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 revolutionary 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.
Gojira – “Mea Culpa (Ah! Ça Ira)”
Gojira’s performance during the Olympic opening ceremony last month was a true cross-cultural global moment — not just for metal but for music as a whole. Now, their game-changing, bombastically brutal reimagining of French Revolution-era rally anthem “Ah! Ça Ira” has been officially released to the masses, replete with heavy judding, haunting choirs and an operatic breakdown featuring mezzo-soprano belter Marina Viotti.
The emergence of “Mea Culpa (Ah! Ça Ira)” made for one of the 2024’s most unexpected pop-culture moments, with the French metal titans uniting the world through heaviness. The spirited intent of the piece can perhaps be best summed up by Joe DuPlantier’s fully-screamed assertion: “Lets us rejoice, good times will come.”
Purest Form – “Burn”
There’s an incendiary drive behind Purest Form’s latest single, a protest anthem that ups the industrial-bruising, skin-melting impact of the band’s recent self-titled debut EP.
On the one hand, the hardcore-bred trio scorch through vintage Ministry-style riffs and a sweat-inducing four-on-the-floor pound that conjures a 4 a.m. dance-party bender at the Wax Trax! warehouse. But the fierce and immediate screams vocalist Story Beeson shocks into the piece — “sick thoughts” to help ignite a social revolution —snap us back into the present.
Can you feel the burn? Because we sure do.
Life of Agony – “The Crow (In Memory of B.L.)”
A week on from the release of the box-office-bombing The Crow reboot, Brooklyn alt-metal stalwarts Life of Agony are putting respect on the original 1994 movie’s name — and, more specifically, the film’s late star Brandon Lee, who tragically died in an onset accident.
The new tune is a dramatically post-grungy power ballad that hits various vengeance-based plots points from the supernatural comic-book adaptation, but it also finds vocalist Mina Caputo injecting LOA into the canon with a few band-lore-loaded easter eggs (“Now my river’s red”).
A brooding, detuned tribute that could have been a decent fit on the original Crow’s ever-iconic soundtrack.
Ocean Grove – “RAINDROP”
Aussie unit Ocean Grove’s spring single “FLY AWAY” leaned into a nu-metal-nostalgic rap-rock sound. Their newest, “RAINDROP,” showcases a more tear-jerking, shoegazing pop-hardcore side to the five-piece.
The single, pulled from the band’s forthcoming ODDWORLD album, has a bit of a Turnstile vibe to it, between the sad boi crooning, bubble-crunched punk riffs, and a seriously twitchy kick-drum beat. Oddly, the lyrics about being ultra-lonely arrive through Prince-like layers of vocal harmonizing, but that’s not exactly a complaint. We say keep the waterworks flowing!
Cane Hill – “Permanence in Sleep”
While Cane Hill vocalist Elijah Witt philosophizes his way through a bunch of reality-questioning lyrics on his band’s new “Sleep Permanence,” there’s one line in particular that should send a chill down your spine: “I can’t prove that I’m awake.”
There’s an exquisite existential dread to Witt spinning his wheels on whether he’s experiencing a world of hurt in real life or within an extended nightmare. Everything feels too real to him, and that’s the rub: Our sleeping mind can conjure up its own vivid reality. It’s an intrusive thought vividly soundtracked by the song’s percussively-jolting pace and darkly melodic hooks.
Nails – “Punishment Map”
If you ever wondered what your utter demise might entail, NAILS vocalist-guitarist Todd Jones has conveniently drawn up a map for you — but be warned, it ain’t pretty.
At just 63-seconds-long, the revenge-based “Punishment Map” manages to be one the shortest tracks on the extreme-metal vets’ raging new Every Bridge Burning album, but the Cali combo make every moment as punishing as possible. Carlos Cruz’s blasts are primed to pulverize anything into a fine paste, while the riffs are razor-wire sharp, and a ski-mask-sporting narrator is ready to terrorize.
Get ready, because this one’s gonna hurt.