REVIEW

The debut album from Bristol, UK shoegaze band Split Chain.

Formed in 2023, Split Chain is a five-piece consisting of Roberto Martinez-Cowles (Vo), Jake Reid (Gt), Oliver Bowles (Gt), Tom Davies (Ba), and Aaron Black (Dr). Beyond songwriting, the band has drawn attention for its distinctly DIY approach, handling its own graphics, videos, website design, and merchandise in-house. Even at the early single stage, Split Chain rapidly expanded its audience through TikTok and eventually made a dramatic debut via Epitaph Records, the legendary label founded by Bad Religion’s Brett Gurewitz.

“motionblur” is a record that collides shoegaze with post-hardcore, grunge, and nu-metal. Gritty guitar textures coexist with hazy melodies, while melodic vocals and screams create a constant tension between beauty and aggression. Across the album, dense walls of distortion are softened by a humid sense of melancholy that never fully dissipates.

Despite its compact runtime of 11 tracks and roughly 35 minutes, the album moves fluidly between softness and heaviness, restraint and catharsis, maintaining its intensity without losing momentum. Opening track #1 “Under The Wire” bursts in through an intro reminiscent of a classic PlayStation startup sound before launching into crushing grooves and beatdown-driven riffs. In contrast, the melodic #2 “bored. tired. torn.” introduces an emotionally charged chorus with strong anthemic appeal, while #3 “I'm Not Dying to Be Here” sharply pivots between weary vocal delivery and explosive emotional release. Those first three tracks alone leave a substantial impact.

One of the album’s standout moments is #5 “who am i?”, an aggressive track infused with post-punk momentum and gothic toxicity, strongly reflecting the band’s darker aesthetics. Meanwhile, #7 “Greyintheblue” leaves a lingering impression through its sinking heaviness, decadent atmosphere, and spectral chorus work.

That darker sensibility likely stems in part from bassist Tom Davies’ affinity for darkwave and new wave, though the influence of Type O Negative also appears impossible to ignore. Split Chain has performed live covers of “I Don’t Wanna Be Me,” later officially releasing their own version, while also producing merchandise inspired by “October Rust,” openly expressing admiration for the band. Both groups appear to share a similar intersection between hardcore aggression and gothic romanticism.

Even visually, parallels can be found between the two bands. While Type O Negative became synonymous with green, Split Chain has embraced blue as its defining color palette — something the band has described as an accidental discovery while experimenting with the visual tone of their first music video, “Get Inside.” That approach further suggests a shared aesthetic sensibility. Interestingly, Type O Negative itself frequently cited artists such as Cocteau Twins and My Bloody Valentine as influences, offering another compelling connection between gothic music and darker forms of shoegaze.

Overall, “motionblur” builds upon the broader Deftones-core lineage while organically blending shoegaze, emo, hardcore, grunge, and goth into a cohesive whole. Even at its loudest, the album never loses its sense of atmosphere, capturing raw melancholy and emotional volatility with remarkable clarity. The record should resonate not only with listeners following bands such as Soul Blind, Narrow Head, and Fleshwater, but also with audiences drawn toward goth and darkwave aesthetics.

Split Chain has moved at remarkable speed since its formation, and in 2026 the band returned with “sylvia (i won't belong to you),” its first new material following the album, while continuing an extensive touring schedule. As reflected in the phrase often shared internally by the band — “The chain does what it wants.” — that momentum appears to be continuing to grow.

In interviews, Roberto Martinez-Cowles has described the band’s three major ambitions as “playing in Japan, touring with Deftones, and headlining across America.” Judging by the trajectory of “motionblur,” that future may not be very far away.