Nine Bands That Went Out With A Bang

In the wake of HER NAME IS CALLA’s heroic return at ArcTanGent 2022, the Distorted Sound Discord server (obviously we called it Discorded Sound) has been aflame with suggestions of bands who released their best album before splitting up.

Ahead of their fifth studio album Animal Choir, HER NAME IS CALLA announced their split later in the year following a farewell show. The album was released and the band broke up on the same day, leaving fans with a self-contained product that would never be heard live; a devastating prospect given the impeccable and breathtaking quality of the experimental and artful post-rock record. As comfortable alongside a RADIOHEAD or NICK CAVE record as it would be next to TEETH OF THE SEA, MAYBESHEWILL or even BJORK, it’s a modern masterpiece of cinematic proportions. So when they were announced for this year’s ArcTanGent, fans rejoiced at the prospect of hearing some of this material for the very first time.

Here we compile nine more of our picks for bands that quit at the top of their game, be it through choice or tragedy.

As a final note, while we considered the likes of FINCH, REFUSED and AT THE GATES, we omitted them on account of their reformation and releasing of new albums. So yes, What It Is To Burn, The Shape Of Punk To Come and Slaughter Of The Soul are some of the best pre-split albums of all time, but they are not their final studio records. Still, get them on your playlist if you haven’t already!

EVERY TIME I DIE – Radical (2021)

What on earth happened? A year on from the implosion that ended hardcore legends EVERY TIME I DIE’s reign at the top of the genre, we’re still wrapping our heads around how they went from releasing one of the best records of 2021, to ceasing to exist in just four months. The opening scream of “Spare only the ones I love, slay the rest” is still one of the hardest-hitting openings produced in hardcore, and they continued to deliver gem after gem throughout the record, whether it was the raucous Planet Shit or the tender Thing With Feathers. A band that always seemed to release a new best, Radical was a crowning glory in an exemplary career, and one that reminds us just how good we really had it.

BOLT THROWER – Those Once Loyal (2005)

BOLT THROWER had been at the forefront of the British death metal scene for 20 years and were showing no signs of slowing upon the release of their eighth studio album Those Once Loyal. Plans for their first Australian tour in over a decade and indeed any future plans of any kind were scuppered though with the unexpected death of their long-time drummer Martin Kearns. A statement from the band on the first anniversary of his passing read: “when we carried his coffin to his final resting place, the BOLT THROWER drummer position was buried with him.” And so, the world was left with Those Once Loyal as a final shining example of what metal should be: brisk, bruising and bloody brilliant.

DEATH – The Sound Of Perseverance (1998)

DEATH should be a name that everybody on the metal landscape knows. The Floridian death metallers were pioneers of the sub-genre and are likely listed as an influence for most extreme metal bands around today. A case can be made for every one of their seven studio albums when figuring out which was their best, but The Sound Of Perseverance may just be one of the greatest and most vital metal albums of all time. Spirit Crusher, Flesh And The Power It Holds and Voice Of The Soul have since been widely recognised as singular highlights in the band’s career, and the record itself is the perfect bookend to a band that was tragically cut short by frontman Chuck Schuldiner‘s passing in 2001.

ARCANE ROOTS – Melancholia Hymns (2017)

Mathy genre-benders ARCANE ROOTS charted a steady course up through the ranks of British heavy music that all culminated in 2017’s Melancholia Hymns. The most fully realised version of the band’s sound (and hot on the heels of their phenomenal EP Heaven & Earth), it appeared the band was set to become the country’s hottest new power trio. Sadly, it was not to be, as the band announced their split out of the blue just one year later, citing “it is time for us to look inwards… to fully realise the hopes, dreams & ambitions we have for our own lives & careers”. Frontman Andrew Groves moved to Iceland to be a full time songwriter and producer; drummer Jack Wrench has since gone on to play extensively with the likes of Jamie Lenman; and bassist Adam Burton now works in admissions for the Institute of Contemporary Music Performance.

BLACK PEAKS – All That Divides (2018)

Another case of a band seemingly having the metal-adjacent world at their feet, BLACK PEAKS sadly called it a day devastatingly early. The decision came on the back of a string of shows that were either postponed or performed without generational frontman Will Gardner due to long periods of his own ill health. Though they teased fans with the standalone single King, it never came to anything more, and so we were left with All That Divides, a sophomore record that expanded on the rich tapestry of the debut record Statues, and had firmly planted the Brighton quartet as the future of British metal. 

NIRVANA – In Utero (1993)

After the global wildfire that was Nevermind, Kurt Cobain decided he’d had enough of the MTV, radio-play era for the grunge titans, and wrote In Utero. Much to the disdain of their record label and containing such songs as Rape Me and Radio Friendly Unit Shifter, this third and final album was a not-so-subtle middle finger to everything the band seemed to be becoming. By now, the whole world knows how it ended for NIRVANA, but there’s no denying they went out in a blaze of glory.

THE CHARIOT – One Wing (2013)

Ah, THE CHARIOT. The metalcore/hardcore punk outfit had anything but a smooth, straight-ahead career, running through a shopping list of members in their decade of existence. But 2013’s One Wing saw the band at their most experimental without sacrificing their tell-tale sense of math-tinged hardcore/metalcore chaos. The likes of First becomes a scene from a Western; Your drops the madness in favour of a sweet sung melody that abruptly ends; and album opener Forget is sheer hardcore madness. The different directions come at you at breakneck speed and can be a dizzying but incredibly satisfying experience. You can now find members of the band plying their trade with the likes of FEVER 333 and ’68. 

RAKETKANON – RKTKN#3 (2019)

Belgium’s RAKETKANON was hard to categorise but you knew when they were doing their thing well. And RKTKN#3 was a shining example of the four-piece’s ability to deliver wall-to-wall gold. Swinging wildly from hard, driving bangers like Fons to the slow-burning gentler stylings of Mélody and Mido, their third and final record was pure, unadulterated RAKETKANON through to its core. Better yet, the band split amicably, on the basis of having achieved all they could want to with RAKETKANON, stating: “Assessing that ride we’ve had, we find ourselves arriving at the end… You have enriched our lives. So this is where RAKETKANON ends.”

BOTCH – We Are The Romans (1999)

BOTCH may have just released a new song (and it’s an absolute ripper) but it looks as if We Are The Romans is definitely their final record as One Twenty Two was confirmed as a one-off by guitarist David Knudson. Since recognised as one of the most influential metalcore and mathcore records of all time, the Seattle natives left an indelible mark on the music world on just their second studio album. The likes of To Our Friends In The Great White North and Saint Matthew Returns To The Womb contain so many components that have been oft-copied and rarely matched on this side of the Millennium. The mere thought of having BOTCH back in our lives ignited the fanbase like wildfire, but alas, it was not to be. Still, long live BOTCH.

And that rounds off our picks of the bands that called it a day and went out with a bang. What do you think of our choices? Let us know in the comments below!