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, thrash, death 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.
Imminence - "Continuum"
Imminence are one of the fastest-rising bands in heavy music. Our readers predict they're in for a major breakout in 2024, and their name is increasingly getting mentioned in the same breath as Bad Omens, Spiritbox and Sleep Token.
Imminence may well be on the verge of a huge crossover, but "Continuum" sounds like them saying, "Don't worry. We're still heavy." Heavier than ever, in fact. Cascading, torrential, bludgeoning are words that come to mind while listening to their new single, which re-makes modern djent in the image of wide-screen post-metal.
No matter where Imminence end up later this year, "Continuum" stands as a goddamn masterpiece.
Kerry King - "Idle Hands"
We didn't have a shred of doubt that Kerry King's new band would rule, and our instincts proved correct.
The former Slayer guitarist enlisted an ensemble cast for his new solo band — Death Angel singer Mark Osegueda, guitarist Phil Demmel (ex-Machine Head), drummer Paul Bostaph (ex-Slayer) and Kyle Sanders (Hellyeah) — and "Idle Hands" puts their talents to use.
Throwing that many Bay Area thrash vets in the same room is a virtual guarantee for thrash badassery, and "Idle Hands" delivers the goods Slayer fans have been clawing for since the band's retirement.
The King has reclaimed his throne.
Necrot - "Cut the Cord"
Of the countless current bands reigniting meat-and-potatoes death metal, Necrot are among the very best. "Cut the Cord" has that early-Nineties feel to it that so many other "old-school" bands fail to capture.
The production sounds classic and untainted by digital-era glossiness, and there's special attention paid to the most important — yet often woefully overlooked — aspect of death metal: the fucking riffs. Every one of them on "Cut the Cord" is sharp enough to slice the throat of that beastly bat on its cover art.
Gouge Away - "Dallas"
Over the years, Gouge Away have done time as a hardcore band, a noise-rock band and a post-hardcore band. On "Dallas," they try shoegaze on for size — and it fits.
In the past, Gouge Away had to cram dynamic builds into minute-and-a-half-long punk blasts, but here they give themselves six glorious minutes to gradually crescendo atop a killer bass groove.
The shoegazy guitar lead yanks and thrashes like a kite string in a hurricane, and Christina Michelle's vocals ascend from sullen murmurs to heavy-breathing yelps that recall Mannequin Pussy's Marisa Dabice.
Melvins - "Working the Ditch"
Buzz Osborne makes a big deal of the fact that Melvins new LP, Tarantula Heart, was written and recorded "different than any other Melvins' album." Maybe so, but "Working the Ditch" retains everything the band have been doing well for the last 40 years.
Apocalyptic and rumbling, the song could soundtrack a disaster movie sequence of a city crumbling to dust. Osborne's howl sounds utterly menacing, and his doomy main riff spirals downward into the cacophonous rhythm section below.
New Melvins techniques, same great taste.
Crush Your Soul - "GETMONEY"
Crush Your Soul are a new hardcore band featuring members of Mindforce, Scarab, Gridiron and Simulakra. If a heavy new hardcore band emerges in the Northeast these days, chances are someone from one of those bands is in it, as their members are incredibly prolific and constantly playing on each other's projects.
Indeed, Crush Your Soul's debut EP sounds like a bunch of friends getting together to have a good time while worshiping at the altar of Merauder and All Out War. The best track, "GETMONEY," begins with Mindforce singer Jay Peta recalling the hustling advice his grandma instilled in him over a 21-gun salute of militant double-bass pedaling.
The main riff is nasty and jagged, and it winds up chugging harder and slower until the song concludes with the type of mosh part dudes lose teeth during. Cha-ching.
