There’s no homework necessary to prepare for Ringworm’s recently released Seeing Through Fire. If you’re at all familiar with them across their 30-year history then you know their metallic hardcore is more riffs than breakdown, equal parts thrash and grindcore, and purely vitriolic. The group’s evergreen quality is in part due to their stubbornness and belief in their own identity. They’ve never attempted to disrupt their sound. Instead, they adjust it on a microscopic scale. However, Seeing Through Fire is as close to a return to their roots as possible for Ringworm, as if it’s been encased i ..read more

It was in the spring of 2011, near Easter (which Google tells me was late that year), and my life was an absolute fucking wreck. I had lost nearly every penny I had in the recession and my home that I inherited when my mother died had been foreclosed on. The home, to add insult to injury, was burglarized a few weeks prior by someone who tore the medicine cabinets apart and ran off with my guitars and game systems. In short, I’d seen better days. As I was trying to pack up the remains of my house, mostly under the cover of darkness as I was technically trespassing, and using any change I found ..read more

Each Friday, Editors Ted Nubel and Jon Rosenthal [usually, but this time Addison!] will share their picks for Records of the Week—not necessarily what’s out this week, just whatever’s on our mind or on our record players. … Addison Herron-Wheeler Light This City Remains of the Gods It was 2005, a year when the newly minted fusion of metalcore still meant the best of both worlds when it comes to heavy breakdowns and melodic riffing. As a teenage girl seeing this band in a small, local venue while they were on tour, I was completely blown away. Not only were their song structures and solos some ..read more

Chicago hardcore band Nequient‘s upcoming album was, much like the rest of the music world, cursed. Cursed for years. First recorded in early 2020, global setbacks and individual choices delayed this album over two years. “[T]his thing has been sitting around forever,” says vocalist Jason Kolkey. “We went into the studio with Pete Grossman in January 2020 and did all the tracking then. Obviously the whole COVID situation happened, and every phase along the way got horribly delayed. From mixing to mastering to the artwork, everything got pushed back just because of various COVID related compli ..read more

Jesus Piece are one of the premiere hardcore bands in the scene today. Hailing from Philadelphia, they’ve powered through global tours and built a reputation for a commanding live performance, but they also deliver some manic music videos to go along with excellent recorded offerings. Two notable examples, both taken from their upcoming record So Unknown: “An Offering to the Night,” with its mayhem only balanced by the stompy riffs and breakdown towards the end and “Gates of Horn”, developing imagery of internal struggle complete with white backgrounds that offers a stark contrast to the band ..read more

Metalcore has been having a serious moment lately. The genre, which began in the ’90s and exploded in the 2000s, never really went away, but it fizzled out a bit in the early/mid 2010s, until it was reclaimed by a hungry new generation during the latter half of that decade. Many of the best newer metalcore bands have absorbed the genre’s entire history, from its rawer, hardcore-adjacent roots to its more accessible mainstream era, and cherry-picked the best aspects from throughout the genre’s history, while avoiding the more outdated-sounding elements and applying a brand new perspective. Thi ..read more

… End‘s music makes sense in light of the project’s overtly straightforward name: this concoction of blackened hardcore and grind is totalizing, complete, and downright savage. It feels like the end; or, it’s hard to listen to other music after listening to End. While most bands modulate the intensity knob to add dynamics to their music, this band is hell-bent on finding nuance beyond the cranked limit. It all started as a side project of Fit For an Autopsy guitarist and producer for many great albums Will Putney — now, on the verge of their debut full-length, the band comprises talent from C ..read more

Chicago has proven time and again to be one of the most metal meccas of the world. With many well revered local music venues, metal-themed restaurants, longstanding print publications, and a vast array of talented bands, the Windy City can hold its own when doling out ferocious metal. One such offering: relative scene newcomers and melodic death metal band Burned in Effigy, who bring an engaging and diversified sound to the underground metal universe. Formed in 2016, this quintet create a lethal musical concoction by combining a mixture of neoclassical elements, melodic death metal, and progr ..read more

… In the case of Neck of the Woods‘s upcoming record The Annex of Ire, you very much can judge this one by its cover. Imagine the sound issuing forth from all these snarling lupine maws, imagine the rage that fuels their hunger, and you’ll know exactly what to expect from the Vancouver quintet’s second full-length release. Test the waters with our exclusive premiere of the entire thing below. … … Neck of the Woods grabbed me by the throat with their previous record The Passenger, released on Basick Records in 2017, and it left enough of an impact for me to include it in my year-end wrap-up t ..read more