French metalcore band Neova offer up a powerful sound that fuses precise production with melodic intensity and striking contrasts, and they describe as “intense, dark and emotional.”
The quartet first met whie they were studying at the Nancy Music Academy International, and decided to start the project at the end of 2022. They released debut single Hopeless in October, before following it up with Time Out last week.
On the sound they’ve crafted, the band told us: “Neova mixes the raw power of metalcore with a strong melodic side. It combines a sharp production with heavy contrasts.”
As mentioned, our latest taste of this is Time Out, which the band teased as their most aggressive song. It starts out with pulsing guitar sounds that unleash into a barrage of crushing guitars with harmonic twinkles and a menacing distant synth creeping in. The pulsing guitars and drop into a violent opening verse with intense vocals supported by heavy guitars and synths. Chugging guitars take over as spoken vocals give way to another smash of crushing guitars before more intense vocals.
Everything drops out bar a pulsing synth noise, then a little “time out” vocal ushers in crushing guitars and vicious screamed vocals. The pace slows again with moody synth sounds, bringing the track to a mellow conclusion.
Speaking ahead of its release, the band said: “We’re super excited to finally let people hear Time Out. It’s probably one of the heaviest tracks we wrote. It’s aggressive, distorted: just pure energy straight through. And this energy reflects the lyrics. There’s no break, no relief, it just keeps going like time slipping away. Since Hopeless was more melodic and emotional, Time Out really shows a much darker and violent side of Neova. It’s raw, intense, and it’s supposed to hit hard.”
Debut single Hopeless features much of the same raw energy while portraying a more melodic edge to the band. A building guitar drops into a lively driving riff over a piercing synth line, dropping into laid-back clean vocals. It explodes into a huge chorus with intense vocals, which flows into a delicious singalong chorus. The big driving guitars return alongside powerful drums, before intense vocals and a delicious drop of djenty guitars over mysterious synth sounds tee up another big chorus. That propels the track into all sorts of darkness with stabbing guitars and atmospheric synths under brutal screamed vocals bringing the track to an end. And, for something a little different, check out the playthrough video with guitar tabs below:
The Neova sound has been influenced by bands like Architects, Resolve, Kadinja and Spiritbox. And on what inspires them to write music, they explained: “The themes are mostly influenced by personal struggles: Fear of failure, time passing and the sacrifice you make for your dreams. It’s about introspection, understanding our place in the world and doing what feels right.”
There’s plenty more to come from Neova, who are fully focused on releasing their debut this year, while setting up their live show to play gigs as soon as possible.
And the band added: “Our art is pure sincerity. All aspects of Neova’s music are made by us, from the creation to the release.”
You can follow Neova on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
Listen to Neova and more new metal on our Spotify playlists GigRadar Core and GigRadar Metal
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