Album Rating: 1.5

Given all the talk of trend following, blending styles without doing much new. I'd be interested in what you guys think of Vana (NZ) - shes just under Vana here. She's doing a blend of pop, trap beats, metalcore breakdowns, and so on. Has been accused of being a Poppy copycat, & even recently did a live show wearing Sleep Token esque masks. Was a tiktoker who blew up during Covid a bit, & used that social media success to push her music, was originally more of an acoustic pop girl. She collaborated with Redhook on their last album, if any of you know them. Her song Beg, made it to number 1 on Octane radios most demanded song, for quite a while. 760k monthly listeners on spotify. Somehow was cover artist of spotifys Heavy Down Under playlist for a month.





Yes, wish Fightstar would do another record for sure. Gunship were enjoyable, I really loved their first record, and select songs since, but it's clear how even that was trend following.

Album Rating: 1.5

Idk, that’s got more going on than something like this but you didn’t even really need to tell me that she was getting called a Poppy copycat because I literally would’ve said something along those lines anyways, some of those screams had me checking if she was featured on the track



Ima keep it a buck 50, it really does feel like some B grade I Disagree era Poppy. I only listened to that one song but it didn’t exactly leave me wanting to hear more from her.

Not sure about Poppy but Clandestine literally rips off the chorus from Eternal Blue by Spiritbox.

Album Rating: 1.5

Damn… you weren’t kidding lol. I haven’t even listened to that song in years but I immediately picked up on it.



And her screams literally just sound like Poppy to me man.

Album Rating: 1.5

Alright yeah I listened to that EP and it’s hot trash. She’s got a good singing voice but she retreats back to that really fucking annoying toddler cadence way too much, the screams are fine but they feel thrown in there for the fuck of it just to add a little extra edge. The djenty guitars are tacky and just there to move the song along, and the sampling is terrible. It was short enough to not bore me but so garish without having anything of substance… so yeah, it’s mainstream “metal” in 2025



Idk I felt sorta similarly about Poppy for a while so maybe she can turn it around and make something good but just eyeballing it I seriously doubt she’s capable of making something like EAT or something that’s at least as consistent as Negative Spaces. Sorry, don’t mean to shit on the girl too much but I really did not enjoy that.

Album Rating: 1.5

Just got around to listening to this. It was boring through & through. I'm not into Bad Omens, but at least they had hooks, this felt like a snoozefest. The pop elements fell flat, I didn't like the production, the "heavy" parts were riffless, weak. Really disjointed. I'm not into Sleep Token, but I don't dislike them as much as some here, more like a 2/5, they've got songs I've enjoyed, Vore, Summoning, a few others here & there, aspects to their music where I'm like, yep, the drummer has some chops, or aspects like the saxophone solo that I did like. I totally get why someone would 1.5 their stuff. Either way, this one has zilch for me, if anything, outright annoying with all the whack effects on Charlies voice.



I didnt' clock that Vana's Clandestine ripped off Eternal Blue so hard. Now I can hear that clear as day, just playing them back to back. I have seen Vana live, opening up for another band, and she has a really loud backing track, so she half sings her material live, like doubling her voice with the track. There are parts she clearly doesn't sing. It's just insane to me that this kinda stuff can gain such rapid traction. 760k monthly listeners isn't anything to sneeze at. Octane-core to the T, saw a recent video breaking down the "ratios" of vocals to instrumental, in genres, and how metal on mainstream radio, playlists, is heading towards the type of rations of country pop, pop - hiphop, electro pop, are within nowdays. Makes sense. We've got "metalheads" who's entire catalogue is made up of this kind of material. I'm friends with a chick who will not give any bands who don't fit this mould a chance. Lo-behold she's mainly a electronic / Pop girlie outside of this.

Album Rating: 1.0

These guys also got a spot at Graspop btw, apparently headlining one of the smaller stages. A truly pathetic timeline we live in.

Album Rating: 1.5

Jesus that lineup is fucking cursed, it’s about to be 2026 and Dillinger Escape Plan is the only stage headliner worth a shit, what fucking year is it lmfao

Album Rating: 1.0

Imagine being an industry plant and getting to headline a stage one year after its creation on one of the biggest metal festivals on the planet. It's unheard of. Those other bands must feel humiliated.

Album Rating: 1.5

goddamn, the main stages are bad… really really bad. I usually get very jealous of some of those european metal festivals but goddamn graspop fumbled this year holy fuck

Album Rating: 1.5

And yeah that’s a whole other situation that makes it even worse

Album Rating: 1.5

Firing from the hip but I don’t think there’s even 10 bands I would want to see on that entire bill



Tfw every one of your headliners either hasn’t put out anything worth a shit this century OR has just always sucked lmao

Album Rating: 1.0

I think I counted like 9 bands that I would have a genuine interest in seeing lol. I mean there are others that I would be KINDA interested in but I also wouldn't care if I missed them. But yeah, the biggest joke is giving these guys a headline spot. I don't care if it's the smallest stage, it's still an outrage. They're basically confirming that being an industry plant is the way to go if you want to become a headliner. Sending a horrible message to the new generation.

The headliners department has Mastodon, Anthrax, Def Leppard and a whole lot of nothing. There's like 20 bands on that bill I'd prefer as headliners instead, Bloodywood from the same stage, even Future Palace or We Came As Romans. To tell the truth, just any other band in the lineup is more deserving of the spot.

Album Rating: 1.5

Honestly have literally zero desire to see any of the bands in like the top 3 rows aside from Megadeth and that’s literally just because it might be my last chance. Smaller stages are where it’s at and even then the headliners are mostly trash… so the smaller bands on the smaller stages lol

Album Rating: 1.0

They just got confirmed for Wacken next year as well LOL

Picture perfect, pathetic.

Album Rating: 1.0

Literally the most infantilized band of all time. I don't understand this timeline man.

Album Rating: 4.5

4 songs have been written so far for their debut album. 2026 going to be their year

Norwich i am glad you like it but ive no idea the appeal of the band.