Double Knockout viscerally augmented the love song in their melodic hard-rock juggernaut, ‘Damnselles’ –

If an award was knocking around for the most ingenious track title of the year, every other contender would be leaving empty-handed with Damnselles by Double Knockout on the airwaves. The South Louisiana two-piece alternative rock band turns arena-sized ambition into something emotionally readable, pairing soaring guitars, driving drums and songwriting that aims straight for the pressure point.

The romanticism of The Cure and other evocative 80s rock icons is charged with the raw anthemic power of Shinedown when the heart-in-throat chorus hits, transforming Damnselles into an earworm that epitomises the fervour of melodic 00s hard rock. Through production so polished it practically effervesces, paired with a vocal performance that carries emotion with brutal force, Double Knockout alludes to the visceral pain of being haunted by your own desire and innate sense of loneliness.

There is bite in the guitars, body in the drums and a huge emotional lift in the hook, the kind built for listeners who still want alternative rock to feel theatrical, wounded and massive. Their reference points, from Manchester Orchestra to Nothing But Thieves and Foo Fighters, make sense in the song’s scale, but Damnselles has its own Southern-scorched romance in the wiring.

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

Review by Amelia Vandergast