The Best Rock + Metal Songs of November – Staff Picks + Essentials
The Weekly Wire playlist is still roaring, packed with 50 new songs each week and, here, we're recapping the Best Rock + Metal Songs of the Month for July with a mix of essential songs and choice selections from the Loudwire staff. Maybe you'll even discover a new band that rules!
The Essentials
You know these bands and you probably heard these songs the instant they came out — midnight Spotify lurkers, we see you…
- Follow Loudwire's 'Best of the Month' playlist on Spotify here.
Alex Skolnick Trio, “Florida Man Blues”
Amaranthe, “PvP”
Animals as Leaders, “The Problem of Other Minds”
August Burns Red, “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town”
Avatar, “Construction of Souls”
Avril Lavigne, “Bite Me”
Black Label Society, “End of Days”
Brand of Sacrifice, “Lifeblood” ft. Will Ramos
Brandon Boyd, “Pocket Knife”
Code Orange, “Out for Blood”
Coheed and Cambria, “Rise Naianasha (Cut the Cord)”
Converge, “Coil”
Dashboard Confessional, “Here’s to Moving On”
Eddie Vedder, “The Haves”
Exodus, “Prescribing Horror”
Failure, “Headstand”
Green Day, “Holy Toledo”
Hot Water Music, “Killing Time”
Tony Iommi, “Scent of Dark”
Korn, “Start the Healing”
Me and That Man, “Under Your Spell” ft. Tobias Forge
Rise Against, “Fortunate Son” (Creedence Clearwater Revival cover)
Rolo Tomassi, “Drip”
Saint Asonia, “Blinding Lights” (The Weeknd cover)
Scorpions, “Peacemaker”
Senses Fail, “I’m Sorry I’m Leaving”
Silverstein, “It’s Over”
Sion, “More Than Just Myself”
Slipknot, “The Chapeltown Rag”
Smith/Kotzen, “Better Days”
Venom Prison, “Judges of the Underworld”
We Came As Romans, “Daggers” ft. Zero 9:36
The Amity Affliction, “Give Up the Ghost”
Volumes, “Void”
Staff Picks
Chad Childers
BAND: The Black Moods
SONG: “She Gets Out”
RELEASED: Nov. 26
Here’s another band you need to know pushing forward the retro rock vibe. The Arizona-based trio The Black Moods could have fit easily into the ‘90s alt-rock radio heyday, but are currently leading the charge in bringing back melodic rock here in the 21st Century. “She Gets Out” is the lead single from their forthcoming 2022 album, serving as a sequel song to their 2020 rock radio hit “Sunshine.” This one just begs you to blast it from your car radio, windows down as the summer heat gives way to the fall.
BAND: KrashKarma
SONG: “Bury Me Alive”
RELEASED: Nov. 19
If you’re catching Fozzy this coming spring, you’ll want to turn up early to catch openers KrashKarma. The band is getting a jump on the new album Morph with their new song “Bury Me Alive.” The track serves up a rare male-female co-vocal with guitarist Ralf Dietel and drummer Niki Skistimas trading power vocal moments on this soaring new song.
BAND: Tom Morello Featuring Nathaniel Rateliff, Jim Jones + Chipotle Joe
SONG: “Hard Times”
RELEASED: Nov. 17
Tom Morello is all about blending genres with his Atlas Underground project, and “Hard Times” finds collaborators in both the rap and alt-rock world. Nathaniel Ratelif joins rappers Jim Jones and Chipotle Joe on this banger that kicks off with some signature Morello wailing riffs. A funky drum backing also lays the groundwork on this politically prescient track that educates you while you rock. This one appears on The Atlas Underground Flood, the second new album from Morello’s project in as many months.
BAND: NHC
SONG: “Lazy Eyes”
RELEASED: Nov. 11
While NHC have been releasing songs in twos and “Devil That You Know” appears to be the focus of the latest drop, we should not overlook “Lazy Eyes.” Dave Navarro, Taylor Hawkins and Chris Chaney fly the psychedelic flag with pride, letting their ‘60s and ‘70s influences guide the way. This trip is one worth taking.
BAND: Wet Leg
SONG: “Too Late Now”
RELEASED: Nov. 29
After releasing two songs hitting many critics lists this year, the up-and-coming duo Wet Leg have finally announced their debut album coming in 2022. And with that announcement we were treated to two more new tracks, with “Too Late Now” being the focus cut. Once again relying on catchy low end bass to push things forward, the song is a more introspective stream-of-consciousness offering, riffing on dating apps and TV before converging in a more chaotic finale. It’s another promising song from what should be one of 2022’s breakout acts.
Toni Gonzalez
BAND: Three Days Grace
SONG: “So Called Life”
RELEASED: Nov. 29
Three Days Grace have been teasing new music for a while now and they just delivered the goods with "So Called Life." The track is the first single off their upcoming seventh studio album Explosions, set to arrive May 6. Matt Walst of the band shares, “In these crazy and divided times, everyone needs something to take the edge off.” If the song alone isn't enough to tackle your edge, you can catch 3DG when they hit the road in April of 2022. This one definitely has the potential to become the band's 16th No. 1 single on U.S. Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Songs Chart.
Todd Fooks
BAND: Stabbing Westward
SONG: "I Am Nothing"
RELEASED: Nov. 5
After their record label wanted them to go in a "poppier" direction with their sound (and their latest album fizzled), industrial rockers Stabbing Westward disbanded and stopped making music in 2001. Now, 20 years later, they are back in the studio making the same intense electro-goth bangers they were doing two decades earlier. Now, the compressed crunchy guitar riffs, steady pounding beats, and signature wail of singer Christopher Hall highlight a tension that seems to fit perfectly this day and age.
Philip Trapp
BAND: In Mourning
SONG: "Sovereign"
RELEASED: Nov. 26
Swedish melodic death metal act In Mourning cooked up a fresh batch of their doomy, proggy opuses for The Bleeding, the band's sixth album that emerged on Nov. 26. For a taste, check out the multiple interlocking movements of "Sovereign," the collection's opening cut that shows In Mourning aren't afraid to add a dash of groove to their death metal. Just chew on that guitar-and-drum shuffle in the song's verses — it's clear the group baked a bit of classic rock into all that gothic guitar goodness.
There's also some early Opeth flavor, almost a matter of course due to the supersize influence the Mikael Akerfeldt-led outfit has in Swedish metal, especially of the progressive sort. Still, on The Bleeding, In Mourning vocalist-guitarist Tobias Netzell makes his own tasty recipe with the subgenre's ingredients, and the rest of the band matches him in prime metal nourishment. Fill up.
BAND: Silent Planet
SONG: "Till We Have Faces"
RELEASED: Nov. 12
Metalcore mainstays Silent Planet build on what they do best with "Till We Have Faces," a deep cut from the band's new album Iridescent, released Nov. 12. Here, the California-based quartet's arresting scream-sing dynamics and haunting instrumentation are labeled with the title of a 1956 novel by Christian apologetics affluent and Chronicles of Narnia author C. S. Lewis, while their knack for electronic soundscapes ungirds an ongoing search for mercy. Now, they seek it out in nature in a battle against time.
"Laying inside the lowland, I bowed within the reeds," a poetic bridge section smolders just before a powerful explosion of vocals and guitars. "I gave myself to consequence when grace devoured me." The pursuit matches the scope of the source text. "The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing — to reach the Mountain, to find the place where all the beauty came from," Lewis wrote in Till We Have Faces. And so the search continues.
Mike Stern
BAND: Porcupine Tree
SONG: “The Harridan”
RELEASED: Nov. 1
Prog rockers everywhere, rejoice! Thirteen years after the release of their album The Incident, Steven Wilson, Richard Barbieri and Gavin Harrison are back together. On the first day of November Porcupine Tree fans were graced with “The Harridan,” the first single from a new album titled CLOSURE/CONTINUATION that’s due next June. True to their sound, the new song, which clocks in at more than 8 minutes, is a sprawling epic with multiple tempo changes.
BAND: Foals
SONG: “Wake Me Up”
RELEASED: Nov. 4
Sometimes the BBC gets the good stuff first, like the new Foals song “Wake Me Up” which premiered Nov. 4 on Radio 1. An energetic track inspired by the world starting to come out of the pandemic, “Wake Me Up” is an up-tempo banger that, if you listen closely, seems to pay homage to Duran Duran. For a band that has never quite broken through in the states, this could very well be their “Feel It Still” moment.
Graham Hartmann
BAND: BADBADNOTGOOD
SONG: “Talk Meaning”
RELEASED: Nov. 4
Hello there, do you have a moment to talk about a Canadian free-jazz group? The title track from BADBADNOTGOOD’s fifth studio album is a banquet of musicianship guaranteed to garner the respect of any fan of progressive metal. Anchored by a tasty bass line and some next-level drumming, “Talk Meaning” is led by dissonant piano chords and improvised saxophone work. It’s one of the most addictive and soothing pieces of music I’ve heard in 2021. Grab your best headphones and blast this anxiety smasher.
BAND: Plebeian Grandstand
SONG: “À droite du démiurge, à gauche du néant”
RELEASED: Nov. 11
This is the shit growing inside your shower drain; the filth you drag out after sticking a coat hanger deep into the pipes. If you’re into avant-garde black metal or violent mathematics, you won’t want to sleep on Plebeian Grandstand. You can thank Debemur Morti Productions, the world’s top label for metal as high art, for this grotesque soundscape. Seriously, subscribe to the label’s YouTube channel right away.
Lauryn Schaffner
BAND: JJ Wilde + Billy Raffoul
SONG: “Born to Die”
RELEASED: Nov. 19
I’m a big fan of Canadian singer JJ Wilde. She has such a unique voice and experiments with different sounds in her music, but at the root she has a rock ‘n’ roll soul. When she announced a collaborative EP with fellow Canadian rocker Billy Raffoul, I didn’t know what to expect, but the title track “Born to Die” is truly a gem. The singers’ vocals complement each other incredibly well, the lyrics have a youthful zest to them and the choruses are grand and exciting.
BAND: Dead Posey
SONG: “Sorry I’m Not Dead”
RELEASED: Nov. 19
You know that anxiety you get when a band you like is teasing a new song, because you’re not sure whether or not you’ll like it? Yeah, that’s not a feeling Dead Posey tend to bring about. “Sorry I’m Not Dead” sounds like it came out of the 1990s, and that’s certainly my favorite decade music-wise, so this new track was a treat. It leans more on the industrial rock side, with an edgy, badass attitude.
BAND: Goodbye June
SONG: “Three Chords”
RELEASED: Nov. 5
We didn’t include Goodbye June in our list of bands leading the classic rock revival without reason, and their latest single “Three Chords” further proves our point. It’s reminiscent of Bon Scott-era AC/DC, and while it’s not fair to constantly throw comparisons around with newer bands, we think that that’s a pretty big compliment. It has a simplistic structure and a fun, carefree vibe, which shows that songs don’t have to be overly complex or deep and introspective to be damn good.
Joe DiVita
BAND: Turmion Kätilöt
SONG: “Hengitä”
RELEASED: Nov. 5
I really wish there was a stronger connection between metal and the world of aggrotech / electro-industrial — Grendel, Suicide Commando, Tactical Sekt, Centhron, C-Lekktor, etc. Fortunately, the fine folks at Nuclear Blast are helping to bridge that gap. Last year saw the release of the Global Warning album, Turmion Kätilöt’s first under the long-standing metal label and now they’ve dished out the raging “Hengitä” to keep the momentum going. It’s got Euro-styled club beats but plenty of angst that should thrill open-minded music fans and even help convert those apprehensive about anything close to EDM.
BAND: Jethro Tull
SONG: “Shoshana Sleeping”
RELEASED: Nov. 5
Can we please, please, PLEASE just shut the hell up about the Metallica / Jethro Tull Grammy conundrum? It was more than 30 years ago, ‘Tallica have been given their due 1,000 times over since then and it unfairly sullied the folk-prog legends’ name with metal fans seemingly forever. No, Tull didn’t deserve the Grammy, but that’s not the point — they’re one of the most innovative and ambitious bands in rock’s history and now leader Ian Anderson is back with “Shoshana Sleeping,” which comes off forthcoming The Zealot Gene album. This track harkens back to Tull’s most celebrated era and it’s a good omen for what’s to come on what may likely be the band’s last-ever record.
BAND: NorthTale ft. Kai Hansen + Tim Hansen
SONG: “Future Calls”
RELEASED: Nov. 12
I’ve always been a big fan of the ever-prolific power metal axeman Bill Hudson, going all the way back to his days in Cellador. The international NorthTale collective again finds Hudson in peak form, alongside a wealth of notable peers, and on “Future Calls,” the band went even further and tabbed Helloween and Gamma Ray legend Kai Hansen and his son Tim for this Eternal Flame standout. As utterly brilliant as Helloween’s reunion album is — it was just slightly disappointing we didn’t hear Kai more — hearing him share lead duties here is a nice bonus for 2021.
BAND: The Halo Effect
SONG: “Shadowminds”
RELEASED: Nov. 9
The Halo Effect reunites five former In Flames members, including Dark Tranquillity vocalist Mikael Stanne, who was featured on the Swedish melodeath vets’ first album before the two bands executed a singer swap after they each released their debut records. There’s no urge to reinvent the wheel here, just get back to basics of what everyone here has done so well over the last three decades. “Shadowminds,” which carries on with a mid-tempo pace and textured melodies, recalls the Swedish scene’s late ‘90s / early 2000s era remarkably well.
Rabab Al-Sharif
BAND: Greyhaven
SONG: “All Candy”
Released: Nov. 4
Kentucky’s Greyhaven have made a name for themselves with their heavy and chaotic cuts, but “All Candy” sees them taking a swing at something a little more melodic throughout. While heavy music fans love whining when a band takes a new direction, this song proves that Greyhaven can produce a catchy (even radio friendly) track and they can do it well, which despite what the naysayers might spew, bodes well for their upcoming LP. What’s wrong with being versatile?
BAND: BRKN LOVE
SONG: “Dead Weight”
Released: Nov. 11
Sometimes all you need is a straightforward rock jam, and that is exactly what Canada’s BRKN LOVE delivers with their latest single “Dead Weight.” The track is a self-loathing anthem for loners and proof that sometimes simple is best.