It’s really no secret hardcore music has the most eyes on it in history. What was once a basement scene destined for parking lots and extremely stinky rooms is being invited to award shows and billed as headliners. So many of these bands grinded away playing shows to 20 people in the back room of a pizza shop, but we’re at a precipice in the scene where many of these bands are actually getting paid. A top the mountain of riffs and breakdowns blatantly sits Turnstile. We’ll talk about them later.
I’m using the most liberal definition of “hardcore” possible, that’s the whole point. It originally meant “hardcore punk” — which was a super cool and sick blend of fast riffs, grueling instrumentals, and a community of outcasts that weren’t too keen on popular slacker or HR culture in the late 70s/80s. That then evolved into “post-hardcore” in the late 80s which means “after hardcore punk” which really is a catch-all genre for anyone with screamed vocals, clean vocals, distorted riffs, breakdowns, etc. Easily the most important band in that bucket, and one of the most important in American music, is Fugazi. Famously they lived the “ticketmaster sucks so we’re not using them” bit to the limit, and sold $5/$10 tickets to shows quite literally anywhere they were allowed to play for like 20 years.
That then evolved into metalcore which really blew up in the early 00s, mostly as a rejection of how awful all mainstream metal bands became in the mid/late 90s, but that sound also became so corporate & infested with the worst people of all time it killed itself.
That evolved even further and got blended into a big soup with the early 00s emo movement and now we’re in a place where some bands blend every single one of these subcultures together and genres really don’t matter. You can see how semantics can really play into this, but that sound-soup where we’re going to focus. Shoutout to the Boston hardcore scene of the 2000s, a city and scene long forgotten. Go listen to New Bedford’s own Have Heart and their sensational 2008 album Songs to Scream at the Sun.
I see modern “hardcore” as a blend of a ton of things: metalcore breakdowns, emo linguistics, pop punk calling cards and choruses, and punk riffs. It’s genuinely beautiful. There’s few things as gorgeous and liberating as seeing 100 people fight to be 10 feet from a singer to scream words immediately before front flipping into a crowd. Paying $15 and showing up to hear every opener might be cooler than that, and bassists hopping on the mic to tell people to push each other definitely is.
Let’s Dig In
Preface: a lot of people that listen to this music really want it to be exclusive or are straight up awful people. One of the bands I wanted to write about, GEL, literally broke up because their lead guitarist might be the worst guy of all time. On the other side of the coin, tons of fans listen to this music find mosh pits to be a regulated self-policed space to build community in a very unproblematic way. These two things have been at odds forever. However, crops of newer bands have really tried to expand the tent and actively welcome new listeners. So what happens when hardcore starts to go mainstream? You get albums like this. I’d go as far to say any one of these projects are hardcore-adjacent, but fantastic entry points to what the genre might offer you.
Scowl – We Are All Angels (2025)
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Turn the speed up. Make it melodic. Make it angry. Flip it into the 90s. That’s Scowl. While so many bands are stuck in the “gotta be heavier” rat-race, Scowl built a lane around the genre’s roots: catchy choruses and memorable riffs. If you long for a time where guitars were cool and grunge was still the most popular genre in the world, Scowl are your future.
Their album released earlier this year put a heightened emphasis on making sure the listener can hear the bass. Between the rhythmic bass melodies and blistering drums, Kat Moss’ vocals dance around a record that never repeats itself. Every idea is fresh. Every chorus sounds like it’s the first time you heard it. Somehow, they effortlessly combined big-arena pop appeal with unclean vocals on tracks like Tonight (I’m Afraid).
MSPaint – Post American (2023)
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Ya’ll remember that part I mentioned how grueling riffs were a defining feature of the genre? MSPaint doesn’t have a guitarist. Their debut, Post American, came out in 2023 and is one of the most refreshing takes on the genre I’ve ever heard. One of my near & dear friends tells me we’ve already heard all of the good riffs. MSPaint probably feels that way too because they jacked the synth all the way up and heavily rely on distorted bass. Vocally, we’re looking mostly at aggressively yelled but not unclean vocals. It’s a super cool delivery that almost crosses the angst of the Beastie Boys with rhythmic yelling from experimental hip hop.
Albums like this wouldn’t be possible without all of the progress the emo & pop-punk movements had in the 2010s. Without the online communities former movements rallied around, both the pop-punk and emo worlds directly shifted to in-person rallies to experience this together. You can clearly hear the influence from emo & goth on songs like Decapitated Reality. MSPaint is from a smallish town in Mississippi, and Post American really truly documents the feelings of watching the American (e)mpire crumble. It’s very clear this is quite far from the traditional hardcore tent, to the point I think MSPaint has more JPEGMAFIA comparisons than say to Drug Church. It’s incredible, and I’m eagerly awaiting their show at Middle East in Cambridge with Lip Critic, of whom I’ll write about in December 🫡
Speed – ONLY ONE MODE (2024)
I’m happy you listened to both of those albums and dipped your toes. Now it’s time to head to the glorious nation of Australia. They’re on an absolute heater in terms of musical talent these days: Dom Dolla and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard pretty much are the biggest artists in the world in their respective genres. Speed, representing Australian hardcore, released one of the defining albums in the modern scene.
A ton of people know Speed as the hardcore band that plays a flute. It was like, their online gimmick. Make no mistake, this album absolutely rules and Speed are one of the most exciting bands in the world. You can blatantly hear the passion in which they perform, among the insane vocal delivery and the immense passion behind each and every riff. Breakdowns appear out of thin air, riffs frequently fill that space, and ideas will present themselves as everlasting no matter how fleeting.
Every single song on here was meant to be played live. The fact it sounds this good recorded is just a blessing. They blasted through the states earlier this year, famously playing Coachella (and breaking it’s radius clause), and are joining Turnstile as an opener for a few dates on their upcoming tour.
Militarie Gun – Life Under the Gun (2023)
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It’s an extremely open secret Militarie Gun is one of my favorite bands. Expanding the tent and broadening the genre’s roots are so clearly the intention. If you’re in the mood for pace & classic hardcore sounds, listen to All Roads Lead to the Gun. If you want to hear a band push a bit further with what they’re capable of, and embrace new sonic frontiers, Life Under the Gun is where we’ll land.
Let’s call a spade a spade, lead singer Ian Shelton is ungodly talented. If you’re listening to Militarie Gun, you’re not here for the blistering riffs Speed have, the experimentation of MSPaint, nor the catchy choruses of Citizen. You’re here because vocally & lyrically no band is doing it like this. Across a brief 30 minutes you’re going to come across melancholic relationships that will drift, look in the mirror and see how you can improve, and combat the damage you’ve done to yourself. Delivered softer than their earlier releases, Life Under the Gun gives space for your own relationships and emotions. It’s welcoming, and it’s target audience isn’t the 300lb muscle-heads you’ll see crowd killing. They’ve toured extensively behind this album, and people go just as hard to lyrics about intrinsic emotions as they do about punching walls.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention their 2024 single, Thought You Were Waving, which is one of my favorite songs this decade. You can blatantly hear a band evolve over time, growing from the hardcore angst and lost feelings scattered across All Roads Lead to the Gun. Insecurity about how to handle a crisis, whether it’s our own or someone else’s, is the defining feature.
Turnstile – GLOW ON
GLOW ON is one of the most important albums ever released and a defining album for American music. There’s a welcoming comfort in the album art, far different than the fire, scribbled grays, and mayhem you find from their peers. It’s as approachable as any album in the genre ever will be, embracing harmonies and varied guitar melodies. One listen to ALIEN LOVE CALL or UNDERWATER BOI will show the band is willing to slow the pace and force you to expand your own tastes.
It can get grueling on here, don’t worry. HOLIDAY, a staple in their live shows, has one of the most blatant calling cards on the record. I love almost every song on the second half, like WILD WRLD, which has some of the funniest drum choices I’ve heard on a record.
I don’t know if it was the music itself, the fandom from their 2018 album, or the Dua Lipa x Post Malone photo, but immediately after this Turnstile became the most famous rock band in America. You should give it a spin to determine if you can figure out why. Once you do, buy a ticket to see them tour with Amyl & the Sniffers, Blood Orange, Mannequin Pussy, Speed, and Jane Remover.
What Even Is… Hardcore?
Hardcore fans, unlike the Monster & MySpace addicted legions of yesteryear, have welcomed these new soundscapes and made the tent far larger than it ever has been. Fans have allowed these bands to grow and expand what their vision is/can be. We are actively in the golden age of this sound, and the second half of the decade is going to be full of some of the best we’ll ever hear.
Coming out of the pandemic, I’ve met dozens of people that told me Fred Again… tapped into their feeling of longing, connectivity, and yearning for others. Many people found that in boots & cats and dancing like the world ended til the sun rises. On the other side of the coin, people banded together in local DIY venues to listen to 3 – 6 people riff on guitar and flip into crowds. GLOW ON‘s 2021 release, followed immediately by relentless touring was just as impactful as Fred Again…’s Boiler Room, without legions of people posting tiktoks about it.
So many people online have tried to define what hardcore is or isn’t. Every single one of them have entirely missed the mark, because 90% of them are nerds & dorks and don’t see this stuff live. Hardcore isn’t about the sound. It barely is about the music. It’s about the community it creates, the attitude that follows, and the pure joy of playing music with your friends. Turnstile doing a show with checks notes goth dance outfit Boy Harsher, alt-rapper Teezo Touchdown, and up-and-coming hardcore outfit Big Boy under a bridge in NYC is hardcore. Their upcoming tour with one hardcore band is hardcore. Free shows in Baltimore without barricades is hardcore. Jane Remover as an opener is hardcore. Death Grips playing live without synths is hardcore. Bringing new bands with limited music on tour is hardcore. Playing at festivals where you’re the only heavy rock band is hardcore. Rather than recycling the same 5 has-beens, hardcore is bringing everyone up and out. This music is for everyone, it always has been, and it’s finally acting that way.
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