Furious Five breaks down five recently released singles in heavy (or heavy-adjacent) music to add to your radar, this time ranging from mathy metalcore to ferocious tech-death and spirited nu metal. Whether from a newcomer or established act, we think you should give these songs a listen.
The Devil Wears Prada – Time
On the fourth single from their upcoming album Color Decay, The Devil Wears Prada display a nuanced, modern iteration of their sound. A heavy guitar groove and a balance of melodic and harsh vocals drive this song. The band chose to drop “Time” around the start of their Zombie tour, as a representation of both the chaos of the two Zombie EPs and the haunting melody forefront on Color Decay. “Salt” and this song have a similar approachable quality as “Chemical” from previous album The Act. While the song is accessible, The Devil Wears Prada deliver it in a more focused way than many other metalcore groups venturing in a similar direction. Most importantly, “Time” and “Salt” don’t sacrifice the band’s core identity in the process.
Xenobiotic – Autophagia
When a deathcore song is given a title that means “self-consuming”, you know to expect brutal music ready for the pit. Xenobiotic, a technical death metal/deathcore band from Perth, Australia, signed to Unique Leader Records in late 2018, after winning on triple J’s Unearthed Soundwave competition a few years prior. “Autophagia” expresses frustration with the human tendency of repeating self-destructive behavior. Strong production, menacing vocals, and a killer breakdown make this a can’t-miss deathcore-meets-tech-death track. Xenobiotic is a band with the potential to become Australia’s next metal breakout name.
Silent Planet – :Signal:
In August 2021, Silent Planet released the single “Panopticon”, arguably the band’s heaviest song to date, only to outdo themselves one year later with the dark, colossal “:Signal:”. The band will introduce this chaotic, mathcore-influenced song live for the first time on their upcoming September tour. They’ve chosen Solid State labelmates Spirit Breaker to open for them on 11 shows across the eastern half of the United States. Garrett Russell, Silent Planet’s frontman, previously featured his distinct vocals on the song “Satellite Earth” off the Michigan band’s debut album. Since this collaboration occurred several years before Solid State signed Spirit Breaker in 2021, the friendship between the two bands isn’t new. Unpredictable and ferocious, “:Signal:” captures a sense of paranoia, with devastatingly heavy guitar and bass riffs interspersed with eerie ambient breaks. This song is on another level.
Liminal – Burn
The New Jersey band Liminal made an excellent first impression with their introductory song “Burn”. The track is a seamless hybrid of nu metal and hardcore with a bounce sure to get a crowd moving. The band’s vocalist, Wesley Robinson, first made his mark in a band called Sabertooth, with one EP, The Great Unknown. The sound of Sabertooth was stylistically similar, so be sure to check them out. Robinson says that “Burn” was chosen as Liminal’s first released song because it sets a fun tone, adding that heavier, more abrasive songs are to come later. The song is undeniably catchy, with a crossover potential that may appeal to the hardcore crowd as much as the nu-metal one.
Slipknot – Yen
Slipknot’s third single from their upcoming September 30 album starts off mysteriously, with near-silence and ambient noise. “Yen” soon develops into a dark ballad reminiscent of “Vermillion”, before building to a heavy climax. Vocalist Corey Taylor deemed this track as a favorite on the album, citing Type O Negative as an influence. “Yen” certainly has the feel of a gothic metal love song, however, it simultaneously has Slipknot’s essence all over it. While the album title The End, So Far may give listeners pause, the Midwestern masked metal mayhem have no intent of going on hiatus. The title simply signifies a new beginning, the turning point between “the end of one moment and the rest of our lives”.
