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, nu-metal 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.
Gates to Hell – “Crazed Killer”
While Gates to Hell have long impressed us at Revolver, the Louisville, Kentucky quintet have been straight up killin’ it in the lead-up to their forthcoming Death Comes to All full-length.
In just under two minutes, “Crazed Killer” unearths dourly-swung OSDM grooves, trepans skulls through a series of sickening pinch squeals, and launches into a Hulked-up backend blast section that matches the menace of the titular cemetery-stalking psycho Ryan Storey’s screaming about on the cut.
We can’t escape the demented hate of Gates to Hell’s “Crazed Killer.” Nor would we want to.
Your Spirit Dies – “In the Depths of Grief”
When it came to building our Valentine’s-timed playlist this week, few lines hit us in the feels quite like Your Spirit Dies vocalist Brandon Byars howling of “a love that outlives flesh” on his band’s new “In the Depths of Grief.” Then again, we also got trounced by the tune’s EKG-spiking melodeath pace and equally coronary-inducing guitar riffage. Full marks for the band on this one, truly.
Honestly, most days we’d raise our brows sky high if someone sent us a poem describing our eyes as “hollow caverns of ruin,” but we’re caught up in the seasonal spirit and enjoying this very good “Grief.”
Lacuna Coil – “I Wish You Were Dead”
This anti-love stomper from Lacuna Coil’s Sleepless Empire album sports some of the record’s most stadium-sized, pop-gothic guitar hooks, and features another brooding and jaw-dropping vocal turn from Cristina Scabbia. It’s likewise a hella relatable song about trying to purge bad memories of a love-gone-wrong.
Meanwhile, the music video for “I Wish You Were Dead” is a visual smorgasbord that finds Scabbia serving up an arsenic-and-assam-laced cup of tea to co-vocalist Andrea Ferro, and getting gifted a big ol’ battleaxe in return.
In other words, it’s a cuttingly satirical V-Day treat.
Church Tongue – “Heart of Darkness”
Keeping things on-topic, Church Tongue are contemplating “the malice in the human heart” on the opening track from their new You’ll Know It Was Me release —the Midwest outfit’s “short record about love” and first EP since 2021. Needless to say, things get heavy.
Their “Heart” is a multi-chambered rush that races from d-beated hardcore severity towards two-stepping aggression and then onto a noise-chord-jolted, depressively doomy backend breakdown.
While arguably in-step with the sounds of guitarist Nicko Calderon’s other band – the mighty Knocked Loose – Church Tongue are plunging through the hardcore void on their own damn terms.
Tetrarch – “Never Again (Parasite)”
Diamond Rowe is one of modern metal’s most consistently brilliant guitar players, and she unsurprisingly shines iridescent-violet tones all throughout Tetrarch’s latest nu-bruising anthem, “Never Again (Parasite)”.
The big surprise with the single, however, is that Rowe likewise has her chops down as a singer— as she proves while taking lead vocal duties on the sinewy second verse. While co-guitarist Josh Fore still helms the mic for much of the song, Tetrarch are showing us another side of themselves on this preview of their impending The Ugly Inside of Me album.
We hope this happens again
Freeze the Fall – “Hypothermia”
Canadian teen trio Freeze the Fall told their Instagram following this week that they hit the frigid snowfields of their native Kelowna, British Columbia to film the music video for “Hypothermia” right around the same time they were writing high school exams. As far as the single goes, the band’s latest Aughts-leaning nu-anthem definitely makes the grade.
Despite its title, the second ice-breaker from the band’s to-be-detailed next EP warms the soul. While it’s a touch less progressively-juddy than last fall’s “VHS” single, “Hypothermia” thrives on downtuned-and-dramatic, Evanescence-level chorus hooks and skies-soaring vocal harmonies between guitarist Quinn and bassist Aria.