On the day Avenged Sevenfold's wild new record Life Is But A Dream arrives with us, you might think we've hit a point where nothing can surprise us. Then Bring Me The Horizon pop up with an old school rager and Pendulum team up with Bullet For My Valentine's Matt Tuck, throwing us for a loop all over again. Still, that's the nature of this music we all love so much, and as ever we've hunted high and low to find you the very best metal songs this week.
But first, the results of last week's vote! There was a solid spread of styles and names in last week's assemblage, but ultimately black metal icons Immortal came out on top with Return To Cold, with wild covers band Punk Rock Factory and guitar goddess Sophie Lloyd taking a very respectable second and third place.
This week we've got the aforementioned team-ups from Bring Me The Horizon and Pendulum, new brutal beats from Code Orange and Lacuna Coil making a triumphant return, amongst many others. Don't forget to vote in the poll below to tell us which song excites you most this week!
Bring Me The Horizon - AmEN! (feat. Lil Uzi Vert & Daryl Palumbo)
When Bring Me The Horizon embraced pop-punk with Lost at the start of May, it looked like the chances of them returning to their brutal early sound any time soon were slim. But, BMTH have built a career on utterly ignoring people's expectations, and new single AmEN! rages out the gate with the kind of vitriol that made Sempiternal such a galvanising force in contemporary metal, the band drafting in rapper Lil Uzi Vert and Glassjaw's Daryl Palumbo to reinforce the idea they exist far beyond genre boundaries at this point, more than worthy of the Download Festival headline spot they will occupy in a week's time.
Lacuna Coil - Never Dawn
Lacuna Coil’s Never Dawn has actually been knocking around for a little while, making its live debut when the band played LA on May 19, while an instrumental version appeared on the trailer for board game Zombicide White Death. Still, finally unveiled in all its glory, the track is a propulsive mix of gothic and melodeath elements in a searing, powerful package. If this is the direction the band are going with their tenth album, we can safely say we’re very, very excited.
Pendulum - Halo (feat. Matt Tuck)
Pendulum have been comfortably rubbing shoulders with rock and metal bands for nearly 20 years now, but that doesn't make it any less a delightful surprise when they come along with something like Halo, their collaboration with Bullet For My Valentine frontman Matt Tuck. Tuck's throaty howls mix with wailing electronica and insistent dance beats surprisingly well, the resultant collision almost exactly how you'd expect a mash-up of both bands to sound.
Fever 333 - $wing
With the departure of Stephen Harrison and Aric Improta in October 2022, Jason Aalon Butler was left the only remaining member of Fever 333. Thankfully Butler has rallied and made a triumphant return with an all-new line-up on $wing, their explosive new single tapping into the furious energy that has made the band such a vibrant force these past five years.
Sylosis - Poison For The Lost
Josh Middleton may have parted ways with Architects, but the guitarist/vocalist certainly isn't languishing as his band Sylosis gear up for the release of their sixth album A Sign of Things To Come. Newest single Poison For The Lost is all sweeping guitars and crunching beats, a full-throttle assault on the senses that reminds us all that Sylosis deserve much more acclaim than they've got thus far.
Code Orange - Grooming My Replacement
If Turnstile represent hardcore's capability for mainstream crossover success, Code Orange are the snarling counterpart in unrelenting brutality and heaviness. Roaring back with two new singles in The Game and Grooming My Replacement, Code Orange feel more vibrant and metallic than ever, upping the nu metal elements of their sound to really underpin the anthemic potential of their brutality. After two Grammy nominations, have Code Orange written their winner? Time will tell, but these singles certainly indicate we're looking at the band's biggest sounding album yet.
Crypta - Lord Of Ruins
With their second album Shades Of Sorrow set for release on August 4, Crypta are setting the world in their sights with the frenzied Lord Of Ruins. Set somewhere between the blitzkrieg of black metal, the brutality of death metal and all-out neck-snapping vigour of thrash, the Brazilian extreme metal troupe are one of extreme metal's brightest new lights and with good reason - the sheer ferocity on show is truly sublime.
Oni - Silence In A Room Full Of Lies (feat. Jared Dines)
A collaborative effort between Canadian metalcore brutes Oni and YouTuber Jared Dines, Silence In A Room Full Of Lies is testament to the unique paths collaboration can take metal in 2023. Rampaging along with massive vocal melodies, dexterous riffs and a breakout guitar solo lifted straight from the 80s, the track is exactly the kind of raging sing-along you want heading into festival season.
Moodring - WOULDYOUWAITFORME
You don't have to look far to find evidence that Bring Me The Horizon have established a line of boundary-crossing tendencies in modern metal, and sure enough Florida's Moodring are upholding their spirit with the thrumming WOULDYOUWAITFORME. Deftones style airy vocal melodies collide with crushing breakdowns and almost Prodigy-style dance beats, a wild combination that nonetheless feels cohesive and powerful.
The Sun's Journey Through The Night - Wordless
Sometimes only the bleakest, more furious brand of extremity will do, and that's exactly the discomforting niche The Sun's Journey Through The Night find themselves in, new single Wordless raging like a black metal blizzard spawned from the coldest depths of hell. The brief respites of ambience only serve to highlight the sheer ferocity heard elsewhere in the track, a vicious maelstrom certain to please extreme metal fans.
Guilt Trip - Sweet Dreams ft. Florent Salfati
That hardcore workout you ordered has arrived. Signed to Malevolence's label MLVLTD MUSIC and due to support the group on their headline tour in October, Guilt Trip seem to be trying to usurp the throne on pummeling new track Sweet Dreams. Drafting in LANDMVRKS vocalist Florent Salfati, the band go for broke on a track that mixes the physicality of 80s hardcore with the ferocity of post-00s metallic hardcore. We expect to see plenty of push-ups in the pit to this one.
Empire State Bastard - Stutter
Yes, that sound you hear is Dave Lombardo absolutely clattering the kit while Biffy Clyro's Simon Neil wails away like the agonised bastard son of Mike Patton. Stutter is all noise and menacing low-end, throwing up shades of Mclusky and Today Is The Day whilst Empire State Bastard forge their own unique imprint on utter sonic bedlam - the melodic passage is a dead giveaway for Biffy Clyro's ear for radio sensibility, Lombardo keeping things delightfully unhinged as he gives his kit a fresh smashing.
