Built on years of friendship and including some familiar faces, France’s DECIDER offer up powerful riffs and synth soundscapes in a delicious metalcore sound that they describe as “sincerity, conviction, and connection.”
The band is formed of childhood friends Thibault Mongaillard (guitar and vocals) and Valentin Lakomiak (vocals), who we previously featured in Between The Lakes, bassist Hoan Pham, who’s been friends with Valentin for nearly 15 years and toured with him in previous projects, guitarist Jules Dungler and drummer Robin Anding, who’ve also been friends with various band members and played in projects like Native and HRFTR. It’s the culmination of, in the band’s words, “years of incubation, encounters, and differing visions that eventually converged.”
And on the sound they’ve crafted, Valentin told us: “We’re not claiming to revolutionise the industry or reinvent the wheel: we play modern metalcore that fits the current era, while staying true to our identity as a collective with its own vision. We keep it lean, focusing on intent and tension rather than just pure explosion or over-the-top production.”
Our first taste of this is DECIDER’s debut single HOURS, which was released last month. It opens up with a building synth sound and distant vocals, which explode into a beautifully bouncy riff over pulsing synths. Engaging vocals come in over laid-back bass and atmospheric synths, before a stabbing riff comes in as the vocals intensify. Dreamy vocals and instrumentals tee up a big singalong chorus “We’ve been stuck in these hours, A cold sun burning down the flesh, Lately bloomed like fall’s flowers, Not as strong as they can profess, Roaming as moths with broken wings, Fearing nothing but ecstasy, We’ve both been stuck in these hours, Wondering what our lives could’ve been.”
The intensity goes up a notch with big screamed vocals that drop back into the calming chorus, this time with various backing vocals building the atmosphere, before the track concludes with a stabbing riff and soaring synths.
On the track, Valentin said: “It’s a huge relief because this track had been sitting on a drive for over a year and a half, but it’s also an intimidating and stressful moment because we are revealing a new version of ourselves. Even though we do this primarily for us, we hoped the audience would follow and honestly, based on the initial feedback, it feels like people are really connecting with it and our community is growing! That just adds more pressure for what’s coming next. If you, dear reader, haven’t seen the video or heard ‘HOURS’ yet… we’ll let you form your own opinion!”
The DECIDER sound has been influenced by a wide spectrum of artists and genres, from lyrical singer-songwriters to ultra-pop and electro. But their biggest shared interests include the likes of Spiritbox, Dayseeker and Normandie.
And on what inspires them to write music, Valentin explains: “All of our tracks are composed and written by Jules (for the music) and me (for the lyrics and melodies). It’s a collaborative effort, where we listen to and rely on each other to reach the best possible result. The themes aren’t set in stone, even if the upcoming tracks are in the same vein as HOURS: introspective yet universal, sometimes heavy with meaning, but always shedding a certain light on the world around us. We don’t set any limits for ourselves.”
DECIDER will be releasing new music very shortly, starting with their second single and teasing us with the potential release of “several” songs. And they may also have a first show to be announced soon, with things moving very quickly.
And Valentin added: “Thank you to everyone who took a few minutes of their time for our project, for reading these words, checking out the HOURS video, or listening to even a few seconds of the song. Thank you for joining us on social media and following our journey; your support means everything. We hope to cross paths with you very soon!”
You can follow DECIDER on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
Listen to DECIDER and more new bands on our Spotify playlists GigRadar Core and GigRadar Metal
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