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 gothic metal, hardcore, riff rawk 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.
Sol Invicto – “The Obvious Play”
Sol Invicto, the near-mythic project co-founded by Deftones guitar master Stephen Carpenter, guitarist/producer Richie Londres and Cypress Hill percussion wizard Eric Bobo, is finally going public. After existing in the shadows for more than a dozen years, and issuing a private-press demos collection to their members-only “Sol Invicto Comiti” in 2017, the arrival of the punishing “The Obvious Play” to streamers this week was a major revelation for the most of us.
It’s a heavy swinger, with Carpenter’s detuned-and-doomy compound-judding rattling the speakers amid fractured pulses of electronic percussion and Plague to Pyres vocalist Sean Plague’s savage screaming session. Sol Invicto have done anything but the obvious play thus far, so we’re excitedly awaiting what else is in store via their upcoming Loosely Aware EP.
Coheed and Cambria – “Blind Side Sonny”
This nastily string-bending single fittingly enough ushers in a new big baddie to Coheed’s ever-evolving sci-fi lore: the titular Blind Side Sonny. Though more deets on the villain are expected to pop up on a forthcoming LP, the introductory single suggests that he’s a slippery figure who’s been up to all sorts of “unpleasantries and crimes.”
The song, meanwhile, is an energy-surging smackdown of killer riff rawk and party-hearty rhythms. If you’re set on “dancing through a mental breakdown,” as vocalist-guitarist Claudio Sanchez sings it here, you might as well make this the soundtrack.
Lacuna Coil – “Oxygen”
“Oxygen” is Lacuna Coil’s third single of 2024, and it goes for the throat up-front with a round of darkly-djented guitar motifs and Andrea Ferro’s confrontational, take-no-bullshit howling. From there, the gothic Italian metal force whirlpool themselves towards an emotions-fraught melodic chorus and a brief ballad-like reprieve near the end, with Cristina Scabbia’s dynamic vocals taking us through thoughts of drowning in the messily “toxic waters” of someone else.
The in-song situation sounds hopeless, but Lacuna Coil’s “Oxygen” has breathed enough life in us to keep going until the band deliver the rest of their Sleepless Empire in 2025.
Punitive Damage – “Baptism of Fire”
There’s a lot of distrust running across the Punitive Damage catalog, and the Vancouver crew’s fast-and-furious “Baptism of Fire” single wades through a similar kind of social skepticism.
As the rest of the band ratchet into a riotously raging set of chromatic riff-outs and hyper-smacked hardcore beats, vocalist Jerkova calls out a slick-and-shifty figure with a smile on their face, blood on their hands, and ill intent in their mind. A hearty reminder, perhaps, that the evilest people out there are sometimes the ones that present themselves as the good guys.
MAXIMUM THE HORMONE – “Shimi” Feat. ATARASHII GAKKO!
Japanese fusionists MAXIMUM THE HORMONE’s “Shimi” track from 2007 was already a wild enough of a gambit, having fused elements of thick-throated sludgecore with a frenzied chorus that came across like a melodic pop-punk gum jingle. Nearly two decades later, the band have made it even zanier by adding girl group ATARASHII GAKKO! to the mix.
Though their guests lean into a few of the same vocal harmonies of the original, the piece has also been imbued with synth-swirling flourishes, a rap breakdown from the members of ATARASHII GAKKO!, and an EDM breakdown jarring itself through the speakers alongside a neon blur of percussively-pingy shamisen notes. You might say they reworked the tune to its maximum potential.
Primal Code – “Anapsid”
Certain members of Chicago’s Primal Code used to perform in doom-sludgers Indian, and you hear a bit of that oppressively elemental inkiness in the newer group’s just-dropped “Anapsid” single. But the trio also cop to the fact that they’re playing with the building blocks of old-school death-metal bands like Bolt Thrower to get their heavy point across. The double-time pace and descending chunk-mania arguably speaks to that influence.
This is all to say: If you’re a fan of OSDM, then the relentlessly brutal vibe of Primal Code’s “Anapsid” is bound to have your lizard brain running into overdrive.