Browsing Tag

Hardcore Punk

smog moss disfigure the boundaries of Boston’s punk scene in the lo-fi frenzy cop porn!

Posted on 14 June 2025

smog moss brought back the sweat, scum, and savagery of hardcore punk with cop porn!, a battering ram of barely structured rhythm and Machiavellian angst that gives the Boston duo’s disdain a set of teeth. The lo-fi chaos is more than just aesthetic in the distorted and discordant track that revels in rawness; it’s an essential component of the defiant and debased composition that scratches its name into the back of your skull before the one-minute mark.

While most punk projects rehash the past to keep their underground credibility, smog moss punches down the stylised expectations with a sound that has no intention of fitting inside the margins. Through the stripped-back instrumentation of a drum and bass setup, cop porn! manages to get louder than most five-piece outfits. It’s a nauseatingly adrenalised dirge wrapped in a warped bounce that mocks and maims with equal measure, and there’s no mistaking that it was born out of a scene that still sees cops as the enemy, not the caricatured antiheroes they’re becoming in some quarters of the mainstream.

Formed by Margot and Aidan, smog moss are currently desecrating the Boston underground with their self-described pond punk scum jazz noise. Whether their output is goofy or grotesque, it always has the power to leave you bruised and buzzing.

cop porn! is now available on all major streaming platforms, including YouTube. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast.

Max Diaz Sharpened the Needles of Sanity with CBT’s Frenzied Alt-Punk Whiplash

Posted on 18 May 2025

While most new artists who appear on my radar disappear into the ether of my memory almost instantaneously, I can still recall the exhilarated, ‘What is THIS?!’ moment listening to the sophomore LP METATONIA from Max Diaz. His latest rancorously kinetic track, CBT, digs into the volition of hardcore punk and tempers it with snarling, scuzzed, relentlessly rhythmic alt-rock.

If you step into the pit while this track is played live, you’d better hope there’s an ambulance outside. It’s an annihilation; the absolute epitome of cataclysmic catharsis as it screams through the frustration of being affronted with a medical system that’s in no way equipped to deal with the mental fallout of existing within a mind-twisting society. As a therapeutic tool, CBT may not help, but my fucking god, as a track, it slaps the disorder and disdain right out of your synapses.

Spitting fury from the cross-section of realism and nihilism, Diaz has garnered reverence by rupturing expectations with an unpredictable sonic signature that never stays shackled for long but always retains its cerebrally sardonic sting. Fresh off a sold-out 40-date North American tour and already primed to headline the Bullseye Tour this summer, Diaz’s DIY ethos doesn’t waver under the pressure of a growing spotlight. Before he hit the coast-to-coast grind, he was already commanding festival stages across Texas, colliding hardcore with alt-rock on his own terms.

CBT is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Insomnia – Fleabag: Demonically Distorted No-Wave Grunge

Posted on 15 October 2024

Insomnia’s latest onslaught, ‘Fleabag’, is a ferocious synthesis of no-wave grunge and unrelenting hardcore punk rhythms. The standout on their LP ‘Idiosyncrasy‘, is a caustic celebration of noise, embodying the spirit of grunge pioneers with a fresh, chaotic twist. The guitars screech with electrifying distortion, while hardcore punk drums thrash out a beat that pummels listeners into submission, offering no respite from the band’s sonic fury.

In the eye of this storm are the vocals—raw, unfiltered, and dripping with disdain, they transmit a message of ‘we’re all mad here’ vindication for anyone wrestling with the chaos of the human psyche.

Undeniably, Insomnia, hailing from San Diego, has mastered the art of avant-garde obscurity. With the cultivated approach of Glenn Branca’s compositions fused with the brashy energy of Napalm Death, the breakthrough band injects listenability into their sound while ensuring their deliverances of no-wave are unfeigned, unfiltered and unafraid to descend into the sonic abyss. Imagine what Pavement would sound like if they were demonically possessed and you’ll get an idea of what is in store when you hit play.

Stream the Idiosyncrasy LP in full by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Kuwaisiana – Gentrification: A Sonic Molotov Aimed at Cultural Erosion

Posted on 27 September 2024
https://soundcloud.com/kuwaisiana/gentrification-aug-mix/s-GGnNrQ0jOK2?in=kuwaisiana/sets/mishriff-ep//s-hQHummCrWZD

Seattle-based trio Kuwaisiana aren’t pulling any punches with their latest release, ‘Gentrification’. From the opening Arabic howl of angst, the band tears into the cold, clinical destruction of cultural roots with brutal fury. As the track shifts gears into English, it doesn’t lose an ounce of its venom. Instead, it hammers home the visceral reality of gentrification – not as a polite reshuffling, but a full-scale assault on heritage and identity.

The track’s aggressive blend of grunge, hardcore, and post-punk catapults Kuwaisiana to the frontlines of protest music. Forget the half-hearted rage of your typical punk track; this is pure, unadulterated chaos. With riffs that cut like jagged glass and rhythms that hit like a riot, ‘Gentrification’ feels like a sonic Molotov hurled at the forces that reduce communities to dust. The gnarled vocals alone could level cities, calling back to the uncompromising energy of Bad Brains and Dead Kennedys.

The lyrical narrative is equally ferocious, painting a vivid picture of the hollowed-out ruins left by gentrification. The reference to ‘Disneyland nose jobs’ alludes to how Kuwaisiana aren’t just on the money, they’re holding the monopoly in the punk scene.

The haunting opening image sets the tone for a journey through displacement, exclusivity, and transience. +Aziz’s Kuwaiti-American identity bleeds through every note, making the track a gut punch for anyone who’s watched their cultural landscape get obliterated by the greed of the powerful.

Gentrification will reclaim the airwaves when it officially releases on September 27; stream the single on SoundCloud first.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

HeadWar say R.I.P. to cognitive autonomy in their rancorous installation of grunge-punk ‘Sheep (2023)’

Posted on 18 July 2023

Don’t wage war; wage HeadWar by listening to the Madison WI-residing grunge-punk trio’s latest single, ‘Sheep (2023)’. While saying R.I.P. to cognitive autonomy, the trio pulled out their heaviest instrumental artillery before sludging it up to the nth degree to replicate the chaos currently breeding in socio-political landscapes across the globe.

While I wasn’t all too convinced by the idea that hard times breed good music before, HeadWar is headstrong enough in their vindication to create an irrefutable testament to the adage. With Dalton Aerts ensuring that his vocals are just as savage as his guitars, Sam Tisue paying homage to the drum fills that make Metallica so ferociously cathartic, and Kyle Eith making the rhythm section as tight as possible; for three minutes, Sheep (2023) may convince you to stop banging your head off the wall and bang to the sonic absolution instead.

Add Sheep (2023) to your Spotify playlists.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Abyssal Voyage arrived as juggernauts in the hardcore scene with their debut single, Time

Posted on 16 July 2023

The Floridian experimental outfit, Abyssal Voyage, arrived as juggernauts in the hardcore scene with their debut single, Time. The short but by no means sweet hit pays homage to the hardcore pioneers Agnostic Front and Minor Threat; to punctuate the aggressive blast beats, gnarled riffs guttural vocals, there are punchy pop-punk-esque choruses, which goes to show how versatile and committed to authenticity the up-and-coming four-piece is.

With the promise of more catchily hard-hitting singles to come, the future looks promising for the synergistically tight outfit, which comprises Andres Ruiz, Colten “Verb” Snyder, Cory Schubert, Dylan “Dyl-Pick” Rimart, and Todd Shown.

If the recorded material hits as hard as their debut single, fans may end up leaving the venue in a stretcher after experiencing Abyssal Voyage live.

Watch the official music video for Time by heading over to YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Skitz Wizards sharpened their knives in ‘Anger as a Weapon’

Posted on 25 January 2023

The title single from Skitz Wizards’ 2023 EP, Anger as a Weapon, is a vitriolic hardcore punk cut above the rest. There’s enough cathartic venom to make the reprehensible actions of our disaster capitalist overlords momentarily bearable.

With ample distortion in their arsenal, the Nottingham-based outfit, which says true to the virtue of early anarcho-punk, is abrasive enough to put Napalm Death in the same league as Ed Sheeran.

Founded in 2021, the duo set out to extend sonic escapism to the downtrodden. Given the socio-politically agitated environment we are all suffocating in as poverty becomes more prolific, it should come as no surprise that plenty of the increasingly disenfranchised populous is tuning into the raw distorted bass and breakdowns that can effortlessly match our own mental turmoil.

Anger as a Weapon is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Less Miserable – The Dentist: Meet the Icons of Self-Depreciating Post-Emo Pop-Punk

Posted on 27 September 2022
43 Chinook by Less Miserable

Post-emo pop-punk outfit, Less Miserable took expression to the next level in their 2022 standout single, The Dentist. The visceral track explores the intricacies of depression by making a series of proclamations that everyone who has ever felt inadequacy loom along with the bark of the black dog will relate to.

With killer lines “the sun on my face feels like a cheap insult that I can’t ignore” and the chorus hook “If you want me to see a dentist, you’ll have to kick me in the teeth, I can’t ask for help unless it is an emergency” to a backdrop of progressively off-kilter post-hardcore rancour, The Dentist will break your heart through resonance. Before mending it through the affirmation that you’re not alone in the insecurities you feel in loving relationships and the tendency to neglect self-care when you don’t see yourself as something worth investing in

Without a hint of hyperbole, I’ve just found a new favourite artist in the Alberta-based outfit who specialises in self-deprecating anthems made to drink cheap beer to and shout along to in sweaty basements. It’s almost enough to make me buy a plane ticket to Calgary to party with the candour-gifted lyrical visionaries.

The Dentist is now available to stream and purchase via Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Trash n Privilege get biblical in their tempestuous hardcore punk track, Flooded

Posted on 27 March 2022

Californian punk heavyweights, Trash n Privilege, are back on maniacal form in their latest EP, Wrong Again…Brah, featuring the juggernaut of a standout single, Flooded.

With guitar riffs that would make John Dwyer weak at the knees, gnarled feral basslines, percussion that affirms Trash n Privilege as an unfuckwithably cool powerhouse, Flooded is a breeding ground of tempestuous hardcore punk catharsis that pays homage to punk pioneers.

Every track on the EP finds a new way to attack societal hypocrisy – the kind of hypocrisy that breaks into powerless frustration. It’s a subversive shift from the narrative that punk rock will save the world, a well overdue one. As Against Me! already pointed out, the revolution was a lie; what will always be real is the vindication from empathetically scathing acts like Trash n Privilege.

Flooded is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

Tune into Wave of Sheep’s punch-drunk-hardcore-punk single, TV Static

Posted on 9 August 2021

If your playlists are falling short of angsty punch-drunk-hardcore-punk, tune into TV Static, the latest single released by the Birmingham-based fourpiece, Wave of Sheep.

Their scuzzy track is 2:11-minutes of full-frontal aggression that channels the same anger that has eaten us away at us in isolation, but when it is spiralling out of frenetic tracks like TV Static, it’s a unifying cathartic experience that affirms that your anger is a sign of sanity rather than the flipside.

With nods to 70s punk in the production and hints of snarling post-punk to the vocals, you can’t help getting swept up in the track that attacks modern problems with vintage style.

TV Static is now available to stream along with the rest of Wave of Sheep’s EP, Lights Gone Out, via SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast