Have Heart: The Things We Carry
Released in 2006, The Things We Carry is Have Heart’s first album, and it was enough to place the Massachusetts band at…
8.5/10 September 11, 2026
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Section
Reviews
Incendiary: Thousand Mile Stare
Six years after Cost of Living, Incendiary returned in 2023 with Thousand Mile Stare and confirmed their place among the standard-bearers of…
8/10 September 11, 2026
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Year of the Knife: Internal Incarceration
Released in 2020, Internal Incarceration is one of the most brutal metallic hardcore records of its generation. The Delaware band seeks neither…
7.5/10 September 11, 2026
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Harm’s Way: Posthuman
A band from Chicago, Harm’s Way made its name through a metallic hardcore fed by industrial influences, a combination that gives it…
7.5/10 September 11, 2026
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Xibalba: Tierra y Libertad
Hailing from California, Xibalba built its identity on a powerful blend of metallic hardcore, death metal and doom. Tierra y Libertad, released…
8/10 September 11, 2026
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Bulldoze: The Final Beatdown
A band from New Jersey, Bulldoze stands among the pioneers of beatdown, that subgenre of hardcore cut for pure crushing. The Final…
7.5/10 September 11, 2026
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Deez Nuts: Stay True
Born from the energy of JJ Peters, former drummer of an Australian metalcore band, Deez Nuts immediately took the opposite tack from…
7/10 September 11, 2026
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Kickback: Forever War
Kickback holds a place apart in the history of French and European hardcore. A sulfurous, often controversial band, it built its myth…
8/10 September 11, 2026
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Nasty: Realigion
A defining figure of European beatdown, Nasty established itself over the years as one of the most uncompromising bands on the continent.…
7/10 September 11, 2026
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Twitching Tongues: Disharmony
Twitching Tongues never played hardcore like the others. The Los Angeles band built a reputation apart by blending the heaviness of metallic…
7.5/10 September 11, 2026
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Expire: Pretty Low
A band from Milwaukee, Expire built its reputation on a no-nonsense hardcore, without compromise or artifice. Pretty Low, released in 2014, confirms…
7.5/10 September 11, 2026
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Backtrack: Lost in Life
With Lost in Life in 2014, Backtrack delivers a record that cuts to the core of New York hardcore and its Long…
7.5/10 September 11, 2026
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Trapped Under Ice: Big Kiss Goodnight
By the time Trapped Under Ice released Big Kiss Goodnight in 2011, the Baltimore band had already proven it belonged among the…
8/10 September 11, 2026
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Stray from the Path: Only Death Is Real
Few modern hardcore bands own their political dimension as openly as Stray from the Path. Coming from Long Island, in New York…
7.5/10 September 11, 2026
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The Ghost Inside: Get What You Give
There is in metalcore a lineage of bands that refuse darkness in favor of light, and The Ghost Inside is one of…
8/10 September 11, 2026
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Bury Your Dead: Cover Your Tracks
In the mid two thousands the American metalcore scene is boiling, and Bury Your Dead holds a place apart within it. The…
7.5/10 September 11, 2026
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Wisdom in Chains: Class War
Some bands sing the street because they grew up in it, and Wisdom in Chains is one of them. Coming from Pennsylvania,…
7.5/10 September 11, 2026
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First Blood: Killafornia
Released in 2006, Killafornia is the record that brought First Blood to attention well beyond the tight circles of Californian hardcore. The…
7.5/10 September 11, 2026
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Death Before Dishonor: Friends Family Forever
Some bands embody a whole city, and Death Before Dishonor carries Boston in every one of their chords. Released in 2005, Friends…
7.5/10 September 11, 2026
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All Out War: For Those Who Were Crucified
Released in 1998, For Those Who Were Crucified establishes All Out War as one of the most uncompromising bands in the metallic…
7.5/10 September 11, 2026
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Merauder: Master Killer
Some records do not seek to charm but to impose their law. Master Killer, released in 1996 by the New Yorkers of…
8/10 September 11, 2026
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Earth Crisis: Destroy the Machines
When Earth Crisis released their first full length album in 1995, straight edge hardcore finally had its most uncompromising manifesto. Coming out…
8/10 September 11, 2026
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Strife: In This Defiance
The mid nineties saw hardcore harden, load itself with metal, gain in heaviness and compactness. Strife fully accompanied that movement, and In…
7.5/10 September 11, 2026
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Hatebreed: Satisfaction Is the Death of Desire
Some debut albums strike with such force that they instantly redefine the rules of the game. Satisfaction Is the Death of Desire,…
8.5/10 September 11, 2026
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Ignite: Our Darkest Days
There is a delicate art in melodic hardcore: that of marrying power and light, rage and soaring. Ignite has mastered that balance…
8/10 September 11, 2026
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Uniform Choice: Screaming for Change
While straight edge asserted itself mostly on the East Coast, California brought its own stone to the edifice with bands like Uniform…
8/10 September 11, 2026
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Inside Out: No Spiritual Surrender
There are records whose brevity in no way diminishes their reach. No Spiritual Surrender, the sole studio recording of Inside Out released…
8.5/10 September 11, 2026
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Turning Point: Its Always Darkest Before the Dawn
Some bands vanish too soon to reap in their lifetime the recognition they deserve. Turning Point belongs to that category. Its Always…
7.5/10 September 11, 2026
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Chain of Strength: True Till Death
Few bands have left a mark as deep in as little time as Chain of Strength. True Till Death gathers the essence…
8/10 September 11, 2026
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Bold: Speak Out
Speak Out, released in 1988, sits at the heart of the youth crew wave that was then redefining American hardcore. Bold, a…
7.5/10 September 11, 2026
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Leeway: Born to Expire
Some records embody a junction all by themselves, a point of contact between two worlds. Born to Expire, released in 1989, is…
8/10 September 11, 2026
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Killing Time: Brightside
When Brightside arrived in 1989, the New York hardcore scene had already delivered several of its foundational records, yet few of them…
8/10 September 11, 2026
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Warzone: Dont Forget the Struggle Dont Forget the Streets
Some album titles ring out like oaths. Don’t Forget the Struggle Don’t Forget the Streets, released in 1988, is one of them:…
7.5/10 September 11, 2026
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H2O: Thicker Than Water
By the late nineties, New York hardcore was looking for new faces, more melodic, more open, without disowning its roots. H2O embody…
8/10 September 11, 2026
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Black Flag: Damaged
There are records that do not merely exist: they blow a hole in the wall. Damaged, released in 1981, is one of…
9.5/10 September 11, 2026
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Minor Threat: Out of Step
Few bands have left a mark as deep in as little time as Minor Threat. Out of Step, released in 1983, condenses…
9/10 September 11, 2026
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