Collection: CRUELTY

Taking the aggressive and frenetic edge of late 90s/early 00s metalcore combined with the dynamism of post-hardcore, Cruelty are an intense proposition, hell bent on combatting the often insular and circumscribed heavy music scene. Formed in 2017 and with just a demo tape released, Cruelty began to play shows across the UK leading to a reputation for a dynamic style often neglected in the UK hardcore scene. The band quickly became a regular at shows up and down the country due to the variety in their sound in comparison to so many off-the-peg hardcore/metalcore bands. An eponymous debut EP followed in 2018 which developed the Cleveland meets Equal Vision sound of the demo by adding Gothenburg death metal melodicism and ‘chaotic’ hardcore elements without relenting on the punk essence. 2019 saw Cruelty release a second EP, ‘In the Grasp of The Machines’. This release enabled the band to grow further, with this refined yet furious audio assault leading to numerous UK shows alongside peers like Renounced, Higher Power, Big Cheese and a U.K. tour in early 2020 with Employed To Serve and Palm Reader right before the global pandemic shut the world down. Not deterred but vindicated by the impending societal collapse, the band hunkered down to concoct their debut album ‘There Is No God Where I Am’. The album is inspired by and titled after a line in occultist and author Aleister Crowley’s 1909 published ‘The Book of the Law’ within which the writer is visited by a ‘Holy Guardian Angel’ named Aiwass who dictates the central themes of the practise of Thelema. ‘ There Is No God Where I Am’ lyrically and musically attempts to deal with spirituality in an increasingly morally corrupt world, familial grief and the degrading nature of humanity in the face of a barren political and societal landscape.