Australian Nu-metalcore heavyweights Alpha Wolf have teamed up with UK alternative rock sad bois Holding Absence for an impressive 4-track split EP The Lost & The Longing, now available via SharpTone Records. From the in-your-face aggression of “Hotel Underground” to the emotionally taxing “Coffin,” there’s an obvious duality between the respective styles of each band that shouldn’t work together as well as they do on a track like “Aching Longing.” the first single in anticipation of the EP. “60cm Of Steel,” the final single off the EP, sees Alpha Wolf delivering their patented brand of spin kick-inducing metalcore, even inspiring Holding Absence frontman Lucas Woodland to join in the screams throughout the chorus. Woodland and Alpha Wolf frontman Lochie Keogh perform an intricate dance throughout the entirety of this 14 and a half minute EP, balancing their bands respective styles and delivering a sound not heard from either band independently. The Lost & The Longing is a tale of juxtaposition, a balance between the yin and the yang, bringing together fanbases for a triumphant explosion of sound.

We were fortunate enough to work with our friends at SharpTone to chat with Woodland about the split EP and their experience in the alternative music scene, as well as witness Alpha Wolf perform their infectiously heavy set on the Pull From The Ghost Tour. You can read about our chat and the performance below.

The Lost

Holding Absence are no stranger to the split EP, as they’ve previously released This Is As One in collaboration with Loathe in 2018. Now, four years later, they’ve got a bigger budget and years of experience to put into The Lost & The Longing, the latest addition to the bands discography. While This Is As One was a well-received project, Woodland says it was released at relatively the beginning of their music career, so in comparison to where each band is now, they have much more at their disposal. “We were two up-and-coming bands that at that point had only put out 4 songs to date and Loathe had a record out, but we were both very much at the foot of our career. We felt this kinship to them in the scene; we were two bands who want to work hard and we have visions and dreams of doing things with our music, so let’s just meld this thing together. Now, years later, we’ve done it again with Alpha Wolf, but obviously where we are now as bands - Holding Absence and Alpha Wolf now, versus Holding Absence and Loathe then - we have so much more at our disposal. We’ve been able to work on the album artwork, feature on each other’s tracks, and such. So, comparing the two EPs, with Loathe it was a very cool idea, but very primitive and done on a shoestring budget.”

Outside of the band’s involvement in the split EPs, The Lost & The Longing is the direct follow up to the band’s sophomore album The Greatest Mistake Of My Life, released just last year. Despite the recent album, Holding Absence are actively working on their next release, so it can be tricky for some bands to decide which tracks to save for their own projects. Woodland says the decision to get involved in this split EP was to give something back to their growing fanbase in the metalcore scene. “Aching Longing’ was a song we had already written and this was us thinking of all of our fans in the metalcore scene; how can we give a bit back to them? So, with the new track we knew that was a sound that leans more on the metalcore side and it’s probably our heaviest song yet, so it was a perfect fit. With ‘Coffin’ we wanted to contrast - it’s always been about the yin, the yang, the light, the dark, the love, the hate - and try to show more than just one axis of sound. ‘Coffin’ was an obvious contrasting sound for the theme of this release.”

While “Aching Longing” was an easy choice for the lead single in anticipation of the full EP, each single since has been better than the last. Woodland mentions “Coffin” bring one of his favourite Holding Absence songs ever released, and he was even more excited for his feature on “60cm Of Steel,” the fourth and final single. “We dropped our song first, mainly just to let people know that we weren’t just putting songs together, but we were sharing the microphone with each other. “Coffin” is one of my favourite Holding Absence songs ever and for “60cm Of Steel” with Alpha Wolf - I’m featured on that one - the video is awesome, and I just can’t wait for people to see Holding Absence in that universe; a way heavier song.”

Holding Absence have always been a difficult band to nail with a genre classification - sampling alt rock, emo, post-hardcore, and many more - which Woodland says stems from their wide and eclectic music tatse. “One funny thing about our band is we do take inspiration from gothic music, shoegaze, post-hardcore, metalcore, emo, post-rock, alt rock, and all these different genres; we take so much inspiration in that sometimes people don’t know what our genre is. Which I kind of love. Genre’s suck, like who cares? I’m grateful there’s places like a metalcore subreddit to see what’s cool in the scene, but in general, once you start thinking about genre too much, you lose what you’re trying to do. For me personally, I grew up on emo music - Paramore, Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance - the best music of the last 20 years in my opinion. As we evolve, we’ll sound more like those bands naturally, but there’s always the outside influences pulling us.”

The Longing

On the other side of the world, we were able to catch Alpha Wolf alongside Invent Animate, Thornhill, and ERRA on the Pull From The Ghost Tour in Toronto, ON. Sounding as pissed off and aggressive as ever, Alpha Wolf smashed onto the stage with their set-opening “Ultra-Violet Violence,” an absolute rager from their 2020 LP A Quiet Place to Die. Fans at Velvet Underground opened up the mosh-pit within seconds and it stayed open for the entirety of their set. The band made their way through other A Quiet Place to Die anthems in “Creep” and “Acid Romance,” as well as hits from their 2019 EP Fault, before showcasing “Hotel Underground” for new and old fans alike. Unsurprisingly, Keogh and the rest of the boys in Alpha Wolf put every ounce of energy into that performance and you could feel the venue shaking with every crashing beat. It was just a taste of The Lost & The Longing that left me itching for an Alpha Wolf, Holding Absence collaboration tour.

With only 2 tracks remaining, Alpha Wolf once again leaned on their 2020 sophomore album for the Nu-metalcore ballad in “Bleed 4 You” and their set-closing staple in “Akudama”. It was one of the quickest direct support sets I’ve ever witnessed, but that may have been because I was on the edge of my (non-existing) seat for every single track. Alpha Wolf will be supporting ERRA on the remainder of the Pull From The Ghost Tour before setting out on their own headlining run with Bodysnatcher and Vatican from August 21st through September 7th. Tickets are available now and we couldn’t recommend seeing this band more!

We want to give a massive thank you to the team at SharpTone for hooking us up, we couldn’t be more grateful. Be sure to check out the official music video for “60cm Of Steel” below and stay up-to-date with both bands!