{"id":98120,"date":"2025-02-14T11:19:23","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T11:19:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/?p=98120"},"modified":"2025-02-14T11:34:13","modified_gmt":"2025-02-14T11:34:13","slug":"newmusicfriday-february-14th-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alreadyheard.com\/staging\/newmusicfriday-february-14th-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"#NewMusicFriday: February 14th 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Content Breakdown<\/h3>\n

Love is Noise – To live in a different way<\/a>
\nThe Nightmares – Fire In Heaven<\/a>
\nWhat is out on this #NewMusicFriday?<\/a>
\nTake me to the Playlist<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Love might be in the air but so is the sound of #NewMusicFriday<\/b> releases. This week is a loaded week with a plethora of noteworthy releases to hear.<\/p>\n

Metal heavyweights Bleeding Through<\/b> return with their ninth album, aptly titled – ‘Nine’<\/i>. The Southern Californian’s first full-length in seven years is as bruising as you’d expect. Tracks such as\u00a0‘Dead, But So Alive’<\/em> are unleashed with an abundance of fury. While keyboardist Marta Demmel’s harmonies are utilised more on\u00a0‘Lost In Isolation’\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0‘Path To Our Disease,’\u00a0<\/em>bringing a welcomed expansive element to\u00a0Bleeding Through<\/strong>‘s metallic heaviness.<\/p>\n

Another band with plenty of longevity is\u00a0Lacuna<\/strong> Coil<\/strong>. The Italian goth metallers deliver their tenth album, ‘Sleepless Empire’<\/em>, today. As always, Cristina Scabbia’s smooth harmonies and\u00a0Andrea Ferro\u2019s throaty barks bounce off one another brilliantly. Yet it’s Scabbia who more often steals the show, and here is no different. Both are backed by an accomplished musical cocktail of chugging riffs, shredding solos, and Scabbia’s soaring melodies.<\/p>\n

‘Anthemic rockers Hands Like Houses\u00a0<\/strong>continue their new era with The Faim’s Josh Raven at the forefront with the release of\u00a0‘Atmospherics’<\/em>. It brings together their ‘Tropo(sphere)’<\/em>, ‘Strato(sphere)’<\/em>, and ‘Meso(sphere)’<\/em> EPs and pairs it with ‘Thermo(sphere)’\u00a0<\/em>to create a four-volume arch. With the help of a smattering of guest spots (Under\u00f8ath’s Aaron Gillespie, Sleeping With Sirens’ Kellin Quinn, Redhook’s Emmy Mack, and Normandie),\u00a0Hands Like Houses\u00a0<\/strong>broadly deliver sixteen cuts of soaring post-hardcore rock with plenty of bold hooks to offer.<\/p>\n

Homegrown UK Talent<\/h3>\n

When it comes to emerging UK names looking to leave their mark, look no further than the new releases from\u00a0Love is Noise <\/strong>(‘To live in a different way’<\/em>) and\u00a0The Nightmares <\/strong>(‘Fire in Heaven’<\/em>). Both albums are covered in detail below, and are highly recommended. As a site, we’ve always taken pride in highlighting promising homegrown talent, and I feel\u00a0Love is Noise<\/strong> and\u00a0The Nightmares<\/strong> personify that.<\/p>\n

If you want some familiar British acts, then there is new music from Welsh rock stalwarts Manic Street Preachers<\/strong>. Today they release\u00a0‘Critical Thinking’,\u00a0<\/em>their 15th studio album. Punk Rock Factory<\/strong> returns with more unadulterated fun with the buoyant\u00a0‘All Hands On Deck’<\/em>. It sees the pop-punk specialists put their own spin on a host of 90’s pop hits;\u00a0‘C’est La Vie’<\/em>, ‘Back For Good,’\u00a0<\/em>and more.<\/p>\n

Emerging (and Returning) Overseas Names<\/h3>\n

Further afield, there are a handful of notable releases. Colorado’s The Velveteers<\/strong> bring a groove-filled array of garage rock on ‘A Million Knives’<\/em>. Rising Nashville catchy punks Winona Fighter<\/strong> drop ‘My Apologies To The Chef’.<\/em> The trio’s debut is a sugar-rush collection of hooky punk rock with a healthy dose of angst and anxiety. Whereas, Church Tongue<\/strong>‘s ‘You’ll Know It Was Me’<\/em> sees the Midwest hardcore outfit be uncompromising and relentless in their destructive pursuit. The six-track EP also sees Deafheaven’s George Clarke, God\u2019s Hate and Twitching Tongues’ Colin Young, and Initiate vocalist Crystal Pak.<\/p>\n

Seattle pop-punk’s\u00a0Amber Pacific<\/strong> return after 10 years with ‘All In’<\/em>. Its 12 tracks offer up plenty of solid hooks with a hint of nostalgia The previously mentioned Kellin Quinn goes it alone Haunted Mouths<\/b>. His debut solo album,\u00a0‘A Collection Of Greetings’<\/i> hones in on a lo-fi indie-pop sound. It’s a meditative contrast to energetic emo\/post-hardcore. Finally, there is Nova Scotia quartet\u00a0Customer Service<\/strong>. Their ‘to you, after 2000 years’<\/em> EP is an easily digestible three-track EP of melodic indie-emo delivered in six minutes.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"Love
Photo Credit: Carl Battams<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Love is Noise – To live in a different way<\/h2>\n

Ever since I caught\u00a0Love Is Noise<\/strong> opening for Holding Absence in Nottingham two years ago, I’ve been keeping tabs on the now solo outfit. While its personnel may have whittled down from three to one, you get the feeling that Love is Noise<\/strong> is vocalist\/guitarist Cam Humphrey’s project, especially on the evidence of their debut album. While ‘To live in a different way’,<\/em> maintains the ethereal essence of what\u00a0LiN<\/strong> has done previously, it’s considerably more consistently packaged here.<\/p>\n

On the surface, Humphrey, along with now former guitarist Tom Mellon (who’s since left to explore other musical endeavours), ‘To live in a different way’<\/em> takes shoegaze-inspired metal and makes it sounder bigger, even ambitious. It’s paired with a thematic foundation that is cathartic, embracing the feeling of love, lost, and hope. ‘Devotion’<\/em> sets the tone early on with lines such as “My everything, What\u2019s mine is yours tonight”\u00a0<\/em>wrapped around by a Britpop melody. Its overall delivery is wide and layered. In contrast,\u00a0‘Soft Glow’<\/em> is more immediate, allowing Humphrey to deliver a simple but effective hook of “You are the one that shines on me”.\u00a0<\/em>The track also highlights\u00a0LiN<\/strong>‘s ability to shift in tone instantly. One moment Humphrey’s voice is soulful, the next he’s unhinged being eaten up by the paranoia of being in love can bring.<\/p>\n

Read the full review here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"The
Photo Credit: Tom Damsell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Nightmares – Fire In Heaven<\/h2>\n

Ever since emerging out of Newport, The Nightmares\u00a0<\/b>have somewhat been lumbered with being compared to previous touring pals Creeper. Sure, both have a bleak aesthetic to their presentation and are rooted in gothic punk. However,\u00a0‘Fire In Heaven’<\/em>\u00a0allows\u00a0The Nightmares<\/strong><\/span> to step out of whatever bleak shadow they’ve been put in. Where 2023’s\u00a0‘S\u00e9ance\u2019<\/em> leaned into murky stylings, this second full-length feels broader, and even brighter in places.<\/p>\n

For starters, keyboardist Eleanor Coburn has stepped up her vocal contributions to take equal billing with Adam Parslow. It provides the 11 songs on offer a compelling dynamic. It’s paired with a thematic approach that explores the curiosity of morality and the wider universe while maintaining the familiar theme of lost love. Admittedly, tracks like\u00a0‘Something in the Dark\u2019\u00a0<\/em>do little to evolve from the brooding synth-punk, yet with its eerie keys and bubbling bass, it still has a tendency to draw you in.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read the full review here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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What is out on #NewMusicFriday?<\/h2>\n

Bleeding Through – NINE
\nHands Like Houses – A T M O S P H E R I C S
\nLacuna Coil – Sleepless Empire
\nLove is Noise – To live in a different way
\nThe Velveteers – A Million Knives
\nThe Nightmares – Fire In Heaven
\nWinona Fighter – My Apologies To The Chef
\nPunk Rock Factory – All Hands On Deck
\nManic Street Preachers – Critical Thinking
\nBartees Strange – Horror
\nAmber Pacific – All In
\nHaunted Mouths – A Collection of Greetings
\nChurch Tongue – You’ll Know It Was Me
\nWindwaker – Hyperviolence (Expansion Pack)
\nHangman’s Chair – Saddiction
\nCustomer Service – to you, after 2000 years
\nCathedrale – Poison
\nFuture Living – Get Vasectomy
\nBreakfast With Bears – Conversations
\nBlood Cult – We’re Gonna Take Your Soul
\nDynazty – Game of Faces
\nMatt Edible & The Obtuse Angels – The Optometrist
\nNovarupta – Astral Sands
\nPothamus – Abur
\nSicksense – Cross Me Twice
\nCarmeria – Trinity: Volume I
\nLast Days of Heaven – Out of Body
\nDecline Of The I – Wilhelm
\nTwiztid – Welcome To Your Funeral
\nventuring – Ghostholding
\nGavin McLeod – The Constant Astonishment
\nDead American – Attention Deficit
\nBlack Narcissus – There Lingers One Who’s Long Forgotten<\/p>\n

If you think I’ve missed something or have a new album\/EP\/song to tell us about, tell us about it here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n