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, death metal, hyperpop 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.
Avenged Sevenfold - "Nobody"
Seven years is a long time to go without releasing any new music. If "Nobody" is any indication, Life Is but a Dream will be worth the wait. Whereas Hail to the King felt too sparse in ideas and the Stage felt too overwrought, "Nobody" is a realignment of Avenged Sevenfold's unparalleled sweet spot. Compositionally innovative, instantly memorable, instrumentally theatrical and, most crucially, fun. That riff howls like a jailbreak alarm. Synyster Gates sweeps more times than a high-school janitor. And everything else — the machine-like drum taps, ornate string scrapes, croaky horn toots, dash of soulful vocoder on M. Shadows voice — clicks together seamlessly. They're back.
Incendiary - "Bite the Hook"
The modern kingpins of New York Hardcore have returned. Incendiary's first new song since 2017's Thousand Mile Stare picks up right where they left off; an episode of lurching metallic hardcore that's go all the genre's tenets — skull-knocking breakdowns, an anthemic chorus, pulverizing blasts of riffage — lined up in the slightly askew way only Incendiary can achieve with grace. No other band sounds like Incendiary, but "Bite the Hook" definitely sounds like Incendiary.
Pupil Slicer - "Blossom"
A couple years back, Pupil Slicer perked the ears of Revolver HQ with their gnashing mathcore debut, Mirrors. In that time, the band have clearly gone through a major transformation, because "Blossom" sounds almost nothing like the barbed-wire scrums they dealt in a couple years ago. Reupholstering their sound with mawkish grunge melodies, psych-y guitar leads and a way more eccentric vocal delivery from singer Kate Davies, "Blossom" keeps one foot in mathcore and places every other boot in the band on brave new soil. We're here for the next step.
100 gecs - "Dumbest Girl Alive"
Nu-metal thumpers, ska-punk jamborees, neon emo-rap, nursery rhymes about frogs — you'll find all that and more on 10,000 gecs, but the one every heavy-music fan needs to start with is "Dumbest Girl Alive." The opener on 100 gecs' long-awaited sophomore joint starts with a guitar lick that brings to mind Avenged Sevenfold's "Unholy Confessions" and Papa Roach's "Last Resort," and then it tailspins into a bangin' pop-rap-rock-who-gives-a-fuck anthem hailing playful self-deprecation. "If you think I'm stupid now, you should see me when I'm high/And I'm smarter than I look, I'm the dumbest girl alive," Laura Les taunts through Juul puffs of auto-tune. Bounce.
Frozen Soul - "Arsenal of War"
Frozen Soul put everything they had into "Arsenal of War," a beautiful and mighty tribute to vocalist Chad Green's late brother. "Righteous soul/to which I've sworn/I'll carry you in my arsenal of war," the frontman bellows with his snow yeti roar, here more powerful than ever. The Texas up-and-comers are always good for a death metal track you can bang your head and mosh to, and "Arsenal of War" is possibly their tightest, grooviest, most physically inspiring one yet. This is glorious.
Midwife, Vyva Melinkolya - "NMP"
Usually, Midwife's "heaven metal" hymns find Madelin Johnston meditating on one or two lyrics for many minutes at a time, letting the phrase sink deep into her soul while a halo of shoegaze-y instrumentation softens her pores. "NMP" doesn't stray very far from that path, but the inclusion of Vyva Melinkolya's input, who Midwife tapped to collaborate with on new album Orbweaving, adds a fuzzier density to the song's otherwise skeletal structure. The result is one of Midwife's loudest, most palpable tracks yet.
