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 hardcore, doom, grunge-gaze, post-hardcore 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.
Greg Puciato - "Lowered" Feat. Reba Meyers
While many people know him as the head-walking lunatic frontman of his old band the Dillinger Escape Plan, Greg Puciato has always had a tender side. On the latest single from his solo endeavor, the multi-instrumentalist found sonic harmony with Reba Meyers, another musician whose range extends from the hell-raising metalcore of Code Orange to the tuneful melancholia of her old grunge-gaze band Adventures. Together, their dusky, yearning croons prance synergistically atop guitars that stretch and drums that briskly pitter-patter.
Static Dress - "such.a.shame"
With hypnotic, stylized visuals and a distinct sound that twists a splash of present-day tang into the sugary post-hardcore of the early 2000s, Static Dress are one of the most exciting bands to emerge in the COVID era. Revolver HQ endorsed pretty much every single they've dropped within the past year, but "such.a.shame" sounds like a real breakthrough moment. It's by far their catchiest track yet, with a handclap-adorned hook that's up there with the Jimmy Eat World's and Taking Back Sunday's of the world — and best of all, it doesn't sound ham-fisted alongside the spastic metalcore freakouts. Bravo.
Stray From the Path - "Guillotine"
For roughly two decades, Stray From the Path have been reliably churning out politically-charged, rap-metal-infused hardcore bangers, but their music has never felt or sounded as urgent as it does on "Guillotine." At a time when wealth inequality has surpassed Gilded-age levels of disparity between the super rich and everyone else, the Long Island band are calling for a vital reshuffling of the socioeconomic order ("We tried it your way and it's broken/It's over, the people have spoken") via blunt-force grooves, serrated riffage and a swift drop of the proverbial blade — a rousing gang-chant of, "Off with their fucking heads."
Gridiron - "No Good at Goodbyes"
Featuring members of two of the best metallic hardcore bands around, Delaware's Year of the Knife and Detroit's Never Ending Game, Gridiron split the difference between brutish mosh music and chain-swinging rap-core. The title-track of their forthcoming debut LP, No Good at Goodbyes, channels the street-wise swagger of bands like E.Town Concrete and Cold World through modern-day hardcore production — suffocating drums, gigundo guitar crunch — and they add just a touch of beatdown to make things even heavier.
Left to Suffer - "Overwhelming Power"
Left to Suffer make the type of metal that YouTube reaction video makers live for. The Atlanta band use thick fret-boards to create shit-your-pants low end and dissonant noise that'll ruin a nice pair of headphones if you accidentally have your volume up. On "Overwhelming Power," the band found the perfect match in producer Joshua Travis, the current Emmure guitarist whose 2013 Glass Cloud EP, Perfect War Forever, is a clear influence on Left to Suffer's subterranean deathcore chuggery. Give your jaw a stretch before you click play, cause it's gonna drop a few times.
Void of Vision - "Dominatrix"
It's been over a decade since EDM and dance-pop infiltrated metalcore with the breakout of Asking Alexandria and Attack Attack!, and Void of Vision have found a clever way to reintroduce those sensibilities. While not nearly as hokey and expressly silly as the crab-core stuff, "Dominatrix" is a heavy-as-fuck metalcore song that's laced with skittering breakbeats and chopped-up samples of a woman's sugary singing voice. It sounds a little bit like what a band like Skip the Foreplay did on their 2012 LP, Nightlife — but again, Void of Vision aren't clowning around. They're just making metalcore that you can simultaneously mosh and party to.
