London band Viatorem pair intense, groovy and unrelenting metalcore and hardcore influences with outspoken political messages in a sound that they describe as “ungovernable , unfiltered and unwavering.”
The band formed in 2019 as university friends wanting to make heavy music together. They soon recruited vocalist Ross through an online ad and, despite not setting out to be explicitly political, honed a sound that is staunchly antifascist. A few lineup changes have followed, but they’ve taken positive steps with some big shows in London, including a recent first UK tour with Perpetual Paradox, our New Band of the Week back in April.
On the sound they’ve crafted, the band told us: “Angry and punishing, yet diverse – we enjoy mixing in different genres and styles of music we enjoy, especially since we all individually have pretty varying music tastes. This leads to songs like Nakba, with an acoustic intro and haunting clean vocals (shoutout Zeli for her feature!), but also to songs like Cult Of Delusion and Postmortal – heavy, pissed off, and unrelenting. Our next single is easily the heaviest and nastiest material w’’ve ever written and we can’t wait to release it!”
Our most recent taste of this is the aforementioned Nakba, which was released last month. And the name refers to Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Palestinian Arabs and dispossession of their land, property and belongings and destruction of their society, culture, identity and political rights.
It opens up with light guitars under Zeli’s delicious high-pitched guest vocals, which continue alongside Ross’ vocals “Eye for an eye, Leaves the whole world blind, But justice mine.” That gives wayto a big bouncy riff and a piercing synth, which drops into vicious screamed vocals “Laid bare, the hypocrisy of rhetoric, Placate or play dead, or turn away in shame, Televised genocide, A conversation between the sword and the neck always ends in bloodshed, Homes dismantled, society unravelled, Families on a death march, reduced to ash.
It flows into a melodic chorus as Zeli returns to support clean vocals that sound mellow, but a deliver a punch with the lines “Cold, Like mannequins they fall, Childhood stolen through a scope, Generational trauma, Another body in the road, If the only option is Molotovs, crowbars and bricks, Blessed be the insurrection, From river wide to sea distant.” A big groovy riff jumps back in, bridging into heavier vocals “What good is a ceasefire, When there’s nothing left to burn, Immolated in hellfire, Homes, schools and hospitals, Laid to waste, This pain is everlasting, Bloodlines erased, history repeating Never again, never again, Hollow words spit by lying tongues, The student has become the master.”
Doomy guitars come in before intense screams, then huge low-tuned guitars and a piercing synth take the track to whole new levels of darkness. The guitars drop out, leaving just the synth, before Zeli’s vocals creep back in to tee up a final blast of the chorus.
On the track, the band said: “The reception has been really great! We were expecting a certain amount of backlash considering the topics discussed in the track. But we’ve luckily had more positive feedback, and it seems like people really appreciate bands being more outspoken about Palestine right now rather than cowering away or being ‘apolitical.’ We’ve also noticed how difficult it is to promote any form of art in which the topic is being checked and impeded by the powers that be, especially on social media. Just goes to show how important it is to both learn about and discuss these global issues as much as possible.”
Nakba follows on from the band’s second EP And Yet The Earth Remained, which was released in 2023. It opens up with the intense Cult of Delusion, which features a crushing breakdown midway through, before the powerful Trigger Discipline, the absolutely massive Postmortal, which you can check out in the video below, and the slightly more melodic final track Gehenna.
The Viatorem sound is influenced by everything from hardcore and death metal to grind, black metal and deathcore. The band’s members have long been inspired by bands like Fit For An Autopsy and Gojira, as well as gravitating towards bands like Spiritbox, Knocked Loose and Currents.
And on what inspires them to write music, they explain: “Our influences tend to be varied – modern hardcore and metal/core predominantly, mixed in with more modern production techniques. Our key themes, however, are far more specific: spreading awareness on the global atrocities committed by the ruling classes and the far right, and raising our voices in solidarity with the minorities being oppressed and enslaved for profit, land, and power.”
Viatorem just played a Palestine benefit show, from which all the profits went to the Sameer Project and Water For Khan Younis, who have been providing humanitarian aid on the ground in Gaza. They’re also finishing up recording their next single, which they tell us is: “A good expression of how we’ve been feeling about the current political climate: pissed off and fed up with our so-called ‘leaders,’ who preach tolerance but practice hate.”
And the band added: “We’ve already achieved a lot with this project, but we’re just getting started and we plan to be around for a while – give us a follow on our socials and stay up to date with new tracks and new shows as they get announced!”
You can follow Viatorem on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
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