THOU

GUITAR WORLD

“Tubes are overrated. And you never know what you’re going to get overseas. I can’t play through a Marshall JCM – they sound like crap”: Sludge titans Thou have never been afraid to tear up the rulebook – but they do need a spreadsheet for their tunings

Thou are a sludge metal band from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

LOWEN

GUITAR WORLD

“The musicologist looked me square in the eye and said it couldn’t be done”: Meet Lowen, the heavy trailblazers defying metal rules by playing prog-doom in Middle Eastern and North African styles – scoring them a support tour with Zakk Wylde

Lowen are a Middle Eastern progressive doom metal band from London.

CHAT PILE

GUITAR WORLD

“In Guitar Center, people would think I was playing for the first time – but I promise you, my band makes better music than 80% of them”: Meet Chat Pile, the sludge metallers shouting down the “tone lords” and “goobers” ruining guitar culture

Chat Pile are a sludgy noise-rock band from Oklahoma.

BIG|BRAVE

GUITAR WORLD

“Unlearning our instruments is definitely something we’ve done – we don’t rely on fretboard technique”

BIG|BRAVE conjure some of today’s most thrilling guitar tones with feedback, open tunings and an awful lot of volume.

BIG|BRAVE are an experimental post-rock band from Montréal, Canada.

EMPLOYED TO SERVE

GUITAR WORLD

“There’s a sleek look to bands like Loathe, Spiritbox or Knocked Loose. Spiky shapes are engrained in our values – we want to wear our influences on our sleeves”: Employed To Serve are re-embracing metal guitars – but dropping amps

Employed to Serve are a metal band from Woking, UK.

VICKI JARRETT

STRUCTO MAGAZINE

I’m insanely jealous of novelists who plan out the whole thing and so have a structure to write to. I’ve tried that method and the process starts to lose its magic for me. And if it’s not got that spark for me, then I think the reader won’t have it either.

Vicki Jarrett is a short story writer and novelist from Edinburgh.