Credit: Jessica-Rose-Lena
You don’t need us to tell you that 2020 has been a weird year. With gigs as we know them unable to take place, most artists have successfully pivoted online to craft community and connection with livestreams of all shapes, sizes and successes.
However, heavy music hasn’t been able to embrace this new normal so easily. The genre really doesn’t lend itself to stripped back acoustic sessions and played at full throttle, as it ought to be, most bands would blow-out any sort of home studio setup. It’s why bedroom metal has never really been a thing. Technical issues aside, heavy music is at its best when it feels physical, like that rumble in your gut when the bass kicks in or when an inadvertent flying elbow in the pit connects. Watching it through a screen or from a safe distance turns that experience into one of detachment – and hasn’t this year been isolating enough?