TOP FIVE MOST SIGNIFICANT CURRENT MUSICAL TRENDS & DEVELOPMENTS

My second batch of August Shout-Outs will arrive next week, but for this piece I thought it would be an interesting exercise to apply the Top Five format to some of the major shifts occurring in the contemporary musical landscape, a little bit more of a "tree-top" view of where things are and/or appear to be headed.

1. Country is the new rap.

In terms of dominance in popularity and the cultural zeitgeist, at least in the United States, country is improbably eclipsing rap (I say improbably as it has labored, for many years, under often stereotypical characterization), primarily because: 1) the pop songwriting is that good and people want hooks, and 2) melodic trap burn-out. The most apropos pivot here is of course Post Malone, but Beyoncé is a must to mention as well. Most crucially in terms of demographic significance as the following demographic is largely what drives pop culture, the popularity of country has surged (unapologetically) among the teens and early- to mid-20s demographic.

2. Nü metal is the new classic rock.

Like it or not, for Millennials and to a large extent but with a different relationship to them Gen Z, bands like Deftones, Limp Bizkit, and Linkin Park are effectively what bands like Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones are to Baby Boomers and older Gen Xers or Metallica and Nirvana are to the bulk of Gen X. One could put the mall emo flag-bearers here as well, but the point is that there is a clear re-set on the baseline touchstones of today’s rock and metal bands and fans. Anecdotally, virtually every heavy band I’ve interviewed has referenced bands from the nü metal and/or mall emo era of the late-90s to mid-2000s high water mark as their "gateway drug" to alternative music, and the influences are often apparent on listening. Despite the negative treatment of the genres by the "tastemakers" of the time, nü metal and mall emo have endured as not just nostalgia trips but as foundational touchstones.

Here’s some premium contemporary nü metalling from Ocean Grove.

3. Countrycore is the new hot scene trend.

Just like Southern metalcore from roughly 2005-2007 at its peak, the hybridization of a "down-home" genre is suddenly sweeping through metalcore and adjacent scenes, with Bilmuri leading the charge, much like Every Time I Die did with the Southern metalcore trend. Lakeview works here as the Norma Jean of this comparison, and there are other examples such as Beartooth’s collaboration with Hardy and Mitchell Tenpenny’s with Underoath. Belmont’s "Country Girl" is another song that is more easycore goes country, but can easily fit comfortably alongside these other examples. There will be many more to come, and I’m here for it, just like I was then.

4. Countrycore and scenecore 2.0 are perfect bedfellows.

Particularly as it dovetails with the emo revival, there is the old joke about country that if you play all your country records backwards, you get it all back: the job, the spouse, the dog, the house. Compare these two Underoath features—the one above with the one below—as an example and it comes into even sharper focus. While not applicable in every case, there is more than enough in the center of the Venn diagram to explain this kind of mutually-reinforcing lyrical and tonal emphasis between two burgeoning scene sub-genres with plenty of potential to create even more interesting combinations—and with any luck, these two subgenres will cross streams, as for the reasons explicated above the results could be very exciting.

5. Adding pop and/or "core" to any genre instantly improves it.

I’m being somewhat tongue-in-cheek here, but in the story of genre hybridization of the last twenty years—at least in "the scene," but in other areas further afield as well—these particular integrations seem to be predominantly where the action is: metalcore, deathcore, hyperpop, easycore, RnBcore, pop country, countrycore, shoegazecore, pop metal, noise pop, trap metal…the list goes on. Where to next? Bratcore? More of whatever Paledusk is doing? Comment below.

TOP FIVE UNDERRATED ALBUMS OF THE 2010s

This is the first of what will eventually be three installments of underrated albums from particular decades, working in reverse chronological order from the 2010s back to the 90s. I’ll be circling back to the 2000s and 1990s in a few months. There really aren’t any specific criteria for these lists beyond that I think these are great albums that are generally underappreciated in one way or another, and I wanted to find space on this site to discuss them!

Honorable Mentions

Ellie Goulding-Halcyon (2012)

Narrowly edging-out The Prodigy’s triumphant return to form (and, tragically, the final record with Keith Flint) in 2018’s No Tourists and Cold Cave’s 2011 icy-synthed, edgier Depeche Mode record Cherish the Light Years, this might seem a somewhat odd selection given that it was a major mainstream success. Having said that, I don’t think the album is properly appreciated for what it is: gorgeously-crafted, emotionally powerful and transcendent woodland sprite pop. It’s actually a very unique record in a lot of ways.

Deaf Havana-Rituals (2018)

This record is what the hyper-polished anthemic radio rock bands of the decade should have been doing.

Legend-The Pale Horse (2011)

Punishingly-heavy metalcore that seemed to get slept on for whatever reason. I describe this album as a Golden Ratio of earlier Volumes and vocalist Chad Ruhlig’s other band For the Fallen Dreams.

Grave Maker-Ghosts Among Men (2010)

Two words: "fucking bounce!" Ghosts Among Men was the second and final record for the Canadian road warriors who absolutely killed it live. Maybe it was the artwork that threw people off into thinking they were getting Amon Amarth rather than high-energy hardcore with very distinctive vocals and a bunch of sick mosh/throwdown parts to get kids "picking up quarters from the floor" that caused them to get overlooked, I don’t know, but for whatever reason they never quite got the buzz I felt they deserved.

Speaking of distinctive vocals, another excellent and underrated hardcore band that straddles the 2000s and 2010s is Mother of Mercy; I considered their record IV (2011) here as well. They leaned very heavily into Glenn Danzig territory, particularly his band between The Misfits and Danzig in Samhain, creating a dark and brooding atmosphere that complemented the raw hardcore fury and metal influences in creating a very unique sound. III (2009) and IV are hardcore masterpieces.

BONES-PaidProgramming (2013)

One of my favorite rappers to emerge during this era, this dude is prolific. If I had to pick one album that I think represents BONES’s best work, I would point to PaidProgramming, which is deceptively experimental in its own right and often downright catchy. Some of the highlights for me include: "RotatingBed," which has an 80s funk/R&B Oran "Juice" Jones-type sound to it; the Memphis-meets-emo-meets-80s synthwave of "Waking Up Crying"; and the haunting earworm beat packed with a bunch of absurd and (I’m assuming) intentionally-dated pop culture references of "JonathanTaylorThomas" (and beyond: honorable mention shout-outs include Macaulay Culkin 1992 and Bo Derek 1984), which also exemplifies BONES’s flow. BONES’s singing voice also adds another dimension to the dark and often depressive atmosphere that permeates the record, the vibe really anything but "chill," with the overwhelming sense that despite being superficially laid-back most of the time, there’s a deep sense of unease and even malice lurking just under the surface.

TOP FIVE

5. Hands-Give Me Rest (2011)

While the boundaries of rock and metal have been pushed outward dramatically through the experimentation of post-rock and post-metal, respectively, this particular direction is fairly uncommon in metalcore. Give Me Rest is the finest work of post-metalcore—not in the Bring Me the Horizon post-genre sense of post-metalcore but in the widening of the genre into these huge sonic vistas that paradoxically feel so intimate—this side of Misery Signals. While Misery Signals makes sense as a touchstone, the approach of Hands in crafting something so beautiful and expansive out of the raw materials of metalcore on this album is unlike anything else I’ve heard, however.

4. Harms Way-Posthuman (2018)

This album is massive in every way. The production added crispness and heft to what was already a crushing unit, and the intellectual scope of the record deals with pressing concerns of where humanity is headed, particularly with our relationships with the planet and with technology. By accentuating the industrial/Jesu-like elements of their sound further and somehow getting even heavier, what Harms Way did here was create a work of devastating beauty, an album that is vital to listen to in its entirety to get the full effect, impressive in its scope and ability to make the listener feel like they are "just a part of a smashed landscape, just a piece of the rubble, just a fragment of what man has deeded to himself."

3. Poppy-Am I a Girl? (2018)

Before she became the darling of the metal world, Poppy was pushing creative boundaries with rare fearlessness and vision; to me, Am I a Girl? is the most impressive and fully-realized example of said fearlessness and vision, not in experimentation for its own sake, but experimentation that felt so organic and necessary. This is another album that should be listened to front-to-back in its entirety, especially as it evolves in essentially three movements. The first portion of the record is fairly straight-forward and often tongue-in-cheek pop, whereas the conclusion explores what happens when contemporary bubble gum pop, 1950s and 60s girl-pop, and metal are brought into wildly-successful synthesis. In the middle, Poppy’s post-human android musings, futuristic synths, and other genre blending pays similar dividends, taking us from pre-guillotine ballrooms to apocalyptic ones, from the mad scientist’s laboratory to outer space.

2. Don Broco-Technology (2018)

Don Broco started out doing a kind of new wave-infused alternative rock style and some metalcore-ish stuff like "Thug Workout," crafted a pop rock masterpiece in Priorities under-pinned by its rhythmic muscle, and then dropped the slicker but also first-rate Automatic, an album that also found the band continuing to push their sonic horizons outward such as in the arena rock "Money Power Fame," the Hootie and the Blowfish-like "Further," the incorporation of electronic textures, and more. Not necessarily a radical departure from Priorities, but further evidence the band, like sharks, can’t stop in one place—and that’s a good thing, as Technology arrived and while still being clearly Broco accelerated the experimentation. Whether it’s the sludge-pop of "Technology," the funk-rock of "Greatness," or the pop songcraft of "Come Out to LA," this album is a genre-bending ride executed to perfection. And another thing: this band can write hooks. They are on the shortlist for the best and most interesting bands in rock today, not dissimilar to new labelmates Ocean Grove or countrymen Bring Me the Horizon in their ability to not just combine and explore different sounds, but have the results be so consistently organic, interesting, and memorable.

1. Young Guns-Bones (2012)

I could’ve picked their debut or follow-up to Bones as well. I settled on Bones more for nostalgia reasons as the final differentiator, as each of those first three records is equally excellent, and even 2016’s Echoes has some top-tier songs on it. Ones and Zeroes explored the addition of more electronic elements and All Our Kings Are Dead has more of a harder edge to it and the drumming in particular feels more "core." Still, Young Guns are a rock band through and through and a great one at that. Their melodies soar, the vocals suit the music perfectly, and the heart and passion add an extra intangible "something" to the songs that further elevate them, sort of like a rock version of the Bouncing Souls in that way. Many of the songs on here are stadium-ready, but they also shine when they go more meditative, such as on "Dearly Departed" and "You Are Not." Young Guns is everything I look for in a rock band.

TOP FIVE ALBUMS OF THE 20s (so far)

Over the last half-decade or so, the evolving trend seems to be artists emphasizing releasing their material in the form of standalone singles or EPs much more than full-lengths, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing, especially if the alternative is putting out maybe a handful of good songs and a lot of filler. Plus, fans rarely want to wait years between releases anyway, and this often shrinks that wait-time. Albums really should be reserved for artists simply having that many killer tracks and/or wishing to express themselves in longer form where they find that creatively necessary, be it for sonic, narrative, and/or other reasons. The de-emphasis on full-lengths and embrace of the EP and/or single especially has been uneven across and even within different genres and by different artists, and consequently I found as I started creating my list of candidates, the results were sometimes totally expected, but at other times surprising. An example of a band embracing the spectrum of release options would be Spiritbox, where although their full-length Eternal Blue (2021) is excellent, I actually think some of their best material comes from "beyond the LP," such as "Rotoscope" (2022) and "Cobra (Rock Remix)" with Megan Thee Stallion (2023). Having said that, I thought it would be an interesting exercise to consider those instances where a full-length bucked the trend and was not just appropriate but necessary.

I decided to zoom out and reflect more broadly on the decade so far and what in my humble opinion have been the very best albums released to date. The working criteria for the list came down to a highly-unscientific formula of which albums had the best songs, as you might well expect, but also which flowed best and were most cohesive and complete front-to-back. I also considered the nebulous factor of "artistic accomplishment," and the final differentiator, after a recommendation from a close friend during a conversation about the list, which ones did I come back to most often. We’ll take a look at some of the albums that were ultimately just out of the top five, and then the top five (which is really a top six) itself.

I only have three more things to say: "God bless our troops. God bless America. And gentlemen, start your engines!"

Bilmuri-AMERICAN MOTOR SPORTS (2024)

Squats, Farquad haircuts, and Americana, Johnny Franck has embraced the aesthetic of "your dad, but edgy" while sharpening Bilmuri’s sound into the bleeding edge of pop- and emo-infused country-core on the hook-laden LP AMERICAN MOTOR SPORTS. It is indeed an awesome ride.

Four Year Strong-Brain Pain (2020)

Four Year Strong have never been shy about their love of the 90s—indeed, their 2009 album Explains It All was entirely 90s covers! With Brain Pain, though, they really leaned in to those touchstones for their originals, and it paid massive dividends. For a band that belongs on the Mount Rushmore of easycore, their ability to write insanely catchy songs has never been in question, but what’s different here is their ability to combine those sensibilities with their 90s rock ones, while also further accentuating their punk and hardcore influences, resulting in a unique combination I call "90s-rock-core." The heavy lyrical nod to The Verve on "Usefully Useless" was further explored with the release of their excellent cover of "Bitter Sweet Symphony" the year after (included as a bonus track on the deluxe edition). As a child of the 90s, there is certainly a nostalgia factor here for me, but rather than the album being a walk down memory lane—and in some ways it is that both for reviewer and band—the combination of influences resulted in an album that is a nod to the past but is also fresh and distinctive. These guys are such good songwriters; there are a lot of deceptively intricate moments on the record that add depth. Some of the highlights of Brain Pain would be the really interesting breakdown at the end of "It’s Cool," the heavy 90s vibes of "Get Out of My Head" and "Usefully Useless," and the perfect synergy of hardcore aggression, 90s rock, and pop punk of "Crazy Pills."

Superlove-follow:noise (2023)

My closest comp for follow:noise is, perhaps strangely, Andrew W.K.’s relentlessly upbeat 2001 record I Get Wet in its "jam everything up to eleven and largely keep it there" nature, in the best way possible. Take a little of the euphonic Heart of Gold, some Don Broco, and shades of Republica and blend them with djentified pop-punk and you get easycore for the future? However you want to characterize the sound of Superlove, it’s all their own. The incredibly catchy, sugary-sweet songwriting on this record makes almost every track feel like a singalong hit single, yet those moments where the band eases their collective foot off the gas shine in their own right. The songcraft here, particularly the pop elements, is exquisite. Consequently, I’ve had this record on repeat consistently since its release.

Heart of Gold-Beautiful Dangerous (2022)

Speaking of pop songcraft…my goodness, this album is it. Beautiful Dangerous is an exceptional record awash in gorgeous atmosphere and a sound that recalls aspects of Rituals-era Deaf Havana, Superlove, the poppier elements of Bilmuri, or in the case of songs such as the post-emo pop of "September Sunburn" what Emarosa did on Sting (which came later—this is offered as a point of comparison). Indeed, all of these reference points are presented merely as touchstones to orient the would-be listener regarding this distinctive and lushly-textured offering. It’s got all the feels and all the right moves.

Diamond Construct-Angel Killer Zero (2024)

For more on "metal trap" titans Diamond Construct’s Angel Killer Zero, see my full review here, but in a nutshell: it sounds like the Matrix falling apart in a glitchy, earth-shakingly heavy manner. If Darko US is Emmure for the Space Age and Gideon’s concealed carry-core is Emmure for south of the Mason-Dixon, then Diamond Construct is Emmure for doomed digital dystopias.

Enter Shikari-Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible (2020)

This is an example of an album that is: a) representative of the "Covid sound," b) a cohesive whole that is best listened to in its entirety, with its remix-like track variations and classical music-like movements enriching the overall experience, and c) a masterclass in intricate and textured songwriting that incorporates a wide variety of influences in a wholly organic manner. Having said that, there are still numerous stand-out tracks to highlight, including the dark rave-core of "T.I.N.A.," the 90s Britpop/rock of "Modern Living," the delicate and soaring "Satellites," or the super catchy tandem of "Crossing the Rubicon" and "The Dreamer’s Hotel."

TOP FIVE

5. Don Broco-Amazing Things (2021)

Speaking of intricate and textured songwriting that incorporates a wide variety of influences in a wholly organic manner, we arrive at Don Broco’s amazing Amazing Things. Don Broco never stays in one place in terms of genre-bending and experimentation, and yet they always have maintained their own distinct sound, not an easy accomplishment by any means. They’ve also always had a knack for writing hooks and this album is just saturated in them. There are the more obvious and high energy bangers like "Bruce Willis" (where vocalist Rob Damiani does his best Right Said Fred impression, with one of the most advanced music videos of all time to boot) or the Rage Against the Machine-"Bulls on Parade"-esque riff of "Revenge Body," there are the more "vibe-y" tracks like the outstanding Deftones-influenced "One True Prince," and there are others that require more patience from the listener as they unfold, but ultimately are just as if not more rewarding, such as "How Are You Done with Existing?" and "Anaheim." Some of the more creative tracks on the record include the Caviar-"Tangerine Speedo" meets Deftones of "Swimwear Season" and the back-and-forth between something I feel like I would’ve heard in a posh hotel’s elevator like fifty years ago with Limp Bizkit before segueing into a pissed-off and funky nursery rhyme-esque taunt in "Bad 4 Ur Health." "Easter Sunday" is a gorgeous but emotionally difficult to listen to closer, which with the above examples speaks to the band’s ability to evoke deep emotional resonance in the listener as well as explore and combine different sounds and create different soundscapes at an elite level.

4. (Tie) Bring Me the Horizon-Post Human: Survival Horror (2020) and Post Human: NeX GEn (2024)

Okay, I cheated a little here: Post Human: Survival Horror is technically an EP, but with nine songs, a run-time over a half an hour, and being a cohesive piece of art that tells a story, flows seamlessly, and is "all killer, no filler," I had Anthony Bourdain-No Reservations about putting this offering on the list. It was a much heavier left turn than fans had any reason to expect, and officially signaled that BMTH could now do anything—they weren’t just continuing to trend in a lighter direction (albeit a direction on a record like Amo that had many surprises and delights). Here, the band pulls from Mick Gordon, nü metal (more specifically Linkin Park), and their own heavy past—and, indeed, parts of their recent, more subdued past. "One Day the Only Butterflies Left Will Be in Your Chest as You March Towards Your Death" with Amy Lee is one of the most powerful songs they’ve written. Bring Me the Horizon are The Clash of modern metalcore, insofar as they can be called metalcore.

Linked in the series but also tied in quality, these two records from BMTH showcase a band at the height of their powers. Whereas Survival Horror was more of the global apocalypse/dystopia, NeX GEn is more of the internal one. Granted a song like "YOUtopia" carries in it a more hopeful note, but the album is mostly predominated by struggling with and looking at the dark side of mental health and addiction. That beauty and pain—often inextricably intertwined—is part of what makes NeX GEn such a resonant record, along with the exceptional songwriting that mines some hyperpop and post-hardcore, but especially emo. Indeed, frontman Oli Sykes has talked about songs like "Die4U" as part of his vision for "future emo," and that definitely comes through. A cohesive project packed with standout singles as well, songs like "Die4U" and "R.i.p. (duskCOre Remix)" evidence, to quote Tom Ewing talking about Azealia Banks’s "212," "details and decisions that suggest a scary degree of pop talent." Indeed, this band’s ability to write what are fundamentally Top 40 pop hits (or should be hits) with this degree of consistency and with this strike rate—not just on this album but across multiple records—is rare and impressive enough in its own right, but to have said songs hybridized in the fashion they have with other genres and influences while constantly evolving their sound puts Bring Me the Horizon in a truly elite, all-time tier.

3. Electric Callboy-Tekkno (2022)

Elite, pop-sensibility songwriting that as above with Superlove makes almost every song on this album feel like a hit single. No band does it quite like these guys with their vision, their humor, and their ability to blend Europop (or schlager) with punishing metalcore. Along with "Hypa Hypa" and that EP, Tekkno signaled a massive leveling-up for the band. The replayability factor here is the big one.

2. Beartooth-The Surface (2023)

This is really more like number 1B, and honestly I kept going back and forth between it and the album that wound up at number one (or 1A), which we’ll discuss shortly. You can read my deep dive on it here, but put simply, The Surface is a monumental achievement that took all the best attributes of Beartooth and amplified them dramatically while adding some new wrinkles. It is an exceptional record front-to-back that follows a compelling real-life narrative about recovery and growth, a narrative that in a lot of ways speaks to me on a deep personal level.

1. Ocean Grove-Flip Phone Fantasy (2020)

Here we find ourselves on an alternate timeline in the time-slipped universe of pre-Y2K meets 2020 Oddworld, where Ocean Grove deliver this elite alliterative set of retro-futurist tunes on dial-up: "As we move into 2020 / Visions of the past
/ That obscure fast / Elementary. Blast! Yeah, the future sent me." Whether it’s the 90s funk rock style of the anthemic "Ask for the Anthem," the 24 Hour Party People style of "Guys from the Gord," the "All Apologies" of Nirvana meets a dreamy afternoon on the beach of "Sunny," or the straight hardcore meets surf rock of "Neo" that prove The Matrix may have been on to something by calling 1999 the peak of human civilization, Flip Phone Fantasy delivers on all fronts. Elsewhere the band explores other areas of and often combines 90s alternative rock, the Manchester Sound, hip-hop, bouncy nü metal, and metalcore. "Junkie$" and "Thousand Golden People" are album highlights and both microcosms of this synthesis in different proportions. A great record by a unique band exploring a sound all their own.

TOP FIVE ALBUMS IF RELEASED TODAY WOULD MAKE HARDCORE KIDS LOSE THEIR MINDS

For decades now, the hardcore scene has been selectively mining metal for inspiration, whether it’s chugs and breakdowns or the groove of Earth Crisis and their as Finn McKenty describes it "Pantera without guitar solos." Even though metal and hardcore fanbases generally did not overlap to much of an extent until more recently, even back in the 1980s plenty of bands were dabbling in, hybridizing with, or even going full metal (and of course the influences went the other way from punk and hardcore to metal as well). Indeed, the creation of entirely new genres as offshoots of hardcore in metalcore and deathcore, for example, owes itself to the hybridization with metal. There’s been a ton of blurring at the edges of the genre to the point where it’s not entirely clear quite where some of these heavy bands sit exactly, and frankly that’s perfectly fine as far as I’m concerned, as I would hate for the genre to become stagnant and I love hearing fresh sounds. There’s certainly nothing wrong with a tried-and-true template well-executed, either, but it is always interesting to see how trends evolve and what from the past is given more or less currency at a given time.

Currently, I would say no band has a larger fingerprint on modern hardcore than Merauder, themselves pretty clearly heavily influenced by metal. In fact, one of their first big tours came in opening up for Fear Factory, whose 1995 album Demanufacture I seriously considered putting on this list with how influential those chunky, syncopated riffs have been. To that point, we’re looking primarily at bands from outside the hardcore world whose sounds have become so influential within modern hardcore that were they to release one of these albums below today, would blow up and be one of the most hyped bands on the scene. For example, if it was 2014 and Entombed’s Wolverine Blues dropped, they would’ve set the scene on fire. Today, these are my top five selections for albums from the past, predominantly from the metal world, that given the current trends in hardcore (and adjacent genres in some cases), if they were released today would have kids absolutely losing their minds.

5. Machine Head-Burn My Eyes (1994)

When I hear a song like "Davidian," it honestly feels like a snapshot of a particular subset of today’s hardcore scene. I could totally see a band like Momentum taking these little whipper-snappers in Machine Head out on tour and the crowd just losing it!

4. (Tie) Meshuggah-Nothing (2002) and Linkin Park-Hybrid Theory (2000)

The face on the cover of Nothing had to have been that of the guys in After the Burial when they heard Meshuggah for the first time (and my face after I heard After the Burial for the first time). To be fair, I probably could’ve picked any of a couple Meshuggah albums here, but I feel like this is the one that really planted the djent seed that would bloom into that first cohort of djentcore bands. This one is less about the hardcore scene proper than its metal offshoots—today’s brand of metalcore especially. If Helen of Troy was the face that launched a thousand ships, this combination would be the one that launched a thousand modern metalcore bands.

3. Obituary-Cause of Death (1990)

This one works two ways—loads of "hardcore kids" playing in old school death metal revival bands and loads of hardcore bands incorporating aspects of old school death metal. There were a few options here, but anecdotally Obituary is the name I hear referenced most often. I also apropos of nothing hardcore-related wanted to share this extremely advanced story of how Obituary drummer Donald Tardy came to play on Andrew W.K.’s first album I Get Wet, excerpted from Phillip Crandall’s 33 1/3 I Get Wet book:

"[Andrew] wrote me a letter in pencil when he was 19 or something," Donald Tardy remembers. "He said, 'I love Obituary, you're one of my favorite drummers, and I would love to see if you would be interested in helping do my album.' He sent me the Girls Own Juice EP, and of course I was blown away by it."…Hearing Andrew's music…convinced him he'd be up for the "fun challenge." He agreed to be in Andrew's band…and was given the task of putting the rest of the band and crew together.

2. Monsters-Self-Titled (2011)

Tell me fans of bands like Ten56. wouldn’t go completely nuts for this if it came out today with slightly punchier production. That said, this is not Monsters’ best—that honor goes to 2009 EP The Righteous Dead, at minimum one of the top three deathcore releases of all time. So much bounce and groove—if you like your deathcore hoppy, The Righteous Dead is truly the Holy Grail. I just see the style of the self-titled album with more hip-hop and nü metal influences finding a warmer contemporary reception.

1. Urban Dance Squad-Mental Floss for the Globe (1989/1990)

This one’s more for the Turnstile set. Honorable mention in a similar vein would be a band like Orange 9mm (although they were very much a product of the hardcore scene, which isn’t necessarily in keeping with the spirit of the list, but I digress), who walked so a Trapped Under Ice side project could not just run but eventually transcend the genre altogether and become one of the biggest hardcore bands of our time. Pretty wild. In any case, between this sound and this aesthetic, throw Urban Dance Squad on the bill at a Turnstile homecoming show in Baltimore right after nightlife. and watch the crowd go off.

TOP FIVE PURE NOISE RECORDS RELEASES

Pure Noise might be a relatively young label, but it quickly became—and remains—one of the best on the scene today, with a stacked roster currently featuring artists such as SeeYouSpaceCowboy, Koyo, Bloom, the Bouncing Souls, UNITYTX, Year of the Knife, ‘68, the Amity Affliction, and more! On this Top Five, we consider (using the highly subjective metric of my taste, as pretty much always) the very best full-length albums Pure Noise has released since its inception. Without further ado…

5. State Champs-The Finer Things (2013)

Narrowly edging-out Four Year Strong’s fantastic self-titled 2015 offering, this is to me the peak of the pizza, friends, and floral print era of pop punk. Youthful exuberance and passion meets crisp songwriting packed with hooks. If I were to make a Top Five for my favorite pop punk albums of all time, this would at minimum be in the conversation for Honorable Mentions.

4. Terror-Pain Into Power (2022)

Terror is for me tied with Hatebreed as the greatest hardcore band of all time. Vocalist Scott Vogel has been in the game a long time and he sounds as pissed as ever here. The band’s streamlined approach with less than half of the songs even cracking two minutes in length means we’re in, we’re out, and it’s all killer no filler. Songs like "One Thousand Lies" stack up among their best; the recording quality is noticeably rough, but I feel like this was an intentional move along with the brevity of many of the songs, the songwriting itself, and black-and-white videos like "Pain Into Power" to evoke an earlier era of hardcore. It’s kind of like an OG mic drop.

3. Knocked Loose-Laugh Tracks (2016)

Two words: "ARF ARF!" and things were never the same. 2014’s Pop Culture EP had already created a ton of buzz for this band, and when I saw them live for the first time around when this album came out along with Eternal Sleep and Harms Way opening for Every Time I Die in Portland, Maine, the crowd was going absolutely berserk. I haven’t seen too many crowd reactions that fervent in almost twenty years of going to hardcore shows (Foundation’s set on one of the last dates of Have Heart’s farewell tour in I think Massachusetts with Cruel Hand and Crime In Stereo, and Harms Way themselves one of the last years of Warped Tour are two others that come to mind—where and when I don’t remember, I want to say Hartford, Connecticut?). Bryan Garris’s high-pitched and frenzied, nervous-breakdown-like vocals are an acquired taste for some, but in contrast with the death metal-inspired backing vocals paired with insanely heavy music is a lethal combination that’s continued to catapult this band to the A-list of hardcore and beyond. Really any of their full-lengths could’ve gone here, but if I had to pick one the jump from the already-good Pop Culture, the more memorable songs, and the freshness of their sound here makes Laugh Tracks my pick.

2. Four Year Strong-Brain Pain (2020)

Spoiler alert: I will go into more detail about this album on my Top Five Albums of the 20s (so far) in the Honorable Mentions, but this is an excellent record full of standout songs that in some ways continued in the direction of Four Year Strong’s post-In Some Way, Shape, or Form re-birth while accentuating both their hardcore influences and the 90s alternative rock influences that had clearly always been a touch-stone for the band. As catchy as ever, but in said accentuation of these elements, a fresh new sound emerged that I call 90s Rock-core. The breakdown at the end of "It’s Cool" bears special note here as it is, indeed, very cool.

1. First Blood-Rules (2017)

The title says it all: First Blood does, indeed, rule. Typically I don’t care for sloganeering and being hammered over the head with politics in music, but somehow it’s a thing of beauty when First Blood does it. Sort of like Emmure, the rules don’t really apply to them (see what I did there?). The energy First Blood manages to capture in recording—aided by all of the gang vocals and said sloganeering functioning as call-outs—with just nasty breakdowns aplenty is consistently impressive for the band that self-identifies as "straight-forward metal-edged hardcore mosh." Peak camo cargo short hardcore, these guys are legends and one of my all-time favorite hardcore bands.

TOP FIVE UNDERRATED NEXT GEN RAPPERS

On this Top Five, I wanted to look at rappers I’ll call "Next Gen," which I’ll loosely define as those who are relatively new to the scene and/or are pushing the genre forward and are not getting the attention and credit they deserve for their talent and vision. One caveat: this is a Top Five specifically for rappers I haven’t talked to/about on the site yet; I could very easily have put Abstract Sekai, Shunaji, Poetical Nadz, Icykal, and Lil Tytan on this list. If you haven’t checked those interviews out yet, I encourage you to do so (and check out their music of course!). Without further ado…

5. Kamaiyah

We’ll start with the most established of this group in Kamaiyah, part of XXL’s 2017 Freshman Class. I would describe her style as a hybrid informed by hyphy, vintage Bay Area hip-hop like N2Deep, and Missy Elliott, but a style that is, indeed, all her own. I saw a comment on one of her videos describing her as having "subtle bangers," and that’s such an accurate descriptor for tracks like "How Does It Feel," where her ability is on full display with hooks for days, her silky-smooth flow floating over a tight neo-80s beat.

4. $atori Zoom

According to his website, "$atori Zoom has played fast and loose when it comes to genres, often incorporating elements of experimental rap, punk rock, goth, alternative, and hip-hop…Drawing influence and inspiration from the likes of Joy Division, XXXTENTACION, The Germs, Playboi Carti, and Radiohead, $atori Zoom has been able to craft a clear vision for his musical direction." Intensely forward-looking, Zoom aesthetically and sonically could sit comfortably next to say, Xavier Wulf and some of that modernized Memphis menace, or in the ballpark of a lot of the more interesting dark trap or trap metal, but he’s not staying seated in one spot for long.

3. Backxwash

What initially caught my eye with the Zambian-Canadian rapper and producer based in Montreal, Quebec was the intriguing aesthetic blend of black metal meets dark shamanic ritual meets Integrity, and the music proved to be equally intriguing and dark in its own right. There’s a bit of some of that early- to mid-2000s Epitaph Records alternative rap like Sage Francis in there, some Moor Mother, all sorts of at once expansive and oppressive soundscapes twisted through various tortured filters like horrorcore, metal, and more weaved into Backxwash’s hellscapes. A track like "Spells" mines Deftones pretty heavily with an Eminem-like flow, and yet it doesn’t sound at all as that description reads. I probably wouldn’t listen to any Backxwash if you’re in a good mood or want to get in one.

2. Jujulipps

Born and raised in South Africa and now based in New Zealand, Jujulipps’s bombastic, fun, and flexible approach borrows influence from artists like Keikeli47 and Rico Nasty; a track like "Airplane Mode" feels like something Moonchild Sanelly might write. Exceptionally talented with a unique vision, Jujulipps is only just scratching the surface and it’s already this good.

1. Juice Menace

The brash and versatile Cardiff, Wales-based Juice Menace has such a seemingly-effortless flow and skilled delivery, exemplified on tracks like "24s," "Creepin" (my personal favorite Juice Menace cut), and the nightclub-ready "Pink Notes." Loads of attitude and obvious talent, it’s only a matter of time before she’s on the A-list of UK hip-hop.

TOP FIVE RAWKUS RECORDS RELEASES

For those that follow college sports, you’ll know that the Mountain West Conference, at least for basketball and football, is that one conference that isn’t considered Power Five but is consistently much more competitive than the other low- and mid-major conferences. For a time in the world of hip-hop labels, Rawkus Records was the Mountain West Conference, and can rightly be cited as the most influential label in underground hip-hop in the late-90s and early-2000s, as well as credited for breaking "backpack" rap into the mainstream. Here, we’ll reflect on this crucial juncture in hip-hop history by looking at the top five albums to be released on Rawkus during its late-90s and early-2000s heyday.

5. Company Flow-Funcrusher Plus (1997)

Edging out Pharoahe Monch’s Internal Affairs (1999), we have what is commonly-cited as one of the most important underground hip-hop releases of the 1990s in Funcrusher Plus. Featuring El-P (Run the Jewels, the Def Jux label), Bigg Jus, and Mr. Len, it’s an often off-kilter and unorthodox, lyrically proficient ride that in terms of production actually reminds me a lot of vintage Wu Tang with that kind of murky menace. Very influential on what came next in alternative, backpack, and underground hip-hop.

4. Talib Kweli-Quality (2002)

Buoyed by what became a pretty big breakout hit in 2003 in "Get By," produced by Kanye West, Quality was the long-delayed debut record from Talib Kweli. West also produced two other tracks on the album, as did perhaps my favorite producer of all time in J Dilla. "Shock Body" is probably my favorite cut on the record with Kweli spitting fire, that soaring almost movie-score-like beat by DJ Scratch, and the sweet counterpoint of the female vocals. One of the definitive backpack records of the era.

3. Mos Def-Black on Both Sides (1999)

In a lot of ways, this is Mos’s solo extension of Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star that had come out the year prior, dealing with many similar themes and featuring similar excellent production. "Ms Fat Booty" is humorous and masterful storytelling, and a song like "Mathematics" really showcases an MC at the peak of his powers. Another foundational album for the backpack scene.

2. Big L-The Big Picture (2000)

If not for the untimely death of Big L at the age of 24 in a drive-by shooting robbing rap of one of the most promising MCs of all time, Big L is probably Jay-Z. As Nas stated after hearing Big L, "He scared me to death. When I heard that on tape, I was scared to death. I said, 'Yo, it's no way I can compete if this is what I gotta compete with.'" Indeed, as Adam Fleischer writes, "His punchline-driven, multisyllabic rhyme style laid a blueprint for many that would come after L." You can hear that on this posthumous sophomore album on a song like "Ebonics," where he lyrically rips the track to pieces in the most seemingly effortless fashion. Jay-Z himself raved about Big L’s ability to write "big records, and big choruses" and was poised to sign L to Roc-a-Fella before his death. Killer album showcasing the elite talents of an underrated MC who, if you couldn’t tell, is also one of my all-times favorites.

1. Black Star-Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star (1998)

Not only did this record have a seismic impact on hip-hop, it is packed with first-rate lyricism, great beats, and brother-like chemistry between Mos Def and Talib Kweli. In stark contrast to the glorification of violence and "that life" in mainstream rap, while not as militantly as Dead Prez, the duo instead took a much more socially- and identity-conscious approach to their material, as the name "Black Star" after Marcus Garvey’s Black Star Line would also indicate. Very much rooted in the tradition of KRS-One/Boogie Down Productions, it was a seminal record that paid homage to hip-hop’s roots while also looking forward. I regard Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star as a classic and one of the best hip-hop albums of the 90s, in a lot of ways the underground hip-hop analog to Lauryn Hill’s The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill from that same year.

TOP FIVE RAPPERS OF ALL TIME DRAFT

Poetical Nadz returns to talk about her new song and for a draft of our top five rappers of all time! Who will be the top picks? Find out below.

TOP FIVE EQUAL VISION RECORDS RELEASES

Founded by Ray Cappo (Youth of Today, Shelter) in the early 1990s primarily as an outlet for Krishnacore, Equal Vision has gone on to become a legendary label not just in hardcore, but beyond, starting in the late 90s with emo (Saves the Day) and metalcore (Converge), into the mid-2000s when the label was at the forefront of the post-hardcore explosion, down to today, where they remain as relevant as ever. A look through their back catalogue reveals a veritable who’s who in numerous bands that are on the A-list of their respective genres. Here we consider the Top Five of Equal Vision Records, truly spoiled for choice, with my taste per usual the "finger on the scale."

5. Gideon-MORE POWER. MORE PAIN. (2023)

Firmly embracing their Southern roots, this extremely hard-hitting record follows the narrative arc of a Hank Williams, Jr. interview about his life and struggles with expectations, mental health, and fitting into a pre-determined image of who he should be, with excerpts from the interview speaking to the themes of the songs they come before or after. Given the band’s emergence in the Christian metalcore scene and now having essentially walked away from that, although I don’t know the members of the band personally, I can imagine many of the experiences Williams describe mirror those of Gideon, and that was in large part why it was chosen to help form the backbone of the record’s narrative. The music itself is punishing at every turn. "Take Off" is an absolute banger that heavily mines Korn, where elsewhere the band looks to more of a For the Fallen Dreams sound ("If You Love Me, Let Me Go" for example). I look at this album as the sonic culmination of the different eras of Gideon, while they publicly declare they’ll be walking their own path, thank you very much.

4. Glass Cloud-The Royal Thousand (2012)

These guys were too far ahead of the curve to get the full credit they deserved. There’s some djent and prog mixed into the concrete of the foundation of post-hardcore meets metalcore. This album still sounds like the future, combining dreamy melodicism with insane heaviness in a unique fashion that has yet to be—and probably won’t be—replicated. Vocalist Jerry Roush does his best Jekyll and Hyde, with his clean singing and his screaming that sounds like a feral animal simultaneously trying to climb out of its own skin and scrape its way out of a cage by any means necessary, while the guitar work from Joshua Travis (The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza, Emmure—he also produced the album) is as usual superb and always interesting. The whole unit is firing on all cylinders here, in fact. The lifespan of Glass Cloud was far too short, and leaves us with a "what could have been?"

3. Converge-Jane Doe (2001)

Speaking of feral animals on the mic, we arrive at the seminal Jane Doe from Massachusetts’s Converge. Equal parts raw and intricate, expansive and explosive, Jane Doe is at once a definitive metalcore record and much more than that. To me, this is the album where Converge becomes Converge. The ambition and scope are impressive, as is the pure, distilled savagery exemplified on tracks like "Concubine." Complete auditory mayhem meets surgical precision, Jane Doe is, like Dillinger Escape Plan’s Calculating Infinity, one of those records that crystallized the innovation in heavy music in the 1990s and blew the doors off what was thought possible in the "core" equivalents of Roger Bannister’s four-minute mile.

2. American Nightmare-Background Music (2001)

Another legendary band from the Massachusetts hardcore scene, no one has done this style of hardcore better than American Nightmare. I have a soft spot for this band as one of the first to make me fall in love with hardcore, and therefore while it isn’t as innovative as the one above I gave such gushing praise to, it has to go here for me. Just because it isn’t reinventing the wheel doesn’t mean it isn’t an exceptional album, though. Emotionally wrought and lyrically powerful, American Nightmare (who went by Give Up the Ghost for some time after legal struggles with another band of the same name forced them to change it) are firing on all cylinders here, led by vocalist Wes Eisold’s pen and torn throat screaming. One of those bands like Have Heart and Killing the Dream that inspired such fiercely-loyal passion from their fans as it felt like every fiber of the band’s being went into these songs.

1. Saves the Day-Through Being Cool (1999)

A little before my time in terms of where I was at in getting into alternative music (I was eleven when this came out), but my understanding is that this album had a seismic impact on the scene and was instrumental in bringing large numbers of fans into contact with the more abrasive sounds and images of labelmates and contemporaries. Particularly for their demographic, the lyrics and the "feels" were very relatable, and also crucially the songwriting on this album is exquisite, with hooks for days. Quite possibly the best emo album of all time.

TOP FIVE HE IS LEGEND ALBUMS

He Is Legend is a band that’s truly done things their own way, and we are all the better for it. Their willingness to experiment and continue to evolve their sound over their multi-decade career has produced consistently-excellent results and numerous delightful surprises. On this Top Five, we’ll take a look at the impressive and diverse catalogue of the seminal Wilmington, North Carolina band.

5. Few (2017)

He Is Legend really leaned into the 90s alternative rock on this crowd-sourced LP; while not altogether abandoning their metalcore foundation, this is probably their least metal offering. The rule with He Is Legend is generally to expect the unexpected, and there are some twists and turns in here as well. As opposed to some of the other albums we’ll explore below, it is when they are at their most straight-forward this time around, though, that they are at their best. The first three songs—"Air Raid," "Sand," and "Beaufort"—are the strongest for me.

4. Endless Hallway (2022)

Endless Hallway has much more of a modern metalcore, djent-inspired riffing approach, the other side of the coin to their first full-length I Am Hollywood and what was for that time a modern metalcore approach. The bouncier "Time’s Fake" and the soaring melody about half-way through "Circus Circus" are particular highlights here, but the entire LP is strong.

3. Suck Out the Poison (2006)

This was the band’s first left turn, and it alienated a lot of their core fans. It was, however, a massive leveling-up as He Is Legend played more to their rootsier rock n roll strengths and vocalist Schuyler Croom’s whiskey-and-gravel singing, in this case going all-in on the Southern-fried sound that was sweeping metalcore at that time. This is to me a top-three Southern metalcore album, a masterwork of this flavor of the genre (you can check out the Southern metalcore albums draft here where we go deep into the sound). The record flows seamlessly front-to-back with no skips and is one of what I would say are three classic albums in their catalogue. There are riffs for days on this one—not riff salad, either, but rather killer riffs in the service of catchy and memorable songs that have a true rock n roll sensibility. There is also some dabbling in experimentation, particularly in terms of adding a certain atmosphere or "vibe" if you will to the proceedings.

2. White Bat (2019)

White Bat felt like it came out of left field after Heavy Fruit and Few when it seemed like He Is Legend was becoming more or less a straight rock band. The opening track "White Bat" quickly disabuses the listener of that notion; throughout the album, the strategic incorporation of that heaviness adds a dimension to what is also some of the band’s most melodic song-writing (see: "Skin So Soft" for example). Like Suck Out the Poison, this is a record that runs front to back with no skips and, indeed, is best enjoyed in that manner. It also re-visits the strange lyrical preoccupation with eye teeth (sort of like Clutch with the dogs), exemplifying the often twisted humor that is a recurrent feature on the band’s albums. Whether at their loudest and heaviest ("Boogiewoman") or some of the quieter moments like "Uncanny Valley," this is a special album that showcases a band operating at the height of their powers. It’s really a kind of 1B to the next selection’s 1A.

1. It Hates You (2009)

This was not the album I wanted after Suck Out the Poison, and truthfully I did not like it at all at the time. I have, obviously, come around to appreciate what a masterpiece it is and it is a credit to the band that they did not simply do Suck Out the Poison 2.0, instead really experimenting with different elements and expanding their sonic palette dramatically. There are moments on this album that are as heavy as anything they’ve done, such as the ending of "Everyone I Know Has Fangs," and as catchy as anything they’ve done, such as "Cult of She." "That’s Nasty" is the best of both worlds, exploring melody while also being crushingly heavy, both aspects seamlessly integrated. Other highlights include the soulful female vocal counter-point to Croom’s vocals in "Party Time!," the uneasy atmosphere meets catchiness of "Future’s Bright Man," and the sonic sister track of "That’s Nasty" in album closer "Mean Shadow." It Hates You is a sonically mature and layered record that rewards the listener on repeat listens as well. I can’t say enough good things about not just the ambition but the contents and the execution. This and the two albums above especially showcase why He Is Legend is the "He" (or "they" more appropriately) in "He Is Legend." A great and criminally underappreciated band.

TOP FIVE BRING ME THE HORIZON ALBUMS

With the release of Post Human: NeX GEn, we will in this Top Five consider the broad-spanning discography of the (post-?) metalcore giants Bring Me the Horizon, a band that’s in rare air being as relevant as ever over two decades into their career, continuously setting the pace for the scene. So where does BMTH’s latest stack up, and what are my thoughts on it? Read on to find out.

5. Sempiternal (2013)

There Is a Hell… (not quite a Fiona Apple-level mouthful of a title, but it’s getting there) and Count Your Blessings, although a great entry in its own right in the then-brand new deathcore genre, just miss the cut for me here.

Sempiternal is great and so many metalcore bands have been chasing this sound for the last decade. Is there a "but"? Not really—this band’s catalogue is that good. Sempiternal shows no one to this day has done this style of metalcore better. There are still plenty of heavy moments on here, but the band expanded their use of the electronic textures they’d been exploring over the previous two records and really leaned into a more melodic sound. I’ll always remember the BBC playing a single off this record back when I was living in Wales, I am pretty sure it was "Shadow Moses," and fielding a call right after from a woman saying something to the effect of "Yeah, never play that again." A little too abrasive for her, I suppose, although at the time for some fans of the band it wasn’t considered abrasive enough.

4. Amo (2019)

Speaking of melodic, after going all-in on the arena rock/hard rock album That’s the Spirit, myself and probably many others assumed they were going to stay in Octane world. What a curveball this record was, and it shows how versatile and unafraid to explore different sounds—and nail them—this band has been throughout their career, despite often getting backlash from a vocal minority of fans. Essentially each album up to and past this point if you consider Music to Listen to… was getting less heavy, which the band trolls on the excellent "Heavy Metal" on this album ("I'm afraid you don't love me anymore / 'Cause a kid on the 'gram in a Black Dahlia tank / Says it ain't heavy metal"), also teasing that they still have it at the end of that track. Incorporating numerous different influences but with the pop aspect most pronounced here, Amo contains some of the band’s best songs, such as the gorgeous love song "Mother Tongue" and pop rock anthems like "Sugar Honey Ice & Tea," "Medicine," and "MANTRA." This is the album that cemented their status as a truly visionary act that could transcend the metalcore scene, in many ways a modern version of The Clash.

3. Post Human: NeX GEn (2024)

This is really a tie with our next selection, and not just because they’re already explicitly-linked. It’s so rare to find a band this deep into their career still sounding this fresh and on top of their game. Many of the Post Human touchstones are present here, although the source material this time around looks more into emo especially and post-hardcore, as well as some hyperpop. The soaring "Top 10 Statues That Cried Blood" is one of the band’s best songs to date, a mental health 2024 "Tears Don’t Fall" with an S-tier chorus. "n/A" is another, its gallows humor underscored by the contrast with the core-ified sunny singalong Marcy’s Playground "Sex and Candy" meets Oasis. Sequencing that track with "LosT" (which I discuss here) is a stroke of genius. Other highlights include the Bieber-core of "Die4U," the full-Deftones of "Limousine" with Aurora, and the Deftones-meets-emo of the gorgeous, deeply personal yet anthemic "YOUtopia."

Whereas our next selection is more global and dystopian in orientation, this one is much more personal, though in many ways no less dark and apocalyptic. Having said that, there are also silver linings as frontman Oli Sykes sings at the beginning of "YOUtopia": "There's a place I wanna take you / But I’m not quite there myself yet / I'm getting better but there's still days / Where I wish that I was someone else." The record centers on all the ways pain can drive someone to escape themselves while simultaneously yearning for something better. In synching with not just "YOUtopia" but songs reaching into BMTH’s back catalogue like "MANTRA," I was reminded of this passage from David Hawkins, MD, PhD’s book Letting Go (this is a long excerpt but I think a necessary one for context not just with this particular song and record, but for the lyrical journey we’ve seen from Sykes over the last couple albums):

When upset, you go to a doctor or psychiatrist, an analyst, a social worker, or an astrologer. You take up religion, get philosophy, take the Erhard Seminars Training (est), tap yourself with EFT. You get your chakras balanced, try some reflexology, go for ear acupuncture, do iridology, get healed with lights and crystals. You meditate, chant a mantra, drink green tea, try the Pentecostals, breathe in fire, and speak in tongues. You get centered, learn NLP, try actualizations, work on visualizations, study psychology, join a Jungian group. You get Rolfed, try psychedelics, get a psychic reading, jog, jazzercise, have colonics, get into nutrition and aerobics, hang upside down, wear psychic jewelry. Get more insight, bio-feedback, Gestalt therapy. You see your homeopath, chiropractor, naturopath. You try kinesiology, discover your Enneagram type, get your meridians balanced, join a consciousness-raising group, take tranquilizers. You get some hormone shots, try cell salts, have your minerals balanced, pray, implore, and beseech. You learn astral projection. Become a vegetarian. Eat only cabbage. Try macrobiotics, go organic, eat no GMO. Meet up with Native American medicine men, do a sweat lodge. Try Chinese herbs, moxicombustion, shiatsu, acupressure, feng shui. You go to India. Find a new guru. Take off your clothes. Swim in the Ganges. Stare at the sun. Shave your head. Eat with your fingers, get really messy, shower in cold water. Sing tribal chants. Relive past lives. Try hypnotic regression. Scream a primal scream. Punch pillows. Get Feldenkraised. Join a marriage encounter group. Go to Unity. Write affirmations. Make a vision board. Get re-birthed. Cast the I Ching. Do the Tarot cards. Study Zen. Take more courses and workshops. Read lots of books. Do transactional analysis. Get yoga lessons. Get into the occult. Study magic. Work with a kahuna. Take a shamanic journey. Sit under a pyramid. Read Nostradamus. Prepare for the worst. Go on a retreat. Try fasting. Take amino acids. Get a negative ion generator. Join a mystery school. Learn a secret handshake. Try toning. Try color therapy. Try subliminal tapes. Take brain enzymes, antidepressants, flower remedies. Go to health spas. Cook with exotic ingredients. Look into strange fermented oddities from faraway places. Go to Tibet. Hunt up holy men. Hold hands in a circle and get high. Renounce sex and going to the movies. Wear some yellow robes. Join a cult. Try the endless varieties of psychotherapy. Take wonder drugs. Subscribe to lots of journals. Try the Pritikin diet. Eat just grapefruit. Get your palm read. Think New Age thought. Improve the ecology. Save the planet. Get an aura reading. Carry a crystal. Get a Hindu sidereal astrological interpretation. Visit a transmedium. Go for sex therapy. Try Tantric sex. Get blessed by Baba Somebody. Join an anonymous group. Travel to Lourdes. Soak in the hot springs. Join Arica. Wear therapeutic sandals. Get grounded. Get more prana and breathe out that stale black negativity. Try golden needle acupuncture. Check out snake gallbladders. Try chakra breathing. Get your aura cleaned. Meditate in Cheops, the great pyramid in Egypt. You and your friends have tried all of the above, you say? Oh, the human! You wonderful creature! Tragic, comic and yet so noble! Such courage to keep on searching! What drives us to keep looking for an answer? Suffering? Oh, yes. Hope? Certainly. But there is something more than that. Intuitively, we know that somewhere there is an ultimate answer. We stumble down dark byways into cul-de-sacs and blind alleys; we get exploited and taken, disillusioned, fed up, and we keep on trying. Where is our blind spot? Why can’t we find the answer?

What does Hawkins say? "We don’t understand the problem; that’s why we can’t find the answer…Maybe the solution is not 'out there,' and that’s why we can’t find it." As Dr. Fran Grace writes in that book’s Foreword: "We learn that the answer to the problems we face is within us…This is the universal message of every great teacher, sage, and saint: ‘The kingdom of heaven is within you.’ Dr. Hawkins says frequently, ‘What you are seeking is not different from your very own Self.’" Now consider this in light of "YOUtopia": "There is a home, somewhere / Beyond my bones / And I'm just too terrified / To dive inside / Soul like a cemetery / Hard to ignore, we're sick to the core / A world's been buried / Where love is the law, a youtopia… / There is a home / Beyond our bones / So connect to the Divine." The higher self, love—including crucially self-love—and even the Divine isn’t somewhere outside oneself, but rather buried underneath all that pain and hurt, there, on the inside.

Sykes’s struggles with addiction and mental health topically dominate the record: there is hope, but there’s also lots of pain and anguish, much more on the latter side of the balance sheet. "Dig It," the album’s closer, most explicitly straddles both Post Human albums, and if "YOUtopia" provides that sliver of hope, "Dig It" throws dirt on the grave: "'Cause the world is a scary place, scary future, scary fate / Thought the pain would teach me somehow / But the only thing I figured out is life is a grave." It’s an often-difficult record to listen to from that perspective, steeped as it is in references to addiction, suicide, trauma, death, and despair. I guess selfishly I would’ve preferred a different, more hopeful ending where they brought things full circle, but it’s not my art and it’s not my story.

2. Post Human: Survival Horror (2020)

Post Human: Survival Horror is technically an EP, but it’s really got all of the characteristics of a full-length, so I decided to cheat and include it, and for good reason: it’s one of the best albums, regardless of genre, to come out this decade. Another left turn from the band, as I mentioned above they appeared to be on a trajectory where the heaviness was just about totally in the rearview. Not here, as songs like "Kingslayer" (that breakdown, my goodness—pairing that and the savagery of Sykes’s vocals with the sweet-singing of Babymetal is a chef’s kiss moment) and "Dear Diary," evidence. With tall glasses of Linkin Park and Mick Gordon to go with the band’s consistent willingness to experiment, the results were and are exceptional. S-tier choruses proliferate, the project is a cohesive whole that synched with the fear the world was feeling at the height of COVID, and as usual the production was excellent. The band intelligently sourced their collaborations for this one to bring out the best in the material.

1. Suicide Season (2008)

Suicide Season is basically the scene ideal, its Michelangelo’s David. It’s Breakdown City, party metal for deathcore and scene kids. Just as they were some of the earliest practitioners of deathcore and afterward have remained a good two to three years ahead of the scene, they were already incorporating some of the kinds of electronic elements that are now a staple in metalcore here. The production is also insanely crisp. Hooks for days, great atmosphere, an all-time classic in "Chelsea Smile" (see if you can spot the Cancer Bats cameo in the video)…along with Architects’ Hollow Crown, this album set a new high bar during what was the best two-year stretch of heavy music in the "core" arena ever. That’s saying something.

THE SOUTHERN METALCORE ALBUMS DRAFT

Colin and Jacob go head-to-head drafting their top Southern metalcore albums in this expanded edition of the draft series!

A specially-curated playlist of choice cuts from the top picks (minus Von Wolfe who don't seem to be on Spotify) for context/your listening pleasure: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5z8EVMTn6LN4ryR7XXRHDb?si=4c3fe4961b94468b

THE METALCORE BANDS DRAFT

The spirit of competition lives! Matt Burridge from pulses. joins to square off against Jacob as each drafts their favorite current metalcore bands!

The pulses. interview from February: https://www.theangelsshare.world/interviews/pulses

https://pulsesva.com/

https://www.instagram.com/pulsesva/

https://pulses.bandcamp.com/

THE DEATHWISH, INC. RELEASES DRAFT

A spirited competition: Colin and Jacob face off to draft their favorite releases from the seminal hardcore label Deathwish, Inc.

TOP FIVE DEATH ROW RECORDS RELEASES

For as much of a cliché as it’s become, it is true that like Nirvana’s Nevermind in the rock world, when Dr. Dre’s The Chronic dropped, the landscape of rap completely changed pretty much overnight. As a case in point, listen to MC Lyte on either side of The Chronic: "Poor Georgie" (1991) versus "Ruffneck" (1993). Pretty dramatic change. Gangsta rap, already gathering some significant momentum on the back of NWA collectively and individually, became the predominant mainstream form courtesy of another alumnus in Dr. Dre, where it remained for a much longer time than is typically the case with a particular flavor of a genre. Dr. Dre's g funk variety in particular dominated rap for a good half-decade, in the same way grunge directly or indirectly influenced virtually every prominent rock act and an untold number of others.

While it quickly became a geographic rivalry of the West Coast versus East Coast practitioners of gangsta rap, I never felt compelled to pick a side. I liked the menace and grit of Wu Tang Clan as much as the more laid-back West Coast g funk flavor, the polished "take hits from the 80s" of the Puff Daddy and the Family variety and the more hard-hitting gangsta rap from both coasts. Eventually in the 2000s the sound and geographic focus would shift south, but the 90s were the decade of gangsta rap in the mainstream, and the g funk sound was so popular that even quintessential East Coast rappers like Notorious B.I.G. would borrow the sound ("Going Back to Cali").

On the West Coast/g funk side of things, Death Row Records is to this day synonymous with that sound, with its brand, logo, and signature sound having achieved iconic status. Having said that, for such an instantly-recognizable label, its discography is surprisingly lean. Nevertheless, there are a trio of legitimate classics in the catalogue as well as several other fine albums in their own right. While the label would be surrounded by characters of questionable morals and the attitudes of many of the artists on its roster could hardly be called enlightened, sonically and aesthetically since Dr. Dre’s The Chronic hip-hop has never been the same. In this Top Five, we’ll take a look at the best of the massively influential and highly controversial Death Row Records.

5. The Lady of Rage-Necessary Roughness (1997)

Super underrated emcee. This album is what a hungry rapper sounds like, with The Lady of Rage spitting fire and never taking any bars off. While there might not be an "Afro Puffs"-level track here (although a few like "Super Supreme" come close), it’s a strong listen from a somewhat forgotten figure of the era, who you’ll find featured on seminal albums like The Chronic and Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle. They say timing is everything, and with the release of the record pushed back by several years and given g funk was starting to yield ground to the onslaught of the sheer volume and quality of New York producers and emcees by this time, her first (and only) full-length kind of got lost in shuffle, which is really too bad, as it’s quite good.

4. Above the Rim Soundtrack (1994)

"Afro Puffs" is great, but this soundtrack is not just The Lady of Rage doing all the heavy lifting. In fact, it’s a very strong track list overall that also includes highlights like the first-rate "Anything" by SWV with its instantly-recognizable beat and first-rate vocal performance, a vintage cut in "Pour Out a Little Liquor" from the Tupac-helmed Thug Life, and the all-time g funk classic "Regulate" by Warren G with its iconic Michael McDonald sample and the vocals of the king of g funk hooks Nate Dogg, who, like The Lady of Rage, we’ll see again below. There are plenty of gems on here, an interesting snapshot of where this branch of rap and R&B were at the time of peak g funk.

3. Snoop Dogg-Doggystyle (1993)

The atrocious cover art belies an all-time classic in Snoop Dogg’s high water mark Doggystyle, featuring mega-hits even non-hip-hop fans recognize like "Gin and Juice" and "Who Am I (What's My Name)." The Lady of Rage comes roaring out of the gate in the "G Funk Intro" "bout to tear shit up," which contrasts very effectively with Snoop’s laid-back flow, while other highlights include: the g funk update to Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick’s "La Di Da Di" in "Lodi Dodi"; the eerie "Murder Was the Case"; "Doggy Dogg World," an example of the perfect marriage of old-school funk with this then-fresh hip-hop approach; and my personal favorite track on the record in "Ain’t No Fun (If the Homies Can't Have None)," with its easy late-afternoon-sun beat, Nate Dogg’s vocals, and the simple, sticky chorus.

2. Tupac-All Eyez on Me (1996)

This was the last album Tupac would put out before his death—a double-album in fact—and it is packed with bangers: the "Ain’t No Fun"-esque "All About U," the seemingly-effortless flow from Tupac and the memorable chorus from K-Ci & JoJo on the lighter "How Do U Want It," the one-two punch with Snoop Dogg on "2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted," and the soulful ballad "I Ain’t Mad at Cha," one of the best lyrical performances in Tupac’s catalogue. Alas, if only Tupac had chosen to include the original single version of the dancefloor-filling anthem "California Love" with Dr. Dre and Roger Troutman rather than the remix on here (side note: the video, conceived of by Jada Pinkett Smith inspired by Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, is a fantastic accompaniment). Nevertheless, it’s still a classic record. This is like nit-picking the 1992 Dream Team roster.

1. Dr. Dre-The Chronic (1992)

A true game changer. The rapping is of course superb, and the production was groundbreaking; despite being steeped in Parliament Funkadelic and other throwback funk, it was in the manner Dr. Dre employed it that was so distinct not just from contemporaries but to this day. It's striking how a record could be so chilled-out yet nakedly menacing at the same time. Dr. Dre’s oeuvre including The Chronic is a masterclass in production; back in 2005 Kanye West would write for Rolling Stone:

Dre productions like Tupac's "California Love" were just so far beyond what I was doing that I couldn't even comprehend what was going on. I had no idea how to get to that point, how to layer all those instruments. The Chronic is still the hip-hop equivalent to Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life. It's the benchmark you measure your album against if you're serious.

Not only is the album monumentally significant as explicated above—to say nothing of the numerous other careers that exploded off The Chronic’s wild success—it is no mere historical artifact. It doesn't sound in the least bit dated despite being over three decades old. The classics—"Let Me Ride," "Nuthin’ but a 'G' Thang," etc.—are just that, but the whole album is essentially without weakness, considered by many to be one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time.

TOP FIVE FOUNDATIONAL ALBUMS THAT SHAPED MY TASTE

In October 2023, I got the idea that despite not being a musician myself and with no industry connections, no currency in any scene or any reputation to speak of, I would start writing about music again after having done so for a few years in college in the late 2000s. I figured why not? If I’m shouting into the void, then I’m shouting into the void. I’m going to do it. This is a labor of love. It is my hope that I can continue to build this site as a destination for people who value my perspective and message, and we can foster a sense of community here.

All that being said, if you’ll forgive the self-indulgence, in order for readers to get to know a little more about me—more specifically what started my musical journey—I thought it would be interesting to write a list of the albums from my youth that proved most foundational in shaping my taste in music. This is a post to peel back the curtain and give you a sense of what got me into music in the first place, and set the stage for me to dive into the musical "deep end" and, eventually many years later, decide to write about it. The cut-off for this list is my first two years of high school, as at the end of that period is when I began going down the iceberg, so to speak, of all kinds of different genres. We all start somewhere, though, and for me, chronologically in the order I got into the albums not necessarily when they were released, this is where my musical journey began. I also cheated and included nine albums while shouting out way more albums and artists, so it’s really not a top five at all, but I like the top five format, so here we are. I was of course listening to many more artists than this, but these are the ones that stand out to me in hindsight for introducing me to a particular genre and/or generally having a lasting impact on me or my musical taste direction(s).

5. (Tie) Green Day-Dookie and The Offspring-Smash (1994)

Two of the first albums I ever bought, albeit not right when they came out as I would’ve been a little too young. I can’t say exactly when, but I had to have been old enough to be earning allowance money for miscellaneous chores and actually have a nascent taste in music. Smash outstripped even the wildest expectations of Epitaph Records, going many times platinum and putting the label on the map, where it remains to this day an alternative music powerhouse. Green Day caught a lot of flak for leaving Lookout! Records and taking advantage of the increased budget, influence, and connections of Reprise Records (eliciting accusations of "selling out," even though their sound didn’t appreciably change). If it wasn’t for bands like Green Day and The Offspring, though, kids like me wouldn’t ever be exposed to punk music and go down the iceberg to find more "real punk," either from the bands’ labels (or former labels) or elsewhere. It would be a while yet before I’d be digging into the catalogues of Epitaph, Lookout!, and others, but I was already gravitating to the punk rock sound at an early age.

4. (Tie) Puff Daddy and the Family-No Way Out and Mase-Harlem World (1997)

This is the era where I was rocking a XXL Puffy "It’s All About the Benjamins" t-shirt and my mom, after seeing Tommy Hilfiger on TV saying baggy was about to be out, recommending clothing that actually fit me properly. Mom and Tommy would in time be proven correct.

In any case, I could’ve also put a bunch of other albums from this year here, too, because this was the year my taste in music really started to become much more defined. These are the two from the rap world I gravitated to most, but I also really liked Sugar Ray’s Floored (tell me a hardcore band covering "American Pig" wouldn’t be sick) and Third Eye Blind’s self-titled album, as well as bands like Spacehog, Silverchair, and Better Than Ezra. I knew Sublime and Rancid from the radio and loved those songs, but hadn’t fully gotten into their other music yet.

Shout out to the dance music like Real McCoy, Technotronic, and La Bouche my sensei would blast during sparring practice at karate.

3. (Tie) Rage Against the Machine-Evil Empire (1996) and The Prodigy-The Fat of the Land (1997)

Rage sat right at that crossroads of some of the different sounds I was gravitating toward and really drew me in. The Prodigy had and has a very different reputation in America than in Britain, coming out of the rave scene; in America their fan base was more of the alternative/rock crowd, and they were played pretty much exclusively on the alternative/rock stations. It was kind of the Nine Inch Nails treatment. I had some prior familiarity with The Prodigy from watching the extremely advanced movie Hackers with my grandparents, but I didn’t really put two and two together if you will until "Breathe" and "Firestarter" came along, blew up, and I was like "oh, that Prodigy." Also, I’ll never not find it funny that "The Prodigy’s video for ‘Firestarter’ terrified thousands watching Top of the Pops in ‘96. Several channels banned the song altogether after concerned parents complained that scary Keith Flint was causing their darling children to cower in fear behind the sofa. The video also broke an impressive record: achieving the highest number of complaints ever received by the BBC." How can you not like that as a kid looking for something edgy?

2. (Tie) Orgy-Candyass (1998) and Sevendust-Home (1999)

Orgy was the first show I ever went to. I was ten or eleven, and my dad took me to see them play the Asylum club in Portland, Maine. There was one other younger kid there with her mom. I was hooked, and for the next few years I would go with my dad and/or my friends to see bands like System of a Down, Korn, Slipknot, Godsmack, Sevendust, Breaking Benjamin, really most of the big nü metal or hard rock bands out at that time, as well as a lot of the next level in popularity down like American Head Charge, Cold, Nonpoint, etc. I also saw other bands like 311, Alien Ant Farm, and Incubus. I was very into the stuff getting heavy rotation on the alternative rock radio stations such as the aforementioned bands and others like Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park. I was especially into Sevendust, and Home in particular, as I loved how crunchy it was. Interestingly enough, years later I’d read Bury Your Dead cite Sevendust as an influence. Another shoutout from this era for me would be Nothingface’s 2000 album Violence, which like Home was released by TVT Records.

I also got really into Sublime at this time, and Blink-182’s classics Dude Ranch and Enema of the State, and New Found Glory’s Nothing Gold Can Stay, were in heavy rotation for me. I discovered reggae, soul, and funk as well, and would later see Ziggy Marley and George Clinton, separately, in my early high school years.

1. Bad Brains-Rock for Light (1983)

I can’t remember when, exactly, some time in my freshman or sophomore year of high school, I was talking to a friend about how as much as I liked the bands from above, I was looking for something more nakedly aggressive. Considering I was also very into reggae at this time—I probably had almost everything in the Trojan Records catalogue—the ground was quite fertile for the Bad Brains seed to be planted and for my love of punk and later hardcore to blossom (in terms of hardcore, it didn’t come until the end of high school as I really only listened to the early 80s stuff like Bad Brains and Black Flag—and I guess we can put the more metal Earth A.D. by The Misfits in here, too—that is the shared ground of punk and hardcore before they really became two separate entities). More knowledgeable friend smirks, brings a burned copy of this CD in to school for me the next day, and that was that.

If there was one album I could pinpoint that sent me down the rabbit hole of alternative music of all sorts, this is it Michael Jackson. In short order, I was not only listening to The Dead Kennedys, Fear, Crass, Leftover Crack, Operation Ivy, the Descendents, Jodie Foster’s Army, the Germs, the Circle Jerks, etc., but also had stuff ranging from Godspeed You! Black Emperor to Neurosis and Maine doom metal outfit Ocean on my mp3 player. Through my head-first dive into punk, in some ways my taste came full circle, as I would get really into Epitaph Records (shout out to the Punk-O-Rama compilations), launched into prominence by The Offspring’s Smash, and syncing with my existing love of hip-hop and rap, the alternative and underground hip-hop albums released by Epitaph would also figure in my immersion in that world. For underground hip-hop, The Coup, Dead Prez, and Atmosphere would become my favorites, and more mainstream favorites would be Wu-Tang Clan, Common, Tupac, Big Punisher, and Notorious B.I.G. I had been listening to a lot of Dr. Dre, and also in heavy rotation would be many Stones Throw and Barely Breaking Even Records releases, J Dilla, Three Six Mafia, 2 Live Crew, Big L, Arrested Development, and Black Star; I would say I really gravitated to g funk and new jack swing and went way down that iceberg. I listened to a lot of Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill as well, and there was a fair bit of "real screamo" in there, too. I already knew of Rancid from songs like "Ruby Soho," but in high school they would become my favorite band with The Misfits a close second. After a few years later I ran headlong into the embrace of modern hardcore after hearing Refused and American Nightmare followed by This Is Hell’s Sundowning, Gallows’s Orchestra of Wolves, and Blacklisted’s …The Beat Goes On, that was more or less the foundation right there.

TOP FIVE HELLCAT RECORDS RELEASES

Epitaph Records has been one of the most important record labels of the last thirty years not just in punk, but in all of alternative music. In the late 1990s, after major breakthrough mainstream success while remaining on Epitaph despite receiving nudes from Madonna and multimillion dollar offers to jump ship, Rancid had solidified their status as one of the most prominent and important punk bands in the world. The sprawling, The Clash-esque Life Won’t Wait, clocking in at what for punk is a marathon of over an hour, had dropped in 1998 on Epitaph, and although it wasn’t the smash that …And Out Come the Wolves had been, it still did well. Around this time, Hellcat Records was launched as a subsidiary of Epitaph with Rancid vocalist and guitarist Tim Armstrong given control; Rancid would decide to release their 2000 self-titled album through the label. But Hellcat was not and would not be just an outlet for Rancid records, in the same way Epitaph ultimately wasn’t for Bad Religion. Hellcat would become one of the most important punk labels of the 2000s, and has an impressive catalogue that stacks up with pretty much any other punk label’s in its prime. In celebrating this great label, I thought it would be fun to give it the old Top Five treatment. There were quite a few great options to choose from, but if I were to go with just five they would be:

5. Tiger Army-III: Ghost Tigers Rise (2004)

This album is the perfect mix of the different eras of Tiger Army. It still has plenty of punk and psychobilly aggression, but the record really shines where they throttle back that aggression to explore different sonic textures that are more subdued and play more to the strengths of Nick 13 as a vocalist. This album finds Tiger Army leaning further into country and other influences, and crafting an eerie and otherworldly atmosphere that suits the band’s aesthetic. The result was more memorable songs such as the one below, and a distinct blend that would set Tiger Army apart from the psychobilly crowd. Ghost Tigers Rise is best listened to on chilly October nights after having watched The Lost Boys.

4. Transplants-Self-Titled (2002)

The Transplants are a supergroup of sorts comprised of Armstrong, Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, and vocalist Rob Aston, who also collaborated with Barker and Paul Wall in the group Expensive Taste. I’ve heard this album described as drum n bass for punks, and while that’s generally accurate in a lot of places, there’s a lot more happening on this album than "just" that, which in and of itself is quite cool and works surprisingly well; it’s really an exploration of a variety of sounds sometimes individually, sometimes in combination. With features including other members of Rancid, the Nerve Agents’ Eric Ozenne, The Distillers’ Brody Dalle, AFI’s Davey Havok, and Danny Diablo (Crown of Thornz, Skarhead, etc.) and influences ranging from the aforementioned punk and drum n bass to hardcore, hip-hop, and more, Transplants is really a unique record that despite the wide range of guests and influences sounds perfectly natural and cohesive. That nasty opening riff in "Romper Stomper," "D.J. D.J.," "Diamonds & Guns" (which despite quite explicitly being "about that life" was somehow featured in a Garnier Fructis shampoo commercial), "Quick Death," and "California Babylon" are particular highlights.

3. Rancid-Self-Titled (2000)

After the above-discussed Life Won’t Wait, Rancid came back with this ripper of an album, much more pared-down and early 80s hardcore-influenced. It has the same number of songs as Life Won’t Wait but is about half as long, with few songs even hitting the two minute mark. Songs like "Blackhawk Down" are highlights in this vein. Nevertheless, there are still some Clash-esque songs here, too, with "Radio Havana" a clear standout. If I were to ever do a Top Five of Rancid albums—and there’s a good chance I might—this album would definitely be on it, even if it’s not quite at the level of …And Out Come the Wolves or Let’s Go.

2. Dropkick Murphys-Do or Die (1998)

Dropkick Murphys are legends in the city of Boston and are one of the most recognizable and popular bands of the Irish punk subgenre, and while that element of Irish music and nods to that heritage are integral to this album’s sound, it’s really more of a street punk record, their only with Mike McColgan on lead vocals, who left the band shortly after Do or Die to join the Boston Fire Department. McColgan would eventually go on to start the band Street Dogs. Not only is this the Murphys’ best album, it’s one of the best street punk albums of all time. The songwriting here is exceptional, and the album actually gets stronger as it goes on; although there are precisely zero skips on this one, the back half is packed with S-tier punk songs like "Finnegan’s Wake," "Noble,"  "Barroom Hero," and "Fightstarter Karaoke."

1. The Distillers-Sing Sing Death House (2002)

While The Distillers would pursue a more accessible rock orientation with their next album Coral Fang (guitarist and vocalist Brody Dalle has often been compared to Courtney Love in her vocal style if not—thankfully for Dalle—Love’s other…quirks), this album preserves most of the straight-ahead charge of the self-titled debut, but it levels up in songwriting dramatically and gives the listener much more to sink their teeth into. This ability to exhibit hit songwriting capability without sacrificing any edge, exemplified by the anthemic "City of Angels," stands shoulder-to-shoulder with what a band like Rancid was also able to accomplish, albeit more consistently and over a longer timeline and in higher profile. That does not, however, diminish how good Sing Sing Death House is. I still remember the first time a friend of mine played this album for me: I was blown away. It’s a neo-punk classic, nailing this sound to perfection—easily one of the best punk albums this side of Y2K. Fun fact: founding member and guitarist Rose "Casper" Mazzola, who left the band after this album, is the daughter of Joey Mazzola, a founding member of the great 90s rock band Sponge.

TOP FIVE EVERY TIME I DIE ALBUMS

I first got into Every Time I Die some time before the release of The Big Dirty, probably the winter of 2007 if I remember right. They quickly became one of my favorite bands, and though as an outfit they are no longer with us, they remain one of my favorites to this day. I have so many great memories connected to their music, whether it’s road trips with an ETID soundtrack or getting tattooed in Bulgaria while Ex Lives is blasting (shout out to Sofia Hardcore Tattoos!).

It’s rather uncommon for a band or artist to have the longevity to release five albums, let alone nine to choose from—and in a real rarity for them to never miss over a multi-decade career! It’s really a shame they broke up, beyond the break-up’s contentious nature, as it’s not like they were trending downward on their final release, 2021’s Radical. Spoiled for choice, we’ll be looking at the top five of Buffalo Music Hall of Fame Class of 2019 members Every Time I Die.

"With the noble irreverence of shrapnel she came for us."

5. Radical (2021)

As I said above, they were not trending downward when they broke up. Although this album doesn’t reinvent their wheel, the band is firing on all cylinders here. Keith Buckley’s razor-sharp wit is as always on display with the lyrics—it’s rare an artist can actually make you laugh at loud with some of their lines. Lyrically the record is also at once topical and personal. Album highlights include: "Post-Boredom" and "White Void," which showcase the band’s ability to write catchy and memorable rock songs, with more of a stoner metal influence in the latter case, while still retaining their signature heaviness; "Planet Shit," which like several other songs on the album such as "Dark Distance" seems to be written from the lens of COVID, whereas in actuality they anticipated it; and "Distress Rehearsal," a relentless track featuring a nasty breakdown halfway through the song hearkening back to their early days. Lyrically it makes a surprising turn from "Envision obliteration / Every last detail / Blast wind blows, breathe it in, let it go / A tragedy that's so big, it cannot fail" to:

But now there's beauty all around me
What's happening? (What's happening?)
What's happening? (What's happening?)

Now I'm left with all this lightness
Now I'm left with all this lightness
Left out here with all this lightness
Left out here with all this grace

Imagine my surprise

I thought my heart would break
I thought it would break but it started healing
It was more than I could take
So I gave it everything

4. Gutter Phenomenon (2005) and The Big Dirty (2007)

Okay, I cheated, but I think you have to take these two albums together as they are the heads-and-tails of Every Time I Die’s Southern metalcore output. Alongside its "rock-core" mini-trend analog in Britain (Outcry Collective, The Ghost of a Thousand, The Plight, etc.), the Southern metalcore trend was booming in the mid-2000s, with (shout out to Ferret Records for a lot of these releases) Every Time I Die along with He Is Legend, Maylene and the Sons of Disaster, The Hottness, Fight Paris, Norma Jean to an extent, His Name Was Iron, The Showdown, The Great American Beast, I think you could put A Life Once Lost’s Iron Gag in this category, so on and so forth. One of my favorite styles of metalcore—we need a revival!—and one of my favorite eras of ETID. In a word: riffs. In another: riffs!

As a lyricist, Keith Buckley is one of the best to ever do it, and that was always a strength of his, as was his charisma and stage presence as a frontman; indeed, the personalities of band mainstays Keith Buckley and guitarists Andy Williams and Jordan Buckley were a large part of the magnetic appeal of the band. Gutter Phenomenon is the album where Keith Buckley really leveled-up as a vocalist; according to screaming coach Melissa Cross of "The Zen of Screaming" speaking to the Los Angeles Times in 2005, when asked who had mastered this new technique—keep in mind the quantum leap vocalists have made in the last maybe fifteen years and the fact that this was way before the animal noise Vocal Olympics of modern deathcore—"Corey Taylor from Slipknot is a master. Keith Buckley from Every Time I Die." Buckley’s raw and harried vocals suited the frenzied chaos of ETID’s first two albums, but you can clearly hear the jump on Gutter. His singing voice had also improved.

As for the songs themselves, many of the ingredients from Last Night in Town and Hot Damn! were still present, but as Keith Buckley stated at the time, "Too many bands find their niche, and put the same ingredients into every soup. Not us. We knew we had changed, grown up, and acquired new tastes and distastes for music, and became a little more accepting of the background we all had—which was growing up, listening to classic rock from our parents. But on this record, we embraced that. We tried to hide it before because we didn't think it had any room in the 'hardcore community.'" Exemplifying their leaning in to this rock sound would be tracks like "Kill the Music" and "We’rewolf."

3. Low Teens (2016)

Their heaviest record emotionally, "Buckley came terrifyingly close to a devastating loss last year [2015] when his wife—seven months pregnant at the time—suffered a sudden and severe complication that threatened her life and that of the couple's unborn child." As Keith Buckley told Revolver in 2016:

I learned more in that one night than in the previous 36 years I was alive. The worst part was dealing with these insane and vivid images of the what-ifs: What if my wife dies and the baby survives? Who helps me raise the baby? What if the baby dies? How does that affect our relationship? I had to envision these things because they were real possibilities. It was difficult, but it was fortifying as far as your soul goes, and it all went into the record.

You can certainly hear that in the desperation, darkness, and urgency of the album. "Petal," in particular, is about as heavy as it gets for the band, musically and emotionally. The album runs the gamut of styles ETID has incorporated, from more accessible songs like rocker "Two Summers" and the "burn slow, there’s no rush" of "It Remembers" featuring Brandon Urie of Panic! at the Disco to the aforementioned crushing "Petal." Every drummer ETID’s had has been awesome, but Daniel Davison brought a different dimension than they’d had before, and I think added some really interesting playing on this record. While there might not be anything particularly new for the band on this one, everything here is executed at an extremely high level; every song is fantastic, the album flows really well, and the lyrics are as good as it gets Jack Nicholson.

Around the release of this record would be the last two times I saw them live—I can’t remember in which order it was but I know I saw them at Warped Tour that year (I don’t believe the album was out yet but they definitely played "Petal"), and my dad and I also saw them headline a stacked lineup in Portland, Maine with support from Eternal Sleep, Harms Way, and Knocked Loose. They killed it, as always.

2. Hot Damn! (2003)

Though 2001’s Last Night in Town has some of their best songs ("Jimmy Tango’s Method" and my favorite ETID track "The Logic of Crocodiles"), it is their most uneven full-length. Hot Damn! is the peak of their nervous-breakdown-core/Deadguy era. The frenetic and harried nature of the music reinforces the hysterical (in multiple senses) quality of the lyrics and vocals. Classics like "Floater" and "Ebolarama" (with the latter’s preposterous music video) pretty much speak for themselves, but beyond those, the whole album rips from front-to-back. "I Been Gone a Long Time" is another great song that foreshadowed the band’s leaning in to their more rock sensibilities.

1. New Junk Aesthetic (2009)

Part of the embarrassment of riches that was the years 2008 and 2009 in heavy music—in my humble opinion the best two-year stretch of all time, and I’m sure I’ll write about this at some point—New Junk Aesthetic re-combined elements from what we can now call the first half of their career in the Deadguy and Southern metalcore eras, respectively, while introducing some new ones as well. It took me a little while to warm up to this one when it first dropped as it wasn’t necessarily what I wanted, but it turned out to be exactly what I needed, if you will. The different influences at work here plus the maturity of the band resulted in a really unique sound I’ve always described as "the blues for hardcore kids." The guitar work in the band was always excellent, but on this record Jordan Buckley and Andy Williams really hit another level, and this is also the album Keith Buckley took another huge leap as a vocalist. This album is a 10/10 classic, perfect in every way.

TOP FIVE PREDICTIONS FOR 2024

1. Thrown will be the next "it" band in hardcore.

They’re already on the verge, but in 2024 they’ll hit peak Trapped Under Ice/Knocked Loose/Turnstile levels. Instead of every newjack with an Expire beanie, it’ll be a Thrown windbreaker—and that’s good for the scene.

2. Metalcore will continue its ascendancy.

Metalcore has had two past major peaks in relevance in its short life, and it’s experiencing a third. This time, however, it will continue elbowing its way into the mainstream, spearheading a general explosion in alternative music it feels like everyone is ready for.

3. A new sound will sweep through and revitalize rap.

Speaking of things it feels like people are ready for, in my conversations with rap fans, it seems like the current sound everyone’s chasing is becoming exhausted and the market over-saturated, as is always the case following a sonic paradigm shift (see: grunge in the 90s, Risecore metalcore, etc). I have no idea what the sound will be or who the artist will be, but I am willing to wager it will come seemingly out of left-field. Since I don’t know, I’ll simply shout out my favorite song in “MODERN JAM” from what I think was 2023’s best rap release in Travis Scott’s UTOPIA. Having said all I’ve said above, this record still felt fresh and had a lot of interesting moments on it. Clearly there’s still some oxygen in the current landscape, but 1) we’re forecasting here, and 2) most other rappers aren’t on this level nor do they have his vision.

4. The rap-metalcore crossover trend will continue and only grow, yielding more interesting and high-end collaborations.

Maybe this is precisely where the paradigm shift will come from, although my instinct is that this will be concurrent with something originating from within rap and not as a hybrid.

5. Electric Callboy will win Eurovision 2024.

Loreen, representing Sweden, has won the contest twice, most recently this year. Cascada’s 2013 entry was accused of plagiarizing Loreen’s 2012 contest-winning track "Euphoria." Electric Callboy has both submitted a track to represent Germany and covered Cascada. Using this convoluted logic, I am calling Electric Callboy to win the contest, notching Germany’s first victory since 2010. This will be the cherry on top of metalcore’s global takeover.

Bonus. There’s a good chance I’ll be dead wrong about everything.

Such is life.

TOP FIVE SONGS OF 2023 (so far)

This is a list of my favorite tracks released so far in 2023. Understanding there will almost certainly be more great songs put out over this final sixth of the year, it’s nevertheless always fun to look back on the year to date, and I decided rather than focus on albums I would mix things up a little and go with specific songs here. I may still end up doing a true year-end top five list for albums if I’m moved to do so, but we’ll see.

We’ll start with the honorable mentions I wanted to shout out before getting into the top five. There were so many more songs I wanted to talk about, but in the interest of this piece not being insanely long I decided on the somewhat arbitrary number of a half-dozen tracks to highlight as honorable mentions.

Bad Rabbits-Goin Up

As an admitted new jack swing respecter, hearing Bad Rabbits continue to carry the torch with their nü new jack swing brings me joy. The positive energy on this track is infectious, with the euphoric ebullience and catchiness of “Goin Up” keeping me coming back time and again.

Doja Cat-Paint the Town Red

It’s entirely possible that because BBC Radio One played this song basically hourly when I was in Scotland this summer I’ve been the victim of a state-sponsored brainwashing campaign, but the song is a legitimate earworm with its chilled-out beat based around the Dionne Warwick “Walk on By” sample perfectly complementing Doja’s easy confidence and seemingly-effortless smoothness here.

To the Grave-Deadskin Skimask

This is just absolutely filthy, ferocious deathcore, harkening back to a less polished, more brutally nasty era of the genre.

Thrown-On the Verge

These Demi Lovato-approved Swedes are gathering serious momentum. Thrown is one of those bands I just call “core-core” or “heavy.” I’ve seen this style referred to as “pissedcore” and it’s easy to see why. Regardless of what you want to call it—and does it really matter?—what adds a memorable wrinkle to Thrown’s airtight fury is that it’s sneakily catchy, incorporating the very unexpected, in their own words, “slick, hypnotic rhythms of modern phonk.” It slaps.

Electric Callboy-Everytime We Touch

Given the heavy Europop/dance influence on Electric Callboy, it is only fitting they’d look to fellow Germans Cascada for this cover. It’s not reinventing the Electric Callboy wheel, but it’s a fun track that pays homage to a cornerstone of their sound while making the song their own.

Emarosa-Forgiveness

If “Preach” and its modernized version of late-80s-style pop which leads off January’s release Sting hadn’t already been released as a single in 2022, it would’ve been a slam-dunk top five selection. Alas, I don’t make the rules (actually I do, but I’m trying to only highlight music that appeared this year for the first time), so it stays off the list. Having said that, the whole album Sting is excellent, finding Emarosa leaning heavily into the 80s pop with some Don Henley “Boys of Summer” vibes strewn throughout the record for good measure. The vocal performance is exceptional. If I had to choose one Sting exclusive, I think I’d go with this one, but I also love “Cinnamon.”

TOP FIVE

5. Heart Attack Man-Freak of Nature

On the edgier side of pop punk, with some hints of Nerf Herder, these guys offer up a huge chorus that makes it feel like we’re right back in the genre’s mainstream heyday.

4. Bilmuri-ALL GAS

Somehow not only did both Attack Attack! alums Caleb Shomo and Johnny Franck level-up dramatically this year, they both released countrycore bangers. What kind of cosmic energy connects them I cannot speculate upon, but Franck’s recent output (including "Boutta Cashew" and "Livin’ Laughin’ Lovin’")—like Beartooth’s The Surface—is exceptional. On paper, working country and djent riffing into the same song should be a disaster, yet it’s anything but.

3. Bring Me the Horizon-LosT

The genre-hopping and -blending Brits have been on an absolute tear lately, operating at an impressive level of output and skill; “LosT,” though but one example, is the best of the most recent bunch. Its seamless incorporation of 2000s mall emo, hyperpop, and metalcore produced one of the most memorable, creative, and anthemic songs of the year. Setting up a massive breakdown with the lyrics "If I keep this up / I think I’m gonna break down" and then repeating the line “I think I'm gonna break down” over it is a nice touch.

NOTE: I used the audio-only video here as the music video is age-restricted and can only be viewed directly on YouTube; it’s worth a watch!

2. The Amity Affliction-I See Dead People

I remembered this band from years ago being a solid-if-unspectacular Risecore-type band and never really followed them, so when I happened upon this song I was…surprised. I was definitely not expecting something this punishing and dark. The tortured feel of the song is borderline overwhelming—this isn’t paint-by-the-numbers, it’s urgent and raw. The torrential drumming is really interesting and adds a distinctive aspect that might in theory clash, but it doesn’t, rather adding to the claustrophobic atmosphere.

1. Beartooth-I Was Alive

I could’ve put half a dozen songs from The Surface on here, but the one that resonates deepest with me is the gorgeous and uplifting “I Was Alive.” It’s pretty much the polar opposite of a lot of heavy music that often goes past catharsis and into wallowing and self-defeat. The message of embracing life and living without fear and regret is a vital reminder to cherish what is truly valuable and not let lower emotions drag us down and away from realizing our potential. The song is a perfect capstone to the incredible achievement that is without question my album of the year in The Surface.

You can read my full review of that album here.