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 thrash, deathcore, metalcore 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.
Metallica - "Lux Æterna"
Is Metallica's first track in six years any good? Well, do you like your Metallica songs fast, furious and to the point? Do you enjoy Kirk Hammett solos that sound like he's playing with four hands at once, two of them shredding rapidly while the other two rip the strings off and replace them in real-time? Do you like crazy-ass shit like that? Do you think James Hetfield snarling, "full speed or nothing," is a promising sign that 72 Seasons might see Metallica once again embrace locomotive thrash? Huh? Do ya like that? Then fucking crank "Lux Æterna."
Obituary - "Dying of Everything"
Guitar solos. Galloping thrash parts. Complex, through-composed song structures. These aren't attributes that fans usually expect from Obituary, the reigning swamp kings of lumbering, knuckle-dragging death metal. But that's what the Floridian vets are doing on "Dying of Everything," packing a genuinely ripping guitar solo and a full spectrum of tempos — speedy, doomy, chuggy — into nearly five minutes. It's the title-track of their forthcoming album, and it's made us even more excited to hear this shit.
Zulu - "Fakin' tha Funk (You Get Did)"
Zulu have been called, and have called themselves, a powerviolence band. The fast-rising L.A. group play a style of hardcore that's often fast and uncompromisingly angry, pushing and pulling between blasts and breakdowns, so that tag isn't necessarily wrong. But "Fakin' tha Funk (You Get Did)" is so much more than the self-limiting confines of powerviolence allows for. The deep growls, the chugging beatdown parts, the even chuggier beatdown parts, the hypnotic groove of those chuging beatdown parts. Just call it what it is: heavy fucking music.
Crown the Empire - "Immortalize"
About a decade back, Crown the Empire came onto the scene with a style of theatrical metalcore that crossed the over-the-top catchiness of Chiodos with the punishing breakdowns of the Devil Wears Prada. Their sound has developed a lot over the years, and "Immortalize" sees the Texas band confidently rocking with a nu-metalcore sound. The glitchy breakdown has near-djent levels of heaviness, the electronic effects are bright as neon, and the main hook is sung with a menthol-y, R&B-influenced coolness. Check it.
One Step Closer - "Dark Blue"
One Step Closer are carrying out a sonic chemistry experiment — how much melody can you inject into hardcore until it just becomes pop-punk? "Dark Blue" might be the borderline, and goddamn, what a place to be. The Wilkes Barre, PA, band are really leaning into their love for tri-state pop-punk of the Taking Back Sunday persuasion on this one (and the vocal patterns are unmistakeably pulled from the Story So Far), but they still manage to maintain the grit and spit-flying inertia of a hardcore band. The yelled climax is so palpable you can smell the sweat of stage-divers and mic-grabbers screaming along. Jump on in.
Ov Sulfur - "Death ov Circumstance"
Blackened deathcore feels like it's reaching its saturation point. Bands like Lorna Shore and Worm Shepherd have done the style so well that it can feel like there's nothing much to build on. Ov Sulfur offer a way forward. On" Death ov Circumstance," the band featuring ex-Suffokate vocalist Ricky Hoover add a dose of NWOAHM into their brew of symphonic atmospheres and blackened breakdowns. There's a dash of early Trivium guitarwork, a pinch of Killswitch Engage earnesty in the clean chorus, and a general embrace of melody over mindless brutality — without going soft. If you've been bored by deathcore lately, give this a go.
