The V13 Fix #014 w/ Thou, Bad Nerves, Four Stroke Baron & 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 check out our Spotify 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…

Four Stroke Baron
‘Data Diamond’
Prosthetic Records

The bumph which accompanies this album states that this is Four Stroke Baron at their most confidently unhinged. It’s impossible to disagree as the sense-frazzling Data Diamond almost schizophrenically jolts through each track. An album with a theme almost as bonkers as the music, Data Diamond explores morbid tales including a Radio Shack CEO, an internationally acclaimed cyborg, an accidental trafficker of human body parts, and the leader of a death cult located in a convenience store. These twisted stories are played out to a psychedelic, sanity-mauling display of pop hooks so bizarre yet so utterly attention-grabbing that you’ll be left knowing you loved this record but you will have no idea why…

Pick up your copy of Data Diamond online here.

Enquire Within
‘Elysium’
Self-Release

The first thing you notice as Elysium opener and recent single “Seeds of Destruction” is how Brit metallers Enquire Within pull no punches. Combining modern metal with an old-school twist, their slamming Lamb of God-inspired grooves rattle along in a way that will be familiar to fans of the modern metal while tours with the likes of Acid Reign and Evile certainly explain the traditional British thrash metal rage injected into the sound. Thematically, the album explores everything from male mental health to environmental issues all packaged up into one uncompromising collection of songs.

Pick up your copy of Elysium online here.

Reliqa
‘Secrets of the Future’
Nuclear Blast

Monique Pym, vocalist with progressive metalcore outfit Reliqa has described their Nuclear Blast debut as an album with two sides as well as one that sees the quartet taking a few risks. Listening to the album, Secrets of the Future, the personality switch is clear throughout. Switching between electronica-drenched passages to jarring, crunching metalcore, to blistering progressive passages, the likes of “Killstar (The Cold World)” certainly don’t follow a conventional metalcore path this being matched by Pym’s vocals which, like the album, slide effortlessly from dreamy and ethereal to a spite-filled bite at the flip of a switch.

Pick up your copy of Secrets of the Future online here.

Hellbutcher
‘Hellbutcher’
Metal Blade

You only need to take one look at the artwork of Hellbutcher, the new album from the Swedish black metallers of the same name to know what to expect. Hellbutcher don’t disappoint either. A thunderous, testicle-crushing display of old-school, proper black/thrash metal, Hellbutcher wears its influences proudly on its battle jacket. Studded wristband raised proudly to the sky in defiance of posers as it rattles through a neck-snapping eight-track homage to the horned one, Slayer, Iron Maiden and Mercyful Fate. Shredding guitar solos, hellish vocals and a raw production only emphasise Hellbutcher’s promise that “Hellbutcher is music for real headbangers!”.

Pick up your copy of Hellbutcher online here.

Zero One
‘Faults In My Design’
Self-Release

Edinburgh-based metalcore troop, Zero One follow up their 2021 Empty debut EP, with this finely-tuned slab of metalcore/post-hardcore. New line-up additions and gigs supporting hard-hitters like Ithaca and Pupil Slicer have helped them craft a sound that one minute is sky high before landing breezeblock heaviness on your head the next. A fine production job straddles the line between gritty and polished enhancing both sides of the Scottish outfit’s personality. Two EPs and the band look like they are heading in the right direction, and even this early in their career, it would be fair to say that there are few faults in this design.

Pick up your copy of Faults In My Design online here.

Lock Horns
‘Red Room’
The Distortion Project and Code 7 Distribution

“Good things take time, but great things take longer…”, is a confident statement from progressive Northern Ireland metallers Lock Horns who have taken almost six years to record the follow-up to their Molon Labe release. Red Room is a masterful display of stuttering, jarring riffs, complex grooves and twisted progressive passages. Tracks like “Skin & Bones” epitomize everything this band does so well as their pummelling riffs intertwine with the kind of creativity and depth that only comes from creators who connect. Emerging post-COVID, the Belfast band arrived armed with new ideas and a desire to push boundaries. Red Room is the result and it truly is stunning.

Pick up your copy of Red Room online here.

Bad Nerves
‘Still Nervous’
Lowly Records

UK punk rock described as “the bastard child of a Ramones/Strokes one-night stand”, Still Nervous, the new album from Brit noisemakers Bad Nerves is everything you could want from a modern punk record. Now, we’re not talking pop-punk here, just to be clear. Yes, the hooks could be deliciously pop, but the attitude, the energy, the chaos, that’s pure classic punk rock. The UK outfit comes screaming out of whichever trashy bar they’ve been holed up in to deliver twelve tracks of no-holds-barred, raucous punk rock that reminds us in no uncertain terms that live is for living and it’s for living fast, loud and out of control.

Pick up your copy of Still Nervous online here.

Marjana Semkina
‘Sirin’

Some albums are more than just a collection of songs. Some albums take you on a journey. Some mesmerize you. Sirin, the second solo album from Marjana Semkina, the progressive dark folk artist and vocalist of prog duo Iamthemorning, is both of those things. A powerful, dramatic effort, Sirin takes you on a journey of dark stories and fairy tales each told in Marjana’s unique, breathtaking way. Marjana delivers each tale with heartfelt emotion to a dramatic, haunting soundscape. The result is an album that captivates the listener and brings them into the world that inspires it. A breathtaking, hypnotic, provocative body of work, Sirin puts the UK-based artist up alongside her peers and deservedly so.

Pick up your copy of Sirin online here.

Dune
‘Years of Chains’
Self-Release

There is a moment during Years of Chains where Dunevocalist Samer Nakhala lets fly with a scream which could have been lifted from any mid-90s Slayer recording. Elsewhere throughout this four-track effort, Dune takes you on a trip combining old-school and modern thrash metal. Like the scream, you can pick out plenty of influences such as Pantera and Slayer throughout these eighteen minutes while lyrically, the band explore a world of dark thoughts and aggression. All combined, Years of Chains is a veritable feast of punchy thrash for those who like to bang their hands.

Pick up your copy of Years of Chains online here.

Thou
‘Umbilical’
Sacred Bones

Crawling out of the New Orleans extreme metal scene, Thou are back with another unapologetic slab of noise. Umbilical, their first offering for new home Sacred Bones, is a terrifying listen. The musical equivalent to a nail bomb going off in your face, the New Orleans band unleash a vile cocktail of sludge, punk and grindcore on their latest opus. An album for the non-conformists, Umbilical lurches along refusing to be pigeonholed or held back by the shackles of modern society. A huge fuck-you to conformity, for a huge percentage of society this band and album will be a deeply unpleasant experience, for the rest of us, the abrasive grind of Umbilical makes for a truly cathartic listen.

Pick up your copy of Umbilical online here.