September is upon us, and with it the final three months of 2025! We've had a healthy trickle of new releases in recent months with the likes of Deftones, Turnstile and Babymetal all dropping new albums over the summer, but we're far from done. There's still new albums from Creeper, Avatar, Sabaton and more to come before the end of 2025, and that's to say nothing of emergent talent.
Speaking of! Much as we did last month, we're back with another round-up of brilliant new talent from the world of rock, punk and metal that you should check out. Whether it's the hardcore/death metal fusion of Kentucky's Gates To Hell, shimmering synths of The Defect, Welsh riffers King Kraken, London-Hastings crossover thrashers Inhuman Nature or the nu metal meets shoegaze of Split Chain, we've got a diverse selection for you to get your ears around.
So stick 'em up, crank the volume up and have a fantastic end to the summer!
Gates To Hell
Gates To Hell made quite the impact with their self-titled debut in 2022. Their frenetic mix of old-school death metal and stomping hardcore proved to be a potent combination that elevated them from playing the small club circuit in their native Kentucky to recently supporting Kublai Khan on sold-out European and UK runs.
“We’ve been used to playing DIY shows in front of about 50 people, so to go from that to venues with over 1,000 capacity was an insane step up,” explains guitarist and main songwriter Seth Lewis. “We were also the only death metal band on the line-up, so to see crowds going nuts and enjoying our music was amazing.”
Their recent additions – guitarist Eli Hanson and drummer Trey Garris (brother of Knocked Loose frontman Bryan) – solidified Gates To Hell’s ranks, and they’ve recorded a new album, Death Comes To All: 20 minutes of unrelenting brutality designed to propel them into the spotlight.
“This was the first time we sat down as a band and had a drummer write and flesh out their own parts, which we think made a big difference,” admits Seth. “Being able to work with Randy LeBoeuf at Graphic Nature Audio also helped us feel a lot more locked in.”
Inspired by myriad sources such as Waking The Cadaver, Enemy Mind and Machine Head, Gates To Hell wear their influences on their collective sleeves.
“We would always meet up and go to shows, so the hardcore scene became very familiar to us,” says Seth. “Eli brought a lot of ideas to the table for the new album too, so meshing our styles together assisted in the progression of our sound. We want people to hear us and think, ‘Shit, this band goes hard!’” Dan McHugh
Death Comes To All is out now via Nuclear Blast. Gates To Hell play Louder Than Life and New England Metal & Hardcore festival in September and tour the US from September 24. For the full list of dates, visit their official website. The band also tour the UK with Sanguisugabogg, Celestial Sanctuary & Fulci in February 2026.
Sounds Like: An explosive blend of death metal and hardcore summoned straight from the Underworld
For Fans Of: Gatecreeper, Frozen Soul, Vomit Forth Listen To: Next To Bleed
The Defect
Just 18 months ago, Moon McBee was a chef. Now, alongside her husband Jonny and drummer Brandon Funera (both members of electronicore outfit The Browning), she’s released an album with her industrial metal band, The Defect, and toured the US.
Formed last year as Death X Destiny - a name that’s been given to their debut album – The Defect were born of Jonny’s desire to separate The Browning’s heavier tracks from the more melodic, synth-led music the band had dabbled in. As a debutant vocalist, Moon not only had to learn how to sing, but also how to become a professional musician.
“Other than singing in the car, I haven’t done shit,” Moon admits with a laugh. “I feel like true musicians hear music in layers and they hear different aspects of the music, whereas the average consumer – which is what I came into this as – hears it as a whole, so I’ve been having to learn how to hear different parts. It’s been kind of a lot.”
On the trio’s debut album, Death X Destiny, shimmering synths dance and intermingle with Moon’s alluring vocals, only to give way to pounding riffs, guttural howls from Jonny and artillery-like drums. It’s an album of wild extremes, undulating restlessly across 10 tracks. Songs like Broken Minds and A Way Out are the yin to the yang of Immortal and Dreamwalker, highlighting The Defect’s ability to balance ethereal lightness with crushing darkness respectively.
But although the record was put together over the past year, The Defect aren’t taking it easier now they’re established.
“I don’t know how many beans I can spill yet, but big things are coming,” Moon teases. “Tours and festivals, some out of US stuff… People will be happy.” Jack Terry
Death X Destiny is out now via Fixt.
Sounds Like: Androids dreaming of electric sheep – with added neon
For Fans Of: The Browning, Nine Inch Nails, I See Stars
Listen To: Dreamwalker
King Kraken
“We used to rehearse in a music shop, but we got kicked out for being too loud,” laughs King Kraken singer Mark Donoghue. “I think that’s a promising sign.”
King Kraken are not a timid bunch. They’re a window-shaking, chest-thumping, riff-heavy metal band and, for Mark, they’re an opportunity to forge a new career. He’s got decades of singing experience, but aside from a brief stint in an obscure rap metal group called Blackfly, he’s mainly performed in cover bands. With King Kraken, he can play his own songs and, this time, there’s not a turntable scratch or oversized pair of jeans in sight.
The new King Kraken album, March Of The Gods, showcases this beautifully. It’s a collection of anthems steeped in heavy metal tradition but beefed up with modern production. King Kraken have roots in stoner metal but possess a vitality that their more bleary-eyed contemporaries lack.
There are bowel-loosening basslines, chunky power chords, and enough swagger to make this an essential gym soundtrack for classic metal devotees. There’s a surprising amount of variation in the lyrics, too. Berserker is a good old Vikings-on-a-rampage rabble-rouser, but at the other end of the spectrum there’s Hero, a tearjerking tribute to Mark’s father.
King Kraken have an emotional depth that stems from the knowledge that life won’t last forever.
“The older you get, you go to less christenings and more funerals,” Mark admits.
But this fatalistic outlook has a positive side. Recognising that time was passing, he realised he wanted to throw his energy into King Kraken and, finally, at the tender age of 52, it’s all coming together.
“If you told 20-year-old-me, ‘You’re going to play Stone Dead, you’re going to play Bloodstock…’ I would have said, ‘You’re joking!’ This is a dream, and it’s absolutely insane. Tim Bolitho-Jones
March Of The Gods is out now. King Kraken support Phil Campbell And The Bastard Sons in Pontypridd and Narbeth in October.
Sounds Like: Axe-swinging, riff-heavy, big chorus thunder metal
For Fans Of: Clutch, Grand Magus, Metallica
Listen To: Berserker
Inhuman Nature
A denim-clad, Snake Plissken-like road warrior slays the Grim Reaper with a massive sword amid a Streets of Rage-style urban riot on the cover of Greater Than Death, the second album from UK thrashers Inhuman Nature.
It’s fair to say the band’s tongues are planted firmly in-cheek. But like thrash forebears Nuclear Assault, the London-Hastings five-piece have serious undertones too, with themes on the ferocious 30-minute record covering animal rights, Palestine, and the fascist threat.
“If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry,” says vocalist Chris Barling. On toeing that line between social ills and outrageous thrashing, Chris is keen to point out their music is fun: "Servants of Annihilation -- it's stupid!” He says “I wanted to write a dumb-but-good song that's just like: ‘Fuck yeah, we're on tour.’"
Balancing mosh-friendly beer-soaked zeal with intricate musicianship and social awareness, IN follow in the stomping boot-steps of bands like Power Trip and Drain. While crossover usually hews in the direction of high-energy hardcore or throwback thrash, Inhuman Nature dump their many influences – from death to D-beat – on your head like a vat of acid.
They’ve been around since 2017 and released their self-titled debut in 2019, but found themselves kept from the studio for nearly five years thanks to tour offers with everyone from NY legends Cro-Mags to sludge pioneers Crowbar.
“It’s served us in the long run,” says bassist Daragh Markham. “When we got to the studio, we were so tight with each other, the influences really coalesced – we’re confident and forceful now.”
Forceful is about right. Album opener, Dawn Of Inhuman Man, blasts out the gate with high-tempo violence. Yet both pitch and vibes shift immediately on Possessed To Die, with occasional squealing guitars and a lick that’s pure 80s Testament. It’s chaotic, apocalyptic arse-kicking from beginning to end, worthy of the death-smashing mutant on the cover. Tamlin Magee
Greater Than Death is out now via Church Road
Sounds Like: A Post-Armageddon pint-spilling circle pit
For Fans Of: Power Trip, Morbid Saint, Nuclear Assault
Listen To: Possessed to Die
![Inhuman Nature - Possessed To Die [Official stream] - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/LTsTfGZnA0s/maxresdefault.jpg)
Split Chain
Bristolian 'nu gaze' quintet Split Chain formed in 2023, when bassist Tom Davies was getting sober and found that he had far more free time on his hands than he was comfortable with.
“Bert [Martinez-Cowles, vocalist] being the mate that he is, decided he was going to help me through it,” Tom remembers. “Bert and I were just watching skate videos, listening to music, and we decided to write a Superheaven song for fun. We wrote the two demos for Get Inside and Future and thought, ‘Fuck, this is actually really good!’”
Lyrically, their songs are deeply personal. “I’m Not Dying To Be Here is about dealing with family, and being at such a toxic and horrible point,” Bert says. “The point of the song is that I’m not going to put myself through so much to stay in this family… Do what you need to do to not be in bad places.”
With its hazy bounce, I’m Not Dying… would be right at home on the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater soundtrack, while Future injects more nu metal into washes of guitar. With their shimmering guitars and laconic vocals, Split Chain’s most obvious influence is undeniably Deftones, but there’s a distinct grunge influence underpinning their music, and a cover of Type O Negative’s I Don’t Wanna Be Me shows a love for wider cultural touchpoints of the 90s.
Following their initial clutch of singles, they’ve inked a deal with Epitaph Records for their debut album Motionblur, a record they describe as a “coming of age story”. Starting as a way to help a friend stay sober, Split Chain have grown into a passion project and homage to the end-of-the-century music and culture they love. Will Marshall
Motionblur is out now via Epitaph. Split Chain tour the US with Thrown and 156/Silence from September 23 and support Landmvrks at The Roundhouse in London on December 7. For the full list of upcoming tour dates, visit their official website.
Sounds Like: Booting up the PlayStation and being sucked into Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater
For Fans Of: Superheaven, Deftones, Loathe
Listen To: I’m Not Dying To Be Here
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