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 death-metal, metalcore, industrial 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.
Rammstein - "Zick Zack"
Rammstein are as much of a visual project as they are a band. The pyro, the outfits and of course their cinema-quality music videos are just as integral to their art as their triumphant industrial soundscapes. "Zick Zack" is a critique of cosmetic surgery culture, but non-German-speaking listeners wouldn't necessarily glean that from the plinky little analog synth line unless they watched its batshit music video, which features the band decked out in disturbing prosthetics that don't quite fit right.
Ithaca - "In the Way"
Ithaca's "In the Way" is a revenge fantasy, and it sound like it. "I take your calls in the bathroom/so that no one can hear/and wash your blood down the sink/cause we don't keep souvenirs," vocalist Djamila Boden Azzouz screams with righteous delight. The rest of the U.K. band dial back the mathcore eccentricities and deal punishing metalcore chugs that evoke a bad man's head being bashed again and again until his teeth are rattling around the sink bowl.
Artificial Brain - "Celestial Cyst"
Artificial Brain are a tech-death band who stand out in the crowd for their tasteful atmospheres and proggy inventiveness, while also staying dedicated to being heavy as all fuck. "Celestial Cyst" is the first taste of their new LP, and it kind of sounds like if Mastodon's Crack the Skye was dragged through the dankest, nastiest muck in all the land. The vocals are so guttural that they almost don't even soujnd like a real human sang them into the mic, but the whole arrangement is still weirdly beautiful.
Clutch - "Red Alert (Boss Metal Zone)"
One of the most insane conspiracies to come out of the last couple years (and that's saying something) was a nonsensical claim that the schematics for a Boss Metal Zone guitar pedal were actually leaked proof that the COVID-19 vaccines were cut with 5G receptors. Hilariously, Clutch wrote a song about a world where that batshit falsehood is actually true, in which people are running around with high-gain distortion searing through our veins. In typical Clutch fashion, it's a stoner-rockin' good time — and no, they're not being funded by Big 5G.
Microwave - "Circling the Drain"
Microwave sounded heavier than ever on 2019's exceptionally underrated Death is a Warm Blanket, but the Atlanta band's first new single since that release takes things back to the wounded alt-rock explosions of their 2016 LP, Much Love. "I've been getting my ass kicked, but I'm playing to lose," frontman Nathan Hardy chirps with his casually soulful voice, raising the volume during the hook to fight above the crashing grunge riff and door-knocking drums.
Upon a Burning Body - "A New Responsibility"
Upon a Burning Body have been putting their Lone Star spin on deathcore for over a decade now, and their style hasn't so much evolved as it has been refined and made more efficient. "A New Responsibility" is deathcore — blast beats, constant chugs, a shreddy little solo — with a profound grooviness to it and vocals from frontman Danny Leal that are easy to understand and therefore ripe for screaming back in a raucous pit.
