La Dispute - No One Was Driving The Car (2025)

I'm still not that much into post-hardcore and emo, but I always pay attention when La Dispute release another album. No One Was Driving The Car is another nice piece in their discography and like usual the vocals really shines, sometimes screamed, sometimes spoken, or half-spoken half-screamed. Recommended!

 

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Deadguy - Near-Death Travel Service (2025)

I'm discovering Deadguy with Near-Death Travel Service, their first album after their classics of the nineties. I won't compare it with their older stuff, in any case Near-Death Travel Service is definitely great on its own. It's an extremely strong piece of hardcore/noise rock hybrid, reminding both Black Flag and Unsane and Today is The Day. With excellent songs and especially good spoken/screamed vocals. Yes, most reunion of bands inactive during 30 years doesn't end up very exciting, but don't make the error of thinking it would be the same here, it's a really impressive reunion album. A total success.

 

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Rise of The Northstar - Chapter 4 : Red Falcon Super Battle! Neo Paris War!! (2025)

As you can guess, Chapter 4 : Red Falcon Super Battle! Neo Paris War!! is the fourth album from the most ambitious French hardcore band, Rise of The Northstar. Is the music backing the attitude? I think it is, this fourth one is another convincing one, maybe not better than the two previous ones, but adding some more diversity to a music already very "crossover", mostly reminding Biohazard, with its mix of old school hardcore, metallic hardcore, nu-metal, hip-hop, and for ROTN a bit of deathcore and now some bits of melodic hardcore as well. Cool stuff!

 

King Yosef - Spire of Fear(2025)

With Spire of Fear, one-man band King Yosef leaves nearly completely behind his nu-metal roots and gets full industrial metal. Spire of fear is definitely closer to The Downward Spiral than it is to Life is Peachy. There's also a hardcore element, reminding sometimes Youth Code (with whom he shared a split record). In any case, it's a nicely abrasive album.

 

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Easy Prey - Unrest (2022)

Unrest, released three years ago and Easy Prey first album, is an excellent piece of noise-rock, with a hardcore somewhat emo feel. Let's hope they come up with new music soon!

 

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Trauma Bond - Summer Ends. Some Are Long Gone (2025)

This new Trauma Bond release is less powerviolence/noisegrind and more hardcore/noise. Pace is overall slower, but quality isn't lower. Summer Ends. Some Are Long Gone have a different mood, but it's still excellent stuff, and still with the diversity and unpredictability that makes them more interesting than most extreme bands. 

 

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Shock Narcotic - My Flesh Is Afraid But I Am Not (2025)

When I reviewed Shock Narcotic first album (I Have Seen The Future And It Doesn't Work in 2019) I said the album was excellent but wouldn't gain originality points because it really evoked Napalm Death. Well, that wasn't very inspired and relevant. They did indeed evoke ND, but the Napalm Death that their mid-tempo noisegrind / noisecore is evoking is the experimenting and hard to label one (especially, but not limited to, the albums from second half of the nineties). The same could be said about My Flesh Is Afraid But I Am Not, and it's also an excellent album. And they actually developed more a personal hybrid/mutant style than most bands...

 The BC page. 

 

Eunoia - Psyop Of The Year (2022)

Since two of them have been sent to different states, Psyop Of The Year probably was Eunoia's last operation. Which is a pity because it was an excellent album, from an interesting band. They played a nice blend of noise rock and screamo, with also elements of math rock and extreme metal thrown in. Nicely surprising at the first listen, and even better when you knew the songs more. 

 

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Youth Code - Yours, With Malice (EP 2025)

Youth Code new releaase is a five tracks EP called Yours, With Malice. Firmly rooted in what they do well, EBM/Industrial metal (without guitars), with punk hardcore style screaming and some more melodic singing as well. Basic stuff but full of energy. I enjoy it.

 

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Escuela Grind - Dreams on Algorithms (2024)

Escuela (now Escuela Grind) have always been a good band, but I felt their hardcore/PV/grind was sometimes a bit too generic. But I think their latest album, released last year, Dreams on Algorithms, is where they really found their own thing, with more diversity from song to song, more diversity in the vocals (including a totally successful first try at clean vocals in the last song), and overall a more catchy songwriting with more groove. I hope they will keep on exploring their own sound. Already excellent stuff for now, in any case.

 

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Turnstile - NEVER ENOUGH (2025)

What about the new Turnstile album, NEVER ENOUGH? Is it enough hardcore? I don't really care, since it's when they're experimenting out of the hardcore box that they are interesting. But yes, their music still has many hardcore moments. Is it evolving enough in new directions? They keep on experimenting the melodic hardcore blended with pop elements thing, which isn't bad in itself, but unlike their previous album (which I think I prefer) they sometimes venture too much into "cheesy supermarket music" territory. Overall, it's a good album anyway.

LWSTNDRDS - Songs of Atrocity (2024)

I had noticed and enjoyed their previous releases, so when this excellent album from Polish band LWSTNDRDS has been released by Nerve Altar (if you read me regularly you know this is the best dealer of grind related music we have since a few years) it wasn't a surprise but a confirmation. Songs of Atrocity is a fine piece of powerviolence/grind/blackened hardcore/sludge (yes, following the recent trend of mixing the different styles of hardcore /metal, and why not? Here it is definitely producing a great result) blending nicely bursts of violence and twisted grooves. Good stuff!

 

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Bad Breeding - Contempt (2024)

Contempt is the fifth album from UK band Bad Breeding. Raw hadcore including noise rock, sludge and post-punk elements, evoking bands like Black Flag, Unsane, Eyehategod or Idles. If you like your hardcore dirty and noisy this is definitely for you. I also recommend you check their more recent release, the Blood Manifest Ep, showcasing in four tracks both their more aggressive and slower and noisier sides. Recommended!

 

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FANGE - Purulences (2025)

With Purulences I feel it's the first time the French band from Brittany FANGE release an album so similar to the previous one. It seems they have completed their evolution, in a direction at the same time more industrial and more melodic. Stabilisation before a new evolution? Maybe, time will tell... Anyway, their Godflesh meets Paradise Lost, Morbid Angel and beatdown hardcore thing is really their own and is excellent, so I don't mind a repeat, really. Purulences is an awesome album, with songs that are bound to become classics in their live set and is highly recommended for people who enjoyed their previous albums and also a great entry point for discovering the band. 

 

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Coilguns - Odd Love (2024)

Coilguns is a band from Switzerland, playing a noise/post-metal/emo kind of hardcore, sounding a bit like a collide of At The Drive-in and Neurosis. I discovered them with their new album Odd Love and it's an awesome one with great songwriting, a gripping atmosphere, memorable melodies and emotional vocals. And I went to see them live, and I definitely wasn't disappointed, they delivered. Highly recommended band and album !

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Drugs of Faith - Asymmetrical (2025)

Asymmetrical is the third album from Drugs of Faith, and another excellent piece of noise-rock flavoured hardcore punk, evoking both Black Flag and Unsane. Great songs, and an excellent vocalist. Recommended stuff!

 

The BC page.

Full of Hell & Andrew Nolan - Scraping The Divine (2024)

Full of Hell is one of the best blackened hardcore bands and released several excellent collaborative albums in the past, Andrew Nolan never failed to make his music, whether more hardcore/metal or industrial, interesting at least, most of the time brilliant. Saying I had big expectations for this Scraping The Divine collaborative album would be an understatement. Does it live up to it? No, it EXCEEDS it! Yes, sir! Ranging from ferocious noisegrind to more atmospheric industrial metal (the track with JK BRoderick isn't the only moment of the album evoking Godflesh), it is a truly awesome album. Warmly recommended!

The BC page.

 

Green Beret - Standing At The Mouth Of Hell (2016)

Green Beret latest album was released in 2016 so I guess they're not active anymore, but that's a pity since Standing At The Mouth Of Hell is an outstanding piece of old school hardcore in a Madball, AF or Terror vein, and is as good as most albums these bands have released. They're really a band you need to know if you're into that kind of stuff, and I guarentee you would enjoy this album. Recommended!

The BC page.

 

 

SECT - Plagues Upon Plagues (2024)

SECT is a band with vocalist Chris Colohan (Cursed, Burning Love, Left for Dead), Scott Crouse from Earth Crisis, and three other experienced musicians from the hardcore scene. Plagues Upon Plagues, their third album, is a nice slice of slow and sludgy metallic hardcore that would feel at home on your shelf close to Vision of Disorder, Crowbar or Brutality Will Prevail. Good stuff.

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Sick/Tired - Whip Hand Paranoia (2024)

Powerviolence/grind band Sick/Tired took their time to come back, but that was definitely worth the wait! Whip Hand Paranoia is a ferocious album filled with short super condensed blast of PV/grind fury. And to make things more interesting and add a bit of diversity they also bring some somewhat noise/indus guitar work, at times reminding a bit of Napalm Death experiments. Appropriately, it's released by Nerve Altar, currently the best grind label. Strong contender for best grind album of the year ! 

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