Music
13 great albums turning 25 in 2024
Type O Negative, Mr. Bungle, Slipknot and more dropped killer releases
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 thrash, metalcore, deathcore 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.
Brutus - "Dust"
Belgian wall-of-sound rockers Brutus are back for their first song in two years, "Dust," a hard-wrought cut tinged with Spaghetti Western inflections (think a stoned Ennio Morricone) and plucky riffs. The band says the song "was born out of the frustration of having friends with demands and expectations that were way too high," an idea made crystaline in the pained, crackling wail of singer-drummer Stefanie Mannaerts. The crescendoing structure of "Dust" is classic Brutus: combining elements of hardcore, post-rock, and shoegaze into a hypnotic space ideal for lucid dreaming.
Oceans Ate Alaska - "New Dawn"
Yowza. If this the sound a new dawn, then we are fucked. The latest from U.K. metal crew Oceans Ate Alaska packs a disgusting amount of sludgy heaviness into a concise minute and 48 seconds. Don't look for any of the pretty, melodic hooks of its predecessor, 2020 single "Metamorph." This is unfiltered nihilism. "While biding our time since the last single, we've faced adversity and loss, yet also joyous moments as a band," Oceans Ate Alaska commented. "'New Dawn' epitomizes the death of what you once believed to be true." Indeed.
Cold Gawd - "Sweet Jesus Wept Shit"
Originally the solo brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Matt Wainwright, Cold Gawd is now a fleshed-out six-piece creating their own take on modern heavy shoegaze as heard on new single "Sweet Jesus Wept Shit." The track, seemingly referential to escaping religious or spiritual trauma, is a glistening three-minute journey of obfuscated crooning buried under oceanic waves of reverb. Blown out and blissed out, it's a wild ride.
Becoming the Archetype - "The Lost Colony"
Tech-metal veterans Becoming the Archetype returned after a 10-year hiatus this week, dropping the comeback single "The Lost Colony." Fortunately, they haven't mellowed — or lost their chops — with age. Packed with knotty, concussive riffery and a cold, Terminator-esque industrial vibe, the song appears to tell the tale of a group of extraordinary astronauts who set out to continue mankind's legacy on another planet until things go very wrong. For their part, Becoming the Archetype's own legacy seems to be in good hands.
Bloodbath - "Zombie Inferno"
Forever arbiters of the absurd, Bloodbath smash subtlety over the head on their latest, "Zombie Inferno." The death-metal supergroup, comprising current and former members of Opeth, Paradise Lost and Katatonia, employ all the most loved tropes with this absolute ripper, from Old Nick's infernal growling to the chainsaw lineup of stacked and hideous old-school riffs. The neon horror of the accompanying video — an homage to 1980s campy splatter flicks — highlights the over-the-top imagery of the apocalyptic lyrics, which shine bright like fresh brain matter on a silver axe blade.
Miss May I - "Earth Shaker"
"When I woke up this morning, I heard the earth shake," vocalist Levi Benton shrieks at the open of Miss May I's latest rager. It's a vivid image, and one that the song lives up to, with Benton's bandmate delivering a whirlwind of visceral melodeath riffery while he conjures apocalyptic images. It might all be too grim if it weren't so catchy, and if the lyrics didn't ultimately offer a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel: "I break these walls for me and you/So we can escape to somewhere new."
