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 death metal, hardcore, powerviolence 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.
The Black Dahlia Muder – “The Aftermath”
The Black Dahlia Murder’s much-anticipated comeback single — the band’s first piece of new music since the passing of founding vocalist Trevor Strnad — is both a graceful return to form, and a ruthlessly ripping masterclass in death-metal dynamics.
Brian Eschbach’s move to the mic leads the former guitarist to unleash a stress-gargled, post-apocalyptic terror tale of epic proportions, while the rest of the band strap on their napalm rocket packs to zoom through this high-impact masher.
Seven Hours After Violet – “Paradise”
Shavo Odadjian said he wanted to “do something super heavy, but melodic” with his latest System of a Down side venture, which teams the bassist with members of Left to Suffer, Scarypoolparty and Winds of Plague. Mission accomplished!
Seven Hours After Violet’s debut single takes on elements of groove-dominated deathcore and nu-metal, with a dark bridge leaving Left to Suffer’s Taylor Barber to flex a haunted croon before resuming his usual throat trauma.
Though Barber sings that “this is the end of paradise,” S.H.A.V.’s first single is a thrilling start to something new.
NAILS – “Imposing Will”
NAILS’ first single in five years finds the powerviolence favorites literally looking a lot different — outside of founding vocalist-guitarist Todd Jones, it’s a brand-new lineup.
On the other hand, the California mean team lean right back in to the punishingly precision-blasted, venomously society-condemning rage fans have come to know and love. As Jones howls it heavy on here: “I don’t know another way.”
Higher Power – “Still Point” (Feat. Never Ending Game”
Higher Power deliver another excellent, alternative-juiced hardcore hit that proves they’re forever on-point.
The U.K. group’s latest single once again hits that sweet spot between Quicksand-like post-hardcore melodicism and the psych-tripped mountaineering of prime era Jane’s Addiction. But the guest vocal spot from Never Ending Game’s Mikey Petroski brings a welcomed phlegm-rattled toughness to the bridge.
JUICE – “WORLD WAR 3”
JUICE vocalist Tony Ferrari growls that “nukes will fall” in the first taste of the Vancouver hardcore militia’s Festival of Fools album for War Records. He isn’t foolin’.
On top of that doomsaying sentiment, the group — which features members of Poisoned Seeds, World of Pleasure, A Mourning Star, World View and more — appropriately sets it off with a mix of crossover divebombs, Nineties NYHC-informed guitar turreting and 30 megaton beatdowns.
NXCRE & the Villains – “ENDLESS”
NXCRE’s hypnotic alt-metal transformation continues with the lidocaine-loose “ENDLESS.”
The latest track from the NYC singer and the Villains is a gauzily distorted, Deftones-adjacent slo-anthem that’s got the singer running limber vibrato vocal runs as the rest of the band ride a neon-violet wave of melancholy tones towards an unseen oblivion.