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.
Yashira - "Writhe (Embrace)"
Florida has brought us plenty of stellar heaviness over the years, from the classic death metal so identified with the state to the more melodic sounds of Trivium and Underoath. Enter Jacksonville's Yashira, a young prog-metal juggernaut as comfortable wrenching knotty tech-death Gorguts-isms from their instruments as they are reaching for Neurosis-like post-metal stratospheres. They do both and plenty in between on "Writhe (Embrace)," a standout cut off their forthcoming debut LP Shrine.
Take Offense - "Trust"
A living institution of San Diego's working-class skinhead scene for over 14 years, Take Offense traffic in crunchy metallic hardcore with an old-school thrash attitude, a gritty, giddy, gnarled pallette previously showcased on tours alongside Turnstile, Madball, Agnostic Front and countless others. "Trust," the opening assault from the band's latest album, Tensions on High, is their most thrilling outburst yet: a searing slab of USDA prime crossover with an unexpected melodic finish.
Wrong - "Zero Cool"
Back in 2016, noise-rock feedback experts Wrong made their debut into the world, showing what happens when you meld former members of Kylesa and Torche into one act. They've returned with more dirt under their nails, this week's "Zero Cool" exemplifying the distances they're willing to go. There's mean riffage à la Unsane or Helmet that fans will find familiar from the first release, but halfway through the track the band exclaims, "Fuck the past!" and ends the song with two minutes of rich guitar feedback. It's a reminder of where their genre started, and that they intend to continue to punch out its possibilities.
Xoth - "Plague Revival"
Death metal from the far reaches of space? Count us in. Seattle's Xoth landed their extraterrestrial new "Plague Revival" on all of us this week, and they do not let any genre constraint tether their music. The twisting riffery crosses classic notions of tech death into black metal on the sheer strength of how fast they play. But it's not noodling: The band knows when to slow things down for chug sections for full impact and weight.
Blanck Mass - "Please (Zola Jesus Remix)"
"Please" — a standout cut on 2017's excellent World Eater album from U.K. experimental electronic act Blanck Mass (the solo side-project of Fuck Buttons' Benjamin John Power) — receives a lush remix from darkwave chanteuse Zola Jesus. The singer's hypnotic vocals take the pulsating, build-and-release song to new levels of desperation and cinematic grandeur: a track that would connect as well in a dark goth dance club or as the soundtrack to The Road.
Ripped to Shreds - "Red Annihilation"
Next to the face-melting riffs, death metal's most characteristic trait is its thematic obsession with over-the-top bloodlust, grisly imagery which evokes demonic conquerors, all-out war and killing fields that stretch as far as the eye can see — inspired by reality, but fantasy nonetheless. But where most groups draw inspiration from Eurocentric fever dreams, "Red Annihilation" — the latest track from ex-Disincarnation multi-instrumentalist Andrew Lee's solo endeavor Ripped to Shreds — gets its unsettling imagery from a very real event in Chinese history, specifically, violent suppression of Communist party organizations by the conservative Kuomintang, otherwise known as the Shanghai Massacre of 1927. You know what they say: The realer the pain, the better the ripper.
