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.
Old Wounds - "Only Your Enemies Leave Roses"
Following 11 months of manic lineup shifts, Old Wounds are finally stable, again — sort of. "Only Your Enemies Leave Roses" marks the return of the New Jersey outfit's enigmatic frontman Kevin Iavaroni, who took time off from the band to attend cosmetology school and deal with his Crohn's disease. He's less a bandleader than a theatrical, protean force of nature, equally prone to lacerating screams and anguished falsettos — think Glassjaw's Daryl Palumbo, or Davey Havok in his prime. Reunited, Iavaroni and his bandmates serve up some stellar goth-stung metalcore that's definitely worth the wait.
Godflesh- "Post Self"
For all their shadowy grandeur, Godflesh have always been a straight-shooting bunch, grounded in simple contrasts — hot-blooded guitar riffs versus robotic drum loops, human rage versus mechanical fury, manufactured beauty versus unadorned ugliness — and the dark forces tying them all together. Justin Broadrick and G.C. Green tap into this tense alchemy with aplomb on "Post Self," the acerbic, post-punky title track off Godflesh's forthcoming LP. Its seemingly endless percussive tug-of-war proves fearsome, but as always, Broadrick's throat-shredding screams supply most of the goosebumps.
Watain - "Nuclear Alchemy"
Leave it to Swedish black-metal legion Watain to put an arcane spin on the ubiquitous Armageddon anthem. "Nuclear Alchemy," the crushing opener from the band's forthcoming full-length Trident Wolf Eclipse, marks a paradigm shift, or perhaps a transgression, from the proggy pallette of its last album, 2013's The Wild Hunt. Sludge-caked and sinister, this is old-school, early aughts-era Watain at its finest. It's the end of the world as we know it, and we feel fine, hearing damage be damned.
Turnstile - "Real Thing"
Listening to "Real Thing," the highly-anticipated new single from Baltimore upstarts Turnstile, it's hard not to crack a smile. Ebullient, energetic and brimming with joie de vivre, the five-piece flip hardcore's tough-guy status quo on its head, by way of earworm choruses and surf-rock flotsam, wearing shit-eating grins on their faces all the while. Make no mistake: Between the surging backbeat and frontman Brendan Yates' piercing shouts, "Real Thing" is bound to spark pits. The main difference lays in scope, and with the accessible (but nonetheless acrid) "Real Thing," Turnstile stage serious power moves.
Acid Witch - "Nain Rouge (The Red Dwarf)"
Call it a Halloween miracle: Following a seven-year-absence, Detroit sludgelords Acid Witch suddenly materialized on the spookiest day of the year with Evil Sound Screamers, the long-overdue follow-up to 2010's excellent Stoned LP. An All Hallows' Eve-inspired concept album stitched together with old-school horror samples, it's the eeriest doom-fest of the year. At its center lays the crunchy "Nain Rouge (The Red Dwarf)," a face-melting slab of stoner rock that'll have you reaching for the bong.
Frank Carter & the Rattlesnakes - "Spray Paint Love"
Former Gallows frontman Frank Carter and his band the Rattlesnakes laid jaws on the floor with this past January's revelatory sophomore album, Modern Ruin, a sinuous tour de force of Queens of the Stone Aged rock & roll and undoubtedly one of the best records of the year. After cancelling tour dates and stepping out of the public eye for a bit, Carter moonwalked back into the spotlight this week, with this infectious new cut, which he describes as "an obituary of a love song, and a reminder to live in the now." Between its languorous beat and dancing-by-myself video, it functions as the rock answer to "Hotline Bling" we didn't know we needed.
