We’ve partnered with some of our favorite websites to bring you each scene’s best upcoming bands, diving beneath the surface to give you a glimpse of tomorrow. In this monthly check-in with our friends at No Echo, we get the scoop on names like Clique, Anklebiter, Irreal, and so much more.
June might have been brutal at the gas pump, but at least we had a lot of new hardcore jams to keep us from collectively losing our shit.
One of the biggest miscarriages of justice in the hardcore scene is how most people are still sleeping on Foreseen. The Helsinki savages boast a discography filled with 100 percent heaters, and if Oppression Fetish is any indication of what their next LP will be like, they might be delivering their finest work yet.
In the last few years, Canadian musician Colter has been on a fucking roll with Mortality Rate, World of Pleasure, and Serration. His latest project is called Delusion and the band's new demo is meaner than a junkyard dog.
Turbulent times like these always give us top-notch politically-charged hardcore, and Looters in Paradise, the maiden release from California band Clique, is proof of that. Molotov cocktail hardcore should definitely be a thing.
Citing hometown heroes Unbroken and Mizery as prime influences, San Diego straight edge upstarts Abstain offered a taste of their forthcoming Infirm of Purpose EP with a track called “Faced With a Choice.” It scratches a certain ’90s hardcore itch, so prepare to feel some relief.
In other sXe news, Anklebiter made a splash with their ripping four-song demo, and Inclination got us hot and bothered with “A Decision,” a cut from their upcoming Unaltered Perspective album.
If you’ve got a hankering for the sweeter stuff, Philadelphia crew Sunstroke just dropped a track called “Buzzer Beater” that is pure melodic hardcore ear candy. Speaking of mouth-watering hooks, the debut EP from Houston quintet Strange Joy will appeal to everyone from younger Turnstile fans to Gen Xers dreamin’ of another Revolution Summer.
Have you checked out Mastermind’s The Masters’ Orders yet? Well, if the idea of Rest In Pieces and Celtic Frost jamming on Agnostic Front covers sounds appealing to you, the U.K. hardcore quintet’s debut full-length has your name written all over it. Vocalist Jon Osborne told me, “Hardcore and hardcore punk can still be catchy without getting too corny or cringey,” and who am I to disagree?
While Gulch’s take on Pixies’ 1989 college rock staple “Monkey Gone to Heaven” doesn’t stray too far from the original, Elliot Morrow’s unhinged vocal performance lends the cover an air of lunacy fit for his soon-to-be broken up group’s brutal legacy.
