From industrial goth-pop to noise-punk: Alex Baker on the new bands you need right now

There’s a term that gets thrown around a lot but actually only applies to very few. It is: rock star.

I’m writing this while on my way home from London's O2 Academy Brixton where tonight, phem walked out onstage (to Bryan Adams’ Heaven, no less) and let the capital know that a rock star had landed. Not through words, of course, but though pure stagecraft and the effortless coolness that can only be authentically achieved when your talent is so glaringly obvious.

I didn’t actually go along to review phem’s show; I went to watch as a fan and supporter. But as someone who has dedicated such a large part of their career to supporting new talent I JUST CAN’T HELP MYSELF! Everyone needs to know about this otherworldly, talented individual. I’ve written about phem before here, and if you missed the big article the wonderful Jennyfer J. Walker wrote, check that out here.

Now, here’s some other bloody amazing artists you should check out…

Without a doubt one of the multitude of highlights from the incredible Bring Me The Horizon Weekender in Malta a while back took place on the Saturday morning. Death By Romy took to the stage and immediately entranced a field full of hungover music fans with her unique brand of industrial goth-pop. Her sound is dark, multi layered and seriously accomplished – very much the product of someone who has been writing music since they were only five years old.

The fall-out from the show was amazing – I spoke to many, many people in the crowd later in the day who were still pumped from her performance and the fact they’d discovered their new favourite artist. Perhaps the same is about to happen to you?

With more chaotic, thunderous energy than a battle between Zeus and Hades, Birmingham has spat out yet another incredible rock band and it has taken the form of Creature. Over the past three years, these noiselords have released a trilogy of EPs: Hex, Hound and their brand new EP Haunt – each one packing an anvil's worth of punch and tearing into the state of our world and political systems. This is punk, but on the noisiest, most aggressive end of the spectrum. With small rays of light punching through the onslaught, Creature understand the importance of drama in music.

They’ve just been touring the UK with Lorna Shore, but if you didn’t catch them at one of their shows, and if you haven’t heard me playing the bejeezus out of them on Kerrang! Radio, then maybe this will be the moment that you welcome the savagely heavy, Netherlands and Slovakian based deathcore band Distant into your sorry lives (lol!). Vocalist Alan Grnja is utterly commanding, with guttural roars that fill every part of your ears, chest and soul. Plus, if you like ludicrously massive, spacious, crushing breakdowns, well…

Restraint is hard in music. It’s easy to go all-out and it’s easy to pull it right back, but occupying that middle ground, where there’s tension and release, where there’s sonic thickness, but also space that takes restraint and I love to hear it. So when I heard Euphoria from Northern chaps My Only Solution, I was instantly hooked – it’s a tune that draws on everyone from Deftones to Radiohead and creates a truly engaging sound. Check out their brand new album Violent Delights Have Violent Ends and see what you think. Oh, and listen to Euphoria right now.

Born from the ashes of ALAZKA and Time The Valuator (who I loved), comes Floya, a two-piece from Germany who have putting out a steady stream of alt. smash-hits. Alternative music is changing, with the new breed of artists opting for huge melodic hooks over riffs, and cinematic soundscapes over heaviness – new rock has never sounded so slick and shimmering and it’s going to be very interesting over the next decade to see the impact of that…

Will rock become mainstream again? Are you a gatekeeper that doesn’t want it to? Hahaha! Embrace Floya!

Listen to Alex Baker host the Fresh Blood show on Kerrang! Radio every Wednesday from 9pm.