London’s DIY post-hardcore force, Le Rox, has released their latest detonation, “Suffocater”, an emotionally intense track that encapsulates everything the band is about. Chaos and utter openness. Following the creative wreckage wrought by the pandemic, this international three-piece, comprising members from the UK, Brazil, and Venezuela, has laid out its own burgeoning space in the punk and hardcore scene, and “Suffocater” demonstrates why it can’t be dismissed.
Le Rox was formed from the remains of other projects that fell apart, and as such, the music they deliver cuts like a sharp knife. “Suffocater” smacks like a clenched fist to the chest. It’s tight, unforgiving, yet weirdly lovely in its instability. The band’s ability to merge emotional exposure with thunder is evident in every moment.
The song conveys the grief and uncertainty of being human, from the serrated riffs to the rough vocals, which are anxious and angry, probing the boundaries of existence. The single heralds the group’s first EP on German Red Tape Music, Homesick, a record brimming with break-up ballads, fury, and estrangement. The band self-produced and recorded the EP completely independently, resulting in Le Rox in its most basic form, unfiltered, incomplete, and unrecognizable to anyone else.
“Suffocater” is a song that asphyxiates not through despair but by intense desire. Le Rox is not another post-hardcore group, they are the tone of success. And with “Suffocater,” they have made a song that cannot only be heard but must also be enjoyed.