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 metalcore, avant-death, nu-metal 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.
Poppy – “they’re all around us”
It’s not that Poppy hasn’t hit us with the heavy stuff before, but there’s an especially shocking fury coursing through the multi-hyphenate’s new metalcore frack-attack, which has her ferally screaming herself red while targeting the cowards and phony-as-fuck backstabbers in our midst.
Between this and her earlier “New Way Out” single, both co-produced with former Bring Me the Horizon member Jordan Fish, the genre-twister is seemingly entering an even more savage era of music-making — but we also know by now that the only thing we can truly expect with Poppy is the unexpected.
Unto Others – “Suicide Today”
Depression hits us all differently, and some more drastically than others. Unto Others are hitting this sad fact head-on with “Suicide Today,” a gallows-dark look at self-harm from their just-issued Never, Neverland album. The track may gorily lay out the untimely deaths of people of all walks of life, but it also finds vocalist-guitarist Gabriel Franco pleading for folks to try and work through their problems to live at least another day.
Between the jangling guitar work and low-rolling goth vocals, the song kind of comes across like a Gin Blossoms/Type O hybrid. And while that sounds weird on paper, it somehow totally works.
Swollen Teeth – “Family”
Per Swollen Teeth’s chaotic new single, the quartet “want the world to be more welcoming,” and thus are inviting us to join their “horns-down family.” That’s probably also why they’ve loaded the song with It’s a Small World After All levels of multicultural greetings (from “bonjour” to “konichiwa” to “benvenuto”).
What’s also inviting — probably more so if you’re a fan of the extreme — is the vicious round of death-trilled blast sections, arcanely sung choruses and robotic plunderphonics the Slipknot-endorsed experimenters bring to their latest release. Staggeringly weird, but Swollen Teeth are a welcome addition to the metal family.
Split Chain – “(Re)-Extract”
U.K. gloomgazers Split Chain have managed to impress this past year through a steady series of emotionally hefty DIY singles. To officially celebrate their signing to the iconic Epitaph Records, though, the young group have revamped one of their most seismically-grooved pieces to date, “Extract,” with a few cool new flourishes.
While the song still shoves into a Deftones-leaning bit of melodic brooding, vocalist Roberto Martinez-Cowles’ breathy coos are now also bolstered by a round of eerie harmonies courtesy of Mercedes and Phoenix Ann-Horn of Canadian nu-grunge group Softcult. While technically a revamp, “(Re)-Extract” also suggests a bold path forward for Split Chain.
Saltwound – “Severance”
Given that Saltwound’s upcoming album is called The Temptation of Pain, it’s no surprise to find the act just absolutely juicing new single “Severance” with a triple-dose of their patented brand of “Norcal Violence.”
The ruthlessly stomped-down, compound-judded noisescape is a wrecking ball of unchecked aggression upon which vocalist Spencer Timmons and Distinguisher’s Nick Chance unload round after round of ungodly vocal tics. Oddly, it might be an early round of Joker-esque cackles that land the most depraved.
Imperial Triumphant – “Eye of Mars”
Though the long-running avant-metal expressionists whip themselves into a brutal and mega-blasted death-metal frenzy in the front-end of new single “Eyes of Mars,” it’s the more experimental elements of the arrangement that make this standalone pure nightmare fuel.
Consider, for instance, the majestically cacophonic, cruelly off-harmony brass section that — perhaps intentionally so — brings “Mars” towards the imposing tones of the classic Star Trek fight theme. Steve Blanco’s bizarrely wet and wah-obliterated bass tone is also out of this world. It all makes for a sonic trip around the red planet like no other.