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 demonic metalcore, ethereal nu-gaze, transcendent alt-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.
Sleep Token – “Emergence”
Following a slew of cryptic online teasing, the “next chapter” of Sleep Token has finally begun, and the masked-and-mysterious metal force have re-emerged as enigmatic as ever.
“Emergence” initially plays to the pop-rock side of Vessel and Co.’s oeuvre, replete with dove-soft piano chording, acoustic accoutrement and a tenderly-sung verse. But then the song heads through codeine-glugging vocal production, synth-shred arpeggiating, mystical raps about Xenomorphic expulsions, and a climaxing cannon-fire eruption of double-kicks and detuned juds. Oh yeah, and how about that sax solo?
It’s heavy yet heart-fluttering offering, and we can’t wait to hear what emerges next.
Not Enough Space – “Devil Left Me on Read”
Floridian metal extremists Not Enough Space are conjuring all kinds of evil sounds on their noise-pressed new single, “Devil Left Me on Read.”
Entrails-ripping death-metal trills and violently-galloped thrash beats. A bombastically electro-bassy micro-break. Intestines-pounding grooves galore. A viscously-dripping tandem attack from vocalists Lizzie Raatma and Liv Mitchell that suggest, per the lyrics, that they might’ve wolfed down a stack of razors before hitting the mic.
And yet, all of that somehow pales in comparison to the central theme of the song: the dread one feels when someone — the devil, no less — doesn’t text you back. Just ungodly.
Bleed – “Marathon”
It’s been nearly three-and-a-half years since early Aughts-styled alt-metal revivalists Bleed hit us with the Deftones-adjacent sounds of their debut EP, Somebody’s Closer. They haven’t exactly sprinted towards making a full-length since then, preferring to play the long game in the background. It’s only fitting then that the first preview of their newly announced self-titled album is called “Marathon.”
The song primarily “rides the rails” on a lush and gain-heavy, two-chord melody, Carson Wilcox keeping pace with a pulse-quickening, propulsive beat. Ryan Hughes simultaneously hits those thick guitar chords while singing with a juxtapositionally drawn-out and dreamlike melodicism.
The band see it through to the finish line, and it’s made us more than curious about the other album tracks coming ‘round the bend.
Face Yourself – “Predatory”
Just like the Great White we see snapping its hungry jaws in Face Yourself’s video for “Predatory,” the transcontinental deathcore outfit attack their latest track with a relentless fury.
The band’s “deadly ballet” comprises flesh-rending riffage, fire-starting break-core beats and a noise-mangled breakdown that’ll render you into chum in no time. There’s also a startling ferocity to Yasmine Liverneaux’s breadth of screams and brees that come across all the more impressively whilst choking through tongue-twisting lines about a “polyphagic ravenous rage [that] fuels his eternal rampage.”
A “silent hunter” moves with “quiet grace,” as the vocalist puts it, but Face Yourself are proudly out-in-the-open with their own brand of violently-loud viciousness.
Melting – “Into the Suffer”
“Forever I will haunt the corners of your mind.”
This is one of many chilling thoughts Melting vocalist Xavier Morris screams through on his band’s positively hammering new “Into the Suffer” single, a track which seems to be about night terrors and subconscious worry — the dream-within-a-dream drownings and knife attacks presented in the music video seem to support this, too.
Then again, maybe the line’s speaking to how the group’s barbarically slammed-down brand of metalcore — including an eerie finale of whale-moan guitar sounds and molasses-drip beatwork — is primed to lodge itself deep into your grey matter, long-term.
Wisp – “Sword”
There’s an old Far Side comic where two dragons are sitting outside their cave, discussing the meal they just had. A nearby trench is overflowing with pieces of armor they clearly picked off of a bunch of now-digesting knights. One full-bellied lizard tells the other, “Of course I never eat the shells.” Insert snare drum hit. Everybody laughs.
What does this have to do with Wisp’s latest single, you ask yourselves? Well, just like the silver-plated exoskeleton she’s donning by the end of her “Sword” video, the outer-plating of the rising artist’s latest track reflects a boost-pedal-heavy approach to nu-gazing songcraft, while the whispery vocals reflect the human vulnerability within.
And we’re going to feast on this for a while, too.