The V13 Fix #011 w/ Microwave, Full Of Hell, Cold Years 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…

Edit The Tide
‘Reflections In Sound’ [EP]
Self-Release

Despite only having been around since April 2023, the various members of British alt-rock quintet Edit The Tide came to the plate with a wealth of experience having shared stages with the likes of Bring Me The Horizon, You Me At Six and Funeral For A Friend amongst others. Not only does this experience explain the maturity of their sound but it also forms a good starting point for it. Emotionally-charged, anthemtic alt-rock is the name of their game, their debut EP has some huge songs on it like “Ambience” and the pulsating “Paradigm” where, if they can tap into that market, give them the potential for a bright future.

Pick up your copy of Reflections In Sound online here.

Godeth
‘The Path Of Destruction’
Self-Release

Hailing from Leeds, this Yorkshire metal crew have already proved themselves as a force to be reckoned with on the live circuit. Crowd-performances at the likes of Bloodstock Open Air have already marked them as a name to be watched and their new EP, The Path of Destruction is only going to ramp up that reputation. Taking in from the likes of Slipknot and Thy Art Is Murder is an earth-shudderingly brutal effort. The devastating “Coup de Grâce” is guaranteed to ignite wild circle-pits while “Hatred” demonstrates a darker, more ominous side to their songwriting. Having already left a trail of devastation in their wake, The Path of Destruction shows no sign of relenting.

Pick up your copy of The Path of Destruction online here.

Full of Hell
‘Coagulated Bliss’
Closed Casket Activities

Come on, let’s face it here. With a name like Full of Hell, you can’t be expecting anything other than utter carnage. However, while that be the case with Coagulated Bliss, amongst this mangled metal wreckage of an album, the Maryland grinders have injected groove and, dare I use the phrase, melody. Of course, those elements only surface sporadically because, for the rest of this listen, Coagulated Bliss is a soul-crushing, blacker than tar experience. Almost black metal blasts of unadulterated savagery spit out at you while their use of industrial chunks on tracks like “Fractured Bonds To Mecca” are clinical, cold and machine-like in their execution. An album coming from a place of sorrow rather than one of anger, that just makes Coagulated Bliss an even more disturbing listen.

Pick up your copy of Coagulated Bliss online here.

Belmondo
‘The Blessed And The Evil’
Silent Cult

We covered a taster single from rising dark rock Belmondo in an earlier V13 Fix column and have now landed ourselves a copy of the EP. Delving into this EP, it’s satisfying to report that, The Blessed And The Evil continues in the same format as that single. Hauntingly sombre, the rest of the EP is equally as hypnotic as the single as the band swirl around a cooking pot of dark, industrial-tinged rock with equally dark pop hooks to craft an end result that will send a shiver down your spine but for all the right reasons.

Pick up your copy of The Blessed And The Evil online here.

ACxDC
‘G.O.A.T.’
Prosthetic Records

It’s amazing to discover that, despite having been together for over two decades, G.O.A.T. is still only powerviolence crew ACxDC’s second album. Following up 2020’s Satan Is King, G.O.A.T. is equally as blunt in it’s execution. A hostile mix of grindcore, powerviolence, hardcore and crust, none of the seventeen tracks on offer tick over into the two minute mark but, quite frankly, given the ferocity with which they spit out each track, anything over two minutes is likely to make your head explode. With guest appearances from the likes of Alex Jones from Undeath and Elliot Morrow from Gulch, G.O.A.T., the album explores themes of depression through a savage soundtrack of humour-tinged violence.

Pick up your copy of G.O.A.T. online here.

My Favourite Nemesis
‘We Annihilate’
Seek and Strike

When you think of metal and the Finnish metal scene first thoughts are of melodic metallers Children of Bodom and their polished, melody-driven sound. It would seem that, on the evidence of We Annihilate, there is definitely a healthy scene out in Finland with My Favourite Nemesis another flagbearer for modern Finnish metal. Very much in the harsher vein of modern metalcore, the Finns pack power, moshy hooks and melody into this five track EP. The combination of males/female vocals and cleans/harshes throughout the EP absolute soar while the wailing solos and galloping riffs take traits from both the traditional metal and metalcore with the end result combining both worlds into one epic package of heaviness.

Pick up your copy of We Annihilate online here.

Dead Flesh
‘Dehumanise’ EP
Self-Release

You only have to turn on the TV or read the news these days to find a wealth of inspiration for most modern heavy bands. Hertfordshire band Dead Flesh are no different and describe the inspiration behind their new EP as “a personal dive into misery, depression, and the state of the world in its current form.” Tracks like “Born Into The Meat Grinder” and “Bodies Upon Bodies” are just outright gutbusters while “Swallowing Nails” has a sinster, unnerving air about it. This five-track EP shows that there is plenty to get excited about from this Hertfordshire crew if you like your music to have you looking nervously over your shoulder to find it ready to stove a hammer through your face.

Pick up your copy of Dehumanise online here.

Deicide
‘Banished By Sin’
Reigning Phoenix Music

Florida death metal veterans Deicide are back and judging by the opening tracks on Banished By Sin, they’re sounding more savage than ever. With fresh blood in the line-up joining original members Glen Benton and Steve Asheim, the Florida legends are returning back to their older style. What that means is a no-holds-barred death metal assault that sounds like no other death metal band. Benton’s vocals are more hateful and snarling than ever while the underlying sound is pinned together by Asheim’s monsterous drumming. With Christianity in his line of fire, Benton and his bandmates unleash all hell through “Bury The Cross… With Your Christ” and “Sever The Tongue”. There is no mistaking the target for Benton’s wrath and in Banished By Sin, he hammers his message home in the most vicious way possible.

Pick up your copy of Banished By Sin online here.

Cold Years
‘A Different Life’
MNRK

Sometimes you put on an album and, from the moment it kicks in, you just know it’s going to represent a period in your life as much as it did to the creators. A Different Life by Aberdeen punk rockers Cold Years is one of those albums. Transcending time, this is how you could imagine a band like Green Day sounding if they came from the rough as fuck streets of Aberdeen and still spent their lives touring around in a battered transit. Big and brash, A Different Life has the trials and tribulations tattooed on its sleeve and you can just feel that these Scots have lived every moment that has inspired this album. From the stomping “Youth” to the (almost) radio-friendly tones of “Fuck The Weather”, A Different Life is as honest a representation of a band breaking away from the 9 to 5, 2.5 kids and a picket fence lifestyle as you could want.

Pick up your copy of A Different Life online here.

Microwave
‘Let’s Start Degeneracy’
Pure Noise Records

Atlanta trio Microwave are back with their long-awaited fourth album, LET’S START DEGENERACY, the title drawn from a conservative politician’s take on drugs in 1970. An album which swings from melancholic pop to slacker rock, Let’s Start Degeneracy, is a hypnotic listen with the likes of “Circling the Drain” guaranteed to get the head nodding within seconds. The latter sees vocalist/guitarist Nathan Hardy sneering “I don’t give a fuck about anything” and, as the album progresses, it really does give off a truly carefree attitude. In fact it’s that attitude to let their sound take the band wherever it goes which makes Let’s Start Degeneracy such a captivating listen.

Pick up your copy of LET’S START DEGENERACY online here.