Introducing: Severed Illusions

A metal band with two dedicated vocalists is a fairly rare phenomenon but that’s the case with Trowbridge band Severed Illusions. The quintet offer up a hard-hitting, fast-paced, grinding hardcore sound that they describe as “energetic, aggressive and loud,” which immediately had us intrigued.

The band, from Wiltshire in the south west of England, was initially started by joint vocalists Kyle Cook and Carlos ‘Cas’ Rivers back in 2013. They brought in drummer Ant Jones, went through a couple of guitarist changes before settling down with Charlie Alexander on lead guitar, then added Stu Bennett on bass, which freed up Kyle to join Cas on main vocals.

The latest taste of the Severed Illusions sound is new single Everything Everyone, which was released last month. It opens up with a lively riff and a big growl then a cry of “Let’s go” that gives way to a bouncy riff, huge rolling drums, and screamed vocals. It drops into an intense chorus of “This will, Be the end, Of us, Of everything” over chugging flurries of guitar and big drum rolls, which progresses into repeats of those lines with varying vocal styles including huge growled cries of “everything.”

This unrelenting track continues with drawn-out guitars, pounding drums, then a really cool stabbing bassline that flow into another big chorus. The instrumentals suddenly drop out, leaving sinister growled vocals that explode into life with huge screamed vocals over huge driving drums and guitars. A cool darting riff and rolling drums blast into a huge neck-breaking fast-paced outro to bring an energetic track to a fitting end.

On the track, which was mixed by Phoxjaw guitarist Josh Gallop, the band tell us: “The track reception has been good so far we’ve had really positive feedback on it and it has been played on a live podcast on Twitch and an online radio station twice so far we have a few more shows that it will be appearing on and were just waiting on the date of when these will be aired. We are hoping it picks up more momentum the more places we can get the track played and the more reviews we can get on the track.”

The new track follows last year’s EP Stand Our Ground, which is packed with heavy riffing, pounding rhythms and intense vocals. Case in point being the powerful Pain or Pleasure and intense No Respect, which dives straight into a chugging riff, then huge guitars and drums feeding into repeats “Some of these kids got no respect, Say some of these kids got no respect.”

While title track Stand Our Ground which opens up with a delicious riff that develops into a huge bouncy riff then a wild opening verse. You can guarantee that this will be a headbangers’ favourite with unrelenting rhythms, lively riffs and heavy vocals, check it out in the lyric video here:

The Severed Illusions sound is inspired by metal and hardcore bands including Hatebreed, Slipknot, Slayer, Soulfly and Cavalera Conspiracy, as well as the likes of Lionheart, Terror, Madball, Sick Of It All, Xile, Cold Hard Truth, Deez Nuts, Crowd Control BD and Walls Of Jericho.

And on what inspires their music, they tell us: “We write about things that are going on in our personal lives and things around the world. We tend to be the most creative when were all in the practice space and it allows us to bounce ideas off of each other rather than trying to do it remotely.”

Severed Illusions have another single out on April 10, have one gig already booked in and are on the lookout for more live shows – so hit them up on social media with offers.

You can follow Severed Illusions on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and check out their music on Spotify, Bandcamp and YouTube.