Sydney’s own Melrose Avenue are back, and they’re not easing into 2026 quietly.
The rising metalcore favourites have dropped their new single Taste, out now via Hopeless Records, and it feels like a proper turning point for the band. Darker. Bolder. More confident. This is Melrose Avenue leaning fully into a heavier, more provocative side, and honestly, it suits them.
Frontman Vlado Saric explains it best:
“Taste marks the next phase of Melrose Avenue stepping out of the light and letting our darker inhibitions take over—it’s about freedom, the right to be sexual, to be desired, and to desire. We felt our fanbase was ready for this side of us, and we wanted to give them exactly that”
You can hear that shift straight away. Taste carries that slick modern metalcore energy, but there’s a new edge running through it. It feels fearless, like a band that knows exactly who they are and isn’t holding back anymore.
And it’s not just new music. Melrose Avenue are about to be everywhere.
They kick things off back home in Australia this March, supporting Rain City Drive alongside labelmates TX2, before heading stateside for a massive 35-date US headline run with Autumn Kings and Strayview. After that, Europe awaits, with festival slots lined up at some of the continent’s biggest metal and punk events.
Vlado adds:
“To celebrate the release, we’ll be touring the world over the next six months, starting in Australia with our friends TX2 and Rain City Drive in March, followed by 35 dates across the USA in April-May with Autumn Kings and Strayview, before heading to Europe in June to play some of the most iconic metal and punk festivals on the planet. We’re excited, refreshed, and ready, and we hope our fans are just as excited to come on this journey with us.”
If you’ve been watching Melrose Avenue climb over the past couple of years, this feels like the moment they properly level up. Taste doesn’t just sound like a new single. It sounds like a statement.
And something tells us this is only the beginning.
