“Mid”-year? Not if you’ve been listening to the right stuff it isn’t—or alternatively if you’ve been paying attention to the general state of everything you’ll probably agree that the world is a fair way below mid at the moment… But anyway, music’s good init. We did one of these as a whole team last year but due to differing capacities this time around I’ve been let loose to cover a load of punk and hardcore business and hopefully make up for the fact that we picked a “jazzgrind” record as our collective number one core album this time last year (look, I’m aware it qualifies in technical terms and a vote’s a vote at the end of the day but no-one’s doing stage dives to that are they??).
As the title promises I’ve grouped things into a number of subgenres that all fall to some degree within the realms of punk and hardcore. Some are quite clearly defined and others are more vibe based. To make things slightly easier for myself I also imposed a hard ban on demos as I cover them plenty enough elsewhere in my Demolicious Derby series and I have another entry in that coming soon. If you have a problem with the placement of anything please direct your complaint UP YOUR ASS WHERE IT BELONGS.
I am unkillable.
Hardcore for Hardcore
What the fuck else? Hardcore that doesn’t need a ‘metallic’ or a ‘melodic’ or anything else stuck in front of it even if some of these picks may brush up against that sorta thing. Obviously Terror makes the cut for reasons I hopefully made clear enough in my full review of their album. I’ve also gone for a Rebirth Records twofer with Philadelphia’s Suicide Eyes and New Jersey/Pennsylvania’s Hindsight both drawing from a similar set of influences like American Nightmare and Carry On but playing with different ratios (Suicide Eyes lean very heavily on the AN side of things basically) and adding their own flavours to come up with relatively distinct but equally raging results.
Throwing things back to a similar time give or take a couple of years, Compete from Vienna channel classic Lockin’ Out vibes into a bunch of bouncy youth crew bangers on their Win and Lose EP, while to round things out I’ve pushed things about as far and as fast as I think I can get away with here and gone for the scorching sophomore LP from Milwaukee’s World I Hate.
(Real) Metalcore
Not sure I could give you an exact science on when something is (real) metalcore and not just metallic hardcore but it’s one of those things you just know when you hear (or maybe I’ve just bent the rules to include more sick bands, die mad). Edge/vegan/mosh metal definitely counts and actually dominates this section with releases from Salt Lake City’s xforever warx, Ecotage from Finland and Temple Guard from the UK, all of which bring the pointy guitar riffs and often even more pointed lyrics. Shout out the latter for their unflinching take on the genocide in Gaza on “The Weight of Undying Shame” especially.
I was always gonna go for a Converge pick too, and at the moment it has to go to Love is Not Enough if only because I’ve had more time with it than Hum of Hurt and gun to my head I think there’s a few more instant bangers on it. Lastly, On Times of Promising End… by Hamilton/Toronto’s God’s Last Wish is one of the sickest things I’ve heard this year—a clinic in metalcore’s time-honoured balance of staggering violence and striking melody, with crazy leads dancing all over it to make for a particularly fitting tribute to the life and memory of their guitarist Josh Agnoletto who passed away before it was released. No Bandcamp link yet but you can pre-order the CD here.
Metallic Hardcore
Realistically one of these is gonna be my AOTY. It’s probably Killing Pace with their ass-beating HCPM LP, but their fellow Richmondians Division of Mind are running pretty close in both approach and quality with Exoterror, and I do also just love the style and swagger of that Crush Your Soul record. I’ve said a bit about all three of those in their corresponding monthly round-ups (here, here and here) and will no doubt be saying even more in December.
Elsewhere, the latest EP from London’s King Street is an instant Rucktion Records classic in my opinion, bringing together their best set of tracks yet, an absolutely massive mix courtesy of Anthony Burke of Magnitude, and a solid contender for artwork of the year by @iamanartistyouknow. To complete the set I’ve gone with the debut full-length from Brisbane, Australia’s Half Man, which like its creators’ homeland is basically just full of stuff that wants to kill you: death metal riffs, powerviolence blasts, Sepultura-sized grooves and knuckle-dragging beatdowns—all confined to a tight 16 minutes.
Dawg in You Type Shi
I reckon Hold My Own is the best place to start here as much like the Chicago/New Jersey bruisers debut LP this category is not just about the beatdowns but it’s also not not about the beatdowns—think more mosh count and less cardio than the last batch basically. Bloodsport from Edinburgh, Scotland are on that real psycho shit, evoking the meanest of 90s beatdown with a sick death metal twist for good measure, while London’s Impermanent play some variation of the shun dun dun dun shududun dun dun Suffocation riff on pretty much every track on their Forging Eternity EP and it hits every time.
There also seems to be something particularly malevolent stirring just across the channel from me, and for once I’m not talking about their national football team… Paris tracksuit skinheads Take It in Blood bring the negativity on their debut LP Exit From Life, again with a potent strain of 90s beatdown in the mix that’s made pretty clear by a guest spot from J.R. Glass of Baltimore legends Next Step Up, while Rennes evilcore outfit Days of Revelation deal not only in murder music but also in moody and menacing interludes that evoke videogame loading screens between bouts of crazed FPS violence.
Have You Considered Punk Music?
Changing tack significantly and hoping that the whiplash will stop you noticing another sizable dollop of hardcore in what I’m billing as my punk section. The Dogs from Wales are definitely beating the hc allegations at least—their latest EP is ‘77 af and cool as hell. I’ve also already gone on record about my love for the new albums from Brennes’ Prisonnier du Temps and Washington D.C.’s Seclusion, both of which present urgent and gritty takes on Oi! with a little bit of their own secret sauce and very different vocal styles especially to set them apart.
I would also be remiss not to acknowledge that one of the key influences on the development of my taste for this sorta thing over the past year or so has been the fantastic 185 Miles South podcast. One of my favourite recent recommendations of theirs is the debut LP from Tokyo’s Raw Distractions, who play super catchy UK82 style punk with hooks coming not just from the maniacal vocals but also often the killer lead guitar work. The podcast also taught me the term line-stepping, which I believe is what I’m gonna do by having Los Angeles hardcore punk ‘n’ roll outfit Sweat in here, but like I said, die mad. The album rocks and “Tension” is a top three track of the year for me.
Melodic/Adjacent Gang
If the metallic hardcore section has my AOTY on lock then this one definitely has my EPOTY covered. It’s gonna go to Sharp Decline by Holy Dose from Tampa, Florida—pure, perfect stage dive music from members of Contention and more with roots in 90s alternative rock and lyrics about how life under capitalism makes you wanna fly a plane into the ground. Feel it. Buffalo, New York’s Autoignition are running a close second, their super two-steppable Saves the Day-coded pop-punk also leading me nicely enough to the stunning sophomore LP from Stony Brook, Long Island’s Koyo, which somehow lives up to the meteoric expectations I had set for it off the back of a predecessor that on most days I’ll tell you is my current album of the decade.
Moving more firmly into the melodic hardcore wheelhouse, Stockholm, Sweden’s Feels Like Heaven have had their place here locked down since the first day of the year, which admittedly was a strange time to release an album that feels like it was made to be blasted in the summer with the windows down. On the complete opposite end of the spectrum I wasn’t entirely sure where I should put Final Gasp but I knew I wanted them somewhere and their cold and gloomy brand of deathrock definitely has some elements of hardcore in it which I believe makes it literally hardcore adjacent even if it may not sound like a lot of what people generally think of when they hear the term.
It’s a Great Day for Being Sad
Wrapping things up with some emo, screamo and post-hardcore picks—with most of these actually tipping into more than one of those at a time. Boston outfit The Saddest Landscape’s breathtaking double LP and first album in ten years definitely encompasses a bit of all three and proves particularly expansive and emotionally hefty as a result. Youth Novel from Ann Arbor, Michigan blur lines as well, their sound rooted primarily in screamo but often also venturing into that kind of post-hardcore/metalcore grey area where you might have found a band like Underoath or The Bled ironing their skinny jeans about 20 years ago.
If you’re looking for a purer strain of screamo then Knumears from southern California are the shout—I cited the likes of Saetia and Orchid and pageninentynine in my mini review of their debut album back in April—while a trophy wife from Newcastle, UK put more of a Midwest twinkle on a similar set of touchstones on their lip-quivering self-titled debut EP. Last but definitely not least I’ve gone with the debut full-length from Ghent, Belgium’s Feverchild to play this whole thing out like some kinda coming of age film with a load of wistful 90s emo vibes. Glorious.