Scottish band Perpetua fuse ferocious riffs, groovy melodies and vicious vocals in a thrilling cacophony that they describe as “headbang worthy metal.”
The Edinburgh quintet have been friends since they were young and, after a few stops, starts and member changes, they’ve settled on their current lineup. That includes an Italian drummer and a bassist now based in Newcastle.
On the sound they’ve created, the band told us: “We have been described as a ‘powerhouse of grooves and riffs,’ and I don’t think we could put it any better really.”
Our latest taste of this is Hollow Shell, the first single with their current lineup. It opens up with a barrage of intense drums and lively guitars that continue under powerful screamed vocals. That continues through to a chorus of intense screams over a groove-laden riff and an atmospheric synth sound. The relentless guitars and drums continue in another intense verse, before a cry of “open your eyes” sets up another big chorus. The pace finally relents briefly with drawn-out guitar and a spinning little riff developing over big doomy cymbals as vicious screamed vocals take over, before flying into a delicious guitar solo. That ends with crushing guitar chords, before a little pause for breath sets up a final blast of the chorus.
On the track, the band said: “Hollow Shell is the first music that we have released with this current lineup, and we could not be prouder of it. It’s heavy, it’s fast and it has loads of groove, which are all the elements that we love in metal music.”
Hollow Shell is the first release since last year’s debut album, which is packed with more metal intensity. That includes the powerful The Hell It Brings, which features a fun fast-paced solo, the vicious Tethered, a personal favourite in the big groovy Overcome, the unrelenting Trapped Mind, and the moody closing track Alone In The Static.
The Perpetua sound is honed on a shared love for bands like Pantera, Decapitated, Sylosis and Psycroptic. And on what inspires them to write music, the band explains: “The way we approach writing is to basically write the type of music that we want to listen to. We want catchy riffs, big groovy parts that make you scrunch up your face and melodic parts that you can hum along to.”
Perpetua tease us with the revelation that they have “pretty big news coming real soon,” which we’ll stay tuned for. But we do know that more shows and more songs are coming soon.
You can follow Perpetua on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
Listen to Perpetua on our Spotify playlists GigRadar Core and GigRadar Metal
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