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 hardcore, alt rock, metalcore 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.
Converge – “Force Meets Presence”
Converge have been one of the most reliably crushing bands around for decades, and their new album, Love Is Not Enough, definitely lashes speakers with the quartet’s signature brand of Mass-crafted hardcore and metal. That’s not to say they can’t drop into a unexpectedly head-cocking “WTF?”/”Hell yeah!” moment every now and again.
Mid-album monstrosity “Force Meets Presence” beguilingly trudges its way to the fore with steady battering-ram beats and rotator-cuff displacing chugs. Then it switches to a panoply of steely-eyed scissor beats and hellbent Eighties metal riffage, and then Kurt Ballou grafts on about a billion layers of eerie-shimmered guitar harmony for a gloomy micro-swerve.
Despite Jacob Bannon howling enigmatically about seeking answers and “sifting through common sense,” we’re enjoying the possessed, unpredictable mania of the arrangement.
Guilt Trip – “Dirt”
Manchester hardcore mashers Guilt Trip surprise-released their new God Forgives EP this week. The outright beating they gave us with lead-off track “Dirt,” in particular, was so fantastically furious that we’ll absolve them for not giving us a heads up on the release.
Leaning into a deft groove and Machine Head-esque run of harmonic ring-outs, Guilt Trip’s thematically faith-questioning crush-out bodyslammed us deep into the earth’s core. Dig deep in the dirt and you’ll find us with smiles stretched across our broken faces.
Kami Kehoe – “HEARTLESS”
Kami Kehoe’s rise through the hard-rock ranks continues with a jet-black-reflective power ballad about constantly being burned by love, and aching at the thought of another emotional crash-out.
While it’s a song about the fear of loss, it’s even more so an endurance anthem about putting yourself out there and on the line no matter what. Accordingly, the singer and viral drummer goes for broke with both sides of her vulnerable performance — apparently even while weathering stormy video shoot conditions to bash things out from behind the kit.
Knocked Loose – “Hive Mind” (ft. Denzel Curry)
We’re not going to bite out tongues here: “Hive Mind” is a great bit of collaborative, concussive fun from Knocked Loose and Denzel Curry.
Fast and dangerous hardcore beats collide with cement-mixer breakdowns and a touch of all-boom hip-hop production, as Knocked Loose’s Bryan Garris and guest rapper Curry rifle out barbs about trend-riders too eagerly following the leaders.
When we say this is a must-listen, you don’t necessarily have to listen. You’re your own person. But we strongly recommend this massive track all the same.
MALEVOLENCE – “Silhouette”
We’re generally used to UK vets Malevolence bowling us over with a mix of brass-knuckled thrash and brawny breakdown sections. They go for a different kind of gut-punch on their new heartbroken power ballad, “Silhouette.”
Gently-popped guitar harmonics tip-toe around an airy intro of subtle, soft-sung emotional defeatism (“A white flag placed on hollow ground… Somehow you let me down”). The track eventually ruptures into a slow-crushed rhythm, where hopelessness (“I’m still addicted to the emptiness inside your silhouette”) is met with tear-inducing guitar leads.
Heavy, but not in the way you’d expect.
Showing Teeth – “Rip”
“Don’t try to help me while I plead for death.”
Showing Teeth’s latest single gets super dark. Throughout, the extreme vocalist is tormented by negative thoughts (“Disassociate, lose confidence, I cannot trust my mind”), focused on acts of self-harm (“I could really rip my throat out”) and compelled by a death wish.
Beyond that textual heaviness, Showing Teeth goes next level berserk with her feral shrieks — some of which, as on last year’s “Labyrinth,” were self-recorded in her Honda Accord — while Zach Munowitz tears it up on guitar and Periphery’s Matt Halpern provides hyper-thrashed rhythms.
Without sounding glib, it does indeed “rip.”