Review roundup - April 2025
Good hardcore LPs are increasingly hard to come by. Through a historical lens, many of the best bands distinguished themselves with great full length records. It was a right of passage, and in some regards, a pass/fail test for a band’s legacy. Not many have a great one under their belt. In fact, not every IMPORTANT band can claim a great LP in their catalog. Hardcore has always been an ephemeral, short form genre. For that reason, compared to other forms of rock music, we’ve placed an outsized importance on EPs and demos.
Ask yourself, though. What do you hear more talk about these days: Master Killer or the Burn 7”? Break Down the Walls or Thou Shalt Not Kill? Peace and Security or Negative Outlook? Shit, let’s go apples to apples: Destroy the Machines or the Firestorm 7”? A great LP is the most significant milestone on the road to long-lasting impact.
Despite hardcore’s seemingly endless glut of new music, we’re seeing fewer and fewer stabs at full length records. I can’t think of a single one from 2024 that left a big impact on “mainstream” or “festival” hardcore (maybe Missing Link). We got excellent full lengths from smaller/more niche bands like Contention and Bootlicker, but few if any true needle-movers.
I have a number of theories why. That topic might make for a good article, actually. The most obvious reason though, in my opinion, is that there simply weren’t enough bands ready to drop a full length last year. 2025 seems to be somewhat of a course correction. It took a few months, but we finally have a log-jam back at the hardcore LP pressing plant. Here’s my thoughts on three of them, along with some other cool stuff.
Combust - Belly of the Beast (Triple-B)
I don’t know what to think of this. I like it, but it’s weird. The record isn’t experimental, just hard to place in both Combust’s catalog and hardcore at large. Some of the riffs on this NYC band’s second full-length sound Guns N Roses-esque. Vocalist Andrew Vacante is straight up rapping in parts. It’s somehow more moshy and metallic than 2022’s Another Life but also playful and lighthearted in a way that record wasn’t. It’s more modern, too. Combust’s back catalog is deeply indebted to NYHC giants of yesteryear. I don’t know if this record forges its own path, or if they’re deep into some 90’s shit I have a blind spot for. The latter wouldn’t shock me, given Combust’s reverence for the form. Either way, I bet we won’t hear another record quite like BOTB in 2025. Qualitatively, I prefer Another Life, although seeing those songs live helped them click. That will likely be the case again. Some of these tracks are too long and a couple hidden gems are buried in the runtime. All in all, though, pretty good.
Never Again - 100% New Jersey Hardcore (Tribe Dream)
Never Again took a significant amount of time between their demo (2021) and this EP. The classic NYHC “demo” sound has since exploded in popularity, although most new bands strain it through some sort of 2000s indebted lens. Never Again go right to the source, channeling the grit and swagger of Breakdown, Outburst and other New Breed Comp faves. I noted while reviewing their demo that the songwriting felt more “Lockin Out” than Breakdown ‘87 because of the shorter track lengths. This EP sees the ideas fleshed out a bit, and it mostly pays off. The first two songs are absolute earworms with proper hooks and meaty mosh parts. Every track has a riff or two worth hearing, and the closer “Last Mistake” might be the hardest song I’ve heard all year, whiplashing from fast to moshy in the funnest way possible. I like “hardcore critical” lyrics in this vein — snarky and sarcastic with enough self awareness to realize it’s not that deep. The demo was promising, but this hits on a whole other level.
Balmora - Prologue (DAZE)
Balmora are pioneers of revival metalcore, so it makes sense they would be first among the wave to truly develop their own sound. The Connecticut band flirted with modern beatdown from jump, but the two previously unreleased tracks on this promo are more core-focused than anything I’ve heard from them or their peers. We more or less get eight minutes of wall-to-wall mosh, ranging in influence from Castle Heights thug slam to straight deathcore. It feels disorganized in parts, but that goes hand in hand with this style of music. Balmora also exhibit restraint in the right spots. Take the last breakdown on track two. Most bands would gladly stretch such a heavy part past its welcome. Here, we get a tasteful eight bar tease. The ol’ “leave em wanting more.” Speaking of, I wonder how a full Balmora LP (which I assume is coming based on the promo’s name) will land. I’m usually good with metalcore in 12 minute chunks, but if any band can defy expectations and make me like stuff I normally don’t, it’s Balmora.
Jivebomb - Ethereal (Flatspot)
Hi Reddit! This is a lackluster effort from a band who didn’t have an LP worth of ideas but tried to make one anyways. Half the songs aren’t even finished. Everyone’s taken shots at this and frankly it’s more fun to write about the discourse than the music itself. After braving this sub and Krate, I noticed two funny theories: 1) this is some sort of radical sonic departure and 2) Flatspot pressured them into it for money. Firstly, Jivebomb played a rote style of hardcore and popped three years after it was no longer novel. Only Gag can milk more than eight minutes out of this formula. Most every other reverb/pogo band evolved their sound. For comparison, 1:1 early Electric Chair and Jivebomb’s Primitive Desires. Everything about the latter is on display here except the weird vocals. And why do people assume heavier = more successful? Name one popular/high selling hardcore album that sounds anything like this. You aren’t displaying advanced tastes by shitting on this, fellow Redditors. It just bricked.
Spicy Meatball - Demo 2024 (Demolisten)
This Richmond band caught some flack for their low effort name/art combo. Once you hear it, though, the aesthetic makes perfect sense. How else do you meld Poison Idea’s rambunctious, half-serious energy with 2025 basement hardcore’s post-ironic nihilism? Chains and Stilettos? It has to be goofy, but it can’t be a joke. Spicy Meatball may not give a fuck about how they present visually, but I’d be shocked if they took the same approach to their music. The guitar tone alone sounds more intentional than some band’s entire demos, especially in this day and age where people are cranking out boring, derivative horseshit at an unthinkable rate. Spicy Meatball aren’t reinventing the wheel (the early PI comp is an easy one) but they at least display enough skill, if not effort, to write and record good songs. The college rock-inspired lick that opens “Esteemed” is playing on loop in my head while I write this. Similar flourishes of craft and creativity make Spicy Meatball worth not just hearing, but revisiting.
Ingrown - Idaho (Closed Casket Activities)
This Boise band often get compared to Nails, which I think is lazy. They both write short, fast heavy hardcore, but Nails come from a death metal angle. I would say Ingrown’s previous material is more powerviolence influenced but I’m afraid using the p-word will make a neckbearded spectre emerge from my wall, Jacob Marley style, to lecture me about No Comment. Instead I’ll say Ingrown’s new record trades stompy/pogo parts for modern slam riffs. It’s an interesting evolution that leads to a heavier record. I do think Gun has more engaging songs. Idaho’s most memorable track (“Asylum”) is possibly a cover, though I can’t confirm at the time of publication. This album’s two previously released songs fit better within the context of a full record, because frankly, Idaho is a 16 minute aural assault punctuated by some spaghetti western banjo music (cool decision). I guess in that way, Ingrown are like Nails. The endgame is pummelling sonic punishment with brief respites of moshy groove.
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