Pryma — Pryma

Pryma are a four-piece heavy metal band from Kent, in the south-east corner of England. They play loud, riff-first groove and thrash with a frontwoman who can roar and sing in the same breath. They don't have a full-length album yet. What they do have is a debut EP, a run of hard-hitting singles, a deal with a European metal label and a live reputation that's grown from tiny Kent pubs to a tent at Download Festival. Here's how they got there.

How it started

Singer Gabrielle George, who goes by Gaby, told MyGlobalMind in June 2023 that she and bassist Anthony Durrant had started the band "roughly three and a half years ago," which puts the start at around late 2019. The two of them wrote rough tracks together and then went looking for a band. It wasn't quick. "We had about 15 people come and go before we found Max," she said.

Max Raven answered an advert for a guitarist, came to one practice and stayed. For four or five months the three of them rehearsed with a drum track playing through the PA, until Max remembered he'd gone to school with a drummer. That was Dom Smith, and the lineup was set.

The band have been described as coming from both Herne Bay and Canterbury, two towns a few miles apart. An early bio on Metal Devastation Radio, where they won an online battle of the bands with 6,034 votes, said they came from Herne Bay and named Black Sabbath, Megadeth and Iron Maiden as their inspirations. That's a fair clue to the sound.

Day jobs and loud venues

In 2023 they all still worked day jobs. Ant was a pest controller ("How metal is that!"), Gaby worked in a mental health unit, Max was a brewer at Mad Cat Brewery in Faversham, which sponsored the band, and Dom was a plumber.

Kent didn't make it easy. Max said there wasn't much of a metal scene in the county beyond a few venues in Canterbury, Dover and Gravesend. Gaby laughed that "90% of the venues tell us we're too loud." So they started driving, playing as far north as Blackpool and Carlisle, five hours from home, where she said the crowds gave them a great reception.

Uncaged and the first singles

Their debut EP, Uncaged, came out on November 25, 2022. According to the band's Bandcamp, it's six songs, "a selection of fan favourites from our live shows and a couple of new tracks." The lineup runs "Freaky Fright Night," "Athena," "My Bastard Gods," "One Way Ticket," "Suicide Storm" and "1:23:45." Both "Freaky Fright Night" and "1:23:45" got official videos, and "Freaky Fright Night" is still a live favourite.

The singles came fast after that. "My Cold Shadow" was released in September 2023, and "Survival" followed late that year. Metal Noise caught the band on the main stage at Oxford's Rabidfest that November and called them Canterbury's finest metal band. Gaby said "Survival" was "a very sensitive song" about getting through bad memories, and that she wanted listeners "to feel they weren't alone." The band call their fans the Prymates.

Then came "Dead To Me," with a video in January 2024 and the single on Bandcamp on February 19. Gaby described it as "a short, angry, explosive story" about people who spend their time running others down, and about how lonely it can feel in a room full of people. Her advice at the end of it is simple: life's short, so surround yourself with people who make you feel good.

On the road

In May 2024, Pryma went out on a joint headline tour with Lavire. The With Just A Hint Of Mayhem blog saw the York show at the Fulford Arms and came away a convert. The reviewer called "Dead To Me" "a metal anthem made for festivals," picked "My Cold Shadow" as the song of the night, and gave an early listen to a new one called "Mask," which he said had "some tuneful and huge punky metal riffs."

The festivals followed. The band have played Call of the Wild and Bloodstock Open Air, and their own channel follows their Bloodstock journey across a three-part series. They also landed the job of main support for former Iron Maiden singer Blaze Bayley on tour across the UK and mainland Europe, according to their label's artist page. The tour vlogs are on their channel too.

A new bassist

By 2026 the band had a new bassist, Kieran Phipps, playing alongside Gaby, Max and Dom. Jace Media Music reported in June 2026 that he'd arrived "last July," so that's July 2025. Kieran said he'd come from a production background in a rap collective, got into heavier music through deathcore and hardcore, and then got a message out of the blue from Max and Gaby. He had two weeks to learn an eleven-song headline set.

His arrival changed how they write. Kieran said his production experience helped with demos and workflow, and Max said the sound was shifting. "I'd say now we're almost morphing into a hardcore direction because there's less solos in it, there's more riffs," he said. Dom, the band joke, is "The Labrador" for his endless enthusiasm.

Mask, Download and a label

"Mask" finally got its official video in March 2026, after an earlier live clip from the Rockmantic Weekender that February.

Then came the biggest stretch of their career. MyGlobalMind reviewed their Call of the Wild set in May 2026, praising Kieran's bass lines, Max's "gift of the riff" and Gaby as "the ultimate front person." They sold out of merch, and their next stop was Download Festival in June, which the band covered in a vlog.

Pryma also joined Mighty Music, the Danish metal label, which now lists them as PRYMÅ on its roster.

John Doe

The newest single is "John Doe," released on September 4, 2026. The band told Metalheads Forever Magazine that it was their answer to "a music industry insider who claimed our singer couldn't sing and judged her appearance." At Call of the Wild, Gaby told the crowd that an executive had offered them a deal only if they replaced her. They didn't, and the song is the reply. It's built on a driving, groove-heavy riff, with what the band call hidden Easter eggs in the lyrics for anyone who looks closely.

Where to start

Start with "Dead To Me." It's short, nasty and catchy, and it shows exactly what a Pryma show feels like. Then go to "Mask" to hear where they're heading, and back to "My Cold Shadow" and "Freaky Fright Night" for the classic metal side. Pryma aren't a Christian band, and they sit well outside the Christian emo and hardcore we usually cover. But they're a hard-working, close-knit band who've earned every stage the long way, and they're one of the most exciting heavy bands in Britain right now.

10/10

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