Written by Ellis
I love being a part of the Noob Heavy team. Espi, Jangel, Kep, Kirk, Westin – great people covering great music, standing up for important shit, making me laugh a lot and sharing some highly appreciated parenting solidarity when I have needed it. Shout-out to the wider NH community too and especially the album swap crew, even if you have exposed me to things like โgorenoiseโ and X-Mas Death Jazz.
I donโt always get round to writing up an end of year list but I was feeling it this year and Iโm breaking it down into five demos, five EPs and ten albums.
Starting with the demos: Iโve written about all but one of these already in my quarterly demo round-ups so weโll do these quick. In no particular order apart from Turn of Phrase defo at number 1:
Unmoved – Demonstration
Martyr AD/Coalesce type metalcore from Vancouver, Canada.
xWeaponx – Weapon X Demo 2
โWEAPON X HATES YOUโ – straight edge supergroup shit init.
Direct Order – Demo 2025
Real stomp stomp music. Legitimately inspired the creation of the entire Demolicious Derby series.
Dead Stare – Demo
Terror are probably my favourite band tooโฆ
Turn of Phrase – Finish Just To Begin
Drinking water melodic hardcore from London/Brighton, UK.
Now the EPs. Consider these half ranked. Iโm trying not to overthink it but my top two or three are defo where they should be.
Recollection – Vivid Dreams
A late entry for me but this EP sounds too much like my top album pick and apparently shares members with the band behind it so that has essentially thrown this straight into ridiculously heavy rotation. Shout-out my friend Jamie for keeping me supplied with the very best Stage Dive Musicโข.
Crush Your Soul – Living Gracious
I am fully convinced that Jay Petagine is the best frontperson in all of hardcore at the moment, and this and the preceding Crush Your Soul EP are doing absolutely nothing to disabuse me of that notion while I wait for that third Mindforce LP. Remember swag?
Hour of Reprisal – Endless War, Endless Peace
Take everything Hour of Reprisal already did brilliantlyโincisive lyrics, squeaky guitar bits, stoopid breakdownsโadd a few extras like pig squeals and a bit more melody and package it up in the best production theyโve had yet and you get this EP. โCar bomb at the gates of Edenโ ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ.
Dynamite – Settle the Score
Best band in the UK bar none and a genuine contender for best hardcore band in the world right now. Dynamite donโt miss and this is surely their best sounding record yet. Opener โHardcore Prideโ is truly a perfect hardcore song.
Mercy Ruin – The Killing March
Carries all the giddy, ecstatic and cathartic thrills of the kind of run in the cold where you can feel the air tearing into the back of your lungs in the best way possible. Gloriously urgent gothy post-punk from Boston/Brooklyn.
And lastly: albums. These ones are as ranked as they can be…
SCARAB – Burn After Listening
Absolute Demon Music from SCARABโas per really. Eight tracks and 13 minutes of mosh, fast bits, scorching vocals, killer guests and a perfect dollop of metallic stuff for good measure.
Turnstile – NEVER ENOUGH
What is there to say? Itโs Turnstile init. Thereโs a reason these guys are (probably) the Biggest Guitar Band in the World RN. My friend Jack described it as โhardcore taking a bubble bathโ and I couldnโt put it better myself.
Martirio – Los Siete Sellos
Limiting myself to one real metalcore/edge metal pick in the name of diversity or something. I think Martirio is legitimately the best one of these Iโve heard this year but could also easily have been Faced Out or xdetesterx or Divine Hatred. Oops.
By a Thread – Mirrored Life
Described this in the September round-up as โpost-hardcore for adultsโ and I stand by it. Epic, authentic, anthemic stuff, soaked in reverb and atmosphere and carrying an unmistakable emotional heft.
First Attack – No Escape
Boot. Wearing. Music. Vancouverโs First Attack are easily one of my favourite Axe to Grind discoveries of the year (fellow Canadians Home Front are another and their latest album probably only missed out on this list by one). This album makes me wanna shave my head and kick shins, and Iโm just about done shaving my shins…
*RECORD SCRATCH* *FREEZE FRAME*
โWait, isn’t this a metal site?โ I hear you ask. And yes I havenโt really got any pure metal in my top 10 but there are a few albums that would have probably been sniffing around my top 20 if Iโd had capacity for that, so please allow this brief intermission to identify my top metal picks by subgenre:
- Black Metal: Blood Abscission – I I
- Death Metal: Sepulchral Curse – Crimson Moon Evocations
- Doom Metal: Conan – Violence Dimension
- Thrash Metal: Inhuman Nature – Greater Than Death
- Trad Metal: TOWER – Let There Be Dark
(Editor’s note: don’t worry, pretty sure my list has enough metal for both of us.)
Age of Apocalypse – In Oblivion
After all that, this oneโs probably the closest to a metal pick that Iโve got here and thatโs thanks pretty much entirely to vocalist Dylan Kaplowitzโs absolute pipes. This is uniquely epic metallic hardcore, with soaring melodies that stand just as tall as any of its most gargantuan riffs and breakdowns.
Stateside – Where You Found Me
Every year for the past few years thereโs always been literally one pop-punk album thatโs given me everything I want from the genre. No Pressure in 2022, Koyo (with a bullet) in 2023, Neck Deep last year, and now Stateside absolutely clearing it with their debut full-length this year. Bonus points for some lashings of emo and post/melodic hardcore.
Backxwash – Only Dust Remains
Backxwash is surely one of the most talented, creative and important artists of this generation. Only Dust Remains is a stunning evolution on the trilogy of innovative industrial hip-hop albums that preceded it, stepping into a newfound vibrancy while still holding firm to the quality and intensity that marked each of those records.
Speedway – A Lifeโs Refrain
Just as I was in the April round-up I am still struggling to put into just how infectious this album is. I just think all hardcore should sound like this honestly. Urgent, catchy and as impossible to contain as it is to put down.
Skinhead – Itโs a Beautiful Day, What a Beautiful Day
As tough as it is vulnerable, as genuinely funny as it can be emotionally devastatingโconsider the final two tracks โSeparate Checksโ and โThatโs a Promise (The Song About a Dog)โ for exampleโover the past six months I have found that I can listen to this album in any mood and any context and by the end of it have drawn the exact same conclusion as its title. Whether itโs missing friends gone too soon or just wanting to kick an opโs teeth in, Itโs a Beautiful Dayโฆ covers it all with such disarming authenticity and packages it up in nine of the catchiest Oi!/punk tracks this side of Shock Troops by Cock Sparrer.
Thanks for reading this far if youโre still here. Shout out Jesus, straight edge, and my family for saving my life every day. Happy Christmas/Hanukkah/New Year/Thursday etc. Free Palestine. Free Sudan. Fuck the police. Go to a show.