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.
Alice Glass - "Mine"
Alice Glass's solo material has been a constantly surprising and evolving permutation of her previous work in Crystal Castles. On her new song "Mine," she tempers the aggressive, stabby goth-pop she's been releasing in favor of warm melody and a down-tempo club-ready beat. It never gets overly saccharine, however, as her lyrics undercut the song's seeming serenity as she sings of a dark cycle of self-harm. The result is as unnerving as her other work, but in a completely revelatory and newly tragic way.
Deafheaven - "Canary Yellow"
It was never really fair to categorize Deafheaven as merely the sum of two parts — namely, black metal and shoegaze — as many listeners have done, but that description becomes obviously and unacceptably reductive after just one listen to the band's new song "Canary Yellow." The latest single off the group's forthcoming LP Ordinary Corrupt Human Love, it spans indie-rock prettiness, post-hardcore textures, black-metal fury and almost arena-ready classic rock complete with melodic group–sing-along backing vocals. Something magical seems to happen when Deafheaven name a song for a color — "Baby Blue" was New Bermuda's standout cut, and so "Canary Yellow" is to Ordinary Corrupt Human Love.
Defeated Sanity - "Insecta Incendium"
Defeated Sanity are the sort of band that alleviates all of your issues with technical death metal. Instead of arpeggio sweeps, weird scales and wankerific prowess subbing in for hooks and melody, the band goes for the jugular and knows how to open things up with gnarly slam sections. "Insecta Incendium" is no exception, wowing the basement-dwellers with the group's chops but never teetering into full on guitar nerdom or sacrificing good songwriting for the sake of showing off ability. Plus, when the track opens up at 1:15, you'll just want to clench your teeth and destroy everything around you. That's a good thing, we promise.
Death Bells - "Echoes"
Australian post-punk act Death Bells' latest song "Echoes" (from their new 7-inch arriving June 22nd via Funeral Party/Burning Rose) furthers the Eighties-gothic-dream-pop sound the six-piece debuted on last year's excellent record Standing at the Edge of the World. The band nails the sweet spot between wistful and uplifting on this intoxicating cut — with its mix of jangly guitars, synth wash, driving bassline and singer Will Canning's sonorous vocals creating the perfect soundtrack for leaning in to those summertime sadness vibes.
Innumerable Forms - "Punishment in Flesh"
From the wretched mind of Justin DeTore (No Tolerance, Magic Circle, Rival Mob, Sumerlands) comes the return of underground favorite and longtime one-man death-metal wrecking crew Innumerable Forms. But this time, DeTore recruited his recent live lineup to do time on the LP, and the list of contributors is just plain staggering: guitarists Chris Ulsh (Mammoth Grinder, Power Trip) and Jensen Ward (Iron Lung), bassist Doug Cho (the Rival Mob) and drummer Connor Donnegan (Genocide Pact), plus a solo from Arthur Rizk. With a list of punk/metal killers like that, it's hard to imagine the new material being anything but astonishing, and the first single holds true to that promise. Alternating between doomy sections and punishing double-time, "Punishment in Flesh" is an ice-cold scoop of hatred for mankind.
Madball - "The Fog (Feat. Tim Armstrong)"
At times it seems as though "punk rock" and "hardcore punk" exist today in completely different worlds, but when the two collide it often leads to compelling results. Take the new Madball track "The Fog," which features an assist from Rancid's Tim Armstrong. His snotty, punchy contribution warps Freddy Cricien and Co.'s traditional New York hardcore sound (an aesthetic they helped refine and perfect) with the poppier street edge of Armstrong's punk pursuits. It allows for Madball to engage in huge sing-along hooks and more rock & roll–leaning riffage that they might have otherwise pushed to the wayside, which would have been all of our loss.
