Banks Arcade

Banks Arcade began in Auckland before establishing themselves as one of the more fluid heavy bands in the Australasian scene. Their own press frames them as a "heavy metal boyband," a useful clue to how the music works: metalcore intensity and alternative-metal riffing are pulled into electronic production, hip-hop cadence, pop hooks, and a high-gloss sense of performance. Future Lovers introduced a version of the band that was already resistant to a single lane, moving between aggressive breakdowns, synthetic bass pressure, moody melodic choruses, and club-aware rhythm. Later material pushed the contrast harder, with songs such as "More Want" and "Change" showing how easily they can treat a hook, a scream, and a programmed beat as equal parts of the same arrangement. Banks Arcade's history has also been shaped by international touring with modern heavy acts, which makes the big-stage ambition feel built into the writing. The band sits comfortably in metal-adjacent territory because the guitars and breakdowns hit hard, but the defining quality is the refusal to separate heaviness from pop spectacle.