Now Hear This: Alex Baker on the best new metal, post-hardcore and blues-rock

It actually feels kinda crazy saying this, but this weekend I’m going to be DJing at an actual real life festival in front of actual real life people at the Download Pilot! There’s going to be people, like, dancing and having a good time right there in front of me – mad! Can I still do it? Do I even still know how to operate in actual society? We'll find out. Until then, listen to these lot!

Tapping their way out of Detroit, Adventurer are a band for anyone who loves the more intricate side of music making. Their interweaving, ever-developing guitar lines will please Fall Of Troy fans, while vocalist Jeff Masterson’s voice just utterly soars. Also, can we take a moment to ask the following question: no matter how good you are as a guitarist, Jeff, how the sweet hell are you able to play with such intricate accuracy, while also holding down that topline?

I think – and it’s only my 30-plus years plus of music knowledge making this assumption – that you may be a genius, Jeff.

Zach came storming into my life like a blues-laden bolt from the blue just last week and I was instantly struck by the following thought: "Well, this guy is a star, isn’t he?" And he is; he’s a rock star through and through. With fuzzed-out guitars and a deliciously distorted, snarling vocal, Zach is set to bring his take on the blues to a whole new generation and I am here for it. I made him my Featured Artist Of The Week straight out of the gate on my show on Kerrang! Radio. Take a listen below to his thunderous single Can’t Stop Running and you’ll get why immediately.

Utter down-tuned misery, that’s what Filth Is Eternal bring into your life. Blending punk with a sort of fucked-up southern metal groove that makes you feel like you’ve had one too many beers and are about to stumble into an overgrown ditch and die, this lot know exactly how to deliver tune after tune of unmitigated swagger. Their new album Love Is A Lie, Filth Is Eternal contains 12 songs in 20 minutes – an apt ratio for a band who seemingly don’t give a solitary fuck. Shout out to Church Road Records who have signed these guys alongside their absolutely insane roster of brilliance (Cruelty, Heriot, Svalbard, Palm Reader – I mean, come on!).

Belgium’s The Guru Guru utterly refuse to be pigeonholed. They have a sound that constantly evolves, progresses and draws you in to the left-field nature of it all. What makes these guys truly remarkable, though, is that through all the quirk, they are ludicrously catchy. Their double EP, It’s A Doggy Dogg World and Live In Antwerp pulls you into their universe of cracked-out Death Cab For Cutie-esque sonics, and frontman Tom Adriaenssen's totally unique vocal delivery is completely captivating. Here’s a song for those that sometimes just don’t feel like dancing.

Eli Hirsch is his actual name; Eli Hurts is his emo-superhero name. Eli is on a mission to make bloody great music, no matter what the genre. In fact, in his own words: “I’m sick of shit having to be on brand. It’s exhausting to maintain and predictable.” Eli, I love that. The reality is that music is an expression, different emotions, different thought processes, different vibes. That’s why on his EP Future Accountants Of America Unite, he’ll hit you with pure emo one minute, dance beats the next, introspective ballads the next, and will basically leave you thinking: “OMG, I love this dude!”

Have a listen, thank me later.

Hear Alex Baker present the Fresh Blood Show on Kerrang! Radio, Wednesday nights from 10pm