Alex Reade of Make Them Suffer on Her Favourite Genre-Bending Artists

Perth metalcore band Make Them Suffer initiated a new era with the release of ‘Doomswitch’ in October 2022. After four albums and more than a decade of touring, the band is making substantial changes to its stylistic identity, incorporating keys, symphonic details and distinguishable vocal melodies alongside blast beats and heavy guitars.

‘Doomswitch’ is Make Them Suffer’s first recording with new band member Alex Reade, who brings keytar, samples, programming and clean and unclean vocals to the mix. Here, Reade names her three biggest inspirations when it comes to artists who defy the limits of genre.

Make Them Suffer – ‘Doomswitch’

Muse

Alex Reade: Muse is my number one, ride or die band, so they are always going to get thrown in the ring. Since listening to Origin of Symmetry in 2001 all the way up to Will of the People coming out this year, Muse just don’t miss. Matt Bellamy is such an amazing songwriter, composer, producer, pianist, vocalist, lyricist, guitarist… it’s astounding.

If you haven’t listened to Muse before, Bellamy swaps out high-pitched shrieking vocals for grungy distorted guitars and he’s a concert-grade pianist, smashing out Rachmaninoff in the blink of an eye in the middle of a rock concert.

Standout songs: ‘MK Ultra’, ‘Plug In Baby’, ‘Knights of Cydonia’, ‘Hysteria’.

Muse – ‘Hysteria’ (Live from Wembley)

Apashe

Alex: Number two goes to Apashe. He’s a Belgian/Canadian producer who I’ve just discovered and am deep diving his discography. I’ve always loved EDM, mainly dubstep and DnB, and on the flip side I grew up listening to classical music. Apashe combines EDM, hip hop, trap and classical music in a way I’ve never heard. Plus, he records live orchestra and even brings this into his live performance.

He’s blowing up all over the world. His aesthetic is really cool also. He’s got a dark, Matrix rave vibe meets renaissance/The Tudors – swords, armour, brass sections and emotional neurofunk feels.

He also seems like a really down to earth dude and I felt pretty inspired watching his docos and interviews on YouTube about his creative process. I certainly watched a lot of his videos as moral support while going through my own development picking up keytar and Launchpad/Ableton/samples for Make Them Suffer.

Standout songs: ‘Uebok (Gotta Run)’ ft. Instasamka, ‘Majesty’ ft. Wasiu.

Apashe – ‘Uebok (Gotta Run)’ ft. Instasamka

Northlane

Alex: Northlane are surely becoming Australia’s biggest export and they’ve been one of my favourite bands since 2011 when they released Discoveries. Compare that to 2022’s Obsidian, both stunning in their own right, but what a journey of musical progression between the two.

I get absolute tears listening to Obsidian and there’s no loss of heaviness and power, just a huge jump into a new realm with layers of electronic melodies and synthesizers meets progressive rock and industrial vibes, and the vocal melodies are just incredible. Absolutely the album of 2022.

Standout songs: ‘Dark Solitaire’, ‘Clarity’, ‘Clockwork’.