Floods: Floods

Rising melodic hardcore crew bring sweetness and blight

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Melding spunky melodic hardcore with the heavier end of pop punk, St Albans crew Floods have set themselves up nicely as a band to bridge gaps and bring in fans from a variety of corners of the modern punk and hardcore spectrum.

Despite a variety of setbacks that blighted much of the recording process (not least some rather destabilising lineup changes), the five-piece’s self-titled debut has finally landed, and it’s brimming with insanely catchy melodies, snarling, punked-up riffs and enough moments of pure, balls-out punk rock euphoria to ensure that seeing tracks like Snake Eater and Light performed in the flesh could and should be nothing less than spectacular.

Particular moments of note include the fierce, chest-beating anthem, Hotel Cooper and the heartwarming You Convinced Me That I Needed It, there are singalongs etched all over the damn thing. Truth be told, the clean vocals aren’t the strongest ever, but they fit the bill well enough to not be a distraction, giving Floods enough impetus to start working towards being something special.

Merlin Alderslade
Executive Editor, Louder

Merlin moved into his role as Executive Editor of Louder in early 2022, following over ten years working at Metal Hammer. While there, he served as Online Editor and Deputy Editor, before being promoted to Editor in 2016. Before joining Metal Hammer, Merlin worked as Associate Editor at Terrorizer Magazine and has previously written for the likes of Classic Rock, Rock Sound, eFestivals and others. Across his career he has interviewed legends including Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy, Metallica, Iron Maiden (including getting a trip on Ed Force One courtesy of Bruce Dickinson), Guns N' Roses, KISS, Slipknot, System Of A Down and Meat Loaf. He has also presented and produced the Metal Hammer Podcast, presented the Metal Hammer Radio Show and is probably responsible for 90% of all nu metal-related content making it onto the site.