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, doom, industrial-rap 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.
Knocked Loose - "God Knows"
Knocked Loose's new EP, A Tear in the Fabric of Life, is a fluid project that's intended to be taken in all as one piece, but when you do break it down into individual songs, the torrential "God Knows" is a sure standout. Every track on this project features more death metal influence than the Kentucky band's previous material, and this one is a hulking monstrosity of savage leads, destructive breakdowns and a shrieking guest feature from Portrayal of Guilt vocalist Matt King. They've never sounded heavier.
Monolord - "I'll Be Damned"
Monolord are really good at doing what many metal bands strive to but rarely achieve: effectively blending heavy and catchy. "I'll Be Damned" is another single from the Gothenburg doom trio that cleverly snakes between gargling fuzz tones for black-lit smoke dens and old-school melody that your uncle could pleasantly nod along to. It's supreme stoner-doom that actually earns its seven-minute runtime by bringing that riff back with a serpentine groove that hypnotizes you into headbanging.
Zheani - "Fuck the Hollywood Cult"
Zheani isn't taking any prisoners on her latest song, "Fuck the Hollywood Cult," a distressed industrial-rap banger aimed at the entertainment industry's vile underbelly in which young women are rampantly exploited. With the nightmare-house pulse of Crystal Castles and the metallic ferocity of a fellow upstart like Backxwash, the Australian provocateur dreams of murdering the monstrous cult that "grooms their next crop of whore," while repeating the phrase, "Just a little girl/family wrecked by rock n roll," as its devastating refrain. The video doesn't leave much to the imagination, either.
Heriot - "Ten Ton Hammer"
Machine Head's "Ten Ton Hammer" is a pretty heavy song, but Heriot's cover sounds like 20 tons. The U.K. metalcore up-and-comers made the 1997 groove-metal track into an alarmingly loud and physically dominating hardcore crusher that replaces Robb Flynn's eerie grunts with boiling shrieks from vocalist-guitarist Debbie Gough, who screams like the fires of hell are torching her throat. Its sheer forces makes it practically unrecognizable from the original, and Heriot make a good case that theirs is the better version.
Scowl - "Fuck Around"
Bay Area hardcore steppers, Scowl, are continuing to pick up steam as suspense builds for their debut LP, How Flowers Grow, and "Fuck Around" condenses their whole appeal into a one-minute burst. Frontwoman Kat Moss deals in snappy barks that are dipped in just a touch of reverb, giving her gravelly voice a pronounced edge above instrumentation that skitters between push-pull blasts and classic hardcore punk chord progressions.
Cane Hill - "Bleed When You Ask Me: Part II"
Post-hardcore crooners, Cane Hill, stepped even further into melodic alt-metal on their new joint, "Bleed When You Ask Me: Part II." Following the "Part I" track from back in April, the New Orleans unit have gotten graceful at peppering the soulful singing with palm-muted djent patterns, a savory guitar solo and sporadic back-up screams. "I bleed when you ask me/my pain everlasting," frontman Elijah Witt laments during its melancholy refrain.
AngelMaker - "Vengeance"
Deathcore chimeras AngelMaker are in a new class of bands like Lorna Shore and Slaughter to Prevail who are taking the genre to its most mind-melting extremes. On their new song, "Vengeance," their twin vocalists trade shrieks that get increasingly more animalistic and painful sounding each time a new breakdown comes around — and the finale leaves the type of crater-like sonic impact that simply wasn't possible due to the audio limitations of the genre's pioneering years. What's more, the song also includes some As Blood Runs Black-style gang vocals and speckles of whirring post-hardcore, simultaneously nodding to deathcore's past and offering a look at its bright future.
Orthodox - "Body & Soul"
On their 2019 LP, Let It Take Its Course, Nashville metallic hardcore juggernaut Orthodox unabashedly embraced their love of nu-metal, bringing Jonathan Davis-style grunts and Corey Taylor-esque barks into their breakdown-filled fold. "Body & Soul" sounds like a refined version of the vision they had on that album: the groaning-word parts sound perfectly at home alongside the pinched leads and gargantuan chugs, and the band sound tighter than ever.
