For Fans Of: MetalSucks adds Megg Jacobs, Crüzer and more!

(Editor’s note: You’ve seen our weekly ‘Top Tracks’ playlist, but what we’ve got here is a sneak peek for a brand new weekly set of songs aimed at highlighting smaller acts. This will eventually make it to Spotify and Apple Music, but for now, you can check out the tracks below.)

Okay, before you shout at me, I know it’s been a little while since I graced you all with a killer For Fans Of playlist. To give a recap, For Fans Of is a weekly playlist featuring music from some of the best up-and-coming bands in the metal scene. For each new release mentioned, we note three major artists/bands/projects on a similar soundwave so you can gain a frame of reference.

Recapping on some of the content I got sent last week, I’ve got a fresh selection of tracks by emerging artists and bands in the heavy scene who need way more attention.

Although it’s a little shorter than usual, it’s still packed with some heat.

Let’s get into it!

“Ego” BY Megg Jacobs

You know, I love it when artists don’t look the way you’d imagine their music to sound. And rising metalcore artist Megg Jacobs is exactly that. Even her artist name. While it doesn’t exactly scream metal, Megg Jacobs is onto something really special.

Megg Jacobs is an up-and-coming artist from North Carolina, and don’t let her ethereal look be deceiving, because her music is packed with a nasty vengeance. “Ego” comes at you with thundering breakdowns and feral screams. This is what we’re talking about when we say we want metalcore to be brutal again, because “ego” is a definitive, hard-edged release that’s not to be fucked with.

For Fans Of: Spiritbox, Poppy, Bad Omens

“Look To The Skies” by Crüzer

Carrying on with the metalcore wave, but this time from a glam metal angle, are Canadian quartet Crüzer. If, like me, you love the kind of metal that makes you feel like you’re creating a new villain origin story in your head, then you’ll absolutely love this.

Gut-wrenching, gruelling, slithering glam metal with melodic undertones. There’s an oddly spellbinding story being told throughout “Look To The Skies.” It’s evil, but sonically pretty enchanting. Crüzer are very new to the scene, with less than 200 Instagram followers and just over 100 Spotify monthly listeners. “Look To The Skies” is the title track of their debut EP, and if you haven’t already, I’d strongly advise you to listen to what the rest of it entails.

For Fans Of: Cradle of Filth, Avenged Sevenfold, Carach Angren

“Enter the Misanthropocene” by Abhorrent Expanse

Welcome to this hyper-focused doom of impending chaos. Abhorrent Expanses’s latest single, “Enter the Misanthropocene” is so disorienting, it almost brings a stillness to your body. But once you get past those first 60 seconds, the tempo regulates itself and you feel a little more adjusted to its scandalously boisterous pace.

This one’s for all you extreme metalheads out there who love reading our content. If you aren’t already clued up on Abhorrent Expanse, you’re clearly missing out. Their music begs for your patience, and challenges you to endure a clusterfuck of disorientated sounds. The track is also accompanied by a hallucinogenic black and white music video, which is pretty cool.

For Fans Of: Mayhem, Animals as Leaders, Chimp Spanner

“Mercy Death” by lowheaven

Nothing is stopping this band right now. If you recall our first playlist, you might remember me mentioning them for their nu-metal single “Chemical Pattern”. Well, lowheaven are back. And this time with a more prog metal, post-hardcore offering. “Mercy Death” has a fuzzy electronic-induced undertone to it, and its vocals present as distorted, yearning echoes.

From what I’ve learned from listening to this band so far, it’s that they produce metal with a more falsetto vocal focus to it, and juxtapose it with hard-edged breakdowns and occasional gutturals. “Mercy Death” is the hardest track they’ve released so far, and it’s bound to cause some absolute carnage live.

For Fans Of: Deftones, Knocked Loose, Korn (Requiem album)

“Takes a Second” by Nerves

Ferocious doom-imposed metal with post-punk tendencies. Irish avant-punks Nerves are making waves with a sound that’s somewhat hard to distinguish. And that, my friends, is when you know you’re onto something.

“Takes a Second” edges you into a genre-bending chorus of distorted guitars and merciless drums. This song stands out as an odd one on this playlist, because vocally, the delivery lingers more towards the lighter spoken-word style, but sonically, it’s boasting with jagged riffs and screeching guitar shreds.

For Fans Of: Swans, Maruja, The Murder Capital

“Wine” by Vendetta Love

To all the slow-thinking stoners who read our content, where you at? This ones for you! Vendetta Love’s “Wine” is a sensual, slow-focused psych rock song. It’s grungier and a lot less frantic than the rest of the tracks on this playlist, but it really struck my attentione when I first listened to it.

“Wine” welcomes a more nostalgic and nonchalant sound and definitely leans more towards the old-school rocker side. Vendetta Love is the second Irish band I’ve mentioned on this playlist, so clearly, there are a lot of interesting heavy bands brewing in Ireland right now.

For Fans Of: Silverchair, Stone Temple Pilots, Alice in Chains