There’s no such thing as a sure thing in the music biz, but some heavy bands seem more poised for stardom than others.
For some, it may come down to their penchant for particularly punishing breakdowns, or maybe it’s having a singer with crazy range behind the mic. Either way, a lot of folks can tell when a group effortlessly harnesses that It Factor, and it’s pretty satisfying to see them blow up in the scene as a result.
With this mind, we asked Revolver readers what rising band on their radar seems destined to break big in 2025. These were the top five vote-getters, ranked accordingly.
Gore.
Gore. got our attention quick when they dropped debut single “Pray” at the tail end of 2023, and they fully had us on our knees by the time they issued their bombastically djented-up A Bud That Never Blooms EP last fall.
The Texas-based outfit definitely have a handle on mixing progressive, punchy metal sounds with dark melody, gospel-adjacent choir vocals and more. Haley Roughton is a rising vocal phenom (and a NASA Spacewalk Engineer!) mixing grandiose, R&B-influenced runs with the fierce growling style she developed while working in the Lone Star tech-death scene.
Whatever blossoms out of their next writing session is sure to be bangin’.
Paleface Swiss
Swiss deathcore force Paleface Swiss have been actively mauling heavy-music fans since 2017, but it may be this month’s ambitiously diverse album Cursed that pushes the band over the edge, in terms of aboveground crossover.
Cursed takes a wide-lens approach — leaping large between rib-cracking rhythms (“Hatred”) and breakdown-imbued glum-rock (“River of Sorrows”) and more. Paleface Swiss know this might sometimes agitate the more-testosterone-fueled keyboard warriors in their growing following, with trap-metal slammer “Enough?” even referencing how some dudes absolutely despise Marc “Zelli” Zellweger’s singing voice and his more sensitive lyrics.
That said, the multi-million-streamed “Hatred” proves Paleface Swiss plenty capable of writing a near-universal crowd-pleaser.
Fleshwater
When the Deftones are some of your biggest fans, you’re clearly doing something right. In fact, Fleshwater – the nu-gaze-styled side project from members of Vein.fm and MIRSY – are bounding into 2025 in a major way with said supporters: They’re the opening act on the alt-metal institution’s upcoming and crazy-anticipated North American tour.
But even without that big league co-sign, lots of people are flocking to Fleshwater’s freshness. The group have been perking ears with their potent mix of break-beating shoegaze and post-hardcore emotiveness, and while recent two-stepping mini-single “Standalone” finds the band singing, “We are not here to be loved,” it sure seems like the swooning ain’t stoppin’ any time soon.
thrown
Going by a song title from thrown’s debut album, last fall’s EXCESSIVE GUILT, Revolver readers can sense that the Swedish crew are “on the verge” of breaking big. In just 20 minutes, the band’s first full-length completely cratered the competition with a disgustingly nu-metal-quaked take on modern metalcore. It packs some of the biggest and nastiest grooves of 2024 (see “nights”), and fans are sure to get equally thrown by whatever’s coming next.
While they ended up supporting Wage War on a recent North American tour, thrown have the chops and chugs to take themselves up to headliner status — as they will on their imminent “Excessive Guilt” U.S. trek.
Sleep Theory
Since forming in 2020, Memphis-made quartet Sleep Theory have garnered millions upon millions of streams via a series of seismically hook-filled singles that throwback to world-dominating early Aughts nu-rock while simultaneously vaulting towards the future of heart-on-your-sleeve metalcore. Song’s like last year’s catchy and bangin’, and aptly-titled “Stuck in My Head” were built to rattle around your dome, full-time.
What’s wild is that we’ve yet to hear a full-length album from the band (their longest release thus far is 2023’s six-song Paper Hearts EP). But with the band currently signed to Epitaph Records, and a major fest appearance set for this year’s Welcome to Rockville, bigger things are sure to come.