Review roundup - June 2025

No scene report this month. I’ve been mad busy carrying the Toronto hardcore scene on my back (just kidding). Lots of excellent music came out though. Let’s get into it

All 4 All - Refuse (Fortress)

I feel like I manifested new All 4 All, and boy did the universe deliver. This Syracuse band have reached the “mastery” stage of straightforward hardcore. If you play this stuff long enough, the basics become second nature and it’s easy to throw in a bit of personal flair. The songs on Refuse are entirely familiar but not enough to be labelled “__” worship. You hear everything from Mental to Carry On to Blind Justice (who mastered the classics in their own right), but more than anything, you hear All 4 All. I couldn’t be a major label A&R because I feel like this should appeal to everyone on the planet. It’s rocking, energetic and fun, with clear, catchy vocals and topical, thought-provoking lyrics. Who doesn’t like that? At the very least, the band could kill on a Comeback Kid tour or a big festival if that’s the route they choose to go. All 4 All may be happy playing three of five on every good Syracuse show until the end of time, but the sky’s the limit for bands who write songs like “Behind a Wall”.

EKGs - EKGs (Kill Enemy)

It’s not fair to say Pittsburgh punk hardcore has a codified sound, but even then, this EKGs tape falls outside what I consider that scene’s bread and butter. At first blush, anyways. The DYS/SSD influence becomes apparent after a few listens, but initially, the closest OG Boston band you can pin this to is Siege. It’s blasting and unrelentingly negative without the metal/grind leanings of powerviolence. This type of “fastcore” is viciously memory-holed in current cannon but always hits when done well. Yambag are a decent modern comp. That band is all gas no breaks, while EKGs employ the type of mosh riffs that compel denim-clad bar patrons to trample each other. The lyrics make me want to laugh and cry simultaneously. It’s hard not to chuckle at a song called “Fuck You, Die” whose refrain is “fuck you, I hope you die”. That said, by the end of this 12-minute tape it’s apparent the person writing and performing vocals channels their anger through both structural criticism and immense personal pain.

Age of Apocalypse - In Oblivion (Closed Casket Activities)

This Hudson Valley band are back after 3.5 years with another beefy full length. Ten tracks over 26 minutes is a lot for 2025 hardcore, but AOA write the type of sprawling, complicated songs that demand extra runtime. The arrangements on this record are nuts, blending well-studied 90s influences with the type of metallic hardcore born and bred in the 2020s. AOA now features Cross of Disbelief members, which some suggest could be a reason for the updated riffing. I’m not sure that’s true. The CCA website only mentions original guitarist Jack Xiques as a riff-writer on In Oblivion. Whatever the case, it’s a step up in every way, including Taylor Young’s production. These songs soar, to the point where certain vocal choices (notably the High Vis feature) evoke power metal. Still, if you showed this to a Metallum contributor in 2005 they’d have a stroke trying to digest the assbeater mosh riffs and gutturals that land AOA squarely in the modern hardcore landscape. This is an easy album of the year candidate.

Sold Short - Introducing (Total Supply)

These Hamilton youngsters are a promising and fitting new addition to the Total Supply roster. They play the standards, filtering Lockin’ Out influence through contemporary democore with a smidge of golden era Reaper chug. Lots of bands cite The Wrong Side as influential. Sold Short come quite close to landing that specific sound, from vocal phrasing to song structures to certain drum fills. It’s heavy and hard but not metallic, save for the occasional double kick flourish. I’m unsure if the heaviness is intentional or a byproduct of the members cutting their teeth in metallic bands before linking up for this. Hopefully it’s the latter. I love when younger kids add their own flair to source material as an unconscious byproduct of what they grew up with. You’ll hear from these folks again, whether it’s with Sold Short or a future band. A demo like this helps bandmates gel while exploring the building blocks of hardcore and meeting valuable future connections. It’s also solid on its own merits.

Imprizon - Higher Court (From Within)

I’d never heard of this Las Vegas band before and initially thought they were doing their best Burning Lord impression. Turns out they’ve been around almost as long — their demo dropped in 2022. That release leans Clevo-inspired whereas I feel this one skews into classic NYC crossover with thrashier tempos and more complex mosh parts. Still, both releases are full of that tri-tone heavy, evil sounding Slayer-style melody I associate more with 90’s Cleveland than anything on the east coast. Some of the riffs on Higher Court, like the climax of “Agonize”, are just mid-tempo thrash parts with a hardcore vocalist overtop of them. These guys are players. Especially the guitarist, who delivers a couple cracked solos. I think it’s safe to assume from some of the parts, along with the artwork and lyrics, that this band pulls from classic metal. At the end of the day, though, this is unequivocally a hardcore record. The songs are built for dance-floor destruction, with high impact tempo changes and mosh riffs abound.

Unmoved - Demonstration (NBK/DAZE)

I remember being excited by this Vancouver band’s art when their demo dropped right at the beginning of the year. Somehow it took me six months to finally check out the music. I guess the folks at DAZE went through a similar trajectory because they just announced a vinyl pressing of the EP on Monday. It’s a deserved co-sign for a band who came out firing on all cylinders with a cohesive aesthetic and dialled sound. I’m interested to know exactly what this pulls from. I hear 90’s weirdo shit like Candiria and Deadguy compressed into digestible, sub-2:00 mosh anthems. I also hear post-millennial Castro hat-core and maybe even some stuff that was haram to reference pre-pandemic. Which goes to show the importance of a singular artistic vision. With a different presentation this could appeal to an entirely different crowd than the hardstyle mosh demons lurking at your local VFW. As currently presented, this demo’s elements combine to make it one of the most captivating releases of 2025.

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