REVIEW: Circumvent - Feel The Cold

Bristol hardcore upstarts CIRCUMVENT are on the cusp of releasing their debut EP, Feel The Cold, and it’s a great start to recorded life for the dancey punks. Releasing on the fantastic Betrayed By Life Records, the five-track release is short, to the point, and plenty of fun.

Opening with a self-titled sub-two minute rager, it’ll be side to side on this call to arms from beginning to end. The customary location namedrop of “Bristol hardcore!” is prominently featured within the lyrics, whilst the chugging guitars serve their primary purpose of raising heart rates and blood pressure fantastically. Next up is Not Your Mate, which is comfortably the longest song on here at nearly three minutes, and is - rather unsurprisingly - about not being someone’s mate. Calling out their apathy over a big rock riff, there’s no compromise or subtlety here, just anger and lots of room for spin kicks.

Third on the EP is the song Dead End Path, and it’s the most aggressive on the release. With lyrics flying out at breakneck speed for the first half of the song before a delightfully hefty change up to a half-time section that’s bound to cause some serious gurning, this makes for a particular highlight of ours on the EP.

The penultimate track to be heard is Hurt My Feelings, a track that, even by hardcore standards, makes a quick exit - certainly not overstaying any welcomes with its one minute runtime. Our neck tendons are standing up preemptively even just listening to it, and it’s sure to be one song that will serve the live arena better than anything. Rounding up the five songs comes the EP’s titular track, Feel The Cold. Another that runs over two minutes, it’s quite melodic to start before a good old fashioned fuzzy riff kicks the door in and gets things back in order. Whether you feel the cold or not, you definitely won’t need another layer with this on as it’s bound to be sweaty whenever this comes up on the setlist.

There’s loads to love here. Across the entire EP we find less than ten minutes of music in five songs, all of which have some choice guitar parts, great groove, and bags of energy. It’s a release rooted in the community and DIY sensibilities of hardcore and is clearly written by people embedded in that same culture. The wheel isn’t being remade, but that isn’t the point - for fans of hardcore to dance to, you’re firmly in the right place at a CIRCUMVENT show.

Score: 7/10

Feel The Cold will be released on 4th September 2026 via Betrayed By Life Records.

Words: Jasmine Longhurst

Photos: Oz Davy