Martin Randal Travel
Photo Credit 📷 : ???
Nothing feels more on-brand from screamo and screamo adjacent bands than to play shows for a year, put out some banging tracks, and then fuck off into the sunset. Should I have buried that bit of information deep in the heart of the article where tired eyes might miss it? If the last few years have taught us nothing else then we can expect to hear more from Martin Randal Travel.
Hailing all the way from Birmingham, United Kingdom, and helping us put the “Worldwide” in Not Just A Phase, Martin Randal Travel are dropping a split (with Sulfur) on Tomb Tree Records / Snuff Puff Productions / Unfettered Heart and we’re fucking tickled to premier the track My Final Message.
The Birmingham based quartet delivers a track steeped DIY and nostalgia, reminding us that what got us here all those years before still slays. Approaching My Final Message with a clean slate I had no expectations. My experience with Martin Randal Travel was completely blind beyond knowing the label releasing the tracks. When the clean, noodly guitar riffs end at roughly 40-seconds and you get a taste of that throwback metalcore-ass riffing you too will be delighted.
Martin Randal Travel tip-toe around early metalcore bands like 7 Angels 7 Plagues and early screamo like Hassan I Sabbah or Love Lost But Not Forgotten. The riffs are fast, driven by that “core” influence, and the breakdowns have me ready to tip over a lorry. Just ninety seconds in and old heads are coming out of mosh retirement. But the vocals, the clean passage halfway through the track (and the clean passage to open it), and the way the guitars play off of one another (headphones in) really demonstrate the bands love of screamo legends like You and I and Hassan I Sabbah.
These tracks really do embody the spirit and DIY ethos of early screamo and metalcore. The recordings are raw, but powerful. The guitars sound wooly and fuzzy, not the crisp, almost sterile sound of present-day popular bands. The drums are almost subdued. The snare doesn’t snap, the toms don’t thud, aren’t backed by a fucking 808. BUT IT’S REAL. The song writing is there and that’s what matters.
Having broken up in September when one member moved away for university, Martin Randal Travel plan to posthumously release a discography compilation and they said “Hopefully we can all play again this summer once we're done with college / uni.” So let me make this recommendation, join me in jamming this killer debut, while spamming their Instagram page with comments about a reunion tour. Follow that up by buying the record and supporting the bands / labels with the links listed below.
The split is scheduled to be released by Tomb Tree Records on February 24th, 2025. CDs will hopefully be released by Snuffpuff Productions later down the line.
Follow them on Bandcamp here : Martin Randal Travel
Writer : @garevthistle
Editor : @just_reidz
02/17/25
