Introducing Cove: The new new wave of British heavy metal

In the last year or so since we formed, we’ve definitely seen a turn towards heavier, more challenging music,” says Cove guitarist Pete Woolven of his band’s explorations into heavier territories. “It’s even shocked me a little bit. I didn’t see it coming, if I’m honest – I thought we’d be too heavy for a lot of people but I feel very positive about the scene in Britain.”

Pete has every right to feel confident. Not only is heavier British music currently in ruder health than it has been for many years, but the band that he formed at the tail-end of 2015 are in prime position to take advantage with their brand of discordant, riff- heavy noise – though Pete is wary of pigeonholing the guys too neatly.

“I guess you could lump our band in with a lot of the metalcore bands that are about now,” he says when asked where Cove fit in, “but we don’t consider ourselves one. We want to play heavy, technical music, but we’re all hardcore kids. That scene is really important to us.”

The scene that Cove were born from is the hugely fertile breeding ground of Kent. Go back 15 years and it was arguable that that part of the country boasted the finest collection of punk and hardcore bands around, from heavyweights like Feed The Rhino to lesser-known but equally brilliant names like xCanaanx, November Coming Fire, Babies Three and Winter In June. These days the scene is still vibrant, but more populated by “alt-rock and emo bands”, according to Pete.

“I think that Kent has a really strong music scene,” he tells us. “It isn’t like London where there are so many more bands. Everybody knows one another and that is a real strength, the unity all the bands have. But we are one of the few heavier bands around there right now. We knew about bands like Hildamay and Feed The Rhino back in the day, and we would love to be able to carry on what those guys did.”

If they carry on the momentum from last year’s extremely promising We Were Once Lost EP then they might just eclipse them. Seven tracks of thuggish, melody-tinged metallic hardcore, it shows a young band with immense potential for growth and one that could become a force in a British scene overflowing with great young talent.

“We aren’t going to sit here and pretend that we think about selling out Brixton Academy or something like that,” smiles Pete when we ask him about the band’s grand ambitions. “Our goal is just to do this as well as we can. We aren’t interested in being flavour of the month, we just want to continue to make music together and, hopefully, progress to a place where the people who are true to this music are inspired by what we’re doing.”

WE WERE ONCE LOST IS OUT NOW

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