Six Emerging Bands Shaping the Future of Heavy Music at The Alternative Escape
Last Friday, I took a trip to Brighton, U.K. to check out a bunch of artists on the rise at The Alternative Escape, an underground music showcase featuring more than 150 artists. Hosted as part of The Great Escape festival, The Alternative Escape featured shows at various venues throughout Brighton — each with their own energy, genre, and attitude from venue to venue.
The great thing about an event like this is knowing you’re one of the few people to get a glimpse of some of the industry’s most exciting new up-and-coming talent. Forget labels, Spotify top streams, or mainstream coverage. The Alternative Escape actively encourages music lovers from all over to discover some of the most exciting and best new talent the industry has to offer.
This year, I’m highlighting six of the more insane acts in the heavy scene that played The Alternative Escape and who are at the very early stages of their careers. In other words, keep an eye out for these bands.
Persecutor
You know shit’s gonna get serious when a thrash metal band from Denmark spends the entirety of their set playing intense noodle riffs and announcing their setlist in an adrenaline-driven state of crazy vocal fries. So went Persecutor’s set, anyways.
Persecutor waltzed into that evening’s venue, The Fiddler’s Elbow, with an Anthony Kiedis/Freddie Mercury look-alike frontman in Christian Andrés Almanza. There was very little of an introduction from this band, and we grasped pretty quickly why that was, since their music didn’t need the small talk. From the get-go, Persecutor had taken over this compact venue with their boisterous energy and had crowds headbanging furiously. They played super tight throughout. You could tell this wasn’t their first rodeo.
Song Recommendation: “The Blitz”
Mallavora
Hitting the same stage as Persecutor was Bristol-based alternative metal quartet Mallavora. Throughout their performance, frontwoman Jessica Douek’s vocals were completely effortless with an even more impressive range, as she frequently weaved between hitting falsetto notes and deep gutturals. They debuted a new song called “Sick,” which had a solid entry of hard breakdowns and gnarly pig squeals.
Led by a disabled, neurodivergent singer, Mallavora were pretty solid on getting the message of inclusivity across. Despite being a small up-and-coming band, they used the platform they had to bring out this message, and it’s moments like this where you think, if a band this small can do this correctly, why can’t some of our favorite bands? Take notes, this is how you do it.
Song Recommendation: “Wake Up”
Glass Grave
Now for some heavy screamo for all ten emos that enjoy reading our content. Glass Grave had a real noughties hardcore sound to them. Playing underneath obliterating lights, the frontman spent a large part of the show walking around the venue, blaring straight through screams into his mic. Like seriously, he hardly sang, or stopped for water. How he didn’t sound exhausted by the end of it was beyond me.
Though there were a few sound issues, Glass Grave stole the show with their resilient and charismatic energy and heavy impact song, “Alive.”
Song Recommendation: “Crosshairs”
HCK9
Good luck to anyone who tried to make it into The Fiddler’s Elbow for HCK9’s set on Friday afternoon. It was completely packed, even when the band were only sound checking. HCK9 is a London-based alt-rock artist on the rise. At The Alternative Escape, he brought out a live band, bringing his nostalgic 2000s grunge-rock sound to life.
A few songs that stood out on their setlist were the melodramatic emo rock, “Pretty Thing,” which they embraced with heavy riffs and powerful storytelling. And “When the Sun Sank” as it featured some great thrice screams.
Song Recommendation: “Arrows Fly”
Kite Thief
“We’re raw dogging live,” said Kite Thief’s frontwoman Elin Allan. What a belter of an opener. There were a few technical difficulties for Kite Thief on Friday. And after some reconfiguring, they revealed that they’d need to spend the next 30 minutes playing without patching or backing tracks.
Though a slightly rocky start, this setback did nothing for Kite Thief, as they carried on with resiliency. The Allan’s vocals were pretty solid, despite it being clear she was fighting for their life since the microphone was barely picking anything up. Though a pretty chaotic start, Kite Thief doubled down on that energy with protruding bass wobbles and hellish screams.
Song Recommendation: “Judge Judy & Executioner”
Snayx
Playing at The Black Lion for Alyx Holcombe’s special takeover, Snayx did exactly what they do best: put on an insane show with killer energy. Although starting their show a good 25 minutes late (typical rockstar energy), Snayx had The Black Lion completely locked off.
Their setlist was jam-packed with adrenaline-driven, high-energy punk anthems with politically left lyrics about the mundanity and struggles of everyday life. At moments, their frontman Charlie Herridge crowdsurfed this tiny venue while aggressively rapping into his mic. Snayx’s self-righteous energy was a pretty perfect end to our day.
Song Recommendation: “Breathe”
