It is no secret that the world of today is fucked up in many ways – a conviction so commonplace that we don’t even need to name the reasons; you’ve probably already counted them up in your head by the time you finish this sentence. ONCE WAS NEVER, a groove/nu metal outfit hailing from Slovenia and Italy, are here to shake people out of their despondent slumber with haunting guttural vocals, sharp-edged riffs and ferocious blast beats. “Society plays a major part in our lyrics. We look at the collective experience of current global situations as well as individual struggles and all the aspects that may come with it”, the band says about the philosophy behind their songwriting.

The first single of the upcoming album The Great Dying is called Just A Number and broaches this heavy subject in an unyielding, yet open way. Through the juxtaposition of the death of an individual man and the moribund zeitgeist of today’s society, Just A Number raises the issue of whether, in these times of imbalance, we are capable of humanity and dignity at all anymore – a question that has been silently plaguing the masses.

The track perfectly incorporates the spirit of the band’s heroes as they subtly enmesh influences of veterans such as Gojira, Slipknot or Pantera with their own instrumental prowess, leaving a lot of space for the band’s unique style to evolve. The uptempo song hearkens back to the inventive legacy of good old death thrash and introduces it to a massive wall of sound according to modern standards. Just A Number is set to haunt the listener with layers of intense vocals across an astonishing range from grind to groove and propelled forward by viciously attacking guitars, fueled by the fine shreds of neck bones and tissue, beat by beat. As the introduction to the album, it attests to Once Was Never’s quality: giving comfort in a seemingly lonely state through empowerment, albeit with a chance of the listener’s unintended self-dismantling.

“Everything is transitory and not lasting. With The Great Dying, we mainly want to spread the awareness of mental health and political problems that are plaguing modern society. We believe that this is one of the biggest challenges we are facing today. If you don’t live for something, you die for nothing.”

The Great Dying by Once Was Never will be out in May 2022.