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 below, which will grow each week.
Oathbreaker - "Ease Me"
Delicately layered with otherworldly refrains and hasty blackened blast beats, Oathbreaker's addition to the new Adult Swim Metal Swim 2 comp is a staggering spell of gossamer heartbreak and dissonant expression. "Ease Me" shines brightest somewhere near mid-track when the aural barrier between light and tragedy breaks down in a gorgeous cacophony of incongruous but harmonious sounds.
Employed to Serve - "Eternal Forward Motion"
Employed to Serve keep their hot streak of pissed-off metallic post-hardcore up with their latest single, "Eternal Forward Motion." There's certain parts of the song that seem to play off the current wave of absolute heaviness in bands like Vein or Old Wounds, but the band smooths over some of hardcore's more predictable rhythms and song structures and just delivers a pure near-relentless assault until its final cathartic breakdown.
Baroness - "Front Toward Enemy"
Baroness stripped away the bells and whistles they've incorporated into the material released thus far from new full-length Gold & Grey, got back to their heavy roots, and slammed out a home-run banger with "Front Toward Enemy." Here you'll find all the signature flourishes that made fans fall for Baroness back in the early colorful album days – driving, off-kilter backbeats, muted riffs that tear into sweeping exaltation, and the emotional wail of frontman John Dyer Baizley.
Alien Weaponry - "Ahi Kā"
"Māori Thrash" isn't just a label Alien Weaponry throws over their music, it truly represents the band's culture and the fierce struggle their ancestors have endured. "Ahi Kā" tells a story many people are probably unaware of: that the Auckland government voted to burn down a Māori village in advance of Queen Elizabeth II's 1954 visit. They use this injustice and the spirit of the protests against it to create an absolutely angry-as-fuck song that sounds like a true battle cry against all injustices.
Full of Hell - "Armory of Obsidian Glass"
Gut-rumbling dirge and abject filth bellow out from the depths for a full minute before screeching, terrifying moans rush in to make Full of Hell's new slow-moving seven-minute paean to horror even more paralyzing. Just when the full-on nightmare hypnosis sets in completely, the bottom drops out and in comes a static tornado of feedback — lush and beautifully damning until the bitter, hastened end.
Nervosa - "Freakshow"
Nervosa's "Freakshow" is what happens when you just unleash your extreme-metal demons and say to hell with all of the flowery shit. The band creates a wall of sound that completely envelops this two-minute burner — and they only briefly rise above the fray to let out screams and the occasional solo. All roads of the song lead to a point where every instrument seems as though it's being played as hard and fast as possible. It's gnarly, and completely badass.
