Australian metalcore band MAKE THEM SUFFER have released "Black Sheep", their first new song since 2024's self-titled album. It is out now via Immortal Music Group/SharpTone Records with an official video.
Dan Braunstein, known for his work with SPIRITBOX and HOLDING ABSENCE, produced and mixed the track, which pairs the band's heavy, melodic attack with ambient and electronic passages.
The song looks at the isolation that comes with nearly two decades of touring. Vocalist Sean Harmanis says full-time music is a gift he will never take for granted, but the lifestyle "is often equally as rewarding as it can be isolating." He has noticed in himself and other touring musicians "a sense of loneliness and a lack of belonging," adding: "The more time you spend in your bunk, the more foreign life outside of the parameters of touring can feel, and the more distant your relationships back home become."
It also doubles as a statement about the band. "'Black Sheep' is about being the outcast," MAKE THEM SUFFER say. "It's a statement about the band itself after grinding for years, and feeling as if we've only become recognized in recent times." In their view, the sound they built is a direct result of not being accepted for so long.
Formed in Perth in 2008, MAKE THEM SUFFER started out in deathcore and broadened their sound from 2012's debut Neverbloom onward, taking in melodic death metal, metalcore and symphonic elements. They have five studio albums, including How To Survive A Funeral (2020) and the 2024 self-titled record, which charted in the U.K. Album track "Epitaph" won Most Performed Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Work at the 2025 APRA Music Awards.
The current lineup is Sean Harmanis (vocals), Nick McLernon (guitar), Jaya Jeffery (bass), Jordan Mather (drums) and Alex Reade (keys, vocals).