Heavy Song of the Week is a feature on Heavy Consequence breaking down the top metal, punk, and hard rock tracks you need to hear every Friday. This week, No. 1 goes to Spiritbox for “Perfect Soul.”
There was a ton of great heavy music released this week, as bands cram in their final activities of 2024 to set up next year. Spiritbox were among those acts, announcing their highly anticipated new album Tsunami Sea earlier this week along with the release of the LP’s second single, “Perfect Soul.”
The song is far more accessible than the previous single “Soft Spine,” employing ethereal pop and shoegaze to round off the sharper edges of the Canadian band’s prog-metal sound. Under the hood, there are still mathematics and instrumental intricacies at play, while the softer musical bed gives more space for Courtney LaPlante’s shimmering voice, undoubtedly the highlight of the track.
It’s a song that could easily find crossover success with non-metal audiences, and given the surging popularity of alternative metal — Spiritbox and Poppy were just nominated for Grammys — such a song could be seen as a benchmark for the sound of mainstream metal in this moment.
Honorable Mentions:
Obscura – “Silver Linings”
Obscura mastermind Steffen Kummerer isn’t known for sticking with the same lineup for long, employing a revolving door approach that saw a mass exodus of band members as recently as 2020. In this way, Obscura is a modular band — Kummerer tweaking the personnel, removing and adding human components to reach the desired threshold of technicality and artistic expression. A song like “Silver Linings,” their latest single, requires serious aptitude and dexterity from each musician — technical death metal that’s borderline athletic in its ferocity. What’s great about this particular track is that the utter complexity of its composition is balanced by a succulent backing melody that’s deceptively simple, ascending in grand fashion as the song takes an unexpected turn.
Smith/Kotzen – “White Noise”
You can tell Adrian Smith and Richie Kotzen are pouring their soul into their eponymous band Smith/Kotzen. The performances, like those on their latest single “White Noise,” are just too damn good; absolutely top-notch, from the vocals (both are bonafide singers — Smith has really been hiding those pipes in Maiden all these years?) to professional axework. The premise of two veteran guitarists with metal backgrounds forming a blues-rock group reeks of late-career cash-in, but nay, this is a passion project of two like-minded musicians who love doing what they do.
Three Days Grace – “Mayday”
Three Days Grace are doing something never attempted by a notable rock band before — welcoming back original singer Adam Gontier while also sticking with the vocalist who replaced him, Matt Walst. The first song to feature the pair’s dual-vocal attack is “Mayday.” The track starts out with a heavy bass intro and a primal scream but quickly settles into a radio-friendly vibe as Gontier and Walst trade vocals. The single is sure to dominate the mainstream rock airwaves, as Three Days Grace know a thing or two about creating hit songs.