a moshpit.”
Those sentiments are very much true of their latest single bloodbox, which was released last month. On the track, the band said: “We explore how passion can slip into compulsion, mania, and delusion – a theme that feels raw, heavy, and painfully real. Musically, it blends metalcore intensity with industrial textures and our signature emotional edge – a continuation of the world we’ve been building with previous releases, but more uncompromising and visceral.”
bloodbox opens up with an ominous darting guitar riff with stabs of synth, which explodes into life with vocalist Rach Alaji’s vicious scream over heavy guitars. Rach takes centre stage with intense screamed vocals, before clean lines “Everybody thinks that they’ve got a shot, yeah, Everybody knows that pretty faces lose the plot,” teeing up an intense chorus “Come on, Step into the Bloodbox, We’re all in pain here, And the torment never stops.” The intensity eases off with laid-back vocals before intense screams take us into another big chorus, which flows into an atmospheric section led by vicious vocals. That ends with a prolonged cry, before a stabbing guitar riff and rolling drums are joined by heavy screams to bring the track to a powerful ending.
You can follow June Turns Black on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, and check out their music on Spotify, Bandcamp, Apple Music and YouTube.
Kite Thief – CHOKE
We were instantly hooked by the bouncy Gutter Candy Metal sound of Bristol’s Kite Thief when we made them our New Band of the Week in March 2021. The band released their debut EP Ambiviolent in 2023, returning with three singles this year.
The most recent of those is CHOKE, which was released last month. On the track, vocalist Elin Allan said: “CHOKE is a wild, unapologetic anthem that celebrates giving in to your darkest impulses. This track is for anyone who’s ever thrown caution to the wind, embraced the chaos, and revelled in the wreckage. It’s about knowing you’re walking the wrong path, but choosing to love every destructive step anyway. CHOKE captures that moment when you stop caring about the fallout, and dive headfirst into the madness because, in that fleeting moment, it feels like freedom. It’s a love letter to chaos and a salute to the rush of the downward spiral. You know it’s wrong… but damn, does it feel right.”
CHOKE opens up with crushing low-tuned guitars that drop into Elin’s delicious high-pitched vocals, which continue as heavy guitars creep in and flow into a big singalong chorus. A second chorus drops into delicate vocals over a pulsing synth and stabbing guitars before a cry of “Go on, you can do it, act out with rage” tees up an intense smash of guitars and drums, setting up a big final blast of the chorus.
You can follow Kite Thief on Facebook and Instagram, and check out their music on Spotify, Bandcamp, Apple Music and YouTube.
Le Rox – Don’t Wanna
London punks Le Rox were our New Band of the Week back in August 2022, having first discovered them through vocalist Laura Le Rox’s previous band Pretty Pistol in May 2017. We recently featured their previous release of “sad girl sounds,” but the band is quickly back with another feisty rendition in new single Don’t Wanna.
On the song, Laura said: “This track leans into metal with heavy guitars before dropping into punk energy when the vocals kick in. Female-fronted, with distorted riffs, pounding drums, and massive drops, it captures the weight of depression and anxiety while finding release in frustration and acceptance. Stick around for the breakdown at 1:58. It is the track’s heaviest moment and where it fully explodes.”
Don’t Wanna kicks off with a fun stabbing riff over a chunky bassline, before flying into Laura’s trademark intense vocals. That builds up to a big shoutalong chorus “Come back today, Wash it all away, Come back today, And pick up the pieces, I wanna see wash your sins, But I’m so cold inside, I wanna clear your lungs, but I’m a little tongue tied.” Drawn-out guitars and rolling drums end with the aforementioned breakdown, a brief pause before a wild section of stabbing guitars and intense drums that continue under intense cries of “Don’t wanna cause you pain, But my grip’s so tight, You are the reason, I don’t sleep at night” and flow into a heavy chorus. The pace finally drops with light guitars, before stabbing chords bring the track to an end.
You can follow Le Rox on Facebook and Instagram, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
NOAPOLOGY – Don’t Pull Me In
Ukrainian band NOAPOLOGY fuse hard rock and melodic metal in a firey but engaging sound. The Kyiv band started out as a YouTube cover act formed of vocalist Daria Zaritskaya and guitarist Sergey Sershen, which gained over 200 million views and recently passed one million subscribers. But they branched out into writing original music after war broke out in their country in 2022, bringing bassist Alex Shturmak and drummer Przemek Nalazek on board.
The band released debut album Uncovered earlier this year, and just dropped their first follow-up single Pull Me In. It opens up with light instrumentals before exploding into life with Daria’s delicous vocals supported by chunky guitars. A wild spinning guitar lick drops into whispery vocals that suddenly intensify over big drum flurries that tee up a chorus. The contrasts continue, before another chorus ends with a piercing guitar solo that drops into more whispery vocals, which are blasted wide open by crushing guitar chords to set up a final chorus.
You can follow NOAPOLOGY on Facebook and Instagram, and check out their music on Spotify, Bandcamp, Apple Music and YouTube.
Odjur – Evil Rising
Swedish melodic death metal band Odjur have emerged from deep within the ancient Nordic forests with a thrilling sound they describe as “untamed, epic and melodic.” We discovered the trio of Hati (Gustaf, guitar and bass), Garm (Peter, vocals) and Skoll (David, production and soundscapes) in June, following the release of their debut single Glory To The Fallen.
Back then, Gustaf told us: “Sometimes, you just need to let go of everything happening around you and lose yourself in heavy riffs, soaring melodies, and tales of epic adventures. That is what Odjur is all about. We love creating these stories together, and we have a damn good time doing it. Hopefully, we can reach a few other lost souls out there who enjoy listening to them. The three of us come from different musical backgrounds, but as we’ve grown older (and maybe a little wiser), we finally got our shit together and started a melodic death metal band.
“Our sound is both brutal and melodic, a combination of darkness and light inspired by the long Nordic winters, as well as the endless Swedish summer nights. We try to capture the untamed beauty of the old Nordic forests, and the beasts that lurk within them.”
The trio just released their second single Evil Rising, on which they say: “In Evil Rising, Odjur takes you deep into the misty forests where an unsettling story unfolds. Evil forces lurk in the shadows, feeding on your fear. Aggressive, melodic guitars combined with brute growls create the furious soundscape that is the soundtrack to this evil.”
The track opens up with ominous choral vocals that continue under piercing guitar licks and drum thumps. That feeds into an opening verse led by gruff vocals concluding with creepy cries of “evil rising.” It flows into a delicious laid-back dual guitar solo, which gives way to heavier guitars as the intense vocals return, bringing the track to an increasingly dark conclusion.
You can follow Odjur on Facebook and Instagram, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music and Soundcloud.
Profiler – Luciferian
Bristol’s “nu-metal reawakening” Profiler are also back with a new track Luciferian, which supports their previous release Dope, covered in our previous On The Radar article, with which it completes a three-track EP alongside Waste.
Frontman Mike Evans said: “Luciferian is the sister song lyrically to Dope. It discusses the themes of negative energy felt within another person and listening to your intuition when you are in the wrong relationship. This is our first self-released EP. We believe it’s our strongest body of sound and we’re really proud of the work that’s gone into it and the result we’ve managed to achieve.”
Luciferian opens up with an echoey riff that gives way to heavy guitar chords and big screamed vocals with record scratches in the background. The riff returns under vocals that intensify, before heavy chords support echoey drawn-out chorus vocals “A Luciferian connection, Elusive eyes, She fears rejection.” Rapped vocals take over in an increasingly intense verse, before a brief moment of calm explodes into heavy vocals and chunky chords flowing into another chorus. And the track concludes with a delicious blast of nu-metal guitars, rolling drums and record scratches.
You can follow Profiler on Facebook and Instagram, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube. You can also see Profiler play a headline show at London’s Black Heart on 10 December.
Rivers Collide – Aunar
German quintet Rivers Collide have honed a thrilling sound that draws on the energy of 2000s metal, hardcore and progressive elements. We discovered the band back in January, following the release of their debut album Salt & Savior, and they’ve just returned with new single Aunar.
On their sound, the band previously told us: “If you’re a metal fan and your birth year starts with ’19,’ there’s a 100% chance you’re going to love our music. If you’re younger, you’ll probably also enjoy the raw energy of our live shows – especially if you find yourself in the middle of the mosh pit.”
And that mosh energy is very much alive on Aunar, which starts out with a light guitar loop that continues under spoken vocals. Big rolling drums kick in alongside high-pitched guitars and gruff vocals, before a big bouncy riff tees up an intense opening verse led by frontman Florian Kapfhammers’s powerful vocals. Piercing guitars kick in over big blastbeat drums and heavy vocals, before dropping into more melodic vocals. A cool high-pitched guitar line supports rhythmic guitars and heavy vocals, before a stabbing guitar riff brings the track to an end with the assistance of a naughty cowbell hit.
You can follow Rivers Collide on Facebook and Instagram, and check out their music on Spotify, Bandcamp, Apple Music and YouTube.
RODERIK – Everything
New York band RODERIK also plays on our love for all things 2000s-related with their brand of emo meets post-hardcore. We first featured the quartet of Jake Anthony Salazar (vocals), Jay T. Sutherland (guitar), Danny Nugent (drums) and David P.K. (bass), who fuse elements of pop-punk, pop, hip-hop and R&B, back in August 2021 around the release of their second single You’ll Never Know.
The band have been busy since, releasing debut EP Intrusive Thoughts last year alongside a series of singles. They sent us one of those, Everything, to get a taste for their latest music. And on the track, Jake said: “It marks an exciting step in a darker, pop-driven direction, while incorporating some heavier elements that define our evolving sound.”
Everything opens up with a lively smash of guitars and synths with effects-ridden vocals, before dropping into a laid-back verse. The intensity increases in a feisty singalong chorus “Cause you were everything, Everything, I’ve been chasing after, But you were just a fantasy, Yeah, I had made up everything, You were everything” with the vocals verging on screams. Heavier guitars tee up a slightly more upbeat second verse, before a second chorus drops into a chilled-out section. Rolling drums creep in to tee up a final blast of the chorus. If you like the sound of that, check out RODERIK’s latest single All or Nothing, which sees them ratchet up the heaviness.
You can follow RODERIK on Facebook and Instagram, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
Set Before Us – Escape
We discovered Swedish band Set Before Us (the dapper gentlemen pictured above) way back in September 2018, and they quickly became one of our favourite, most listened-to new bands with their superb debut album Vitae. And if you’ve not listened to that, we implore you to, especially absolutely fantastic tracks like Identity and Ignite. A couple of singles followed, before a four-year break was snapped by the release of Resurgence in May, which was followed up with Escape last month.
Escape opens up with delicious chugging guitar chords under a meandering lick that drop into rapped/spoken vocals. Engaging vocals take over alongside a spinning guitar lick, before the intensity builds with the fast-paced vocals and screamed support, flowing into a big chorus “Can’t hide all my fears in the dark below, They live in me, Which way will I turn in this nothingness? There’s no way home, no way home.” Echoey vocals and heavy guitars bridge into a verse led by screamed vocals that intensify with faster screams, before stabbing guitar chords give way to a delicious guitar solo. That gives way to another chorus, which ends with a chord change setting up a dramatic conclusion to the track. It’s fantastic to have Set Before Us back, and we’re excited to hear what more they have to come.
You can follow Set Before us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, and check out their music on Spotify, Soundcloud and YouTube.
Wave Break – Spinning Out
Another band that we featured a long time back is New Jersey’s Wave Break, who we also first discovered in September 2018 around the release of their debut EP Armory. The band fuses elements of post-hardcore with pop rock and emo rock alongside lyrics in a fierce sound that stands up to societal and social barriers.
The band has been busy since, with multiple line changes and two more EPs, while finetuning their songwriting and production. As Kelly tells us: “We have more riffs, dynamic changes and time signature/tempo changes in our songs than we used to, and we’ve also started experimenting more with different song structures as well. We’ve also started getting our songs mixed and mastered by Zack and Kenneth over at ZK Productions (Mayday Parade, The Summer Set, Cartel), which has also helped elevate our sound quite a bit.”
Our latest taste of this is Spinning Out, which was released last week and leans heavily on their post-hardcore influences. It opens up with a spinning riff that kicks on under Kelly’s engaging vocals “I’m breathing cyanide, My head is so damn fried.” New guitarist Josh’s intense vocals contrast Kelly’s cries of “I’m spinning out, I’m spinning out again” through a lively chorus, which drops into another verse and chorus. And the intensity goes up a notch with dual vocals before winding down to a more melodic ending.
On the track, Kelly told us: “We’re very excited for people to hear it! This is a very different track from what we’ve done previously. It takes some influence from post-hardcore music, especially in the outro, and also is the first song of ours to incorporate screams courtesy of our new guitarist Josh. It’s also our shortest song to date, but it goes completely full-throttle from start to finish, so there’s no wasted time.”
Wave Break will be supporting Emblem3 and The Foxies at House of Independents in Asbury Park, NJ, on 11 December, and tickets are available on their website. They also have plens to release more singles next year, while getting out on tour along the East Coast and in the Midwest for the first time.
You can follow Wave Break on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and check out their music on Spotify and YouTube.
Looking for more new bands and great new music?
Subscribe to our Spotify playlists GigRadar Core, GigRadar Metal and GigRadar Post-Hardcore
GigRadar 
One Reply to “On The Radar: A Date With Destiny, Citizen Rat, Connect The Circle, Dark Aries Project, Defences, Die Tired, June Turns Black, Kite Thief, Le Rox, NOAPOLOGY, Odjur, Profiler, Rivers Collide, RODERIK, Set Before Us & Wave Break”