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 "ecstatic black-metal" to "ignorantly heavy" hardcore, here are five artists you'll want to get on now.
Sunami
RIYL God's Hate, World of Pain, First Blood
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE In 2019, Sunami were just a local hardcore band from San Jose with a demo. Now, they're one of the biggest bands in the genre, having just completed a totally sold-out — and entirely DIY-booked — U.S. tour and dropped one of the best hardcore albums of the year so far. Their hyperbolic tough-guy lyrics and stupidly heavy songs incite violence wherever they hit the stage, but crucially, it's all in the name of good fun.
QUOTE "We just wanted to start a little fun side project that was just ignorantly heavy and had ignorant lyrics," frontman Josef Alfonso tells us. "I used to consider us a joke band, or I would say that we are, but I don't know, man. I guess the proper term is just: We're having fun. I love trolling and making jokes. I think that just reflects through our music, for sure."
NXCRE and The Villains
RIYL Deftones, Coheed and Cambria, Circa Survive
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE Superior SoundCloud students might recognize NXCRE (pronounced Nac-ree) from the gothy emo-trap singles he dribbled out in the late 2010s. However, the two songs he recently dropped with his new backing band, The Villains, "Usurper" and "Indigo," are on a whole 'nother level. With a breathtaking voice that resembles the soul-grabbing belt of Circa Survive's Anthony Green, and dreamy yet heavy instrumentation of the Coheed/Deftones variety, the first tastes from NXCRE and The Villains' upcoming album, FEAN IS WAR, are extremely promising. They sound like a band that could be huge one day.
QUOTE "I grew up listening to rock music obsessively," NXCRE says. "It was when I came to the States from Israel, and New York in particular, when I was more heavily introduced to hip-hop and R&B, which were the dominating genres in my area at the time. But if I ever envisioned myself as a musician back in my childhood, it would be accompanied with a band making the type of music I am making right now. In a sense, I am just making my 14-year-old self proud."
Filth Is Eternal
RIYL Converge, Mudhoney, Gouge Away
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE Filth Is Eternal are a hardcore band from Seattle who sound at once spiritually linked to their region's grunge history, but also unlike any other band in the current hardcore climate. Newly signed to MNRK Heavy (Crowbar, High on Fire), they've got an upcoming third album, Find Out, that was recorded at Dave Grohl's Studio 606 with Slipknot producer Paul Fig, and it's a positively ripping collection of rockin' hardcore that thrashes, burns and then builds back up into triumphantly haggard melodies.
QUOTE "LP 3 was the perfect time to loosen up, play around and fully embrace what was naturally developing in the room and our lives," says frontperson Lis Di Angelo. "The vibe of this record is a patchwork of moods and genres. It's a bit odd and unhinged. The way the tracks all lean forward relentlessly in sequence is classic Filth, but the structures and the emphasis on melody are new."
Agriculture
RIYL Deafheaven, YOB, Krallice
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE Agriculture describe themselves as "ecstatic black metal," and it's an apt genre tag. The L.A. quartet's fantastic new self-titled album (out July 21st via The Flenser) is extreme music that elicits extreme emotions, but not all negative. Between blast beats and banshee vocals are wailing saxophone solos, abrasive violin squeals and thunder-clapping guitar strokes that part the seas of dissonance to beckon forth huge, post-metal climaxes. There's a strange, alluring optimism in Agriculture's sound — but don't worry, you can still bang your fucking head to it.
QUOTE "To me, black metal is the most compelling genre of spiritual music," says guitarist-vocalist Daniel Meyer. "That's sort of what it means to us. A lot of black-metal techniques — tremolo picking, blast beats, shrieking, etc. — are really potent musical tools for expressing big feelings. The 'ecstatic black-metal' label just indicates that we're interested in exploring feelings like joy and awe."
World I Hate
RIYL Nails, Gulch, Weekend Nachos
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE World I Hate are an incredibly negative band. Their new album, Years of Lead, has songs titled "Safer in Jail," "Liberal Snuff Film" and "Rat Fuck Planet," and almost every track finds the band unleashing fuming invectives against the powerful elites who hold our society hostage. Musically, they're specifically aiming to replicate the powerviolence-y sound of mid-2000s bands like Mind Eraser and Think I Care, but you don't have to be a hardcore scholar to get what they're going for here. This is Molotov music.
QUOTE "I feel like most days, the world around me gets just a little bit worse," vocalist Hal Crossno tells Revolver. "Just when you think that the people with money or power can't possibly find a new way to screw over everyone else, they surprise me with some new thing. More than anything, I hate that my friends on the lowest rungs of society's ladder are constantly at risk of being shaken off. What I sing about is sort of an embodiment of my feelings of futility and frustration that come with trying to change things around you for the better."
