Here at Revolver, we’re always on the hunt for new songs to bang our heads to — indeed, it’s a big part of our jobs. With that in mind, here are the tracks released this week in Satanic industrial metal, heavy video-game themes, ghoulishly grinning theatricore and more that have been on heavy rotation at Revolver HQ.
For your listening pleasure, we’ve also compiled the songs in an ever-evolving Spotify playlist.
Black Label Society – “Broken and Blind”
Zakk Wylde goofily suggested earlier this week that the desperation of his Southern-honey howl on “Broken and Blind” was inspired by the inner torment of not having any peanut butter and chocolate on-hand at home. While we’re not sold on the Doom Crew riffer’s intel, we’ll concede that the latest Black Label Society single is pretty sweet.
Driven by a hard-pounding cowbell beat, oozing with groove, and sporting the tandem fret acrobatics of master shredders Wylde and Dario Lorina, “Broken and Blind” may be a major part of our diet until the rest of BLS’ next album drops in full.
Ice Nine Kills – “The Laugh Track”
While we’ve known that Spencer Charnas has a screw loose for quite some time, the Ice Nine Kills leader delivers an especially bat-shit-crazy performance on the theatricore group’s new, Joker-themed “The Laugh Track.”
As you’d expect from the master scene-crafter, the song alludes to a lot of deep DC Comics lore — from the chemical bath that may have birthed the Clown Prince of Crime, to key quotes from Jack Nicholson’s performance in Batman ’89. The arrangement mixes a tin-pan-alley swing with skittery metalcore breaks and a bonafide musical allusion to the Joker’s theme from Batman: The Animated Series.
Like many INK cuts, it’s got us grinning ear to ear.
2KXO – “Ties That Bind” feat. Courtney LaPlante
“Intertwined, the war will be glorious.”
Spiritbox vocalist Courtney LaPlante stepped away from her full-time gig this week to deliver a battle anthem for new fighting game 2KXO.
While “Ties That Bind” is the kind of song that leans into the most melodic parts of the djent-pop frontwoman’s moveset — and the pacing of the chorus vocal feels like a nod to Eighties freestyle singer Stacey Q’s “Two of Hearts” — fans’ll find that the game’s chug-bound cinematic theme still kicks plenty of ass.
Moodring – “Half-Life”
Moodring vocalist Hunter Young explained that his band’s latest single was inspired, unfortunately, by “a life-changing medical diagnosis” that’s left him unable to tour with his Atlanta, Georgia, project — or his deathcore band PSYCHO-FRAME, for that matter.
Across the black-velvet nu-metal melodies and bleak-booming breakdowns of the new tune, Young unveils impassioned cries and phlegm-heavy gutturals to express his frustrations over the compromised “half-life” he’s living (“I’m swallowing my pain”).
Despite this, it’s a full-strength performance from Moodring.
Testament – “High Noon”
It was high time Testament ripped us a new one. And indeed, while the Bay Area greats just dropped a whole damn album, Para Bellum’s “High Noon” ticks all the boxes for us, in particular.
Between its Hendrix-ian chord flourishes, downward-spiraling guitarmonies and dynamic soloing, six-stringers Alex Skolnick and Eric Peters are shooting from the hip with the greatest of ease. Chuck Billy’s guns-blazing lyricism pops off pretty hard, too.
Thrash fans should shotgun this one straight to the top of their weekend playlist.
Rob Zombie – “Punks and Demons”
The Great Satan rides again.
Rob Zombie is finally back in the saddle with his Hellbilly cohorts, and their first single in four years — likewise the in-studio re-entry point for classic-lineup guitarist Mike Riggs and bassist Blasko — is a demonic stomp that’s brought us to our knees.
Does “Punks and Demons” deliver a “new aesthetic of ugliness,” as Zombie puts it in the song? Not exactly — it hammers through Zombie-fied heaviness, with a dash of Nineties-era Ministry. But it’s a damned fine anthem dedicated to the punks, the demons and — for all you film buffs out there — the real King Freak: late actor/sideshow performer Johnny Eck.