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, metalcore, gospel-metal fusion 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.
Avenged Sevenfold – “REJOICE”
Had an early Avenged Sevenfold fan been portaled directly out of a turn-of-the-century metalcore pit and into the neon-peach pool of R&B, rock and electronic music that fills the band’s newly-released STATICA EP, odds are good they never would have guessed that they’re the same act. Then again, even devoted Deathbats probably couldn’t have predicted this much of a sonic swerve.
If you’re open-minded to the ride, “REJOICE” gears the band into a stank-faced groove that recalls N.E.R.D. at their dirtiest. M. Shadows drops autotuned capitalist critique (“Can says, ‘Beer,’ mostly foam”) while Synyster Gates leans into a Pharrell-styled falsetto.
Kim Dracula – “Molecular Conversion”
There is a lot going on in Kim Dracula’s first proper solo song since 2023, and it’s got us quivering in nervous anticipation for what’s next from the Tasmanian genre cut-chemist.
On a molecular level, we catch traces of A Perfect Circle-esque alt-metal, but also gospel soul and King Crimson-esque sax wailing — the Callous Daoboys, meanwhile, thought they heard a bit of themselves in the monster-stomped, wee-wooing breakdown. Dracula hits the mic with a heady brew of shadowy thoughts, feral troll shrieks and one supremely glass-shattering operatic cry.
Imminence – “False Light”
Imminence actually gifted us a pair of tracks this week to preview their upcoming Axis Mundi album’s “conversation between darkness and light, violence and beauty, despair and hope.” We’d greedily accept more if we could.
While there are definitely some gorgeous textures to “False Light” — which features serene bowing and a few softened cries from vocalist-violinist Eddie Berg — the song also snaps spines with cement-footed drums. The set-to-stun guitar work concusses like a sword hilt to the temple.
The band are set to “journey through every extreme” with their next full-length, and we’re fixing to take the trip along with them.
Madball – “Don’t MisStep”
Madball stand their ground and deliver old-school New York toughness on this latest single from the veteran group’s newly released Not Your Kingdom LP.
While there’s a slightly defeatist tone to the first couple of lines (“Heavy is the crown/And you can have it”), Madball put on a dominant display with hardcore speed and a bruise-inducing breakdown. Freddy Cricien continues to bark like a badass (“Some forgot how I get down/I can be that savage”), and it rules.
No misstep here, but rather another heater from these NYHC heavyweights.
Misery Index – “Feral Future”
Baltimore death-metal veterans Misery Index remain a force of nature, and fittingly enough their first song in four years honors the relationship we all hold with the world around us.
Vocalist-bassist Jason Netherton growls of the “unconscious, unmoving… masses” foolishly obeying the made-up rules of man. As the song batters through Richter Scale-triggering double-kicks and a dash of elemental melody, he argues against the social construct, explaining that “sun, wind and water rule the day.”
Showing Teeth – “Bad Exchanges”
“Oh, God… It’s all fucking bleak.”
Showing Teeth vocalist Addison is clouded with misery-inducing thoughts on betrayal and hopelessness throughout her latest extreme attack, these situations finding her “brutally craving demise.”
That said, the monster-blasted piece from the rising metalcore artist — which is also the lead-off tune from her eagerly-anticipated debut EP, A FATE WORSE THAN LONELINESS — is an aural triumph, a masterfully menacing explosion of bee-buzzing guitar noise and ruthlessly animalistic vocal screeches. Exquisite as it is intense.