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 metal, hard rock and hardcore that have been on heavy rotation at Revolver HQ. For your listening pleasure, we've also compiled the songs in a Spotify playlist, which will grow each week.
Errant - "A Vacillant Breath"
Rae Amitay can do it all. She's the vocalist of Chicago extreme-metal shape-shifters Immortal Bird and the drummer of blackened folk-metal outfit Thrawsunblat, but it's in her solo project Errant that she truly showcases the range of her talents. Amitay sings, screams and plays every instrument — guitar, bass, drums, synth — on its newly released self-titled debut EP, and shines brightest on standout cut "A Vacillant Breath," which swells and sways through passages of beauty and brutality and often both at the same time.
Umbra Vitae - "Return to Zero"
With his post-rock project Wear Your Wounds, Converge frontman Jacob Bannon indulges his mellower inclinations; with the new supergroup Umbra Vitae, with also features WYW's Sean Martin and Mike McKenzie, he swings to the other extreme, going as heavy, dark and death-metal as he ever has. Boasting current and former members of Hatebreed, the Red Chord, Job for a Cowboy and Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats as well as the aforementioned bands, Umbra has a lot to live up to: "Return to Zero" delivers and then some.
Night Demon - "Empires Fall"
The first new music from Californian defenders of the faith Night Demon, "Empires Fall" is old-school Eighties-style heavy metal at its bullet-belted, mullet-banging best. It's more than a little punk-rock, too: The shredded voices of Rancid's Lars Fredrickson and Matt Freeman can be heard ringing out among the infectious gang vocals.
Trench - "Hellbent Gate" Feat. Jesse Zaraska of Misery Signals
Rising Canadian quintet Trench specialize in metallic hardcore that's tough as Nails and dead-set on opening a Vein. (See what we did there?) The latest slice off their forthcoming debut full-length, Blossom, features guest vocals by Misery Signals' Jesse Zaraska, and it's anything but flowery. Think, instead, bone-breaking detuned crunch with only total devastation in mind.
ILLENIUM, Excision, I Prevail - "Feel Something"
I Prevail stepped into the EDM ring for the first time with "Feel Something," a three-way collaboration with ILLENIUM and Excision that's almost impossible not to enjoy. From the infectious sing-along hooks to the gloriously ignorant brostep drop, the metalized dance track is pure adrenaline-fueled fun — and it doesn't hurt that its music video features a giant monster-bird facing off with a metal-toothed T-Rex in the middle of the apocalypse.
