My latest holiday-season find is the new EP, “Surrender,” released earlier this year by Amira Elkefy, an emerging star in the American alternative metal scene, whose 2024 debut, “Skin to Skin,” has earned critical acclaim from Billboard, Rolling Stone, and Revolver Magazine. This 6-track offering was released on March 28th, 2025, via Atlantic. Its second track, “Will You Love Me When I’m Dead,” was released as a single last year, and it was the very track that caught my attention, but even my closest friends probably wouldn’t guess why. The songs immediately struck me as a haunting cross between Billie Eilish and EVANESCENCE – and I loved it. Yeah, that’s not something you’re supposed to say aloud among tr00 metalheads or various assortments of music snobs. While it’s true that almost all the songs on this EP lean pretty heavily into female-fronted metalcore tropes made popular by bands such as SPIRITBOX, there’s no denying that Elkefy does it just as well as those said metalcore bands. I read that BRING ME THE HORIZON approved of her so much that they asked her to support them on their tour and ARCHITECTS asked her to feature on their album. Why the hell not? She sings like an angel, perhaps a fallen one, but an angel all the same. Besides, the way she touches on some deep, personal topics like mental health issues, her music shouldn’t leave anyone cold.
The opener, “Take Me Under” is probably the main culprit for the Billie Eilish vibes that the album is laced with – Elkefy‘s vocal phrasing has a good pinch of Eilish about it, especially in this track. The lyrics could be from the songbook of that dark-pop princess or a sly reference to that one blockbuster hit by EVANESCENCE from yesteryear, although the emotional charge is substantially more turbulent here, more like vintage DEFTONES. Yeah, am I glad I picked up this EP! The banger, “Will You Love Me When I’m Dead” comes next, triggering nice flashbacks of THE best-ever BRING ME THE HORIZON album, “That’s the Spirit” (2015). No wonder they have fallen in love with Elkefy‘s music! However, as haunting and mind-melting as this song is, it is not even the biggest banger on the EP.
I think it was December 2020 or something when SPIRITBOX practically shattered my world with their tear-jerker of a song, “Constance.” Lo and behold! Elkefy‘s “Forever Overdose” owes quite a lot to that particular SPIRITBOX song but I cannot even feel mad about it. If she can rip my heart out of my chest and then put it right back, just like that song she may have used as an inspiration, I just cannot find it in me to scold her for ripping off one of my all-time favorites. It’s a bit strange, to be honest. The lyrics are a bit emo, what with these forever (sic) recurring lyrical antics of drawing parallels between drug addiction and toxic relationships. Still, there is something in this song that hits hard. I guess it’s because it has been true for most of us, at some point in life, at least, and the music delivers the point home just beautifully.
The remaining songs are pretty decent but no match to the two standout tracks. “Death of Me” bows down to the early-2000s alt-rock, PARAMORE, and the like, and “Crossed the Line” resonates with an even thicker air of EVANESCENCE than the opener. Then, the closer is, all of a sudden, a synth-pop song with some power-chord chugging and a metalcore-ish breakdown. “Fatal Attraction” continues on the familiar footing, lyrically, and is a pretty catchy song, true, but maybe it’s not quite as epic as I thought it should have been, for a closer, I mean. Once I had listened through the EP, I ended up putting those two heart-stoppers on repeat. All in all, I’m happy to have stumbled upon this gem. If Amira Elkefy ever came to this neck of the woods, I would certainly consider going. Even though it seems almost as though she popped out from nowhere, the music slaps pretty hard, so it shouldn’t be a wonder that she has caught so much traction so fast.
Written by Jani Lehtinen
Tracklist
- Take Me Under
- Will You Love Me When I’m Dead
- Forever Overdose
- Death of Me
- Crossed the Line
- Fatal Attraction
Lineup
Amira Elkefy – vocals
Label
Atlantic
