If Not For Me, a rapidly rising metalcore band out of Harrisburg, PA, burst onto the scene in 2018 with their heavy but accessible sound, and it’s been a nonstop ride ever since. The quartet just released their long-awaited album, Everything You Wanted, and are heading out on tour supporting Electric Callboy next month. I recently had the chance to catch up with the guys to go over their top ten hottest bands in the scene today, and this is what they shared.
1. Bring Me The Horizon - AmEN!
Bring Me has been ahead of the curve practically their entire career. They made the transition from deathcore/metalcore to a more rock radio friendly sound, to a more poppy sound, and then got even more experimental before anyone ever guessed those sounds would be dominating the game. I think it took a minute for people to accept the fact that Bring Me was evolving, but now they can put out literally anything they want and it’s gonna hit. People are still trying to write Sempiternal a decade later.
2. Sleep Token - Rain
Between the surprisingly smooth blend of djenty metalcore, pop, and soul/R&B influences, all coupled with the lyricism, imagery, and theatrics, I think it’s safe to say whether you love them or hate them, we’ve really never seen anything like Sleep Token before.
3. Bad Omens - Nowhere to Go
I feel like THE DEATH OF PEACE OF MIND dropped and reminded people that metalcore should be a little experimental every now and then. They took modern rock/metal and blended it with familiar pop and electronic elements with all these out-of-the-box vocals and production in a way that just feels fresh. I think it’s gonna end up being another record we’ll hear other bands try to recapture for quite some time.
4. nothing,nowhere. - THIRST4VIOLENCE
This entry probably didn’t really qualify for a “metal” list until very recently. Joe’s music has always aligned very heavily with the alternative music scene due to the prevalent subject matter of mental health and trauma, but it was probably best classified as an emo rap/singer-songwriter project. But he turned around and dropped an absolute metalcore BANGER of an album with last year’s VOID ETERNAL. This album just doesn’t miss and takes all of the emotional hip hop elements you’d come to expect from Joe’s songwriting and presents them in a completely new sound for him. I wish I didn’t sleep on nothing,nowhere. for so long because I honestly love his whole discography.
5. Bilmuri - BETTER HELL (Thicc Boi)
I honestly have no idea what Bilmuri is doing. They sometimes play metalcore, rock, pop, country, and any weird thing in between. It’s pretty cool to see an artist just doing whatever they want and clearly having fun with it.
6. The Home Team
I definitely wouldn’t call The Home Team a metal band, but they’re taking a lot of pop punk/pop rock and R&B elements and blending them with strong metalcore influences and production to make such a fresh, funky, massive sound. Definitely the coolest heavy pop band we’ve seen since the Issues days. Those dudes are doing something truly unique.
7. Electric Callboy - We Got the Moves
Electric Callboy is taking all the heavy electronicore vibes from the late 2000s and bringing it back like we’ve never seen before. They are so much fun and lighthearted and you can tell they don’t take themselves too seriously in the absolute best way. I absolutely love this band and can’t wait to tour with them this May!
8. The Plot in You - Forgotten
The Plot In You is another one of those bands that’s done a lot of genre hopping throughout their discography. However the one thing that’s been pretty consistent throughout is extremely unique songwriting. They always seem to pivot their sound in a direction you wouldn’t really expect from them, and now it seems like they’re really leaning back into their heavy roots again. Can’t wait to see what comes next from them.
9. Make Them Suffer - Ghost of Me
You can’t talk about current, modern metalcore without bringing up Make Them Suffer. They’re just so high energy and heavy, they bring the melody when they need to, and they throw in all these crazy sounds and production elements unlike anything I’ve ever heard in heavy music before. They’re one of those bands that as soon as you hear the song, you know exactly who it is.
10. Alpha Wolf - Akudama
Alpha Wolf is just non-stop. They take their unique blend of metalcore with hardcore attitude and present it in such a raw, energetic, and pissed off way, and the production sounds absolutely MASSIVE.
FOLLOW IF NOT FOR ME:
WEBSITE // INSTAGRAM // FACEBOOK // YOUTUBE // SPOTIFY // TIKTOK
