These LITM Rock Picks are powerful and addictive – coming to you from artists like Valaura, Hellkern Warriors, Ben Heyworth, and more!
1. Valaura – Hallowed Ground
From Hallowed Ground’s very first moments, you’re hit with a wave of sound that blends blues and dark-rock, creating a sound reminiscent of Evanescence’s work. The song doesn’t build constantly: when the chorus’ soaring vocals and insistent drumming hit, they do so with a punch, commanding your attention completely. Valaura balances light yet powerful vocals with a background melody that’s more complex than it sounds at first listen, allowing the vocals to take centre stage throughout the track. Venturing into experimental territory, Hallowed Ground doesn’t follow the typical paths or structure you’d expect, and this makes it a fascinating listen!
2. Hellkern Warriors – Endless Road
Hellkern Warriors’ Endless Road is foot-tappingly catchy and powerful even in its atmosphere of melancholia and moodiness. Bringing darkwave together with post-punk elements, they create something that’s subversive and striking, drawing you in, inviting you to peel back its layers. Produced to let the rich vocals blend seamlessly with the instrumental layers, the song is designed to create a wash of emotions that envelops you, rather than prompting you to look for and overthink its meaning. With lyrics like “Crank the volume, kill the doubt / Let the engine scream it out / On this endless road, I’m rollin’ / Chasing lightning in my veins,” the song creates a feeling of liberation and freedom – listen here!
3. Ben Heyworth – Image of Roads – Montana Mix
Image of Roads – Montana Mix is groovy and hypnotic, with hints of jazz peeping through on occasion. The song is built on restraint: from vocals that stay right in that sweet spot between low energy and overwhelming, to a drum layer that is just present enough to drive the track forward without calling attention to itself, Ben Heyworth and Minorplanet never go all out just for the sake of it. The song has a constant sense of moving forward while not really going anywhere in particular, giving it the feeling of moving in circles throughout the journey – the kind you sometimes need to let it all out. Check it out here!
4. Projekt C – Horn-Shell People
Projekt C’s Horn-Shell People is indie-rock at its finest. Describing themselves as “built on momentum, grit, and big hooks that hit fast,” and as being about “movement, not nostalgia: [creating] modern rock with teeth, designed for playlists, stages, and late-night drives,” they don’t disappoint on this track. It’s the kind of track that sounds simultaneously familiar, yet completely new and forward-facing, giving it a loopability that’s difficult to find. Designed to stick, to make you want to get moving, its addictive energy and catchy rhythm would make it the perfect fit for a headbanging, sweaty, dancing crowd. Listen here!
5. Valiancy – Voices
Voices by Valiancy is dramatic, textured, and raw in a way that pulls you into its swirling contemplation. Maintaining a tone that’s at once sombre and uplifting, it’s never straightforward: it makes you work to decode it, to figure out what lies under its mask. “I just want to feel something so right / But you know you never loved me / ‘Cause all those voices, they're calling me, calling me / They're calling me in my head, yeah, I wish I was dead,” sings Valiancy, under the grain and distortion, subtly creating a feeling of melancholia that creeps up on you without you ever realising it. Give Voices a listen here.
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