The best new rock songs you need to hear right now

As the Olympic flame fades, at least one international competition will continue to be fought, and you won’t find an Australian breakdancer anywhere. That’s right, it’s our Tracks Of The Week contest, which resulted in a rare all-UK podium last week, as Welsh rockers Scarlet Rebels beat out two English competitors (Manchester’s Gorilla Riot and Peterborough’s Austin Gold) in a battle that raged both long and hard across the internet. 

So congratulations to all of them, as another eight competitors steel themselves for battle.

Here’s this week’s selection. 

Tremonti – Just Too Much

The Alter Bridge guitarist’s solo records are always a space for him to indulge his most pounding, more squarely metallic sensibilities – and to flex his muscles as a singer – and this early teaser for his next one, The End Will Show Us How (coming out in January 2025), is no exception. Built on a giant, juicy hammer of a riff and deep, sumptuous vocals from Tremonti, it’s the work of a heavyweight singer/songwriter, not ‘just’ a guitar hero.

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Bywater Call – Colours

A beautifully luscious, slow-building southern rock n’ soul number from the Toronto ensemble, with Tedeschi Trucks Band feels in its dulcet tones and subtle mood shifts (not to mention streaks of ragged, Janis Joplin-esque despair, as the song swells in intensity). “The song mixes lush and spacey ambience,” says guitarist, Dave Barnes, “alongside explosive hits, as our protagonist wrestles with her inner turmoil.” Hot off their new album Shepherd, which has just come out.

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Massive Wagons – Night Skies

British comedian/actor Nick Helm gives a quietly devastating performance in the video accompanying the Wagons’ searing new ballad – a powerful appeal for openness and conversation when mental health issues take the worst turn, set to a marriage of 80s power ballad and modern rock sensibilities. Think Def Leppard’s Hysteria (the title track, not the full album) with a darker heart and, ultimately, a message of hope. Bar raised, once again.

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Louise Patricia Crane – Bête Noire

The Northern Irish singer/multi-instrumentalist goes to an elegantly dark place on this standout slice of new album, Netherworld – mixing shades of Nine Inch Nails and the jazzier, twistier side of Steven Wilson with an 80s gothic pallor. “When I started composing it, it took over and sort of grabbed hold of me; it captures a moment in time that’s for sure” Crane explains, “It’s about embracing hedonism and fully giving oneself over to those forces that ultimately cause you pain, welcoming them in.”

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Rich Ragany – Sierra Bonita

Born in Canada, raised in New York City and now based in the UK, the Role Models man – most recently to be seen fronting Rich Ragany & The Digressions – Ragany channels the dreamy expansiveness and big melodies of primecut U2, with a characterful touch of Bryan Ferry in the vocals, on this piece of his new solo record A Pleasant Fiction. Soaring big-hearted rock with pop catchiness and a brooding underbelly.

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Sólstafir – Hún andar

Icelandic enigmas Sólstafir have a commanding, enveloping anthem in Hún andar – a heady swirl of atmospheric, almost Cure-esque 80s textures, backed by the darkened oomph of their metal background. “’Hún andar’, meaning ‘She breaths’ is an obituary to a living person whom I love very much,” guitarist/vocalist Aðalbjörn Tryggvason says, “but the mind is gone due to mental illness and drug abuse.” Heavy matter, elegantly executed.

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Joanne Shaw Taylor – Hold Of My Heart

In which Joanne Shaw Taylor goes for a rootsier sound than usual, with violinist Sav Madigan, who’s played with the likes of Lainey Wilson and Hannah Wicklund, adding a touch of real Nashville flair to the first in what Joanne promises will be a string of high-quality singles released over the next 12 months. “This song is about telling a good friend that you actually like them as more than a friend,” she says, “and realising, if only for your own sake and the sake of honesty in a friendship to finally tell them.” Let’s face it, we’ve all been there. 

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Larkin Poe – Runnin’ Down A Dream

From the soundtrack to the series Bad Monkey, an adaptation of the Carl Hiassen novel of the same name, which launches on Apple TV this week and stars Hollywood’s very own Vince Vaughn. The show also features a bunch of Tom Petty songs covered by the likes of Eddie Vedder, The War On Drugs, Sharon Van Etten, Weezer, Jason Isbell, Marcus King and Nathaniel Raitliff, and look, here’s Larkin Poe with a propulsive take on the classic Runnin’ Down A Dream. Marvellous times indeed. 

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Polly is deputy editor at Classic Rock magazine, where she writes and commissions regular pieces and longer reads (including new band coverage), and has interviewed rock’s biggest and newest names. She also contributes to Louder, Prog and Metal Hammer and talks about songs on the 20 Minute Club podcast. Elsewhere she’s had work published in The Musician, delicious. magazine and others, and written biographies for various album campaigns. In a previous life as a women’s magazine junior she interviewed Tracey Emin and Lily James – and wangled Rival Sons into the arts pages. In her spare time she writes fiction and cooks.