Drawing from some heavyweight influences, including Iron Maiden and Mastodon, York’s Garrow Hill give us Gothic horror in latest single release.

By Graeme Smith

Feature image credit: Garrow Hill 2025

York’s hard rock scene is often overlooked in a national sense, but lets not forget that it’s a city built (in part) by Vikings. Metal runs in the city’s blood and its two rivers, and Garrow Hill is living proof.

Their latest single, We Are All But Nothing, is a track that smacks you round the chops straight away with a blistering intro. Relentless riffs pair with powerful percussion in arrangement that doesn’t quit.

There’s a sense of blues as it reaches the first verse which unfolds with a glam rock swagger. Things get heavy and growling leading into the anthemic chorus. There’s so much to unpack in a song that feels like quintessentially classic rock while being defiantly indefinable. A noodling guitar solo proves a highlight, teeing up a frenetic finish.

“This track is our hymn to the void—bleak, beautiful, and unrelenting,” says one half of Garrow Hill, Stew King. “It’s meant to stay with you long after it ends.”

And indeed it does.

The alt-metal duo of vocalist/guitarist Stew King and drummer/vocalist PG Branton have been featuring on our pages since 2022. We’ve had singles, videos, and even an interview from them.

“We have been around a while, in different formats in different bands and we have seen some amazing talent in the city,” they’ve said of the York scene. “From playing venues such asStereo/Fibbers and The Duchess, a lot has come and gone.

“There are still some great venues in York of course, but also our great city is nowhere near the diverse and rich music scene that Leeds offers for example. We love York, it has some great artists but at times it feels quite small and on a loop. However, as a York musician it does mean there is a potential audience to tap into.”

I’m inclined to agree on the venue front, but there are encouraging signs such as the crowds drawn for the recent concerts in York Museum Gardens. What York does have is some fine examples of musicians in every genre, be it singer songwriters like Harrison Rimmer or Miles Salter, pop artists like Bennet Elliot and Kati Cooke, or metalheads like Garrow Hill.

You can keep up with the band via their website, on Facebook, X, and Instagram, and via streaming platforms Spotify, Soundcloud, and YouTube. Their music is available to buy digitally on Bandcamp.

We Are All But Nothing is out now and you can give it a listen below.