Originally Published on November 12th, 2026

Music is so expansive these days. Artists are working feverishly to create new sounds, new genres, and anything that can be equated to be different. It’s a race to get there first, which results in a dog pile onto this new thing until the next “new thing” is discovered.

It’s exhausting.

Sometimes, it’s nice to appreciate something for what it is. It’s not trying to be different. It’s not trying to be new. It’s just trying to be great. Final Thirteen is a rock band from Ireland that is taking the latter approach. They’re not trying to “redefine” rock music, they’re simply trying to be a great rock band. For a band that’s been played thousands of time across radio stations worldwide and has roughly a quarter of a million streams over the course of their career, they’re well on their way to discovery.

Final Thirteen formed in 2024. They are AX, JD, T Pot, and Matty G. Their style of music is gritty, full-throttle rock that almost wants to be old school metal. Being that they are fronted by a female singer, the obvious comparison is The Pretty Reckless, but in this case, it’s actually pretty accurate. AX’s vocals are grungy and performed in a lower alto range and the performance of the band around her vocals is loud and up-tempo.

From 2024 to today, they’ve released 9 singles, with their latest, The Other 12, having released this last Friday. Starting in December, Final Thirteen have 3 shows in the UK area, including a stop at London’s venue, Nambucca on Sunday 12 December. Any fans of hard rock should definitely try to make it to the show! Click here to see a list of the band’s upcoming shows.

The Other 12

The Other 12 is the second single released by Irish-based independent rock band, Final Thirteen. It released on November 6th and runs at nearly 4 and a half minutes. It was written and recorded by Final Thirteen, and was independently released through DAMD records.

“The Other 12 is a visceral exploration of gossip, obsession, and the psychology of hatred, examining what happens when someone becomes so consumed by another person that their identity begins to orbit around them.” ~ Final Thirteen on The Other 12

The intensity of this song starts with the vocal performance from AX, and is amplified by the performance of the band around her. AX’s performance is an exhibition in diversity as she cycles through different performances: in some moments, she’s almost speaking the lyrics in the verse, then as the chorus comes in, her singing is a borderline scream as she exhibits anger and emotion through the song.

The band does a great job of supporting this performance. Starting with the drums, T Pot gives a quality performance complete with a steady, pocket performance that is enhanced with dynamic transitions, and disciplined fills setting the tone for the energy. Matty G’s performance on the bass serves as a bridge between percussion and melody. He stays right at home with the progression and accents transitions right along with T Pot’s performance. This gives JD the opportunity to do a few different things on the guitar. The guitar performance features layers of different sounds. At moments, he plays arpeggiated progressions through the parts of the verses, then switches to power chords and progressions. All the way there are these haunting single tones reverberating and feeding back over the track. Towards the end, they turn into an eerie guitar solo that becomes as pivotal as the vocals in telling the story of the song.

The production value of the song is really good. There isn’t a moment where one element overpowers the other. I love the intro with the creepy, old upright piano plunking out a little melody that sounds like a deranged nursery rhyme. This transitions right into the performance of the band. Everything is mixed well and panned out to where it sounds like I’m in the room hearing the performance from all sides.

“If You Need Someone Else to Make Your Own Identity Feel Bigger, Who is Really Being Consumed?”

Final Thirteen’s latest single, The Other 12, is solid compositionally. The musical performance exhibits talent throughout. The band doesn’t try to do anything to stand out individually and take away from the story within the songwriting. Instead, every element operates as a portion of the emotion conveyed in the songwriting, which is really the centerpiece for the entire song.

The story, which “revolves around projection and the strange power we can give to people we claim to despise,” is an attention-grabber. It hits so hard because is resonates in its truth. When someone commits to hating another person, a politician, a celebrity, an ex, or anyone for that matter, the more that person occupies their thoughts, their emotions, and their time. Our hatred can even begin to interfere with our lives: our relationships, our work, and our very existence. In that instance, are we better for exhibiting our hatred – no matter the crime, or are we giving the object of our disdain an easy victory? A key to live in our heads, rent free?

Food for thought.

Final Thirteen are a rock band in every sense of the word. Their new single, The Other 12, is streaming on all platforms everywhere, and in one week have already garnered more than 5,000 streams on Spotify. For those in the UK who are fans of hard rock, make sure to check in on their tour schedule in December.

Go press play!