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 hardcore, heavy metal, grindcore 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.
Ozzy Osbourne - "No Escape From Now" Feat. Tony Iommi
"Tony was the sound of Sabbath. There's no getting away from the fact that, when he plays with me, it'll be some kind of a reflection of that." That's Ozzy Osbourne brushing off a potential Black Sabbath reunion, but acknowledging that, yes, when Tony Iommi joins Ozzy on his new album, Patient Number 9, those songs have that magical ring to them. "No Escape From Now" is one of the album's longest and most musically interesting tracks, as the two former bandmates play on each other's strengths — Iommi's mystical fretwork and Ozzy's haunting wails — to create a synergy that only they can muster.
Brutus - "Victoria"
Every single we've heard from the new Brutus album has been amazing, and "Victoria" is no exception. On this one, the Belgian band shift from post-hardcore into cloudy post-punk that's packed with tons of felt emotion and streaks of reverb-laden guitar that stream across the mix like raindrops racing down a moist windshield. Drummer-vocalist Stefanie Mannaerts delivers another knockout performance, her voice cracking during the final hook as if it's crumbling from the sheer weight of the doomy subject matter.
Lamb of God - "Grayscale"
While there's something to be said for shaking things up, failed experimentation has plagued many-a-metal band in the genre's history. Lamb of God have avoided that pitfall by remaining shining beacons of the power of consistency, which sure ain't easy to pull off for a band as unrelentingly heavy as they are. "Grayscale," the latest transmission from Omens, doesn't attempt to be anything other than a fist-pounding Lamb of God banger — a superb display of thrashing riffage, gut-twisting groovage and Randy Blythe's demonic howls.
Escuela Grind - "Forced Collective Introspection"
Escuela Grind are a grindcore band who do a great job hanging in the balance between the genre's heavier and punkier spectrums. "Forced Collective Introspection" is an alternately blasty and stompy little number with plenty of metallic meat on its bone-snapping riffage, but enough jaunty mid-tempo sections to keep things spunky and interesting. Plus, astute lyrics about how our ruling class needs a forced reassessment of their faulty motives. "Crisis is a terrible thing to waste," vocalist Katerina Economou bellows with justified rage.
I AM - "The Primal Wave"
I AM are a Texas band, but if you didn't know that, you might have been able to guess based on the sound of "The Primal Wave." The opening cut from their new album, Eternal Steel, just has that intangible Lonestar groove to it, throwing it back to Pantera in the brutalist heft of the song structure and bringing to mind Power Trip in the way it splits the difference between thrash bite and hardcore swing.
Candy Apple - "I Don't Wanna Talk About It"
Like their labelmates in Militarie Gun, Public Opinion and Cold Brats, Candy Apple are geniuses at adding gooey melodies to rippin' punk songs without sacrificing any of the beer-chucking chaos of a nutty basement show. Their latest jaunt, "I Don't Wanna Talk About It," might be the Denver band's catchiest yet, as they squeeze a sequence of hooky power chords through a scrum of splintering bass rumbles and a foggy swell of distortion that explodes into a drooling solo. Play it loud.
