At their triumphant headline hometown show in late 2024, Confyde vowed to make 2025 one to remember for fans of the band and have made a great start. As promised, we already have an assortment of new goodies for our auditory pleasure with the release of their new EP, A Coward’s Stitches.
Confyde – A Coward’s Stitches
Release Date: 7 February 2025
Words: Matt Pratt
Nottingham has a thriving local Metal scene with a full spectrum of styles. But if music exists on a spectrum, Confyde are on their own island proudly waving at the spectrum. The band has a style that refuses to comply with the standards and expectations of what we have come to know within music, and their new EP is no exception to this.
The first and titular track, A Coward’s Stitches, immediately throws you on the back foot. After jumping into a raucous onslaught of drums and electric guitar, the song immediately drops into a rhythmic acoustic moment. Then, just as you are settling into the adjusted ferocity, it cuts straight back into the chaos of noise which introduced the song.
The unsettling nature of the intro to the song sets the scene perfectly for the uneasy nature of the themes that will be explored. A Coward’s Stitches is an autobiographical discussion of the damage caused by avoiding difficult conversations, as well as the pain caused by opening yourself up to such a discussion. The song is breathless, with ever-changing tempos and styles, enforced by spiky guitar riffs and the tireless attack of drums to accompany the deeply emotional lyrical content.
Through his words, Jackson brings a real visceral conviction to the sentiment of fearing love’s more challenging antagonists, preferring to exist in the emotionless void than bear all to the inevitable pain. This expression is captured neatly in the song’s tagline, “Why do you want to keep pulling my stitches out? Isn’t there enough of my blood on the ground?”.
Once Broken throws us off once more with a complete change in musical temperature. The song feels far less erratic with a grungy melody that evokes memories of Nirvana, overlaid with a Mark Knopfler-esque guitar rhythm.
In following the title track, the comparative calmness allows one to have a contemplative moment to reflect on the challenging thoughts unearthed by the song. Jackson shares his struggles with mental health. “I was paralyzed by what we’ve lost,” he sings, expressing the inability to overcome the events of his past and escape the depressive state he has been thrust into.
The simplicity of the song presents a relatable rhetoric that anyone who has experienced moments of damaging self-talk can identify with. In the latter part of the song, we begin to hear the first signs of reconciliation.
Martin sings, “Why did it take for me to hit rock bottom, to snap out of the fear, that had made me so numb to all the ways that you’ve been hurt, and to finally put you first”, identifying that refusing to dress the open wound of his emotions only stunted the eventual healing and recovery process.
The EP culminates with Hxppy Nxw Yxxr, which was released with accompanying music video in early 2025. Before the track even starts, you get a sense of uneasiness, with the traditional adage of “Happy New Year” having several letters etched out by Xs.
The song takes a wholly acoustic turn from the full band ensembles, which we enjoyed in the earlier songs. This gives a much more intimate atmosphere as Martin shares his inner monologue in the most direct way yet.
We hear two trains of thought throughout the song. A gravelly, disparaging voice, hellbent on beating the singer down, and a softer, more forgiving voice, reminding him of all the growth that he has made in spite of the setbacks he has suffered.
The presentation takes me back to the recurring cartoon skit in which the character would have a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other, both desperate to drag the individual to their way of thought.
As we approach the midpoint of the song, it feels the negative dialogue is taking precedence. Scratches on the guitar stress create anxious stress, reflecting the singer’s damaging mental state. The song takes a dive as Jackson contemplates the value of his own existence through a shaken voice.
From the darkest moment of the song, a feeling of defiance begins to grow, as if Jackson has finally learned to accept his personal worth. The bellicose sentiment of “You can stop me climbing out of this bed” comes with a jubilant change of tone and tempo, thwarting the engulfing nature of depression. 
The whole EP is constructed with great thoughtfulness. As the collection progresses, we hear lyrical callbacks to the themes discussed earlier in the EP and get a real sense of the journey from the inception of the emotional downfall, through the conflict of inner monologue and finally to the acceptance and growth out of the darkness.
The story is one of acute rawness, giving an empathic door to relatable themes. The music is as diverse as it is engaging and I often found myself lost in the enveloping riffs and tireless subversion of expectation. 
A Coward’s Stitches is a triumph of the EP form. It perfectly encapsulates a conclusive story through a display of musical versatility, lyrical mastery and an engaging sound.
A fantastic way for Confyde to thrust themselves into 2025, with an EP launch show this weekend and plenty more to come, the band’s success is sure to snowball from here on out.
I implore you to give them a shot. You will not be disappointed.
