The Cartographer release new single ‘Blood’ and announce debut album

“This is the end of an era,” states The Cartographer’s vocalist and frontman Jay Roberts. That’s how he and the rest of the Derby based metal force view their debut album, ‘The Collapse of a Bitter End’. The quintet – composed of Roberts, guitarists Dan Gorman and Josh Pearson, bassist Tom Broadhead and drummer Josh Woodhouse – have endured both internal and external turmoil to reach this point.  A long time in the making, but well and truly worth the wait, they’re set to self-release ‘The Collapse Of A Bitter End’ on the 18th of September, and are sharing now the new single ‘Blood’ to celebrate:

When asked about the themes surround the latest single, the band stated that “this track is about someone who feels falsely accused or manipulated, snapping into anger and fantasising about taking power back and destroying the other person emotionally”.

Fired up and with a taste for blood, The Cartographer are ready to blow the doors off with what is undoubtedly their strongest and most punishing material to date. Get ready!

The Cartographer has carved out a space that’s uniquely theirs in the UK heavy music underground. With ten years and multiple EP releases firmly under their belts, their expansion into the next level has always felt imminent but has been consistently stunted by the unexpected. Band members have come and gone, the pandemic brought the whole metal underground to a complete halt, they’ve individually had moments where life has had to take the wheel and priorities have changed, but now their momentum has shifted. Bloodstock Festival 2025 felt like the moment it all clicked into place. The band that took to that stage was confident, driven and intimidatingly fierce; exactly what this album demonstrates.

‘The Collapse of a Bitter End’ serves as a metaphorical bookend to a tumultuous period of their career. It’s a collection of material that the band formed amidst line-up changes and personal upheaval, each track representing a different fractured piece. Be it the personnel involved or the pain infused into the songwriting, there’s one thing that unifies them all; bittersweetness.

The album began to take its shape following the departure of long-standing founding member James Harrison, ultimately inspiring the album title. Some of his last works with the band appear on the album, sculpted into something that represents the current line-up. “Finishing the record was a challenge,” explains Gorman, “as we really had to work together to make the songs into something that retains James’ character but still sounds like the five of us.” Broadhead adds, “We’ve really opened up creatively and become more collaborative, which has made everything feel fresh and exciting.”

“A big part of the process has been bringing out the individual sound and personality of each member,” shares Pearson, who also produced the record. “We’ve really pushed the songs as far as we could and made sure the final result feels like a true representation of the whole band”. What they’re left with is a collection of nine bile-spitting titans that find the band at their most enraged, uninhibited and vitriolic; a sonic evolution of the highest order with pulverising grooves and a soul-baring, purging Intensity.

With a penchant for dense, moody atmospherics coupled with unhinged vocal delivery and unrelenting heaviness, they’ve used their aggression in the past to vent their frustrations at the state of the world and the many plagues it harbours. The Collapse of a Bitter End takes things in a different direction; instead of looking through a lens, they’re now looking at a mirror. It’s a gnarled, ominous and deeply introspective exploration of the sense of self, detailing the arduous journey that so many embark on to find a shred of comfort and stability in the darkness. This is something Roberts is constantly wrestling with, using the album as a form of therapy to navigate towards the light.

“This record lyrically is very personal to me,” he reveals. “I aimed to write lyrics that are as unfiltered as they possibly can be, no matter how intrusive it feels. It’s made the songs more raw, and I’ve tried to reflect that in the vocal performance, too.” Touching on subjects like childhood trauma, abandonment, self-worth and mental instability, that honesty is audible throughout the album.

From the barbaric album opener ‘Blood’ to the haunting and hopeful closer ‘Exodus’, the record is incredibly vulnerable and adds further heft to their already weighty music. ‘Snake Tongue’, a groove-laden rager, sees Roberts look back on his upbringing and dealing with the mixed emotions that come to the surface. “I grew up in an abusive home,” he candidly shares. “Reflecting on it as an adult does bring some peace, but I also feel a lot of hate.” That hatred really cuts through as he painfully shrieks “I’d rather choke than have to feel your soul again.”

The white-knuckle ride of ‘Soul Chamber’ is an ode to the hater, purposely targeting them with vicious lines like “Show your true self and let me see how crooked you are.” ‘Apparition’ discusses the burden of constant worry and self-doubt, which Roberts compares to “feeling a dark spirit looming over you, causing it all.” There’s themes of neglect and deceit in ‘All Things Rot In Silence’, cutting ties and shedding skin in ‘Greifworn’, reaching a transformational crossroads in ‘DIRT’ – all the subject matter has bite, delivered with such resonance that you’ll feel its teethmarks long after you’ve finished listening.

No track really captures the vibe of the record quite like ‘Into The Gloom’. A sincere and pensive acknowledgement of one’s own faults, the lyrics detail Roberts’ mental tug-of-war between trying to become a better person while feeling like it’s not enough. “There are certain types of people that just won’t let something go, regardless of howhard you try,” he conveys, plainly shown with lyrics like “I’ll try to turn the page and move away from my mistakes, but you keep pulling me back so I can’t escape.”

Perhaps laying everything out so openly will allow Roberts the grace to, alongside the band, step into their next chapter with mental clarity and fortitude. The band hopes that others can get that from their music, too. “Music has taught me a lot about community, creativity, and emotion,” shares Pearson. “More than anything, I hope people experience the same connection that music has always given us, and interpret it in their own personal way.”

With a renewed passion, a reinvigorated line-up and a ravenous appetite for more, The Cartographer are setting themselves up for the artistic growth they’ve been striving for. “We really want to push the band to new heights and collectively create something we’re really proud of,” shares Woodhouse. “We’ve been waiting for the right time to begin the next chapter, bigger and better. That time is now.”

‘The Collapse of a Bitter End’ may be the end of an era, but it’s also the beginning of the next. Set for release on September 18th.