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The way the sound of the metal scene has advanced over the last couple of years has been a joy to behold. But you also have to admire those bands who are digging in their heels and indulging themselves purely and exclusively in the sound of straightforward, naked aggression. Belgian quintet Reject The Sickness take a similar approach to bands like Devildriver, in that, seemingly, the only truly challenging thing about them is to see if their audience can shake their head clean off their shoulders. This is gruff, brash, powerful, instantaneously vicious metal music. Full stop. And while The Weight Of Silence is fairly predictable and one-paced, and will certainly struggle to make many end-of-year lists, if you don’t get excited by the snarl of a song like Saviour you may well be reading the wrong magazine.
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Stephen joined the Louder team as a co-host of the Metal Hammer Podcast in late 2021, eventually becoming a regular contributor to the magazine. He has since written hundreds of articles for Metal Hammer, Classic Rock and Louder, specialising in punk, hardcore and 90s metal. He also presents the Trve. Cvlt. Pop! podcast with Gaz Jones and makes regular appearances on the Bangers And Most podcast.