StepsonDiscover Lonely (Single)

Like it or loathe it, the “elder” emo tag on social media has popped off the last couple of years. Why? Because emo is now retro.

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I don’t think you’ll hear My Chemical Romance on Gold 104.3 any time soon, but in two years’ time The Black Parade will turn 20 and our souls into ash.

Stepson are bounding into a new “era” (as their press fluffers say) armed with a strident new sound overflowing with granite-edged riffage and ethereal melody. Beginning only with drums and reverb-drenched plucked strings, vocalist Brock Conry delivers lamentations somewhere between a croon and a whisper. Gathering speed to heart-stopping rest, this is where the action starts.

Discover Lonely, if it isn’t already hotly requested, will be an undisputed highlight of their upcoming April tour

They explode into a rousing, pit-opening chorus, each member firing searing licks and riffs and pathos at the listener. It’s that kind of rhythm that whacks people upright not unlike how Sleep Token does, without all that cloak and dagger faffing about. A yawning chasm opens up for their hardcore breakdown™, Conry knocking us flat screaming he’s “Just skin and bones of a life left soulless” as bottom-heavy chug leads us directly to the jugular abiding a Heart of Darkness.

Treading through the song’s brainwormy, familiar verse, it’s that tantalising chorus where Stepson pull back their sleeves and bleed for everyone to see. Discover Lonely, if it isn’t already hotly requested, will be an undisputed highlight of their upcoming April tour.

STICK THIS NEXT TO: Ambleside, Casey, Sleep Token