We're 20 years out from 2004 -- a great year in hardcore. To celebrate, we're joined by Nick Birtles (If It Rains, The Next Level, Ultimatum, etc.) and Dan Schultz (Worn, Fatal Wound) for a big 'ole draft. We build teams of five albums each, chat about everyone's picks, and then leave it to the listeners to decide which player assembled the best gr…

In the 2000s, Kids Like Us were torchbearers for Florida hardcore of the Lockin' Out variety, doing splits with Down to Nothing and the Mongoloids, and playing shows all over the U.S. After breaking up in 2012 and playing one one-off gig in 2017, Kids Like Us will be reuniting at FYA in 2025, and they've just reissued their crucial 2005 LP, 'Outta …

Nick Acosta of New Morality Zine joins us to recap some recent shows, chat about his label's eclectic output, discuss shoegaze's association with hardcore, and speculate on hardcore's cooked-ness. Intro song: Si Dios Quiere - "Roll the Dice" Outro song: Dime - "Phases" Buy the first ever Violent Treatment zine: https://violenttreatment.bigcartel.co…

We're back with a guest, and this time it's Mike Shaw, guitarist of Mindforce, Fatal Realm, New World Man, Sentinel, Collossal, and many other bands. Since Mike has almost never been interviewed about his work, we take some time going through his hardcore story and talking about his many bands, including his take on Mindforce's wild trajectory. The…

Just Hugo and Eli this week, as we tear through a mega-episode of different hardcore happenings. First, we recap some recent shows we saw by Jivebomb, Destiny Bond, Cicada, Invertebrates, Public Acid, Speed, Candy and more. Then, we review new releases by Fentanyl, Cicada, Hindsight, and Chopping Block. And finally, we review a 1990 edition of the …

It'd be hard to deny that From Within Records' One Scene Unity compilations are the definitive hardcore comps of the 2020s thus far. The Florida-based DIY label has released four editions of their genre-wide series, and we had From Within head honcho Carter Holmes (also of the bands Statement of Pride, Payback, and more) join us for a discussion ab…

Michael Thorn of Razorblades and Aspirin joins us for a primer on the history of Richmond, VA hardcore. For a mid-size city of its kind, Richmond has had a thriving scene since the birth of hardcore, and we traced its lineage with the help of someone who lives there now, and has had one leg in the scene for decades. From White Cross and Honor Roll …

It's time to check in on this thing we love. We're almost halfway through the 2020s, and hardcore is beginning to feel different now than it did at the beginning of the decade. We remark on how the vibes have shifted (for good and bad) since the post-COVID lockdown boom of summer 2021, and think about how 2024 has felt like a strange transitional y…

Andrew Vacante of Combust, Steamroll, Downfall, and more joins us to talk about NYHC from a modern New Yorker's perspective. We get into how the identity of NYHC has changed over time, the drought of native NYHC bands in the 2010s, and how Andrew's bands have helped change the tenor of the scene. Plus, many other digressions on hardcore minutia. Ba…

Eye for an Eye drummer Thos Niles joins us to discuss his band's come-up in late Eighties Boston, an odd transitional period for one of the most important scenes in hardcore history. We talk a lot about Eye for an Eye's short yet sweet first go as a band, and paint a pretty vivid picture of what hardcore was like leading up to the Nineties post-har…

Prolific Pittsburgh hardcore musician, podcaster, and writer Gem Fair joins us for an episode about albums that are important to our experiences with hardcore. Not our favorite hardcore albums. But releases that opened us up to new sides of hardcore, got us into the genre, helped frame what we want out of it, etc. Bands we talked about: Terror, Cer…

Convulse Records owner Adam Croft (who also drums in Destiny Bond) joins us for our first label profile episode. We talk to Adam about the eclectic DIY empire he's building with Convulse, his personal canon, the Denver hardcore scene, bands he wishes he could release music by, and more (including a preview of some unannounced Convulse material). ht…

Chance Allen of What Counts, Full Stride, Velocity, RTR Tapes, and the Gulch Brigade joins us to discuss youth crew, Indiana's poppin' hardcore scene, his many bands, and more.

Hunter Winstead of Through N Through Printing joins us to talk about a bunch of recent shows we've attended. To start, we give a thorough first-hand account of the first Torture tour, and why that band's ascent in hardcore is so unprecedented. Then, we share our experiences seeing Velocity, Drain, Gatecreeper, Spy, and more. Intro song: Torture - "…

Have Heart are reuniting to play some shows this summer, and the band's debut seven-inch 'What Counts' turns 20. So we talked with Have Heart frontman Pat Flynn about the band's pre-LP days. His teenage disillusionment with the attitude of hardcore, the Massachusetts scene he came up in, early 2000s hc minutia, and Have Heart's early days slogging …

Friend of the pod David Anthony returns to dig into the state of "adjacent" sounds in hardcore. We spend a lot of time talking about death metal's current place in the genre, and wonder whether "hardcore kids making death metal" is good for either hardcore or death metal. Then, we look at the more melodic side of the spectrum: Koyo, One Step Closer…

We're joined this week by Nick Birtles and Evan Stein of the bands Anklebiter, Broken Vow, If It Rains, Attrition Rate, Ultimatum, and Pummel (RIP). First, we roundtable our three favorite hardcore releases of 2024 thus far. Then, we talk about each of the guys' bands, their influences, the current state of New England hardcore, and much more. Intr…

Last year, we read Samantha Sansone's new oral history of the Pittsburgh hardcore scene, 'Through Our Eyes' — and we finished the book with more questions than answers. So, we had Pain Clinic frontman Ty Dawson join us to fill in the gaps. What was it like seeing No Retreat and Built Upon Frustration back in the day? What are the defining features …

The catalog of Lockin' Out Records is having an unavoidable resurgence right now, so we went deep on the label's stamp on hardcore history. We're joined by Matt LaForge, guitarist of the LOR signees Mil-Spec, who had a key vantage point to the rise of Lockin' Out, and spoke to us in great detail about how the label's flagship bands — Mental, Righte…

Ned Russin (Glitterer, Title Fight, and many other bands) joins us for a conversation about how hardcore dancing has evolved over the ages. We watched videos of sets ranging from Bad Brains in '82 and Breakdown in '88, to Hatebreed in '94 and Rival Mob in '13, and then talked about the way the crowds behaved during those periods. Ned, being the har…

We're only a month into 2024 and there's already a bunch of new music to discuss. In this episode, we're joined by Ace Stallings — frontman of Mutually Assured Destruction and Sentinel, and host of the Forum of Passion podcast — to review a bunch of fresh releases by Apex Predator, Dimension Six, Lethal, Rejoice, and Live It Down. Intro song: Dimen…

As we've mentioned on this show before, we're currently experiencing a resurgence in a particular strain of metalcore that's being welcomed under the hardcore umbrella. Bands like Balmora, Since My Beloved, Adrienne, A Mourning Star, Dying Wish and many others. In this episode, we're joined by Balmora frontman/Ephyra Recordings owner Senti, and Fal…

We're back, and we're joined in this episode by fellow hardcore scribe Vince Guglielmi. In the spirit of the new year, the three of us look ahead to where we envision hardcore's sound and culture going in 2024. We touch on democore, deathcore, the identity of the decade thus far, and make a few other predictions based on what we've been witnessing …

We talked about our favorite hardcore of 2023 with two fellow hxc scribes, Stereogum Senior Editor Tom Breihan and BrooklynVegan Edtior Andrew Sacher. We each counted down our 10 favorite hardcore albums/EP's of the year, and had fun discussing the overlap, the mixed feelings, and the outlier picks. Follow Tom on Twitter @tombreihan Follow Andrew o…

First, we talk about our favorite hardcore sets we saw in 2023 — from Negative Approach to Vein. Then, in honor of its 40th anniversary reissue, we discuss SS Decontrol's 1982 debut 'The Kids Will Have Their Say,' as well as our more general thoughts on Boston's first important hardcore band. Intro song: Balmora - "Under the Weight" Outro song: SS …

There're certain metal bands that, for whatever reason, hardcore fans love. Whether its their sound, their iconography, or just their aura, bands like Type O Negative, Bolt Thrower, Sepultura and even Slipknot have become as much a part of the hardcore milieu as actual hardcore originators like Circle Jerks and Agnostic Front. Eli had Hugo listen t…

Agnostic Front's 1984 debut, 'Victim In Pain', is commonly regarded as the benchmark NYHC album. Moreover, if you look at the history of early 80s hardcore, it's the first hardcore release from New York that really "mattered" outside of that city's streets. Plenty of hardcore scholars talk about the hotbed that NYHC became after 'Victim In Pain,' b…

First, we review new albums from Magnitude and Broken Vow. Then, it's a late-Eighties NYHC showdown. Hugo loves Killing Time's 'Brightside', Eli loves Leeway's 'Born to Expire'. Which one is better? We discuss, you decide. Intro song: Broken Vow - "Propaganda of the Deed" Outro song: Killing Time - "Brightside"…

We're joined by blogger Jay Papandreas to talk about melodic hardcore. What is it? Who earns that designation? And which bands that frequently get called melodic hardcore don't belong in that pool? Check out Jay's blog https://www.listenupnerds.com/ Intro song: Lifetime - "Turnpike Gates" Outro song: Koyo - "Diamond One"…

We listened to all five installments of the America's Hardcore compilation series that Triple B Records have been releasing since 2010. We debate how effective the comps are at capturing the moment of 2010s hardcore, which tracks are best, and what Triple B means to the fabric of contemporary hardcore. Intro song: Bitter End - "Disguised" Outro son…

After some brief chatter on our recent listening habits, we dive into discussing a handful of albums from throughout hardcore history where bands "sold out" by making metal, pop-punk, or butt-rock records. From SSD, Earth Crisis, No Warning and beyond, we listened to those "failed swing" albums that bands pretend never happened, and see if they're …

After seeing one of Bane's reunion shows, we decided to do a dive into their discography and talk a bit about their legacy today. Does Hugo actually fuck with Bane now? Listen to find out. Then, we switch gears by reviewing the 1993 'East Coast Assault' compilation, which features early songs by Life of Agony, Merauder, Converge and more. It's a hu…

We review the new album from Restraining Order and then dive into a discussion about the way hardcore gets condescendingly covered by many music journalists (not us, of course). Intro song: Restraining Order - "Fight Back" Outro song: Restraining Order - "Another Better Day"

We're joined by music journalist pal David Anthony to talk about Black Flag's 'My War.' Is this foundational record still relevant in modern-day hardcore? How influential is it actually? Is it even any good? All that and many other Flag-related digressions. Read David's blog Former Clarity https://www.formerclarity.com/ Read David's 2017 Noisey art…

Hugo runs down a few thoughts he had on Tied Down Fest in Detroit. Then, we review new releases from Drain, Anklebiter, Envision and Never Ending Game. And finally, we look back on Shai Hulud's 2003 album 'That Within Blood Ill Tempered', just to see how it holds up. Intro song: Anklebiter - "Catharsis" Outro song: Never Ending Game - "Never Die"…

Picking up where we left off on our first episode, we reveal our favorite, most underrated, and most overrated hardcore albums of the 2000s, 2010s and 2020s. Stark differences and surprise common ground abound. Intro song: Trapped Under Ice - "Pleased To Meet You" Outro song: Fury - "Vacation"

For our first episode, we picked our personal favorite, most underrated, and most overrated hardcore albums of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Next episode, we do the same for the 2000s, 2010s and 2020s.