Here at Revolver, we're always on the hunt for new songs to bang our heads to — indeed, it's a big part of our jobs. With that in mind, here are the tracks released this week in metalcore, heavy metal, grindcore and more that have been on heavy rotation at Revolver HQ. For your listening pleasure, we've also compiled the songs in an ever-evolving Spotify playlist.
Converge - "Blood Moon"
The first taste from Converge's long-awaited Bloodmoon collaboration is nothing short of majestic. The metalcore auteurs have always had the makings for a superior post-metal group — Jacob Bannon's tyrannosaurus screams, Kurt Ballou's exquisite production, the best drummer in heavy music — and here they go for it with the help of Chelsea Wolfe's eerie croons and the extra manpower of Stephen Brodsky and Ben Chisholm. Are they really about to add another game-changing record to the pile? It sounds like it.
Mastodon - "Teardrinker"
Mastodon have always been wise beyond their years. Apart from their preternatural technical skill, their albums have confronted the types of heartbreaking tragedies that none of us feel prepared for until they suddenly happen, and then we emerge from the grief feeling as though we've just weathered a full decade. The band are skilled at writing mournful songs like "Teardrinker," in which Brann Dailor wades in the shame of a bruised heart and wonders if it's even worth trying to put the pieces back together again. It's mostly a somber Mastodon song, but there is a squelchy bass solo that's immediately followed by another, even more intense guitar monologue.
Ghost - "Hunter's Moon"
Ghost are a great Halloween season band, so it makes perfect sense that they'd contribute to the soundtrack for the new Halloween Kills movie. The occult-rockers pretty much sound like Ghost on "Hunter's Moon," a gigantic pop-rock song with pounding drums and Queen-like melodies that's book-ended by haunting strums and doomy crunch. "Though my memories have faded/They come back to haunt me once again/And though my mind is somewhat jaded now/It's time for me to strike again," belts Tobias Forge with electrifying fervor.
The Devil Wears Prada - "Sacrifice"
The Devil Wears Prada are doing something most metalcore bands could never: making some of the best music of their career 20 years in. By moving perpendicular to whatever's trendy and approaching songwriting with the type of craftsmanship and care that can only be learned, not taught, the Ohio band have not only stayed relevant but remained genuinely interesting. Their latest, "Sacrifice," has adds just a little bit of nu-metal bounce to their sound without getting hokey; weary cleans from Jeremy DePoyster that don't overstay their welcome; small flourishes like a scrambling drum-break and processed outro vocals to add texture; and dynamic screams from Mike Hranica that never stall in one particular register for long enough to get boring.
Lock Up - "Dark Force of Conviction"
After a seven-year break, At the Gates frontman Tomas Lindberg is back in Lock Up, the British grindcore supergroup featuring members of Napalm Death, Terrorizer, ex-Cradle of Filth and more. The dual-vocalist crushers dropped a new heater this week called "Dark Force of Conviction" that's loaded with pummeling drums, death-metal palm-muted riffs and a gangly mosh part to close it all out. If you like your grindcore with tiny flecks of melodeath brightness and more performances that are tighter than they are noisy, check this.
All Hail the Yeti - "Bury Your Memory"
All Hail the Yeti make the type of music that shouldn't work on paper but somehow does in practice, so it makes perfect sense that they're about to tour the U.S. with fellow genre-fusionists, Jinjer. The California band are an even split between hulking sludge-metal — Baroness-like melodies, deep-fried grooves and all — and crushing metalcore, and their new song "Bury Your Memory" makes you wonder whether you should be headbanging or trying to crowdkill. All Hail the Yeti make a good case that both are perfectly acceptable.
Exhibition - "Bottom Feeder"
There's a lot of great crossover bands in today's hardcore milieu — or at least bands who would've been referred to as crossover in the late Eighties and Nineties, but who now sound more like hardcore's heavier center than anything on Metal Blade. Exhibition are a group from Buffalo, NY, who dropped a demo last year and just followed that up today with a four-song EP, and its opener is a scorcher called "Bottom Feeder" that's split between a minute of guitar soloing and a minute of heavy NYHC. There's a loosesness to it that feels fresh and distinct, and the shredder's got chops.
