Here at Revolver, we pride ourselves in living on the cutting edge of heavy music, from metal and hardcore to industrial and hip-hop, and we try to keep you on the front line, too, by giving you a deep look at the innovative noisemakers poised to shape the sound and the scene. To that end, we've rounded up a handful of musicians who, we think, are on the rise across several different genres. From grindy hardcore to seething doom-punk, here are five artists you'll want to get on now.
Witch Fever
RIYL L7, Black Sabbath, Babes in Toyland
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE Witch Fever's sound is an enchanting elixir of gnashing grunge, bottom-heavy doom and ripping punk that feels sonically and spiritually akin to the original Riot Grrrl movement. The U.K. quartet have only gotten gnarlier and more atmospherically attuned with each new track, making their debut LP that's due out this fall one of the most anticipated heavy rock releases of the year.
QUOTE "We wanted to experiment more with space," Witch Fever say of the forthcoming album's musical direction. "In terms of lyrics, a big part of it for Amy [Walpole, singer] was subverting the language used to try and control her by men in the church in her Christian upbringing. It's about taking the power out of those words and making them our own."
No/Más
RIYL Nails, Full of Hell, Misery Index
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE No/Más are bringing speed back to blisteringly heavy hardcore. The D.C. band's stellar new debut, Consume/Deny/Repent, packs oodles of buzz-saw riffage, thrashy technicality and groovy mosh into each sub-two-minute nugget. Rarely do songs played with this kind of grindcore efficiency possess such irresistible replay-ability.
QUOTE While the band was formed as a way to play fun house parties, they've since become a more meticulous operation. "C/D/R was the result of us having unlimited amount of time to write a record infusing all of our influences in a way that we haven't quite heard before," they explain, hailing Napalm Death, Sepultura and Wu-Tang Clan among their faves. "We are against all forms of injustices," No/Más say of their ethos. "We want to bring awareness to mental health and the separation of church and state."
Bodybox
RIYL Cannibal Corpse, Despised Icon, the Acacia Strain
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE Having released music on the red-hot Maggot Stomp label (Undeath, Sanguisugabogg, 200 Stab Wounds), Bodybox exist in a milieu of new-gen death-metal bands whose sound recalls the ugliness of the Nineties gore greats, the neolithic chugginess of first-wave deathcore, and the approachable simplicity of heavy hardcore. Oddball party humor and misanthropic anger exist in harmony, both acting in dutiful service to the holy mosh.
QUOTE "Something that we would want to listen to grilling on the front porch smoking stogs, drinking beer, or at the strip club getting fucked up" is how vocalist Harryson Brown describes Bodybox's creative goals. In terms of being a part of the Maggot Stomp wave, the self-proclaimed "dumb trailer-park kid" says, "We're definitely not recreating the wheel, but I will say every band is making extreme music extreme again and truly putting out shit that scares people again."
Pain of Truth
RIYL Hatebreed, Bulldoze, Cold as Life
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE What started as a low-stakes side project project among various Long Island scenesters has quickly become one of the most hyped new bands in all of hardcore. Pain of Truth's brilliantly addictive 2020 EP, No Blame...Just Facts, injects a new sense of life into the foundational beatdown template, with half-rapped vocals that ooze East Coast attitude and bristling energy that sounds as if Hatebreed came up on Trapped Under Ice instead of Madball.
QUOTE "Everyone wants to stand out, I have tried to in other bands," vocalist-songwriter Michael Smith says of how Pain of Truth managed to cut through the noise. "I think the difference is I really just didn't think too hard when getting the instrumentals together. I wasn't second-guessing everything about it. Same with the lyrics." His advice to anyone else listening is similarly straightforward. "Hardcore is alive and is not going anywhere. Start a band."
High Vis
RIYL Fugazi, Stone Roses, Fiddlehead
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE Ever wonder what the Stone Roses would sound like if they were on Dischord Records? That's pretty much what High Vis sound like, a U.K. quintet made up of longtime punks who're expanding outward into more melodic fare in a way that isn't stale or predictable. A song like "Talk for Hours" is as glowing and magnetic as any Nineties Britpop single, but its groove is Fugazi-fied and the emphatic delivery is in-line with the band's U.S. post-hardcore peers in Fiddlehead and Militarie Gun.
QUOTE "If we're making any sort of statement with our songs, it's an appeal for others to do the same, to not be defined by your surroundings, class, background — to not resign yourself to preconceived societal or cultural expectation," the band say. "The name High Vis was born out of summers spent disguised as security and walking ourselves into festivals. It's amazing how invisible you can become dressed in the unifying garment of the working class."
