Banks Arcade unleash their new album SECOND PLACE SUPERSTAR, a bold and emotionally charged statement from a band that has never been interested in fitting neatly into one genre. Blurring the boundaries between modern metal, alternative electronic music and hip-hop, the record captures Banks Arcade at their most ambitious, unpredictable and personal yet.
Built on contrast, SECOND PLACE SUPERSTAR moves effortlessly between crushing heaviness, infectious melodies, electronic experimentation and moments of striking vulnerability. Rather than settling into a single sound, Banks Arcade use the album to push their identity further, bringing together the raw physicality of metal with the maximalist energy of contemporary alternative music. It is an approach deeply rooted in the band’s history, drawing inspiration from underground electronic artists, modern hip hop and classic metalcore while constantly searching for something unmistakably their own.
Arriving alongside the album is "Last Time," a track that perfectly captures its more vulnerable and melodic side. Trading sheer aggression for emotional weight, the song explores the desperate final moments of a relationship that already feels like it is slipping away. Love, regret, and self-sabotage collide with the hope that maybe this time things could end differently.
Brooding production gives way to soaring, confessional hooks as the lyrics turn heartbreak into something visceral. Images of spilling blood like red wine, stitching a broken heart back together and being pushed to the point of flatlining underline the song’s tension between devotion and destruction. At its core, "Last Time" is about wanting to become enough for someone while knowing that your own patterns may ultimately drive them away. That push and pull between hope and resignation makes it a powerful representation of the emotional world surrounding SECOND PLACE SUPERSTAR.
That sense of reinvention has defined Banks Arcade from the beginning. Forged through the partnership of two best friends whose backgrounds stretch from jazz degrees to professional MMA fighting, the band emerged from New Zealand through constant relocation, struggle and an uncompromising drive to create something different. Those experiences became the foundation for a musical identity built around evolution rather than convention.
In recent years, Banks Arcade have transformed from New Zealand underdogs into an internationally established name in modern heavy music. The band have sold out headline shows across the Southern Hemisphere, taken their uncompromising live show to international stages including Download Festival, and shared stages with the likes of The Plot In You, Northlane, and Thornhill.
With SECOND PLACE SUPERSTAR, Banks Arcade continue exactly what has driven them from the start: dismantling expectations of what a modern heavy band should sound like. Heavy without being confined by heaviness, melodic without sacrificing intensity and experimental without losing its emotional core, the album brings together the many sides of Banks Arcade into their most expansive statement yet.
SECOND PLACE SUPERSTAR is out now via Arising Empire
BANKS ARCADE ON TOUR:
10/9 — Marrickville, AUS — From Ashes To New
10/11 — Melbourne, AUS — From Ashes To New
10/13 — Adelaide, AUS — From Ashes To New
10/15 — Newstead, AUS — From Ashes To New
1/17 — Sydney, AUS — Hellbound 2027
