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, noise, post-hardcore 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.
King Yosef - "Shifting Eyes"
King Yosef's music lurks in the sewers beneath noise-rap, industrial-metal and bleeding-throat metallic hardcore. You never know exactly what you're going to get from him — just that it's always going to be intense, and "Shifting Eyes" doesn't disappoint. Live drums clatter over chopped-up breaks and destructive 808 blasts, while streaks of factory soundscapes and King Yosef's scabrous yells fill the gaps. This is underworld music, void of earthly genre conventions and not a speck of feel-good light to be found.
Static Dress - "fleahouse"
"fleahouse" starts with a noise that sounds like a trading card flipping on a child's bike spokes. It's unclear what it actually is — an edited drum sample? Someone tapping really fast on a table? A rickety old machine? — but the point is that it's memorable and makes your ears perk up from the jump, and Static Dress are great at adding little flourishes like that to their finely-honed post-hardcore episodes. Every song these guys write feels like a world the listener can enter and never leave, and every new single adds something fresh to their sonic repertoire, in this case a sassier, friskier type of drum beat and huskier screams from frontman Oli Appleyard.
Zola Jesus - "Desire"
Zola Jesus' songs have a spiritual physicality to them — sparse and graceful, but with a sonic and emotional width that could balloon out and fill a house of worship. Compared to "Lost," the first single from her upcoming album, Arkhon, "Desire" is even more minimal, just a careful array of piano plunks and her tactile croon, singing into the vast emptiness with a longing sense of desperation. She repeats the titular word again and again, each time with several moments of contemplative pause, as if she's waiting for someone — something — to answer her call.
Monasteries - "Lilac"
"Lilac" contains what can only be described as a "holy fuck" moment. After a few minutes of techy deathcore riffery and a few djenty bass bombs that sound like an anvil falling on a trampoline, stretching down, down, down to the ground and then swinging up violently, the dust clears and in comes a slow, spacious breakdown. The type of breakdown that's filled with empty space between the chugs, letting you hear fleshy smacks and sheepish "woo's" from the crowd. Then, Monasteries vocalist Josh Davies starts screaming, and keeps screaming — shrieking, really — over dirty, nasty, stinkface-inducing djent wobbles.
Tallah - "The Impressionist"
Tallah are continuing to make some of the most innovative nu-metal-influenced music in the game. On there new single "The Impressionist," there are parts that bring to mind Slipknot's "Everything Ends" and the Iowa Nine's general knack for pummeling, but the core of this song is far mathier, heavier and downright jazzier than any of their tentpole influences. Frontman Justin Bonitz's voice is a thrill to hear crack, honk and snarl, and drummer Max Portnoy's drum solo is a dizzyingly fun surprise.
Praise - "Life Unknown"
Praise are a D.C.-area band — featuring members of Turnstile, Mindset and Champion — whose music is in direct conversation with their region's post-hardcore history. "Life Unknown," the latest single from their first LP in six years, evokes Revolution Summer groups like Embrace and Rites of Spring, but filters that type of proto-emo catchiness through fizzy indie-pop licks and colorful guitar textures that give it a distinctly modern feel.
