EP REVIEW: smother – THE SUICIDE OF HEAVEN

‘…monolithic in its immensity, lethal in its aggression, and electrifying in its sheer, unapologetic grooviness…’

Stoke hardcore outfit smother have been making a name for themselves in the grassroots of the UK heavy scene for some time now. Emerging back in 2024 with their debut single, ‘unseen by the eyes of god’, the five-piece have become famed for hell-raising live performances up and down the nation, sharing stages with the likes of Merseyside’s God Complex and rozemary, Leeds’ Bodyweb, and London’s So Far So Good; they are the epitome of “those who know, know”.

Those that don’t know, however, now have the perfect time to educate themselves, with the band’s brand new EP, ‘THE SUICIDE OF HEAVEN’. Taking their bludgeoning live sound into the studio, this is three tracks and one interlude of some of the freshest hardcore you will hear in 2026, guaranteed.

‘SCATTERED PETALS, GRASPING HANDS’ beats the listener down with pulverising rhythmic switch-ups and filthy, sludgy bass lines. A nightmarish breakdown in the track’s cataclysmic climax brings a guest feature from Izabel Lavin of demeanour, her piercing screams running wickedly well in tandem with Jacob Morgan‘s guttural lows. ‘PERVERSIONS OF THE FLESH’ brings its violent lyricism to life with a rampage of two-step rhythms, riotous gang vocals, and piercing screeches of guitar feedback.

The unsettling soundscape of ‘DYSPHORIA (Interlude)’, a swirling mass of feedback and suggestions of guitar, builds continuously to a point of implosion, and erupts into the EP’s undeniable highlight ‘PRECIOUS THINGS’. Percussion crashes down like the hammer strikes of a blacksmith, as smouldering grooves surge forwards with an unrepentant yet focused ferocity, whilst Morgan’s lyricism alludes to existential dread and the abandonment of religion in the face of the crushing weight of grief. The track plunges into hellish degrees of brutality with a behemoth of an appearance from Witherhorde’s Ted Goulden, their demonic lows reverberating your very core.

This is smother’s rapture, and we are merely spectators in that experience. What the Stoke crew have put together here, alongside their friends within the scene, is monolithic in its immensity, lethal in its aggression, and electrifying in its sheer, unapologetic grooviness; this is the kind of release that does not simply put smother on the heavy music map, but Stoke as a city. Uncross those arms, get in the pit, and push your friends.

RATING: 80/100

For Fans Of: Bodyweb, God Complex, Long Goodbye, So Far So Good, Prozpekt

Physical copies are available to purchase here.

Follow the band on social media below:

Instagram // Bandcamp