After the departure of Booka Nile earlier this year, Make Them Suffer finally have a new fifth member.

Alex Reade, formerly of Drown This City, has joined the acclaimed metalcore outfit on keyboards and backup vocals. And judging by new single ‘Doomswitch’, the first track to feature Reade, she’s fitted in seamlessly to the band’s dynamic.

Marking a new chapter for Make Them Suffer, ‘Doomswitch’ is unsurprisingly heavy, containing powerful lines such as, “It’s not how you get knocked down, it’s how you get back up”.

“Doomswitch is a term coined by online poker players used to describe a hypothesised mechanism by which an online poker site will continually infer bad luck onto a player,” the band says about their new single.

“Sean (Harmanis) related to this term and, at the time, it felt as if a Doomswitch had flicked on his life, so used the concept as the main inspiration for the song.

“We’ve adopted a new element into our sound along with the inclusion of a new member; Alex. This song marks a new chapter and the next step forward for the band and the sonic shift in ‘Doomswitch’ really drives that home.”

The single is accompanied by a thrilling music video directed by Colin Jeffs. Filmed at The Paint Factory in Brisbane, the claustrophobic clip powerfully captures the journey frontman Harmanis has experienced with his mental health (see below). ‘Doomswitch’ was produced by Nick McLernon at his home studio in Victoria, with mixing and mastering done by Jeff Dunne.

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To celebrate their new single, the new Make Them Suffer lineup will launch ‘Doomswitch’ with five shows in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth (see full details here). They’ll be joined by Gravemind, Starve (excluding Perth) and Dark Matter in their hometown.

Make Them Suffer’s ‘Doomswitch’ is out now.

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Check out ‘Doomswitch’ by Make Them Suffer:

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