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, hardcore, synthwave 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.
Bad Omens x Poppy - "V.A.N"
Bad Omens and Poppy each have very distinct sounds, and they mesh absolutely perfectly on "V.A.N" Poppy's cyborg-ian sing-song fires at machine gun tempos while Bad Omens lay a stuttering industrial-metal foundation that flits between sultry synth surges and rattling blast beats.
Bad Omens mastermind Noah Sebastian doesn't utter a single note, giving Poppy the floor to croon and caterwaul in a way that encompasses her full vocal range. It's one of her best-ever singing performances and easily one of the most adventurous, cinematic and visceral instrumentals in the Bad Omens playbook.
Spaced - "Landslide"
Catchy hardcore usually comes at the expense of its ragged edges getting smoothed over, but not when Spaced do it. The stabbing gang-chants on "Landslide" are infectiously simple, and the self-proclaimed "far out" Buffalo bunch add some wiggy tremolo effects to their crunchy riffing — a sound you don't usually hear in hardcore songs.
Even so, the boots-on-the-floor mosh part in the middle of this kicks the song's door in like goons raiding a crash spot. It's a sudden burst of menacing tension that makes your "uh-oh" reflexes switch on as you glance over your shoulder to see if someone's swinging.
GosT - "Widow Song"
Revolver HQ has been down with GosT (not to be confused with that Ghost) for years now, so we're extra stoked to see the metallic synthwave enigmas link up with Metal Blade Records for their next full-length.
GosT describe "Widow Song" as a cross between black-metal progenitors Mayhem and industrial mainstays Skinny Puppy, and we couldn't explain it any better ourselves. Bewitching black-metal hisses laid over thumping darkwave synths and thwacking industrial drums. A match made in Hell.
Northlane - "Miasma" (Feat. Winston McCall)
While Northlane's djenty sound has never sounded like a direct lift of Parkway Drive's, the band have proudly carried the metalcore torch that the Aussie metalcore giants lit in the mid-2000s.
In that sense, "Miasma" was a long time coming. Parkway frontman Winston McCall sounds at home roaring alongside Northlane screamer Marcus Bridge, and the rest of the band stick to what they do best: balancing destructive heaviness with atmospheric beauty.
Moment of Truth - "Many Opps Terminated"
Moment of Truth make the case that more hardcore bands should have two vocalists. The South Florida group boasts two dudes going scream-for-scream, and while it was hard to imagine the chaos they incited at this year's FYA festival translating onto recording, they actually pull it off on "Many Opps Terminated."
The standout cut from their 2024 promo sounds genuinely demonic. Both frontmen deploy deep, throaty bellows that sound like they're bubbling up from the chasms of hell. Every instrumental note is played with violence in mind, but it's the inhumanly guttural growls that take this to another level.
Hands of Kalliach - "Fell Reigns"
What if a melodic death-metal band had a dream-pop vocalist? That's the premise of Hands of Kalliach, a Scottish duo whose latest single, "Fell Reigns," recalls the sword-swinging melodeath of Insomnium or Amon Amarth combined with the glowing dream-pop of Beach House or Mazzy Star.
Vocals with this degree of ethereal beauty rarely find themselves into extreme-metal songs like these, and while it's a head-scratching pairing on paper, Hands of Kalliach pull off this difficult balancing act with ease.
