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 post-metal, hardcore, 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.
Black Label Society – “Lord Humungus”
Zakk Wylde and the rest of his doom crew are all gassed up on their latest single, a premium moto-metal salute to the muscled-up, mask-and-studded-codpiece-wearing baddie from Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior.
Indeed, Black Label Society rumble through an Ozploitation wasteland with pure, unadulterated glee — not to mention an epically-energized, back-to-back-to-back-to-back solo trade-off between Wylde and co-guitarist Dario Lorina that should fuel the dogs of war for eons to come.
While Humungus has been called the ayatollah of rock and rollah, BLS once again prove they’re rulers in their own right.
Amenra – “Forlorn”
Though Amenra’s latest eight-minute epic has frontman Colin H. Van Eeckhout frightfully howling of being trapped deep within his “prison of skin,” the song’s ethereal, muted-velvet gloom beckons you to escape your current reality and float on towards a deeper plane of existence.
The distortion-crested post-metal preview from With Fang and Claw — one of two upcoming EPs from the Belgian quartet — was apparently sculpted in the vein of the band’s Aughts-era heaviness. Nevertheless, there’s a fresh and timeless quality to “Forlorn” that suggests Amenra’s early sound is still anything but long in the tooth.
Orthodox – “Commit to Consequence”
Orthodox kick off a couple weeks of shows with Canadian hardcore royalty Comeback Kid this weekend, and we’re going to guess that they’ll be inviting the latter’s Andrew Neufeld to barrel through his red-eyed and raging guest vocal spot from “Commit to Consequence” at every date.
“Commit to Consequence” is a monstrous team-up, with Orthodox launching into a series of speaker-panning, psychedelically brain-spearing guitar sounds in its manically-paced front end, and then going ultra-gross during the pinch-squealed-and-pounded breakdown.
They’re doling out some serious punishment, and we’re committed to streaming this on repeat.
Scour – “Coin”
Philip Anselmo’s extreme-metal supergroup are on the attack throughout their newly-loosened debut album, Gold. One of its standout blast-offs, however, is its “Coin.”
The track is bombastically breakneck, with Adam Jarvis going for broke with his snare-and-kick intensity. Anselmo is offering evocative snippets of a doomsday-sermon as he screeches of an oncoming “pre-apocalyptic hearse” and “mass sufferings.” Oh, and Exodus/Slayer shredder Gary Holt is here, too, delivering a gloriously string-stretching solo before the End Times take us out.
It’s mint metal extremity, all across the board.
Superheaven – “Cruel Times”
Despite it being the title to Superheaven’s latest single, the band are apparently ready to put “cruel times” in the rearview. That may well be because they’ve finally detailed their first full-length release in nearly a decade. And just like Superheaven, we’re excited for its much-anticipated arrival.
“Cruel Times” is the third preview from the act’s impending self-titled album, and like those other recent teases, it harnesses a fuzz-soaked, deep-grooved kind of post-hardcore that throws our serotonin receptors into overdrive.
The band’s Taylor Madison also croons that he wants to be “shining like the sun through pitch black,” and truth be told, Superheaven’s future is looking pretty bright right now.
Killswitch Engage – “The Fall of Us”
By all accounts, Killswitch Engage poured their blood, sweat and tears — and, per the band, plenty of punk-rock “piss-and-vinegar” — into the making of This Consequence. They also turbo-charged this late-album track with brutal guitar technicality, savage-stomped percussive recklessness and a clean-sung chorus that has Jesse Leach wondering how best to overcome fear.
Though at its most pessimistic the song seemingly suggests that it’s easy to succumb to feelings of hatred and an all-encompassing darkness, “The Fall of Us” is a towering Killswitch anthem that has the metal vets fighting off bad vibes as only they can.