mxdwn PREMIERE: Starified Blast Through Grunge-Tinged Hard Rock Song “Scapegoat”

Classic styles of popular heavy music like nu-metal and glam rock have been making a comeback in recent years and it’s no surprise that there’s also a new wave of hard rock bands heavily indebted to the once-dominant sounds of grunge. While post-grunge eventually became a punch line in the late ’90s and early ’00s, modern bands like Starified offer a more authentic take on the genre. The Russian band combines the influence of Soundgarden and Alice in Chains and gives it a contemporary update, most notably taking influence from today’s growing heavy-psych movement.

Today we’re excited to premiere Starified’s new single “Scapegoat,” the second single from their upcoming album Fat Hits. It’s a dynamic rock song that weaves through a barrage of hard-hitting guitar riffs, aggressive but melodic vocals and plenty of bona fide rockstar attitude.

“Scapegoat” kicks the album off with a sludge-y, heavily-distorted riff that shows the band’s blues influences. The production on “Scapegoat” is very clean without sounding overproduced, lending lots of space for Vadim Ambartsumian’s dynamic vocals. Following the high-energy verse the guitars transition into a soaring riff with the vocal hook offering the melodicism of the Foo Fighters and the mystical harmonizing of Alice In Chains. The song concludes with an instrumental bridge with wailing guitar leads and ultra-heavy bass and rhythm guitar riffs setting the low end, eventually circling back to the hook-filled chorus one last time.

Starified is a hard rock trio from Moscow, led by their drummer and vocalist Vadim Ambartsumian. Fat Hits will be released on January 15 on Ripple Music, a label that specializes in hard rock, psych rock and doom metal and has released album by Mothership, Mos Generator, Howling Giant and more. “Scapegoat” is the lead track from Fat Hits and follows previous single “Don Loco.”

1. “Scapegoat”
2. “Don Loco
3. “An Ode to Tenacious D”
4. “Anti Rebel”
5. “Saraton”
6. “Wider Lane”
7. “What If”
8. “Pick a Fight”
9. “Noah”
10. “Same Old River”