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, fuzz-rock, death metal 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 - "We Love You"
Avenged Sevenfold are impossible to predict these days. "Nobody," the lead single from their first new album in seven years, was a churning, anthemic wrecking ball of melodic industrial-metal, done only in a way A7X could. "We Love You" is entirely different. An obvious ode to their heroes Mr. Bungle, the song is a structural labyrinth, darting between freaky passages of noise, stomping chants and thrashy, shrieky gallops that (briefly) harken back to Waking the Fallen. Then it ends with an oddly bucolic, alluring little acoustic ditty. What the fuck did we even just hear? Not sure, but we liked it.
Queens of the Stone Age - "Emotion Sickness"
Queens of the Stone Age's last album, Villains, was a glammy, funky, overly-polished pivot away from their vintage fuzz roots. "Emotion Sickness" is a course correction. The lead single from Josh Homme and Co.'s first album in six years is a breezy psych-rock tune that could've appeared on Lullabies to Paralyze or Era Vulgaris. It's not as heavy as their early material, but way more prickly, dirt-caked and coarsely textured than the pair of glitzy dance-floor collections they dropped in the 2010s. It's fuckin' great.
Gouge Away - "Idealized"
Gouge Away are back in go-mode. It's been five years since the Florida band's 2018 knockout album, Burnt Sugar, and new single "Idealized" proves that they haven't missed a beat. This slow, melancholy dirge leans into the band's noisy post-hardcore side, evoking groups like Unwound and early Fugazi with their wiry guitars and Christina Michelle's aching sighs. Gouge Away are modern savants at tension-and-release. We're stoked they're back.
Creeping Death - "The Common Breed"
There isn't a single second of "The Common Breed" that you can't bang your head to. Texas' Creeping Death are the type of death-metal band who put crowd-surfing lunatics in their music videos and play shows with hardcore bands. Their latest single is a death-metal track through and through (dueling guitars, chain-snapping grooves, butt-ugly vocals), but it has all the energy of a wild thrash ripper. Just how we like it.
Never Ending Game - "Outcry"
There isn't a single skip on Never Ending Game's new album, Outcry, but the title-track that kicks it all off is a sure highlight. The guitar tones are so serrated and bludgeoning, but also precise and cutting. Like they could sculpt the big-ass Detroit tombstone on the album's cover. Like all of NEG's best tracks, Mikey Petroski's vocals are as cold and brutal as they are catchy, and his lyrics exorcise his insecurities without taking away from the gnarly force of the song. This is metallic hardcore at is pinnacle.
Make Them Suffer - "Ghost of Me"
There was an elegance to the music on Make Them Suffer's breakthrough debut, Neverbloom, an early symphonic deathcore masterpiece that treated the breakdowns-and-brees genre the way Cradle of Filth treated black-metal (theatrical, ornate, grandiose). "Ghost of Me" isn't ritzy like that. In fact, its moon-beam synths and glitchy vocal stutters fire atop the djenty chugs like laser tag hellfire. It's disorienting and twitchy in a way that feels playful. Make Them Suffer sound fun now.
