The V13 Fix #007 w/ While She Sleeps, Cory Wells, Kid Kapichi and more

Welcome to the latest The V13 Fix our weekly round-up of some of the best albums, singles and EPs to drop in our laps/inboxes this week. From pop to black metal to experimental pop to punk rock, there is something for everyone in this mix of new music. Check out and support all the bands and labels if you like what you hear and if there is a particular album you like, make sure you head over to Spotify and check out one of our specially curated playlists where there is more great new music added daily.

Alternatively, if you’re in a band or want one of your bands considered for inclusion get in touch. While we can’t guarantee every album or EP we receive will be included, there are still plenty of other ways we can support you.

So, without further ado, sit back, plug in your headphones and get this week’s V13 Fix of new music…

The Moor
‘Ombra’
Inertial Music

Coming from a scene which has produced some quality progressive death metal over the years, Italian outfit The Moor are here to add their name into the mix with their weighty new album, Ombra. A perfect cocktail of progressive metal, electronica and melodic death metal, the band have employed the magic hands of Fredrik Nordstrom to wave his talents over the end result. The end result is a stunning collection of songs. Each element is layered perfectly over each other to create a perfectly formed progressive death metal soundscape. Nordstrom’s expert production allows the individual aspects to breathe freely within The Moors’ densely packed and dramatically atmospheric soundscape.

Pick up your copy of Ombra from here.

Necrophobic
‘In The Twilight Grey’
Century Media Records

Swedish death/black metal veterans Necrophobic are back with their tenth album, In The Twilight Grey. Another staggering peice of black-hearted fury, listening to In The Twilight Grey, it is very apparent that you are listening to a band who are masters of their evil art. Ferocious, raw, old school blackened death metal is the order of the day here and, when it comes to the execution, Necrophobic are unstoppable. Each track is a dark, layered slice of old-school ferocity, spat out by a band who, over the course of nine albums, have fine-tuned their sound into a razor sharp, devastating weapon. So, grab your studded belt, battle jacket and Kerry King style wristband because things are about to get savage.

Pick up your copy of In The Twilight Grey from here.

Prisoner
‘Putrid | Obsolete’
Persistent Vision Records

Richmond experimental grindcore quintet Prisoner have been spitting bile since 2012 so it should come as no surprise to find that Putrid | Obsolete is another slice of metallic carnage. Like a car crash of industrial metal, synths and grindcore, you can pick out obvious shards of Napalm Death, Godflesh and Neurosis amongst the musical wreckage. A hellish sounding production only adds to the nightmarish feel of the album while the triple vocal assault the band make use of only adds to the terror. To the overall theme of the album being that of “the horrific failure of humanity”, Prisoner have kindly provided the perfect soundtrack.

Pick up your copy of Putrid | Obsolete from here.

Brat
‘Social Grace’
Prosthetic Records

Fronted by Liz Selfish, New Orleans death/grind quartet Brat have spent the last three years relentlessly honing their uncompromising sounds by sharing stages with the likes of Eyehategod, Cro-Mags and many equally violent grindcore bands. The result is Social Grace, their suitably ugly debut album. Spitting out of the starting blocks, the band set their stall out early as the blast through ten tracks in around twenty minutes. Birthed on a diet of psychological horror fiction and Stephen King genre classics, Social Grace is a nasty, unpleasant effort… exactly how it should be.

Pick up your copy of Social Grace from here.

Nonexister
‘Demons’
Self-Release

Music doesn’t have to be brutal to be really dark and Swiss electronic rock quintet Nonexister are proof of that. Furthermore, I’d even go as far as saying that, for a rock band, Nonexister also know how to write a really crackin’ pop song because their Demons album is full of them. Great melodies, ridiculously huge hooks and infectious electronics pulsating away make Demons the kind of album that really digs under your skin. They marry that up with an almost gothic/industrial coldness to create a melting pot that flits between cathartic and downright catchy. From the looped, gritty chug pumping through “Your Pain In My Veins” to the 80s video game effects on “A Promise In The Air”, Demons is an album for those of us whose love of the darker side of pop dragged us onto the dancefloors of 90s underground goth/industrial clubs.

Pick up your copy of Demons from here.

Sweat
‘Love Child’
Vitriol Records

Having cut their teeth in various bands around the Southern Californian punk and hardcore scene, Sweat wear their punk roots proudly on their sleeves. Love Child, their second album, captures everything you could want in a punk rock record. It’s short and snappy. Bristling with energy and loves to get up in your face. Vocalist Tuna Tardugno fronts the punk three-piece with her snarled lyrics tackling subjects like the healthcare system and mass shootings. Delivered in with ferocity and with little time for pleasantries, Love Child is the kind of hardcore punk rock that delivers its powerful message in ten short, sharp punches.

Pick up your copy of Love Child from here.

Aborted
‘Vault of Horrors’
Nuclear Blast

Over the course of their career, Belgian goregods Aborted have honed their filthy sounds from spew-soaked grind into something more potent and savage. Sure, there was something morbidly appealing about their early material, but through the course of twelve studio albums, the band have become a monster of the death metal genre. Twelth offering Vault of Horrors is possibly their finest hour to date as well. A savage, psychotic listen, tracks like “Condemned to Rot” and “The Shape Of Hate” may be lighter on the gore but they’re none the less disturbing. As an added bonus, the Belgians have roped in a host of guest vocalists with each track featuring additional tones from, amongst others, Alex Erian (Despised Icon) and Ben Duerr (Shadow of Intent) to make sure that this Belgian death metal machine are keeping on top of their game.

Pick up your copy of The Vault of Horror from here.

Scott Stapp
‘Higher Power’
Napalm Records

Widely known as the frontman of hard rocker superstars Creed, Grammy-Award Winner Scott Stapp is back with Higher Power, the follow-up to his 2019 effort The Space Between The Shadows. Joining Stapp on the album are guitar genius Yiannis Papadopoulos and hard rock queen Dorothy providing more quality to this collection of life-affiring hard rock anthems. Ticking all the boxes you’d expect from a Scott Stapp album, Higher Power is a gritty, soaring rock bangers. Stapp’s voice sounds as powerful as ever as the vocalist storms his way through anthemic rock classics and passionate, emotional ballads. Documenting the challenges Stapp has faced over the past few years, Higher Power sees the vocalist returning with a bang.

Pick up your copy of Higher Power from here.

Cory Wells
‘Harboring The Hurt I’ve Caused’
Pure Noise Records

Many artists talk about pouring blood, sweat and tears into their art and you can hear it. For songwriter Cory Wells, opening his heart and admitting his faults as he has done on his new album Harboring The Hurt I’ve Caused, was one of the hardest things to write. As he breaks out of a gentle style into pain-filled admissions on the title track, the honesty and heartache poured into the writing of this album is gut-wrenching. Painfully painted throughout his lyrics, Harboring The Hurt I’ve Caused each track stings with honesty as Wells admits his mistakes, shortcomings and the damage he has caused through his life. The music and his vocals veer from soothing, gentle moments to brutally honest heartache and the end result is simply sensational.

Pick up your copy of Harboring The Hurt I’ve Caused from here.

While She Sleeps
‘Self Hell’
Spinefarm Records

In our upcoming Cover story, Loz Taylor frontman with UK metalcore lads While She Sleeps talks about the inspiration behind new album Self Hell. Ever-developing, the album swerves between the electronic-tinged cathartic metalcore of “Leave Me Alone” with it’s hypnotic, crowd-pleasing “Leave me the fuck alone” chant, to the heartwrenching recent single “To The Flowers” where the band explore a more cinematic route. In our conversation the frontman promised an album that had plenty of surprises which should keep longtime Sleeps fans on the edge of their seat. It’s hard to disagree with him too as the calmer yet none-the-less passionate tones of “Radical Hate Radical Love” bring the exhilerating journey to an end.

Pick up your copy of Self Hell from here.

Backstabber
‘Patterns of Domination’ [EP]
Self-Release

Mixed and mastered by Christian Donaldson (Cryptopsy), this new four-track EP from Quebec-based maulers Backstabber is a pummelling effort. Following up their 2019 Conspiracy Theorist debut, Patterns of Domination is a savage onslaught of technical death metal. A lethal cocktail of jackhammer drums, guttural vocals and brain-melting guitar work, tracks like “Crawling Through Your Bones” are hammered home with devastating precision. This should come as no surprise given that someone of the stature of Donaldson has given the band the nod of approval. An over-all-too-quickly four tracks it may be but there is enough ferocity pouring out of this EP to make an almost five year wait worth it.

Pick up your copy of Patterns of Domination EP from here.

Simulakra
‘Reincarnation’ [EP]
DAZE Style

To put it bluntly, Reincarnation, the new EP from Connecticut metallic hardcore crew Simularka is the audio equivalent to being smashed in the face with a breeze-block. A mix of traditional death metal and modern metallic hardcore, the band’s sound has as much in common with the bludgeoning slam/death metal of Dying Fetus as it does the mosh-filled metallic chug of Hatebreed. Coming from a changing life outlook for vocalist Dom Pabon, Reincarnation sees the frontman exploring spirituality amongst other subjects and it’s done to a moshpit-ready soundtrack of top quality face-pummelling metallic hardcore.

Pick up your copy of Reincarnation from here.

Kid Kapichi
‘There Goes The Neighbourhood’
Spinefarm Records

When Hastings crew Kid Kapichi arrived kicking and screaming into the limelight, they couldn’t have timed their arrively more perfectly. From North to South to East to West, the UK was (and still is) wading chest deep in a cesspit of it’s own self-orchestrated bullshit and the street-ready sounds of Kid Kapichi captured that frustration and rage in one album. Unsurprisingly, the UK is still neck deep in it so There Goes The Neighbourhood is again perfectly timed. A musical molotov cocktail of rage, frustration and Prodigy-tinged street punk, each track is a snarling five minute insight into how 95% of the UK is feeling right now. Whereas punk became the essential soundtrack to British life in the 70s, in 2024, Kid Kapichi might not be able to save us but, as we wade through this living crisis, Kid Kapichi are exactly who you want scrapping with you on the frontline.

Pick up your copy of There Goes The Neighbourhood from here.