Empire State Bastard

Empire State Bastard is a brand new side project formed by Biffy Clyro frontman Simon Neil and Oceansize's Mike Vennart. Thanks to a shared interest in the heaviest, avant-garde and confrontational music, they seize every extremity of metal and adjacent genres with this new formation. Vocally, Simon sounds more varied than ever: from screams and gasps to growling death growls.

When ESB embarked on this sonic wasteland, they faced the big challenge: what music could they write to live up to this name? Their very first songs are the result of sharing the most extreme music they could find after their time touring together, and are described by Metal Hammer as, "It's as if Converge, Cult Of Luna and The Locust had Frank Black of Pixies write a few songs for them. Absolutely terrifying." To give this musical violence even more live power, the duo will be joined by Slayer legend Dave Lombardo on drums, accompanied by Naomi Macleod (Bitch Falcon) on bass.

Support: Benefits

The punk band Benefits has undergone a remarkable transformation in just four years. They have evolved from rough guitar punks into raw noise artists. The duo uses synths and angry vocals to effortlessly blend noise, hip-hop, industrial rock, electronica, and garage, as heard on their debut album 'NAILS.' Their music carries a powerful message and fearless sound, which has caught the attention of big names like Steve Albini, Sleaford Mods, and Modeselektor.