Top 10 Emerging Bands That Will Make Their Mark In 2024

Is there any better time to be an alternative music fan? The last few years have gifted us some truly incredible music and there’s no signs of that slowing any time soon. This year, we’ve got returning royalty (JOB FOR A COWBOY, for one), highly-anticipated debuts (HERIOT) as well as a plethora of emerging bands that’ve started breaking through. These are ten bands we predict are onto huge things in 2024.

PSYCHO-FRAME

In a scene that’s well oversaturated with LORNA SHORE chasers and cookie cutter production polish, Florida/Missouri deathcore purists PSYCHO-FRAME stand out far more by taking the genre back to the essentials. On Bandcamp they promise “NO SYMPHONIES / NO PUSH PITS / NO WHISPER VOX / NO GIMMICKS” and across two EPs last year – REMOTE GOD SEEKER and AUTOMATIC DEATH PROTOCOL – they delivered exactly that. The all caps thing makes a lot of sense too; this is a band who don’t do anything by halves, every pinging snare and gurning slam and glorious sub drop pushed as gleefully far into the red as possible.

They didn’t even play a show last year but by the end of it they’d earned the respect of the likes SCARAB, VAMACHARA, VOMIT FORTH and WAKING THE CADAVER – members of whom all guested on the second of those EPs – and they’ve already promised two more releases for the year ahead. Add to this the fact that they will soon rectify the lack of live performances with stacked bills in Alabama and Florida and 2024 could well be the year that ‘spinkick deathcore’ becomes the dominant force in the scene, with PSYCHO-FRAME proudly leading the charge. 

UNPEOPLE

Before PRESS TO MECO had even reached the forests of Upcote Farm for their final show at 2000trees in 2023, UNPEOPLE were already beginning to rise like a phoenix from the ashes. Led by guitarists and vocalists Jake Crawford and Luke Caley, and joined by bassist Meg Mash (SARPA SALPA) and drummer Richard Rayner, UNPEOPLE have already supported the likes of CONJURER, signed to SharpTone Records (home to rising British stars like HOLDING ABSENCE, LOATHE, and VUKOVI), and kicked their way onto festival lineups like 2000trees, Radar, and Burn It Down — and they’ve only got a single song to their names.

Debut single smother bursts through the flesh, revving up riffs like it’s the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, as fuzzed-up basslines, gargantuan drums, and gang chants so catchy you’ll be singing them in your sleep. Add in some introspective lyrics that pack more punch in them than One Punch Man — the opening line of “are you being honest with yourself?” alone is enough to have you taking up journaling — and you’ve got a recipe for success. Who knows what 2024 holds for UNPEOPLE; all we know is we want more songs, more shows, and more where smother came from, please and thank you. 

SOUTH ARCADE

With the Y2K revival that has increased in popularity in recent years, it makes sense that music would be influenced by the same period and take notes moving forward. One such band that exemplifies that style and sound to a tee are London’s SOUTH ARCADE, a pop-rock four-piece that take inspiration from that decade in a fun and unique way.

They played an excellent set at 2023’s Misery Loves Company, as well as other shows across the country that they showcase across their social media. In addition, they plan to take songs like unaware, Sound Of An Empty Room, Silverlight, and their recent single Nepo Baby to more venues this year. Not only are they joining AS EVERYTHING UNFOLDS on their tour as support, but they also have their own ArcAngel tour planned in March, meaning more chances to catch this band live and witness their varied, energetic, and relatable songs. A band that has a great relationship with their fans is rare to find, and SOUTH ARCADE have that in spades, this band is not one to skip out on. 

HIGH REGARD

HIGH REGARD merge buoyant pop with more eclectic rock influences to create an energetic wall of uplifting noise and the results of these collision of sounds are never anything other than highly infectious. After a busy 2023, that saw the band release their latest EP Subside which featured huge sounding songs such as Dead To Me (featuring Charlie Rolfe from AS EVERYTHING UNFOLDS), Surrounding and Life Sentence, HIGH REGARD earned deserved plaudits both for this release and for their joyous live shows.

Aiming to build on this momentum, they’re shooting for an even stronger 2024 and hopefully the new music that HIGH REGARD bring out this year will take them to even higher heights as they certainly have the potential and the talent, and this coupled with their live shows continuing to be must see events is evidence that this year will be the year that HIGH REGARD make an even bigger impact. 

WORLD OF PLEASURE

The hardcore scene continues to be a fertile ground for all manner of experimentation, but sometimes all you need is some bruising riffs, a snare that pings like nobody’s business, and buckets of righteous rage. Enter WORLD OF PLEASURE, featuring MORTALITY RATE‘s Jess Nyx and SERRATION‘s Colter; the outfit are staunchly vegan and straight edge, and make sure you know it. With regular callouts of their band name, “vegan straight edge” and screeds against animal abuse, they’re furiously intense with the metallic heft in their riffs to match.

They’ve dropped two EPs (2020’s World of Pleasure and 2022’s World Of Pleasure & Friends) along with a split with fellow straight edge noise merchants XWEAPONX, with a combined runtime of not even twenty minutes, but it’s taken them across the world opening for the likes of STATIC DRESS most recently. If you can put on the likes of Everybody Finds Love and Nyx’s screams of “everybody finds love / I hope you don’t” without feeling the urge to start swinging, get your hearing checked, then get in the pit because WORLD OF PLEASURE are bringing vegan domination. 

SHOOTING DAGGERS

Since erupting from the depths of London’s fertile hardcore punk scene, queercore trio SHOOTING DAGGERS have gone from strength to strength. 2022’s debut EP Athames, showcased 13 minutes of aural rage and countless appearances up and down the country and gracing the likes of DesertFest and CULT OF LUNA-curated Beyond The Redshift have poised the band to cement their status as an exciting name in our scene.

Fusing together the rawness of punk and the ferocity of hardcore, for anyone who has an ear for heavy music, SHOOTING DAGGERS tick all the right boxes. 2024 sees the trio unleash their debut full-length record, Love and Rage in February, a record that will channel their rage at the world and calling for women and queer people to channel their power together as one. Angsty and adrenaline-surging, SHOOTING DAGGERS are quickly becoming one of the most exciting names in hardcore and on the back off their whirlwind journey thus far, 2024 is theirs for the taking.

CYAN KICKS

The Helsinki-based CYAN KICKS is no stranger to the alternative music scene in Europe. They’ve been active for seven years, a lot longer than some bands on this list, and with multiple releases under their belts they turned more heads than they bargained for in the last year with their new album I Never Said 4Ever. Their brand of melodic synth-laden metal is all the rage right now with a lot of bands employing the same sounds, but CYAN KICKS has a genuine edge that a lot of bands don’t have.

Their music has a clear message and meaning, and they aren’t afraid to push boundaries with their visuals or lyrics. Their energetic tracks are only enhanced by Susanna Alexandra’s soaring vocals that sing only the best of pop hooks. With latest single Dancing With Demons in contention to represent their homeland Finland at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, there is a good chance we will be hearing a lot more about CYAN KICKS in 2024.

DARLAH

“2006 called, they want their sound back” is the tagline on DARLAH’s Facebook page. It’s an unfair statement to make, even in jest, because they’re far better than that. There’s a lot of different strings to the trio’s bow, from the huge, swinging metalcore riffs and snarling vocals to some of the most melodic and catchiest choruses around – just listen to the one in Sequel on debut EP Human Nature, it’ll be fixed in your head for the next month of Sundays.

Indeed, Human Nature might be the band’s only release to date and just a couple of months old, but the craftmanship on show across its five songs and sixteen-and-a-half minutes is seriously impressive: rarely do bands so young and so early into their career reach such a level of songwriting ability. The band are on tour with AS EVERYTHING UNFOLDS from the end of the month and throughout February and, while they’re naturally the first band on the bill, you wouldn’t put it past them making the biggest impact on the night. For DARLAH, 2024 is there for the taking, and only a fool would bet against them doing that.

DIN OF CELESTIAL BIRDS

Leeds instrumentalists DIN OF CELESTIAL BIRDS absolutely leapt into people’s consciousness last summer. While their first EP released back in 2019, last year’s The Night Is For Dreamers really hit the mark for what the band are capable of. A gorgeous set of songs that ranged from mountainous soundscapes to valleys of soft, tranquil electronic ambiences, it instantly made waves. Backed with performances at Damnation and ArcTanGent, DIN OF CELESTIAL BIRDS have also shown themselves to be an excellent live band to boot.

Ranging from darkly aureate, in stomping dirges and colossal drones, to almost whimsical ecstasy in ethereal melodies that feel light as the wind; DIN OF CELESTIAL BIRDS encompass the best of post-rock in their crushing beauty. With gig announcements for throughout the year mounting, including StrangeForms Festival and a returning slot at ArcTanGent, DIN OF CELESTIAL BIRDS have a big year ahead of them.

FLOYA

Born from the ashes of both members’ previous projects, traveling to exotic locations in the wake of worldwide lockdowns has been the birth of Phil Bayer and Marv Wilder’s ambitious new undertaking FLOYA. What may be brand new to the ears of some, has actually been in the works for three years and slowly building momentum since their debut single Wonders was released back in mid 2022.

Coming together to form a unique mix of modern rock, EDM and world music elements, FLOYA are sonically a standout across the board of generic noise which largely dominates, and breathe fresh life into anyone who listens to them through inspiring and uplifting lyrics and an unwavering optimism designed to spark joy. Their upcoming full-length debut, Yume, is in their words a “curated anthology, eager to fully immerse the senses” and, if their premier UK live show at 2023’s Radar Festival is anything kind of strong measurement – we believe it absolutely will. Yume is out March 8th via Arising Empire.

Words: James Weaver, Laura McCarthy, Chelsea Cochrane, Will Marshall, Elliot Leaver, Naomi Sanders, Megan Jenkins, Gavin Brown