SINGLE REVIEW: Cut Short – Modern Affliction

‘…a behemoth of a sound that packs heaven-rending grooves against pulverising breakdowns…’

Having dropped their debut single all the way back in 2018, Liverpool five-piece Cut Short have remained staples of the heavy music grassroots circuit since their inception; if your city has a legendary alternative dive bar, chances are strong that Cut Short have played their. Yet even after their electrifying 2025 releases, including the phenomenal ‘Dirt Feed’, the question of when this band will deservedly blow up still remains unanswered. With ‘Modern Affliction’, that may well change.

With every release, Cut Short define their style a little more decisively, and the result is a behemoth of a sound that packs heaven-rending grooves against pulverising breakdowns. Handclaps interspersed throughout hint at a pop flair buried within the track’s twisted foundations, snagging your attention as unrelenting, fuzzy bass lines and unrepentant riffs gouge their way to your core. It is a monstrously filthy display of heaviness that is an absolute delight to behold.

Roiling percussion swaggers about with a nu-metal arrogance, informing your nervous system that now is not the time to remain still. Elevating the track further are moments of luscious and densely woven melodies that sprawl outwards with a darkly enchanting infectiousness. The isolation felt in a human age that has never been more connected is brought to life with a gripping ferocity, immense growls personifying a loneliness that could drive one mad.

People remain quick to critique the landscape of modern metalcore to be saturated with the uninspired, and whilst that is true to an extent, it would be lazy and dismissive of genuinely exciting talent to say that it is wholly devoid of fresh ideas. Cut Short have shown time and time again a willingness to expand their palette, and ‘Modern Affliction’ is perhaps the crowning achievement of that ethos; if Loathe were the ones to put Merseyside metal on the map, then Cut Short are in contention for succession to that throne.

For Fans Of: Thornhill, Filth, Ocean Grove, Moodring, Loathe

Featured photo credit belongs to Will Robinson (@eyes_widephotography)

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