I have been a HUGE Hardcore Punk fan since 1982, and I say that with my chest! For over 40 years, this aggro-AF music has spoken to the rage I have inside of me aimed at this corrupt world! Today I want to shine a light on 13 bands that are waving the Hardcore Punk and Hardcore flag high AF and I have nothing but respect for their creative output!
FERMENT
All the way live and gnarly AF! I know for a fact that FERMENT is the band to watch out for in the new NY Hardcore Punk community! Their live footage looks rad beyond belief! This band has something to say and guess what I’m here for it! Yo FERMENT, I can’t wait to hear more from y’all, but in the meantime, I will just keep blasting Demonstration 2024 on repeat!
UKKO’S HAMMER S/T
Y’all should know that UKKO’s HAMMER’s new S/T album going to be on our EOTYL for sure! The way that this band is able to balance the Fury of Metal with the Unhinged Angst of Hardcore Punk is beyond impressive! I would love to see UKKO’s HAMMER live so that I could totally lose my shit during their set and pick up some rad merch after the fact!
What unholy AWESOME FUCK, the new 3 song tape from Ukko’s Hammer is fucking beyond good (out now on Last Shred of Hope Records)! Excuse me as I pick my skull up off of the ground because this band just fucking decapitated me! I won’t call this Crossover (that would be too easy), but I will say no other band in recent history has balanced Hardcore Punk with Metal so freaking perfectly. It’s like DYS (Wolfpack-era), Beowulf (from Venice), Entombed, DEPRESSOR, and NECROS (Conquest for Death era) came together to form hellish sonic Voltron — the outcome would be this kick-ass fucking tape! The sleazy AF and dark atmosphere that pulsates through this release is so impressive. Easy to tell that the humans behind this project know what the hell they are doing and they have a never-ending amount of passion for the vision they want the world to hear! As the sounds of their song “THEFT OF THE SAMPO” lurched into my mind, I couldn’t but headbang and ponder on the state of this world! CVLT Nation
ATOMIC PREY S/T
WTF, when I first heard ATOMIC PREY they pushed my wig back! I love their blown-out D-Beat anthems that make brain cells non-stop. Everything about this album is fucking killer no filler! I want to say respect to Iron Lung Records for releasing another banger!
YAMBAG Mindfuck Ultra
Blasting YAMBAG makes me smile — this feral hardcore straight kicks out the jams! Hot Damn, if I saw them in the 80s I would have gotten my stage dive on for sure! Their newest album Mindfuck Ultra is a HUGE sonic slice of gnarly Hardcore Punk that everyone should taste! Respect to 11 PM RECORDS and CONVULSE RECORDS for standing on bizness and releasing this gem!
In the spirit of genre-pioneers Spazz, Yambag’s aesthetic is deceptively fun. Featuring Hanna-Barbera and Disney characters, plush creatures, and animal costumes in their album art, merch, and live performances, the band invites you to question their seriousness. However, any potential silliness ends when the band actually starts to play. In an instant, the playfulness, the childishness, are re-oriented into an Ambien nightmare, the symptoms of poisoning by strychnine and brandy, as Yambag uses the images of childhood to cast light on the dark and insidious machinations, the deeply thought-out propaganda machines that could create a character like McGruff the Crime Dog, a proto-Paw Patrol canine cop designed to endear the police to children, often in conjunction with anti-drug brainwashing programs like D.A.R.E.
— Evan, CVLT Nation
HEADSPLITTERS Curse of Life
Last month, New York City’s Toxic State Records released their slate of releases for Winter/Spring 2025, and needless to say, It’s an absolutely stacked lineup. With new material on the way from some of the best bands currently doing it including HARAM, ABIZM, and PURE TERROR, there’s plenty to look forward to in the first half of the year.
Starting things off strong (and available as of this writing) is HEADSPLITTERS’ new LP “Curse Of Life”, a ten song crusher that finds the band in great form. Over the course of their two 7”s and first LP, the Brooklyn-based group have fine tuned their brand of hardcore into a style that takes D-Beat Käng fury and mixes in a healthy dose of Crossover/Thrash. It’s done seamlessly and creates a full and filled out sound that’s sometimes metal but always punk as fuck.
On opening track “Onslaught For Peace”, the band bursts out of the gate with whirlwind guitar, dizzying drums and bass, and excellently rough vocals from singer and guitarist Ramos, whose vocal style reminds me Ryan Tong from S.H.I.T. (which is the highest of compliments). Second track “Tear It Down” maintains the speedy pace and features a quick head-banging moment before some gang vocals wrap things up, while “Horrific Truth” employs some mid-paced moments to temper its speed.
Written by Eric Anderson
POLISH Decay
Real recognize rad: POLISH is rad as FUCK and I totally recognize that! I also realize that their soon-to-be-released album that is coming out via No Time Records is going to leave it’s stomp print on the underground! Yo POLISH just know that y’all have some serious fans over here at CVLT Nation!
Now POLISH is a band that pushed my wig back and had me saying to myself, damn, this band is so so so GOOD!!! CVLT Nation
SPIT! S/T
God damn, this band SPIT! lays down some of the sickest breakdowns in Hardcore punk! If you have not heard their S/T LP you are missing the fuck out because it’s one of the most slept-on records of the past 5 years! It’s my job to do whatever I can to turn the world onto SPIT! I dare you to blast this album and then tell me you are not a fan. If you do your ears must be broken!
BASUKO
It’s time for y’all to get with the program and the name of the program is BASUKO! I know for a fact that this band is RAD AF. Now all I need is a full length from them and I will be all good. No worries I got patience because good things come to those that wait!
I have a feeling that my new favorite Hardcore Punk Band BASUKO might end up being y’all’s new favorite Hardcore Punk Band as well! I can’t stop listening to their debut because it’s sonically addictive. All of their songs charge their way into your reality and explode into HUGE Punk eargasms. When I hear songs like “Standard” I say to myself, has this band created the sickest debut of 2022 or what?? I don’t know yet, but I will say that BASUKO is a band that y’all should watch because they are gnarly! The musicianship y’all are going to experience on this record will push your wig back for sure. This band’s music is super intense but also full of aggressive RAGE that I can’t get enough of! “High Functioning” is a Hardcore Punk anthem that has a breakdown in it that makes me happy to be alive! BASUKO makes aggro jams that Punks totally lose their shit to, and I’m down for the get-down!
– CVLT Nation
DOUBT
Uncut Raw Hardcore Rage has never sounded as rad as the new DOUBT EP Held In Contempt which is out now via Get Better Records. Firstly, I want to say that these humans can play the fuck out their instruments and are beyond sick songwriters! They are able to construct these feral anthems that never sound contrived but will get you hyped for sure! On the vocal tip, Claire Abila delivered an outstanding performance on every cut! What also stands out to me is the lyrics because they cut deep into realities that will all face as human beings on this fucked up planet! “Forcibly Removed From The Game” will take you deep into their world and will let you know that they don’t fuck around.
– Read the full feature here.
SMEAR CAMPAIGN I See You
SMEAR CAMPAIGN’s I See You out now via Convulse Records is a wild fucking ride! Imagine if Flipper dropped acid with the Butthole Surfers and then smoked a huge bong load with DESPISE YOU — the outcome just might sound like I See You.
CICADA – WICKED DREAM
1,2,3,4 1,2,3,4 WTF CICADA makes me want more! This band kicks ass and then some! From the moment you press play on their Wicked Dream record, you will be transported into their deranged sonic reality! Hot Damn, this band is fucking John Blaze! I want to say BIG TIME respect to CICADA and to UNLAWFUL ASSEMBLY for releasing this bombastic record!!!
KEVLAR UPPER Demo
Unholy hell fucking yes, KEVELAR UPPER is sensationally SICK AF! The world is a fucked up place right about now and this band makes the kind of music that keeps me sane! Their demo is a short blast of audio mayhem that inspires to do what I do. Yo KEVLAR UPPER, congrats on killing it and I can’t wait to see y’all in April at Iron Lung’s What We Like Fest!
FIRE CAMP Demo
Gimme Gimme Gimme some more FIRE CAMP! This young Hardcore Punk band from SoCal is RAD AF! When I listen to them, I can’t help but think about roaming the streets of Hollywood and going to shows in the 80s. This crew of humans knows how to create urgent HC Punk anthems, and I’m here for it!
