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.
The Sword - "Deadly Nightshade"
Stoner-doom stalwarts the Sword have spent the bulk of their 15-year career chasing high-fantasy thrills: exorbitant odes to witches, ancient temples and the like. Not so with their new ripper "Deadly Nightshade," an infectious, scuzz-rock stomper à la T. Rex. Its straight-shooting arrangement brings the band back to earth without compromising their starry-eyed zeal — a winning compromise, to say the least.
Rotting Christ - "I Will Not Serve"
The long-running Greek black-metal act Rotting Christ — led by the Tolis brothers Sakis (vocals/guitars) and Themis (drums) — are about to drop their two-album greatest-hits collection, Their Greatest Spells, on March 23 via Seasons of Mist. Included in that package is the previously unreleased "I Will Not Serve" — a stop-you-in-your-tracks maelstrom of swarming guitars, death-march rhythms and ritualistic fury, as grim as it is grooving.
Replicant - "Chaotic Neutral"
Co-founded by members of beloved tech-metal outfit Dystrophy, the New Jersey band Replicant sling unfussy, unkempt death metal that pulls no punches — unless they're gunning for a K.O., which, fortunately for us, is all the time. "Chaotic Neutral," the first single from their forthcoming debut Negative Life, finds the group at their most unforgiving, mowing down all takers with razor-sharp fretwork and quaking, guttural vocals. It's dirty, depraved and diabolical in the best way possible.
At the Drive-In - "Amid Ethics"
"Amid Ethics" is virtually everything you'd want from an At the Drive-In jam — a tongue-twisting vocal featuring a myriad multi-syllabic words by Cedric Bixler-Zavala, a ripping post-punk beat that is as badass as it is danceable and a melodic focus that will keep you going back to the repeat button. And while the track (originally released in October on Black Friday Record Store Day vinyl only) is amazing and wholly stands on it's own, this may be the first time in recent memory that we don't hear Omar Rodriguez-Lopez absolutely shredding all over it. Which is pretty damn wild, if you think about it. Whatever — this shit smokes, anyway.
Suburbanite - "Shots Ring Out"
Reaching all the way back to his time as a member of Charles Bronson and Das Oath, Mark McCoy has crafted memorable punk records whether playing on them or, more recently, pressing them as part of Youth Attack Records. His latest band is the truly vile Suburbanite, a monster of furious modern hardcore featuring members of Castevet and others. Vocalist Chris O'Coin is worth the price of admission alone, and if "Shots Ring Out" doesn't make you clench your teeth, then you just ain't livin'.
L.O.T.I.O.N. - "Xenophobia"
L.O.T.I.O.N. is the industrial-hardcore endeavor of Alexander Heir, a NYC-based musician and visual artist whose morbid, cartoonish visuals have adorned countless album covers, handbills and merch. Released in anticipation of a forthcoming 12" and LP, the band's latest tape, Declassified Audio Document 2018, brings the lo-fi mechanical madness in droves — particularly on the corrosive opening track, "Xenophobia," which resembles a hyper-compressed love letter to Killing Joke yowled by a vengeful android.
