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 groove metal, industrial remixes, post-hardcore 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.
DevilDriver – “Dig Your Own Grave”
“Six feet ain’t deep enough for you.”
Dez Fafara and the rest of DevilDriver get down in the dirt for their first new song in three years. A cautionary tale on actions and consequences consecrated in ground-pounding double-kicks and ominously infectious melodies, it has DevilDriver’s bandleader seething over schemers and fakers hellbent on burying themselves in their own toxic bullshit.
Nice guy that he is, he’ll loan them a shovel to get the job done quicker.
Downward – “Drawl”
To gas up the upcoming deluxe version of their Downward 2, Oklahoman heavy shoegazers Downward delivered a pair of killer bonus cuts this week. The dreamy-toned, foot-to-the-floor grooviness of “Drawl,” in particular, “strikes the skull” as one of the band’s catchiest tracks yet.
The vid finds the trio pounding the pavement with the tune as a pair of spoiler-hoisting road rockets dangerously donut themselves around the band. The anthem is likewise road-ready, and primed to be performed on Downward’s current North American tour with Soulblind, Split Chain and Dream Fatigue.
Holywatr – “Are You There?”
While we recommend you take a big gulp of Holywatr’s just-released Deo Gratias album this weekend, there’s something particularly striking about the record’s “Are You There?”
A complex and emotional power-waltz, the song ebbs and flows between ghostly shivers of piano and a monstrously wall-leveling breakdown of scraping guitar noise and drum savagery.
Lyrically, the alt-metal act alludes to withered, arid existences (“You planted seeds in dying soil/And wonder why nothing grows”), but the yields they make on the recording are vital. To say the least, we’re definitely here for it.
Nine Inch Nails and Boys Noize – “Heresy – Nine Inch Noize Version”
Some would consider it heresy to fuck with a masterpiece like Nine Inch Nails’ spiritually-damaged Downward Spiral classic, “Heresy.” We respectfully ask them to unsew their ears and give Nine Inch Noize’s wild-swerved remix a listen, for it demands devotion.
NIN and Boys Noize flex their muscles with deep, cavernous bass drops, Bubble Bobble synth blurps and a Untz-driving finale. Trent Reznor’s familiarly chilling allegory gets re-upped with extra vocal musings from wife and How to Destroy Angels singer Mariqueen Mandig.
Lest you’re already in the desert, don’t forget to tune into NINoize crushing the remix onstage during this weekend’s Coachella broadcast.
thrown – “split”
thrown are back, and the Swedish metalcore force mean to do you some serious hurt.
The latest single has the act starting heavy, and then getting heavier. A muscular framework decelerates into a depraved slow-mo beatdown that lands like an axe to the forehead. Demented electronics and blunt-force riffs bobble you around a little more for good measure.
Leaning into its office-culture-skewering music video, it’s absolutely the kind of cut that’ll have you flingin’ a cup of stale Arabica in your co-worker’s face before going feral in your exit interview.
Wage War – “PURIFY”
“Run for your life.”
“PURIFY” is one of the more gutting outings on Florida-made metalcore expanders Wage War’s new IT CALLS ME BY NAME EP. It erupts out of Gator Country with terror-instilling arpeggiated guitar attacks and a concussive power-swung feel.
What may stun you into submission most, however, is the hellacious 15-second bree Briton Bond leans into during the song’s killer closing moments. Pure insanity.