Being human means being subject to cycles. The ones we open and close, defining us throughout our lives, the cycles of nature that make us what we are substantially, and the cycles in the lives of others that we become a part of. A mere metaphorical figure? Yes, but one which our psyche depends on especially in desperate times of cycles that just won’t close, as it’s mostly then that we are seeking encouraging comfort in order to move on. Countless variations of what we know as the rise of the phoenix emerging from cultures all over the world gave witness: It’s been like this from the beginning of mankind.

HOSTAGE, a bright shooting star amongst modern metalcore acts, have now given this fundamental mechanism of our souls a very special place: Afterall is their brand new video single and also the very song that doesn’t just end their new album MEMENTO MORI, but really wraps it all up. It’s a melancholic yet uplifting song on a very thoughtful record, and one that’s supposed to unleash the power that helps us to push through: “Fighting throughout life while clinging on to your hope for better times is totally worth it,” says HOSTAGE singer Noah. “Because bad episodes will end eventually, and after each of these phases our personalities come off as much stronger than they were before. The song just shows what’s already at our fingertips without us realizing it.”

Afterall is more than just a song about finding closure, though – marking the closing chapter of a young band’s debut album while citing and referencing numerous tracks that came before it – it is a piece of closure in itself: from a creative period taking place in a time that forced our youngest behind doors and windows with not much to look out for except themselves. These guys did come off stronger after rooting around for mind and soul.hervorgegangen.

Ever so often one story has to end for another to begin. And whether it’s a good story in the book of one’s life that’s making room for whatever might come next, or a sad one revealing its ending that’s been begged and prayed for: There’s always at least a crumb of comfort there to be found – if just looking for it wasn’t so damn hard for us at times. HOSTAGE’s Afterall can actually help sharpen our view. An invigorating slipstream of a song that gets you going, hailing understanding and closure.

Afterall is available now on all platforms, HOSTAGE’s album MEMENTO MORI was released yesterday, October 28th, world-wide through ADA/Warner Music Central Europe.

Track list:
The Swarm
Cancer
Vanitas
Ark
Don’t Let Me Down
Fantasy
Relapse
Curtain Fall
Rebellion (feat. Henning Wehland & Dave Gappa)
Break The Cycle
Execution
Hollow Earth
M.U.T.O. (feat. Marius Wedler of Alleviate)
Game Over (feat. Christopher Wieczorek)
Afterall

Picture this: You’re in your early 20s and after playing in your band for a few years, you land a surprise hit out of the blue. You’re getting ready to put the pedal to the metal and take the stages out there by storm. Then the world stops cold. “That was obviously shit,” Noah Müller, singer for Aachen-based modern metalcore act HOSTAGE, bluntly grins. “However, it enabled us to take the time and work on our first record MEMENTO MORI.” But let’s take one thing at a time…

Their very unique cover of Chainsmokers’ Don’t Let Me Down turned into an overnight hit smack in the middle of the pandemic’s run-up, breaking the one million mark on Spotify in no time and without any marketing shenanigans. And with live shows being canceled far and wide, Noah, drummer Marvin Ruddies and axe-wielders David Fuß and Nico Ruddies decided to make the most out of the situation: They kept on writing songs for their future debut album MEMENTO MORI and started entertaining a rapidly growing new crop of socially isolated fans with a steady flow of singles. All these were laid in the trusted hands of Timo Bonner at Megablaster Recordings, who already helped to shape the band’s take on Don’t Let Me Down.
Never change a winning team, right? “True,” Noah beams: “Letting an outside voice – such as Timo – be heard and agreeing to a reasonable compromise was a totally new kind of experience for us back then. But Timo is a thoroughbred musician himself, so communicating back and forth with him just felt very open and creative in a natural way. Just like before, the chemistry we felt with him was perfect from the get-go!”

MEMENTO MORI may be a debut record, but all the progress that the band has made from their earliest singles really shines through. It oozes a modern breed of metalcore made by a gang that doesn’t cling on hackneyed ideas but rather loves exploring the unfamiliar – all in order to feed the wonders they’ve experienced back into their fresh and inspiring sound. Songs like The Swarm, which got honored by the editors of Spotify’s All New Metal playlist just recently, Break The Cycle or Vanitas have a thing in common with HOSTAGE’s latest additions Game Over and Rebellion: They’re all heavy hitters of their own, no foul compromise made. Be it uptown industrial pop, a whole-hearted esteem for post hardcore or carefully staged breakdowns – our metalcore lunattics HOSTAGE always come down as the dynamic and openly curious bunch that they simply are, while at the same time neither fraying out stylistically nor butchering the consistency of their own sound. Eight pieces of the upcoming album have already been released as singles by the young independent band to nurture their growing community and give the vocal fans a role in their creative process. However, the final record will boast a whopping 15 tracks and will be distributed world-wide by ADA/Warner Music Central Europe.    

The album title bears witness to the sum of topics as reflected lyrically: MEMENTO MORI – Remember that you must die, as the latin-trained would fill the gap. “We used it as an expression for the finite nature of all things,” Noah contemplates: “Nothing is forever; not the good, not the bad.”

MEMENTO MORI has been spiced up with three interesting collaborations: Two of those are quite contemporary, with Game Over presenting Christoph Wieczorek (Annisokay) and M.U.T.O. featuring Alleviate’s very own Marius Weller. The big surprise for such a young, rather modern sounding band, though, was getting H-Blockx double-front Dave Gappa and Henning Wehland on board for a re-recording of Rebellion. “Ah, fuck stereotyped thinking,” Noah comments. “Our parents used to cradle us with this music, we’re total fans and getting the guys in front of our mics was dope!”

But more important than cameo roles is MEMENTO MORI as such upon its release on October 28th, and the whole new benchmark that it sets for future metalcore debutants to the global stage. Another young generation has begun their metal-induced life’s journey – with applaus, as the Impericon Contest winners have witnessed during their show on the 2022 iteration of Vainstream Rockfest.