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, hardcore and beyond that have been on heavy rotation at Revolver HQ. For your listening pleasure, we've also compiled the songs in a Spotify playlist, below, which will grow each week.
Nothing - "Zero Day"
With each subsequent release, Philadelphian Nineties fetishists Nothing manage to deepen their sound and emotional scope. The first single "Zero Day" off the quartet's upcoming album Dance on the Black Top brings a heaping of Smashing Pumpkins–esque alt-rock, melding hard guitars with moody distortion. The song exists in an effervescent plane that's referential and reverential, but never a mere nostalgia trip. Dominic Palermo and Co. instead deftly use some of the pieces left behind by their predecessors as stepping stones along their own unique journey through the fog of existence.
Power Trip - "Hornet's Nest"
Is there such thing as a Power Trip track that isn't a full-on, balls-to-the-wall ripper? On their latest track "Hornet's Nest," Power Trip evoke both crossover hardcore and European thrash killers like Sodom and Destruction to create a nasty, pit-ready slapper. With a half-time breakdown, brutal lyrics barked by a kinetic frontman and divebombs a plenty, the only thing that sucks about the new Power Trip is that it isn't available on physical format — yet.
Chino Moreno - "Brief Exchange"
We might all be waiting with baited breath for new Deftones music, but we never have to wait long for something fresh from the band's frontman Chino Moreno. He always seems to be writing, recording and releasing new shit, and his latest offering comes courtesy of DC Comics' Dark Nights: The Road to Metal soundtrack series, which previously gifted us with Mastodon drummer/vocalist Brann Dailor's first-ever solo track. Like many of Moreno's finest cuts across his many projects, "Brief Exchange" starts quiet and sultry, but then it erupts with a grooving riff and the singer's signature shrieks. Dynamic, dark and seductive, it's a fine holdover for any Deftones diehard.
KEN mode - "Doesn't Feel Pain Like He Should"
A year and a half ago, KEN mode frontman Jesse Matthewson adopted a bizarre daily ritual: Every day, he would make a point to lock eyes with a ghastly illustrated executioner drawn up by the band's longtime collaborator, visual artist Randy Ortiz. The terrifying piece, titled "Happy Person Having a Pleasant Conversation in Public," deeply informs the Canadian outfit 's new full-length Loved, from serving as the album art right down to inspiring first single "Doesn't Feel Pain Like He Should." To listen to this devious cut is to surrender oneself to the musical twin of the aforementioned "Happy Person," whose preferred weapons include frenetic spaz-rock leads, gnarled bass lines and a gut-churning breakdown that should live on in noise-rock infamy for years to come.
Leeched - "Guilt"
Hailing from Manchester, England, Leeched are a recently-formed trio who take a slower, gnarlier, more meandering — but no less brutal — approach to old-fashioned grindcore. On "Guilt," the latest track taken off their upcoming debut You Took the Sun When You Left, the band prioritize texture over tempo, stretching their septic, Napalm Death–y riffs out like taffy so we can savor every last befouled strum — not to mention the Godfleshian industrial-metal machinery clanging off in the distance.
Existence - "Thirst For Blood"
Arriving next week via the always-reliable U.K. punk outpost Quality Control HQ, the sophomore EP from Swedish punk outfit Existence strikes a rare balance between ephemeral aggression and enduring melodies, curb-smashing hardcore and grungy psychedelia, radical politics and wide-reaching angst. Standout "Thirst for Blood" is one of the strongest, smartest rippers we've heard in a bit, its crushing verses subject to repeated, seamless melodic shifts — think Turnstile by way Alice in Chains, with an anti-fascist mean streak. Keep your eyes and ears on this promising five-piece, because a sound this big can't stay bottled up in the Scandinavian underbelly forever.
