You can hear this lethal combination right away on “Don’t Need You,” which decides to place the hardest mosh part in the last section of the song. It’s metallic hardcore with a healthy bounce, leading to an almost rap cadence on the vocals. But after listening to All Said and Done, I finally understood their appeal. I’ve seen them play at least five times in the past year and never gave them much thought. There is no subtext to be found when you hear, “Spend your life in a cloud of smoke/One day you’re gonna fucking choke” on “Choke.”Įnverate has an unexplainable thing that separates them from other hardcore bands. The lyrics, too, are simple, choosing to revolve around straight edge. The most extreme example of brevity for Contempt is T.F.Y., which is only 14 seconds long. It’s hardcore at its most primitive and is more concerned with keeping things fast rather than having the heaviest breakdown. Their demo is one of my favorite things from Chicago’s hardcore scene in the past few years. But when I heard Contempt, I felt they deserved a shoutout.

All the songs on Big Escape are barked in their native language, dealing with “harsh situations happening in modern society.” But it still has that ineffable bounce that you associate with New York hardcore, making for a record that I’ve been unable to put down since its release.Īs someone who started as a Chicago scenester before becoming a music writer, I have had to restrain myself from sharing too much Chicago hardcore in this column. They come from Japan and don’t try to create a palatable version of Japanese hardcore for American listeners. Blow Your Brains Out differs from others that have popped up in the past few years, like Ekulu or Combust. There’s been a healthy dose of bands recently looking towards New York hardcore at the end of the 80s as inspiration. As a way to document this current moment, we present Step 2 Rhythm, a monthly column rounding up the best in hardcore coming out right now. Hardcore is thriving, and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. Home > Step 2 Rhythm-March 2023 Step 2 Rhythm-March 2023

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