6 New Songs You Need to Hear This Week: 11/24/17 | Revolver

6 New Songs You Need to Hear This Week: 11/24/17

Goatwhore, Glassjaw, Phil Anselmo and more
Goatwhore Getty 2017, Miikka Skaffari/FilmMagic
Goatwhore
photograph by Miikka Skaffari/FilmMagic

Here at Revolver, we're always on the hunt for great new music — 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, which will grow each week.

Goatwhore - "Command to Destroy"
Goatwhore's twentieth-anniversary celebrations continue with "Command to Destroy," a one-off maelstrom released as part of Decibel's Flexi series. Just like this year's excellent album Vengeful Ascension, the hardcore-flavored track stands among the New Orleans outfit's finest material in years, particularly from a rhythmic perspective; if Louis Benjamin Falgoust II is Goatwhore's figurehead, then drummer Zack Simmons is their secret weapon, hammering away at the kit like it's his last day on Earth. Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the swamp ...

Glassjaw - "shira"
Following a decade-and-a-half of false starts and personnel changes, Glassjaw are FINALLY gearing up to release their follow-up to 2002's Worship and Tribute: an album regarded by many as a post-hardcore classic. It's a hard act to follow, to say the least — but judging from the sound of their full-bodied new track "shira," the Long Islanders are more than up for the challenge. On the surface, the group's general approach appears intact; Daryl Palumbo's vocals are as limber and expressive as ever, ricocheting off Justin Beck's riffs like a rubber ball bouncing on a floor littered with broken glass. But the nuanced melodies and general uptick in confidence prove they're hardly frozen in time. Glassjaw are back, baby — and this time, they're highly evolved.

Philip H. Anselmo & the Illegals - "Choosing Mental Illness"
Another week, another ripper from ex-Pantera frontman Phil Anselmo. Not that we're complaining — "Choosing Mental Illness," the first single off his sophomore effort with the Illegals is the perfect remedy to your tryptophan-and-wine hangover, combining his usual, pummeling groove-metal with black-metal rhythms so icy and harsh, they're bound to give your eardrums frostbite.

Primal Rite - "Demon"
We've said it before and we'll say it again: Primal Rite are destined for greatness. Few groups possess fury comparable to the San Francisco band's innovative combination of crossover thrash, Japanese hardcore and Integrity-esque sludge-punk (then again, what would you expect from a pack of Bay Area scene veterans?). Between the echo-laden gang vocals and red-meat guitar riffs, the latest single from their forthcoming debut LP "Demon" is a hellish romp through hardcore heaven.

Death of Lovers - "Orphans of the Smog"
This one goes out to all the goths. Taken from their new album The Acrobat, "Orphans of the Smog" finds three members of Philly shoegazers Nothing (singer Domenic Palermo, drummer Kyle Kimball and bassist Nick Bassett) nodding to Depeche Mode and the Cure with the help of keyboardist CC Loo, who bathes the surrounding miasma in warm, sparkling synths. Robert Smith, eat your heart out.

Spite - "The Shield of Abraham"
Not to be confused with the Michigan hardcore band, Spite are a brand new black-metal group from Brooklyn who preach ear-splitting spirituals — and we're not talking P.O.D. here. Named for one of the many epithets for the Man Upstairs, "The Shield of Abraham" is a five-minute barnstormer straight from the End of Days, divine wrath masquerading as weeping guitars, relentless blast beats and anguished screams. Lord have mercy!