Vatican

Savannah metal five-piece Vatican are rising out of America’s south and onto the world stage, joining the fold as UNFD’s newest recruits.

Propped on the roster alongside the likes of Silverstein, Stray From The Path, ERRA, Frank Iero and more, Vatican – comprising vocalist Mike Sugars, guitarists Tom Lovejoy and Nolan Mobley, bassist Jonathan Mackey & drummer Josian Soto-Ramos – come baring their new double-single effort Become A New God.

While edging on subgenres like djent and industrial, ultimately Vatican describe their sound as hardcore’s answer to metalcore. Harkening to classic influences in Messhugah and The Dillinger Escape Plan, Vatican also sit tightly against the new wave risers like Knocked Loose, and fellow Southern heavies Kublai Khan.

With its two singles ‘Fractured God’ and ‘Absolute Reality’, Become A New God finds Vatican tackling the complexity of the human experience, and all its brokenness, uncertainties, strangeness and need for constant self-reflection and improvement.

Guitarist Tom Lovejoy shares on how their ethos as individuals and as Vatican cuts through in Become A New God: “Part of what I think we all represent as people and a band is the idea of taking yourself to task when challenges come up, and figuring out the healthiest, most constructive way to deal with it…that’s why some of the lyrics are extremely blunt, and why the title of the record is too, it’s not shrouded in metaphors, it’s just a quick way of saying ‘accept that maybe you’ve fucked some things up and it’s nobody’s responsibility but yours to fix that.”