After several years of not being accessible, Saud Ahmed, vocalist of The Holy Guile, has made the band’s music available for streaming on Spotify, Apple Music, and many more services.
Deathcore act The Holy Guile rose to prominence in the mid 2010’s after The Crimson Armada called it quits. The band released a four-song EP entitled Guardians 2.0, which songs landed on The Holy Guile’s debut record FSU in 2013. Characterized by frenetic guitar runs, monstrous breakdowns, and succinct production, it became a fast favorite in the genre. This was followed up by OG in 2014, injecting some compelling raps while maintaining the winning formula.
A few years passed and it appeared The Holy Guile project was no more, as Ahmed pursued a software engineer career. Fast forward to the final days of 2023 and Saud posted in a Facebook group that the albums would return after more than 5 years of them being visible but not playable on streaming services. A moment that felt almost too good to be true for longtime fans of The Holy Guile, it was cathartic to see both records back out of nowhere, as previously the only way to listen was if you had a CD or through YouTube.
The Holy Guile’s return to streaming services was warmly welcomed in comments sections: “I was literally talking about what a gem the holy guile was with a friend the other day” and “We hyped as f*ck, was literally listening to them on YouTube last night”, and “Immediately went to listen to sour d” were gut reactions from excited fans. Where some bands fade from memory after time, others are memorable enough to stick in people’s heads several years past. It was awesome to see ENEMY AC-130 ABOVE cover “The Celebration” recently, which sparked my memories of the band flooding in.
It’s always a win to see lost media come back into the fray, as we recently saw the same with The Browning’s first two albums being stuck in their old label’s grasp only to return ceremoniously. In the case of The Holy Guile, it’s stellar to have these songs so easily available as after all these years, there’s still a cult following of the group despite them not extensively touring or being active for quite a long time. Never say never in the world of music. If you need me, I’ll be streaming FSU over and over and over again.
