ARCHAEA scorched the proverbial leeches in their standout hard-rock hit, Parasite, –

When ARCHAEA unleashed Parasite, the hit from their Burn EP, it felt like being dropped into a live wire. The hooks are overdriven to the nines, throwing off the kind of heat that leaves you wondering if you’re feeling electricity or volatility. The way they blur the lines between hard rock, grunge and pop punk feels like they’ve found a pressure point in the genre and pressed until it throbbed with something timeless for anyone who has knelt at the rock altar and grown tired of tending to leeches.

The full band flex comes through in the way each instrumental steals its moment, whether it’s the swagger in the riffs, the rhythm that feels strangely aphrodisiacal, or the intricately breath-stealing bursts that hit without telegraphing themselves. Their technical chops cut exactly where they mean to, and the centre of it all sits a voice that feels ready to tear its way out of the underground entirely. The vocals tease the eruption of the choruses in a way that feels oddly intimate, far more charged than most Tinder dates.

ARCHAEA formed in Liverpool in 2021 when the world felt like it was grinding its teeth, and they channelled that collective tension into a heavy, volatile sound shaped by the influence of Metallica, the alt leanings of Stone Sour, and the melodic intoxication of Avenged Sevenfold. Fronted by Dave Morgan, with Lewis Crosby and Alex Harris on guitars, Peter Mansfield holding down the low end, and Cal Deaves behind the kit, they’ve already turned heads across the Northwest with their live shows. They’ve got a sound strong enough to dissolve the Manchester vs Liverpool rivalry; can I pay them more of a compliment than that?

Parasite is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast