This week’s recap is stacked — 89 news pieces from last Friday through Thursday, August 14. We’ve got the dial cranked up from the jump: MODERN LIFE IS WAR, RISE AGAINST, LORNA SHORE, BODYWEB, DAISY CHAIN, MILITARIE GUN, WĘŻE, NEKS, DEADSKY, NEW GRASS, AMENRA, GAEREA, DEAD HEAT, CHAIN WOLF, and LIAR are all in the first stretch.
Scroll deeper and you’ll find it shifting — metalcore bruisers, pop-punk earworms, oddball alt-rock, and a few genre detours we just couldn’t leave out. We don’t break things into neat genre boxes here — that’s never been the point — so treat it like a long night of flipping records at random. Somewhere in this pile, there’s something that’ll catch you. Let’s go.
DC art-punk unit BLACK EYES are back with Hostile Design, their first new record in over two decades. Written straight after their April 2023 reunion shows, the album delivers six fresh tracks and drops October 10 via Dischord Records.
Recorded at Tonal Park Studios over three days with Ian MacKaye producing and Don Godwin engineering, Hostile Design marks a direct continuation of the band’s jagged, experimental streak. The current lineup features Dan on drums, Daniel on guitar/vocals/electronics, Hugh on bass/vocals, Jacob on sax/bass/percussion, and Mike on drums/electronics, with backing vocals from julz . and Ian.
BODYWEB just dropped “sugarcoated” — grunge grit meets hardcore teeth, flipping from woozy sway to full-speed smash in seconds. It’s all sharp edges and heavy heart, pulling from DEFTONES and A PERFECT CIRCLE while still wired into their own glitchy, modern chaos.
Off the deadwired EP, out Sept 5 on Flatspot Records — self-produced, no polish, just raw circuitry and nerve endings burning out.
Screamo act DAISY CHAIN out of Australian Newcastle just dropped Pig House, the opening track off their upcoming self-titled EP, set to premiere in full with us here on IDIOTEQ at the end of August!
Formed in late 2022, the five-piece pull from punk, hardcore, and emo, aiming for an abrasive screamo sound that stitches together pieces of their past projects. Newcastle’s always been a hardcore-heavy city, but screamo’s been a rare sight here—DAISY CHAIN tip the hat to local legends CONATION while linking up with kindred bands from Brisbane, Sydney, and Melbourne.
The new EP was written alongside their 2023 debut, but this one hits heavier, more riff-driven, and sharpened by the city’s mosh-ready edge—still keeping that screamo backbone with the swings between chaos and delicate space.
MILITARIE GUN have lined up their second full-length, God Save the Gun, for October 17 via Loma Vista, leading with the punchy, hook-heavy single B A D I D E A. The track—already shaping up to be 2025’s answer to Do It Faster—comes with a self-directed video from frontman Ian Shelton, built around the idea of celebrating vices without really confronting them.
Shelton’s lyrics carry that mix of self-awareness and recklessness he’s become known for, openly tying the record to his own spiral into addiction after years of speaking about it from the outside. The album’s 14 tracks were shaped with Phillip Odom, James Goodson (DAZY), Nick Panella (MSPAINT), and producer/engineer Riley MacIntyre (Adele, Arlo Parks), promising a sharp and dynamic follow-up to 2023’s Life Under the Gun.
With a fall tour on the way and a title track that feels like it’ll hit just as hard live, God Save the Gun looks set to push MILITARIE GUN’s mix of post-hardcore bite and big melodic hooks even further.
Sharp, biting, melodic and fast — WĘŻE just dropped “Nóż W Plecy,” a 2:28 cut out now via Bandcamp. The Warsaw crew put it out with lyrics digging into self-preservation, clean expression, and cutting loose from empty, fake connections.
The verses make it clear: this isn’t about self-destruction, it’s about construction — dropping “fałszywych kumpli” and “nieszczerych kumpli” in favor of something real. “Nie bój się ich stracić, bo z nimi i tak nigdzie nie dolecisz,” they warn, framing the track like a caution to ditch the cool-kid façades before the knife comes out. These guys are must listen.
New hardcore outfit NEKS — featuring members of CRIME IN STEREO, DAYTRADER, CAPSULE, RILE, and SPIRITS — just dropped their first two tracks, The Land of Plenty and The Rubicon.
Self-recorded across New Jersey and Utah and mastered by Mike Kalajian at Rogue Planet Mastering, the songs hit a bleak, melodic, and heavy space somewhere between QUICKSAND, THE HOPE CONSPIRACY, and POISON THE WELL.
The Land of Plenty calls out inequality and societal violence, while The Rubicon digs into inner conflict and disillusionment.
Pittsburgh crust juggernaut DEADSKY are set to drop their debut LP Reapers Call on August 15 via Profane Existence, timed with the label’s 36th anniversary party at Skullfest 15.
Recorded entirely in a home studio and mastered for vinyl by Jay Mathersoon, the nine-track set blends old school D-beat, crust, and thrash metal with a politically charged blackened edge. The opening track “Class War Now” moves from a “SLAYER meets Swordwielder” intro into full-bore crustcore, backed by metallic riffs, breakdowns, and a wall of vocals.
Chicago post hardcore band NEW GRASS shared new single “CYOA”, following their 2 other new songs, “4” and “Sinking Heart”. “4x New Grass” will be out in its entirety on August 27th.
MODERN LIFE IS WAR have dropped “Bloodsport,” another look at their first album in over a decade, Life on the Moon, out September 5 via Deathwish Inc. and Iodine Recordings. Slotted late in the tracklist, it follows the already-released “Johnny Gone” and “Jackie Oh No,” each showing a different side of the band’s comeback.
The new record folds their melodic hardcore core into a bigger, moodier frame — strings, sax, organs, and layered vocals all in the mix — while staying tied to themes of loss, grief, and the fight to find meaning. Three songs in, it’s clear they’re not just picking up where they left off, but stretching the sound and stories even further.
RISE AGAINST have unveiled “Ricochet,” the title track and final preview from their upcoming 10th album, out August 15 via Loma Vista Recordings. Produced by Catherine Marks and mixed by Alan Moulder, the record marks the band’s first full-length in four years.
Positioned as the thematic centre of the album, “Ricochet” explores the idea of interconnectivity and consequence. “We rely on each other, whether we like it or not… What we do, good or bad, creates one big ricochet effect,” says Tim McIlrath. Visually, the video contrasts joy and destruction — people dancing as bombs and bullets streak overhead — echoing the song’s tension between detachment and responsibility.
The 12-track album includes earlier singles “Nod,” “I Want It All,” and “Prizefighter,” alongside new cuts like “Damage Is Done,” “Us Against The World,” and “Gold Long Gone.”
AMENRA guitarist Lennart Bossu has teamed with Lichtlaerm Audio to release Thorn, a signature distortion pedal built from his long-used Providence Stampede SDT-1. Known as the backbone of his tone in Amenra, Oathbreaker, Predatory Void, and Living Gate, the original pedal’s quirks have been preserved and expanded rather than “fixed” away.
Thorn offers three voices — the original SDT-1, a more compressed SDT-2, and laerm, a louder, more open variant — along with an adjustable footswitchable boost, 1 kHz mid control, and bypassable 3-band EQ. In Bossu’s setup, it runs straight into an Ampeg V4 with the EQ bypassed, becoming part of the amp’s own voice.
GAEREA just dropped a surprise new single, “Submerged,” marking their first release since Coma hit last October.
That record pulled them into new territory — mixing black-metal ferocity with wide-open post-rock atmosphere and flashes of clean vocals — and this track keeps that momentum going. Heavy, layered, and still carrying that emotional punch, it feels like the next step past the Coma era.
DEAD HEAT have signed to Metal Blade Records and announced Process Of Elimination, their first LP since 2021’s World At War, out later this year. Known for their crossover thrash rooted in the Oxnard hardcore tradition, the band’s sound on this record pushes further into metal territory, drawing from Slayer, Sepultura, Leeway, Cro-Mags, Kreator, Megadeth, and Pantera.
Produced with Paul Fig (Deftones), the album opens with “Perpetual Punishment,” a track that starts with a brief acoustic intro before breaking into a hard, galloping riff. Lyrically, vocalist Chris Ramos frames it as a call to act now rather than waste time — a sentiment he says fuels both his writing and stage presence.
LA thrashin’ punks CHAIN WOLF have unleashed their new single “The Old Ways,” out now via Motorpunk Records.
Clocking in at just over two minutes, it’s a tight blast of Los Angeles blackened speed, steeped in the band’s black/thrash roots.
Directed by Ryan Burke and shot/edited by Nick Westfall, the video pairs the track’s venom with stark visuals, pushing the lyrical narrative of vengeance turned personal.
H8000 edge metal icons LIAR dropped their 2002 album “Liar’s Hell” on Spotify:
STAY INSIDE are back this fall with Lunger, their first LP for Tiny Engines, dropping October 3. If last year’s Ferried Away cracked open their sound, this one kicks the hinges clean off. The Brooklyn crew still balance that indie/emo core, but here they’re jumping from brass-laced jangle pop to dusty Americana twang to thick fuzzed-out grunge without breaking stride.
Chris Johns delivers it all with that swaggering, slightly unhinged vocal presence—sometimes desperate, sometimes cocky, often both at once. The horns are still in the mix, adding lift in all the right places, and the arrangements feel bigger, riskier, and way less interested in coloring inside any genre lines.
The latest single, Ain’t That a Daisy?, swings between sunny guitar bounce and airy horn interludes, a high that feels just as unstable as it is euphoric. Like much of Lunger, it’s restless, unpredictable, and somehow stitched into a cohesive whole.
After moving from their early post-hardcore roots into this wide-open, genre-bending space, STAY INSIDE sound like a band in full command—and still restless enough to keep pushing.
Hardcore crew FINAL DAZE have dropped Τελευταία Ζάλη through World’s Appreciated Kitsch Records — two cuts rooted in classic NYHC/NJHC but delivered entirely in Greek.
Recorded and mixed in Athens by Dimitris Tsakmakis and mastered by Will Killingsworth at Dead Air Studios, the tracks carry that mid-’90s comp vibe: tough, groove-heavy, and built to move.
We just posted a new tour diary on IDIOTEQ — From a spooky castle in Akron to nine days on the road with THE JACKAL and PORCUPINE. Written by Zach Butcher, it’s a 15-minute read packed with basement shows, long drives, weird incidents, and a rotating cast of underground punk, hardcore, and screamo bands across the East Coast.
From house shows in wealthy neighborhoods where the cops got called to flash flood warnings, IHOP nights, and H.P. Lovecraft’s grave, Zach documents it all with sharp, observational detail — including live impressions of bands like SNOWFALL, OAK, FALLEN, URSA, and more.
JAMES BARRETT returns with “Fragile Assertion,” his first new track since early 2023 and a self-produced effort recorded largely at home after months of learning Logic Pro. Written about the slow unraveling of a relationship, it channels grief into a soaring, arena-sized alt-rock anthem.
The single offers the first look at his upcoming album Now That I’ve Seen The Light and blends emotional heft with an instantly catchy, melodic punch.
Think the melodic reach of The Band Camino and Nothing But Thieves filtered through the atmospherics of Angels & Airwaves, The Killers, and The Cure.
American metalcore outfit EVERYONE DIES IN UTAH have returned with “The Cost of Clarity”, a new single paired with a moody video directed by Matt Rush for Orbit Studios in Houston. Active since 2008, the Texas band’s sound pulls from metalcore, post-hardcore, and electronicore, often leaning into ambitious and atmospheric arrangements.
Their latest track builds on that approach, carrying a sharper edge while maintaining the layered intensity heard on albums like “Supra” and “Infra”. “The Cost of Clarity” follows a string of singles released this year, including “It’s Not Me, It’s You” and “The Exchange”, marking another step in a steady run of material across 2025.
UNHOLY SWARM will launch their new EP cycle with Enemy Within, the lead single from Hymn Of The Low God, arriving August 15 ahead of the full release on August 22 via Head2Wall Records. The track blends crossover and thrash foundations with the grit of veteran Ohio hardcore players, shaded by darker, horror-driven metal tones.
In our new special feature here, vocalist Tucker Lappi delivers the theme without metaphor: questioning why people feed the parts of themselves that cause harm, why change often comes only from self-loathing, and what happens if change never arrives. His influences — ENTOMBED, STRIFE, and the Ohio hardcore tradition — shape the record’s sound.
KIDS OF RAGE just dropped Forever Incomplete, the second taste of their upcoming EP on Useless Pride Records (Get The Shot, Alea Jacta Est…). Last time around with Keep Pushing they went straight for the throat—this time they’re letting the melody breathe a little, but it still hits like a brick. Melancholy, rage, and a weird spark of hope all tangled up in one of the most complete tracks they’ve ever put out.
It’s basically a fight song for anyone stuck in their own head. That voice telling you you’re not good enough? They turn it into fuel and light it on fire. Guitars cut sharp, drums hit hard, and the chorus blows the doors open. They shot the whole video themselves, no outside gloss—just pure DIY grit to match the track.
Tracked, mixed, and mastered by Pere Rediu at Slapshot Room Studio, it’s tight, loud, and built to carry across sweaty rooms. Fifteen years in and still all over Spain and the Euro hardcore circuit, KIDS OF RAGE aren’t coasting—they’re still out here proving they’ve got plenty of fight left.
WAX JAW are coming in hot with Lace Up, the lead single off their debut full-length It Takes Guts!—dropping October 10th on Born Losers Records. Philly to the core, they’re mixing the sugar rush of vintage new wave with the grit and snarl of modern punk, landing somewhere between The Go-Go’s on a bender and AMYL & THE SNIFFERS in full sprint.
“Lace Up” isn’t shy—it’s a loud, sweaty celebration of queer sexual freedom and self-discovery, all stitched together with jagged riffs and hooks sharp enough to cut. It’s personal, it’s cathartic, and it sounds like the rush you get when you finally stop apologizing for yourself.
The band’s live rep is already locked in—sharing stages with BAD NERVES, SPIRITUAL CRAMP, and SHANNON AND THE CLAMS—and they’re about to take It Takes Guts! on the road this fall, hitting everywhere from basement bars to festival stages. No fluff, no filler—just punk rock that’s built to make you dance until your legs give out.
Santa Cruz hardcore lifers DRAIN just dropped “Who’s Having Fun?” — a loud, sunny-day punch from their upcoming album …Is Your Friend, landing November 7 via Epitaph.
First track they wrote for the record, it started as straight punk rock, then got loaded with all the wild extras that make it pure DRAIN. Sammy Ciaramitaro says it’s about whatever you want, but the real question is in the title — hopefully the answer’s you. Pop-rock hooks, a breakdown at the end, and Sammy’s growl to close it out.
LONG GONE are back with “Fake It,” a sharp, three-minute blast of emo-leaning pop punk out of Chicago.
It’s the first new music since their 2024 EP Nobody’s Having a Good Time, and it keeps that same mix of melodic hooks and raw, frustrated energy. Tight, punchy, and built to stick in your head, “Fake It” feels like the kind of track you throw on repeat when you’re not sure if you’re mad, sad, or both.
HAGGUS have dropped a new video for What’s Fucking Left?, taken from their Billboard-charting album Destination Extinction on Tankcrimes. The clip, shot at a chaotic house show, swaps the band’s usual skits for hot dog suits, wigs, and cheap whiskey, matching the track’s lurch from goregrind filth to street punk swagger. Recorded by Greg Wilkinson at Earhammer Studios, the record blends crust punk and goregrind with political bite, and marks a milestone for the mincecore scene.
The band will take the album on the road in September, with dates in California, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, and Idaho, including a stop at Berkeley’s 924 Gilman on September 9.
Premiering this week on IDIOTEQ, HAUNTU’s Mote It Be arrives August 15, 2025, ahead of their spot on the 7-band split A 7 Step Guide To Happiness, due October 24 via Sell The Heart Records. The song bursts out at full speed, driven by a guest trumpet part from Jason Crane (JC2000) of ROCKET FROM THE CRYPT — captured in a single take after an impromptu studio invite.
Vocalist Rebecca Antuña centers the lyrics on the human capacity for love and violence, and how trauma can lock people into cycles of revenge. HAUNTU’s sound draws on the downstroked guitar energy of WIPERS and HOT SNAKES, cut through by melodic vocals for a distinct edge. The compilation also features exclusive cuts from HER HEAD’S ON FIRE, NECKSCARS, TIME SPENT DRIVING, HOTLUNG, SHOTCLOCK, and BEAR AWAY, and will be released as a single-sided 12” with an etched b-side, limited to 100 copies.
BLOOM are back with their second album, “The Light We Chase,” out October 31 via Pure Noise Records. The Sydney melodic hardcore outfit call it their heaviest, most personal work yet — a mix of nostalgia, loss, and the weight of expectation.
Lead single “Withered” is streaming now, pairing crushing riffs with the blunt question: was it worth it? “Eight years of my life, dedicated/desolated,” repeats like a mantra before the track caves into desperation.
84 TIGERS have announced their second album Nothing Ends, out October 17 on Spartan Records, and shared its lead single “The Crush of It All” with an accompanying video. The Michigan trio — brothers Mike and Ben Reed (Small Brown Bike) and Jono Diener (The Swellers) — recorded the follow-up to Time in the Lighthouse with Marc Jacob Hudson, leaning deeper into their blend of post-hardcore heft, ’90s alt-rock grit, and big melodic hooks.
Shaped in part by the loss of former bandmate Travis Dopp, the record threads grief and resilience, from the Rocky Votolato–assisted “Two Rivers” to “Regeneration Days” featuring Aaron Stauffer of Seaweed/Ghost Work. “The Crush of It All” opens the album with a burst of cathartic energy, setting the tone for a tracklist that keeps the three-piece dynamic raw, direct, and emotionally wired.
ZERO BOYS will release Playback Is Hell on October 10, 2025 — a collection pulling together Make It Stop (1991) and The Heimlich Maneuver (1992), remixed in 2025 by Paul Mahern.
These tracks mark the band’s early ’90s shift away from pure hardcore velocity into something looser, stranger, and more searching. Still loud and sharp-edged, but threaded with space, expanded structures, and a lyrical focus on confusion, resistance, and finding meaning in the noise. The songs burn with the same urgency decades later, their politics and restlessness hitting even harder in the present.
Lead single “Make It” is streaming now, with vinyl and digital preorders available.
DCxPC Live is dropping a split that’s pure FEST chaos on wax—CELEBRATION SUMMER and WOLF-FACE, live and unfiltered, captured in Gainesville and pressed on “Summer Moon” vinyl, limited to just 200 copies. Out October 24, this thing is basically a sweaty, beer-soaked time capsule of two bands tearing it up on opposite sides of the punk spectrum.
CELEBRATION SUMMER’s side is all heartfelt hooks and political bite—think JAWBREAKER meets HOT WATER MUSIC, with “Fraud” standing tall as a rallying cry to believe survivors. Over on the flip, WOLF-FACE goes full lycanthropic mayhem with “With or Without Boof”—fast, funny, and totally feral, a love song that still manages to tell coach to f*ck off.
One side bleeds urgency and sincerity, the other is wild-eyed punk theatre in short shorts. Together? It’s FEST in its purest form—loud, sweaty, and gone too soon.
WILDER MAKER are stepping into new territory with The Streets Like Beds Still Warm, out September 19 via Western Vinyl. It’s the first part of a three-LP cycle unfolding over the next year and a half, each tracing a single long night in the city.
The record comes from live, open-ended studio improvisations later cut down and shaped into songs — a looser, more instinctive approach than the sharper lines of Male Models. Gabriel Birnbaum and the long-standing lineup of Adam Brisbin, Nick Jost, and Sean Mullins push into hazy, nocturnal textures, joined by guests like Joseph Shabason and Cole Kamen-Green.
The latest tracks, “They Laugh That Win” and “Another Bullshit Rodeo,” sit in the story just past 11 p.m., moving between grit and drifting ambience. It’s not about chasing a hook or neat structure — the pieces are built to live inside a moment, with no hurry to leave.
MOTHERLESS are set to drop their debut full-length Do You Feel Safe? on September 12 via Prosthetic Records, and they’re leading with the crushing single “Weaponized Goodwill.” The Chicago band—featuring members of The Atlas Moth and Without Waves—has built a reputation on heavy, riff-driven sets that cut through the noise with no fog, no light show, just riffs.
Rooted in doom and loaded with punk and hardcore grit, the record’s eight tracks carry a raw, urban weight, reflecting personal and collective struggles from the past several years. Produced by Sanford Parker and mastered by Brad Boatright, Do You Feel Safe? channels thick tones, sharp songwriting, and an unflinching approach to heavy music.
Live plans include a listening party tonight at Kite String Cantina in Chicago and a record release show on August 29 at Burlington Bar with Death Pose, Something Is Waiting, and Barren Heir.
TIME IS THE RULER drop their debut Opt Out on September 1, with four cuts already up — “In Praise Of Folly,” “The Tension,” “The Whistle,” and “How To Abstain?” — streaming ahead of the full thing. We had them on our radar back in May, talking about the existential gut-punch of “The Tension” and its take on self-sabotage and toxic repetition.
The Polish crossover/hardcore crew — built from players in Schizma, Pain Runs Deep, The Lowest, Sora!, and Javva — tracked the music in Bydgoszcz with Szymon Grodzki, cut vocals between Bydgoszcz and Warsaw, and sent it off to Dublin for Michael Richards to mix and master. Gabby Abularach of Cro-Mags drops in on several tracks, pulling their metallic hardcore base even tighter into that wider, gnarlier lineage.
HOARI just dropped their self-titled ripper via Zegema Beach Records — six tracks of sharp-edged, metallic hardcore that hit fast and leave marks. Mostly two-minute blasts, plus one final seven-minute crusher that slows down just enough to twist the knife. Only 37 tapes made, split across swirl, transparent red, and rare test dips.
For fans of TELOS, SHORA, THANK YOU DRIVER, COARSE.
Slow Down Records is back with their annual world-spanning DIY mix — SDR-60 — dropping October 12. Been in the works since late ‘23, pulling in some of the finest underground sounds from every corner: slow-core emo out of Monterrey (GOL OLÍMPICO), Glasgow’s raw and restless THE RARELY SOCIAL, plus cuts from Japan, Norway, Italy, Indonesia, and more.
Montreal alt punks SPITE HOUSE have dropped “10 Days,” the last preview from their upcoming sophomore LP Desertion, out September 12 via Pure Noise Records. The track follows “Stale Change” and “Desert,” and digs into the album’s core theme of loss with unflinching detail.
Vocalist/guitarist Max Lajoie says the song is about the brief time he spent with his mother after learning she had cancer: “She was gone 10 days after her diagnosis… it’s about holding her hand as she passed and feeling like I was both present and absent, both there and not enough.” Desertion pulls directly from the unexpected passings of both his parents, sequencing those moments chronologically across 11 tracks that balance ‘90s punk influences with sharp post-hardcore urgency.
SPITE HOUSE will tour North America with The Dirty Nil and Heart Attack Man, starting September 11 in Barrie, ON and running through late October, including a September 21 hometown stop at Cafe Campus.
hate5six has dropped a new batch of full-set hardcore videos, adding to their 7,000+ show archive. Recent uploads include ON BROKEN WINGS and INTERNAL BLEEDING from Hellphyra 2025, BAYWAY from Hellfest Presents: NJHC 2025, and ZAO’s July 6 Hellphyra set.
Also posted: SCARAB’s Hellphyra performance, plus KISS IT GOODBYE at Rich Hall Forever and E. TOWN CONCRETE from NJHC.
Japanese emo pop-punk crew GOOD GRIEF just rolled out their new full-length Sad Station 2nd, out now on all streaming platforms. The 11-track set features guest spots from Millington, Michael Stryker of All Hype, and Taz Johnson of Belmont.
They’re taking it across Japan on the SS2: Dear Passengers Tour 2025, kicking off August 23 at Chiba LOOK and wrapping November 28 at Daikanyama UNIT, with 20 stops in between. Tickets are up via Pia and e+.
Fast hardcore out of Chicago — HOME INVASION just banged out a new self-titled 7″ on WAR Records. Four tracks, one side, silkscreened flip, plus a vinyl-only bonus. Keith Caves handled the cover, keeping it as raw as the sound.
Built from members of Noose, Contempt, Duress, and Guts and Glory, they’re pulling from Bastard, Think I Care, Gauze, and Negative Approach — straight Midwest basement energy. Fresh off gigs with Sheer Terror, Conservative Military Image, World I Hate, The Killer, and Hold My Own, they’re still playing it fast, loud, and without any frills.
SHIBUYA’s Bravura y Firmamento landed earlier this year, co-released on vinyl through a network of labels from Spain to Canada. The Valencia outfit tracked it in August 2024 at Novoestudio, with mixing handled by Sergio Reyes and mastering by Aarón Úbeda.
The record runs 11 songs, from opener “Árbol Caído” to the brief closer “Un Minuto De Silencio,” with a guest writing credit from Alberto Ara on “De Nieve, Polvo y Arena.” Current lineup has Aaron on drums, Ara on guitar and backing vocals, Alex on guitar and vocals, and Sergio on bass and backing vocals — tying together the sharp-edged emotional hardcore, post-hardcore, and screamo threads they’ve been weaving.
CONJURER will release their third album Unself on October 24 via Nuclear Blast, leading with the furious new single Hang Them In Your Head. Stripping back the over-technicality of Páthos, the UK heavy unit aim for more groove, more doom weight, and sharper lyrical fire—tackling wealth inequality, housing crises, and social alienation without hiding behind metaphor.
For vocalist/guitarist Dani Nightingale, the record is also tied to their experience of being diagnosed as autistic and realising they’re non-binary, using the album to reach out to people who feel unseen or othered. “I want this to give those people a voice,” they explain.
Written with a focus on energy and playability, Unself trades stock-still precision for riffs meant to move. Doom passages cut through the record, not as endless dirges, but as concentrated hits of heaviness.
UK tour follows in November.
Hardcore bruisers RESTRAINING ORDER have dropped “Were You There,” the latest single from their upcoming third LP Future Fortune, out September 12 via Blue Grape Music. The track arrives with a visualizer and, as vocalist Pat Cozens puts it, is “a song about unconditional love, for the ones that are more than friends and more than interest, the people you are happy to have in your life.”
The band will mark the release with a short run of Northeast shows before hitting the road this fall with Koyo, Ben Quad, and Leaving Time. Dates stretch from Toronto on October 23 to New York City on November 23, with stops in Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, and more.
Future Fortune is their first release for Blue Grape Music, following 2023’s Locked In Time and their 2019 debut This World Is Too Much. The album will be available on multiple vinyl variants from September 26.
East Coast collective THE IRON ROSES (see our interview here) have dropped “Fight Back,” the second single from their upcoming EP, due September 11. Recorded and mixed by Audio Vérité Recording with artwork by Hauntlove, the track pushes a message of solidarity and resistance, stressing that “we always have more power than we think we do in the face of oppression when we band together.”
The band—six members spread across five states—remain rooted in an openly antifascist stance while keeping their tone loose and community-focused. “Fight Back” follows the debut single “Class War Cheer Squad” and is set to become a live chant staple as they roll the EP out this fall.
San Diego’s SE VENDE (see our 2022 feature here) have just reissued their Happy Accidents LP via No Time Records, out now on black vinyl in a hand screen-printed sleeve. Limited to 300 copies, the repress lands today alongside the full digital album, which spans nine cuts from the shimmering opener So Much More to the slow-burn closer Slow Down.
Noise metal vets TODAY IS THE DAY will return October 3 with Never Give In, their first full-length since 2020. Written entirely by Steve Austin and recorded at his Austin Enterprise Recording & Mastering in Orland, Maine between 2020 and 2025, the nine-track set features contributions from Colin Frecknall on drums, Tom Jack on bass, Dave Brenner (Gridfailure) on vocals/keys for “Secret Police,” Mac Gollehon on horns, and Aaron Polk on drums for “Psychic Wound.”
The title track is streaming now, offering nearly six minutes of the band’s trademark abrasive sprawl.
Washington, D.C. rock’n’roll infused hardcore crew SUPREME COMMANDER have dropped Demo 2025, three fresh tracks recorded, mixed, and mastered in March at Viva Studio by Matt Michel.
California hardcore wrecking unit CELL ROT have dropped Parasite, the first half of a larger project on consumption and decay. Across eight tracks recorded with Jack Shirley at The Atomic Garden and mixed at Audiosiege, the release digs into a world stripped bare by excess—where both humans and their machines feed until there’s nothing left.
The concept frames parasites as the last thing standing, existing only to consume while waiting for nothing to come. From the minute-and-change bursts of “Yesterday” and “Cannibals” to the two-and-a-half-minute closer “Nothing’s Coming,” Parasite keeps it short, sharp, and rooted in their anarcho-punk and powerviolence core.
Punk rockers 10 JUIN have dropped their first full-length Désordres via Guerilla Asso. Formed in 2019 in Charente, they pull from the francophone 2000s scene (Justin(e), Vulgaires Machins), US staples like NOFX and Bad Religion, and mainstays such as Burning Heads and Zabriskie Point.
Across 11 tracks, the record calls out widening inequalities and a fraying social fabric, refusing to sink into the grind of work–loan–car repairs. The lyrics stay sharp and bitter, but the delivery is wired with a live energy and wry humor that’s carried into their late August tour stops in France and Belgium.
Indiana emo rockers LEISURE HOUR just dropped their new single Haunted, a hearty, nostalgia-soaked cut that leans into their sweeter side. It leads a seven-song set clocking just over 20 minutes, out now via PNWK Records.
The release also features tracks like Validation, Chicago, and Not Done Begging (Yet), keeping the tone intimate and reflective while running through short, sharp doses of melody and mood.
BURNT TAPES just dropped New Lungs, their most lyrically raw and loud outing yet. Recorded and produced by Daly George at Ranch Production House, the London-via-Athens crew lean further into their gruff, melodic punk — heartbreak, regret, and resilience tangled up in choruses built to hit hard.
The 10-track set runs from the 1:50 opener “Crisis Actors” to the closing “So Long, Sundays,” with Hannah Hermione Greenwood of Creeper guesting on “Little Sister.”
PACEMAKER’s The Sound Of Juggernaut just landed through Into The Fray Records, bringing six cuts of Muar City hardcore with a heavy NYHC backbone. Recorded at Iseekmusic Studios and mixed/mastered by Mokhtarizal, it’s all groove-heavy breakdowns, quick bursts, and street-level grit, cut through with a local edge that’s unmistakably Southern Malaysian.
The lineup — Pakya, Yosef, Azizie, Bujal, and Herry — delivers it on cassette in a clear, stickered pro-tape run of 100 copies, co-released with the band. It’s hardcore built on brotherhood, survival, and self-respect, carrying both Brooklyn stomp and five-foot-way pride.
LA experimental black metal screamo outfit AGRICULTURE have released The Weight, the second single from their upcoming album The Spiritual Sound, out October 3.
FLESHWATER have dropped Last Escape, the second single from their upcoming sophomore album 2000: In Search of the Endless Sky, out September 5 via Closed Casket Activities.
Following the recent release of Jetpack, this new track dives deeper into their hazy, crushing shoegaze sound. Pre-orders and pre-saves are live now through Closed Casket Activities.
New Jersey deathcore force LORNA SHORE has dropped “Prison of Flesh,” the third single from their upcoming fifth album I Feel the Everblack Festering Within Me, out September 12 via Century Media Records. The track follows “Oblivion” and “Unbreakable,” keeping the momentum of their 2025 rollout.
Teased earlier this week, the song is now streaming, with an official video set to land later today. It’s another piece in the band’s current symphonic deathcore chapter—cinematic scope, heavy swings, and the kind of atmosphere that’s been fueling online chatter ahead of the album’s release.
Asheville, NC’s technical hardcore wrecking crew FLIORA are back with “Adjacent,” a 1:19 blast of precision chaos. We last had them on IDIOTEQ in 2024, when they premiered their debut EP Welcome the Blossom via Bitter Melody Records.
This new single strips it all down—raw speed, jagged riffs, zero filler. Just a quick hit to remind you they can still cave your head in before you know what happened.
Quebec City punks SPLITCAST are set to drop their new EP Night on August 22 via People of Punk Rock. The five-song release follows last week’s arrival of lead single “Between the Fire and the Damned,” now streaming everywhere.
The EP will also feature tracks like “Worthy of the Calling,” “One of Us Has to Go,” “Stockholm Syndrome,” and “The Silence of Saints,” keeping the set lean but packed. “Between the Fire and the Damned” is the only taste out so far, setting the tone ahead of the full release.
Ottawa rock/pop-punk crew BEARINGS drop their new single “Quick Release” today via Pure Noise Records. Clocking in just under three minutes, it’s the latest preview of their upcoming album Comfort Company, set to land November 7, 2025.
Windsor’s genre-blurring four-piece TALKING VIOLET are back with “In Your Mind,” a track sitting somewhere between shoegaze haze and grunge weight, produced by Justin Meli and mastered by Will Yip. Beneath the shimmer, it’s a song about the limits of helping someone you love through pain — “They have to be the ones to figure things out, but you can do what you can from a supporting line,” says vocalist Jillian Goyeau.
The hook — “I wonder if I echo in your mind?” — hangs over its dense, upbeat layers, pulling from the same grief-thread that ran through Everything At Once. Goyeau frames it as a time of identity loss and slow rebuilding, moving away from the “people-pleasing baseline” that once defined her.
TALKING VIOLET’s track record includes spins on SiriusXM’s The Verge, playlist spots across Spotify and Apple Music, and a long run on the NACC charts — “In Your Mind” feels like another page in that same cathartic book.
CIV’s A Roadies Tale is back in a second edition, now up for pre-order. The 164-page paperback documents the summer of 1987, when a teenage Anthony Civarelli hit the road as a Youth Of Today roadie for the Break Down The Walls tour.
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Pulled from his daily tour journal, it’s packed with photos, flyers, and first-hand stories from a kid from Queens thrown into the heart of the ’80s punk and hardcore circuit — equal parts time capsule and raw travelogue.
Buffalo Oi! unit VIOLENT WAY just put out I’ll Ask You / They Said — two new cuts from their upcoming LP, now streaming everywhere.
“They Said” comes with a guest spot from Wattie of LION’S LAW, recorded and mixed by Jay Zubricky, mastered by Will Killingsworth.
Emotive alt-rock heavyweights RADIOHEAD have dropped Hail to the Thief (Live Recordings 2003-2009) without warning, pulling together 12 newly mixed and mastered cuts from shows in London, Amsterdam, Buenos Aires, and Dublin. The set spans from the album’s 2003 release to the tail end of the In Rainbows tours, with physical editions landing October 31.
Thom Yorke says the idea sparked while working on a Hamlet/Hail to the Thief theatre project: “I asked to hear some archive live recordings of the songs. I was shocked by the kind of energy behind the way we played… it was a dark time in so many ways… it has all been a very cathartic process.” The original record’s messy finish and polarizing length have long been a point of debate, with Yorke once posting a stripped-down tracklist and Nigel Godrich calling it “probably [his] least favourite of all the albums.”
The release arrives after the band quietly formed a new LLP earlier this year, a move that usually signals tour activity rather than archival drops—though, as always with RADIOHEAD, nothing’s confirmed.
Norwegian–Swedish post-rock collective ORSAK:OSLO have unveiled “085 Days Adrift,” the final single from their upcoming double LP Silt and Static, out September 5 via Vinter Records. The track, described by the band as “a meditation on distance… beginning with yearning and hope, slowly eroding into grief,” pairs a loop-like drumbeat and trip-hop-tinged bassline with a hovering melody that feels like something slipping away.
Recorded spontaneously without a set plan, Silt and Static captures the group at their most stripped-down and unfiltered, balancing fragility with weight. ORSAK:OSLO say the album isn’t meant to be perfect, only real, existing “in the space between the ugly, the fragile, the beautiful, and the unbreakable.”
Nineteen years ago this past Friday, HAVE HEART dropped The Things We Carry, a debut that still lands hard. It hit like a gut punch wrapped in earnest shouts and real talk: clean production, blistering pace, and lyrics that go deeper than typical straight‑edge fare.
Built on urgent riffs, breakneck tempos, and call-and-response vocals, it carried a sense of shared purpose that blurred the line between band and crowd. Nearly two decades later, it still gets cited as a touchstone for the era — not just for its energy, but for the way it fused conviction with accessibility.
Polish pop-punk crew CF98 have dropped their new single “Hate My Life,” out now via SBÄM Records and Double Helix Records. Known for their skate-punk roots, the band’s upcoming album will keep that base but branch into alternative, pop-punk, and synth territory. This track leans into melodic modern pop-punk, channeling themes of anxiety, self-doubt, and growing pains without sugarcoating.
The single follows a busy run of shows across Europe and Japan, with the band stacking up festival slots at Brakrock, Punk Rock Holiday, Pol’and’Rock, and more. The new record is expected in fall 2025, marking a fresh chapter for a group that’s been pushing their sound while keeping their high-energy live edge intact.
LIFE BETWEEN SLEEP have released a live studio session of “Heartman,” recorded on September 29, 2012, during what turned out to be their final time tracking music together. Unearthed 13 years later, the footage and audio capture a raw, grungy rock sound that channels strong ’90s nostalgia.
After a decade in the shadows, UK post-punk/industrial duo HATEFUL ABANDON return August 29 with Threat via Sentient Ruin Laboratories. Tom “Swine” Price and Martin “Vice Martyr” Brindley pull no punches, channeling post-punk, industrial, anarcho and crust punk, black metal, and dark wave into eight tracks of pessimistic, blue-collar cultural upheaval.
Written and self-recorded in seclusion between 2014 and 2024, the album continues the thread from Liars/Bastards while digging deeper into themes of political decay, war, and class enslavement. Echoes of Killing Joke, Joy Division, Godflesh, Amebix, Swans, Coil, Rudimentary Peni, and Ramleh reverberate through its post-industrial wreckage.
Canadian skatepunk veterans CURBSIDE just dropped their new album A Lifetime To Outgrow via Thousand Islands Records, with EU distribution from Bearded Punk Records. Recorded and produced by vocalist/guitarist Pat Dietrich, the record was mixed and mastered by John Harcus and features cover art from Jason Alexander Cruz. Dietrich calls it “the culmination of everything we’ve lived since the last record… about growing up, facing uncomfortable truths, and still finding a reason to keep pushing forward.”
Alongside the new release, CURBSIDE have also issued the first-ever vinyl pressing of their 2012 debut The Sound I Know — a nod to the high-speed, melodic start that built their name in the Canadian skatepunk scene. Both records are streaming now, with the new LP leading on tracks like We Were The Thieves, Pulling Teeth, and All I Want To Hear.
Turku sludge metal unit SUNNIVA will follow up their May release “Mercurial Bloodstreams” with a new single, “Valovaltimo,” landing August 15 via Violence In The Veins.
Where “Mercurial Bloodstreams” tore into the myth of technological progress with thunderous riffs and guttural weight, “Valovaltimo” looks to expand the band’s stark contrasts of darkness and light — a tension that has defined their sound since forming in 2016. Sunniva’s name, drawn from the Old English Sunngifu (“gift of the sun”), has always carried that dual edge, balancing seismic heaviness with moments of clarity.
Their debut full-length “Hypostasis” arrives later this year, blending death doom, sludge, and post-metal influences reminiscent of Amenra, Neurosis, and Dark Buddha Rising. Past releases — The Holy Mountain (2017), the self-titled EP (2020), and the sprawling 2018 single “This Reality Only Speaks in Blood” — established a reputation for immersive, slow-burning intensity both on record and in their live shows.
GRIDFAILURE just dropped a new visual nightmare — “This Was More Than Just Killing… It Was Art” — ahead of their next full-length Sixth Mass-Extinction Skulduggery III, out October 3 via Nefarious Industries.
David Brenner pulled in a stacked crew for this one: Steve Austin (TODAY IS THE DAY), Mac Gollehon (David Bowie, Duran Duran, Onyx), Mike Giuliano, and even his own nephew Isaac Campbell. It’s as ugly, sprawling, and unpredictable as the record promises — eighty-plus minutes of post-industrial chaos warped through jazz, black metal, folk, and straight-up sonic demolition.
LÜT just dropped Smil & Vink — a fuzzed-out, melancholic punk banger with groove, sing-alongs, and riffs built for maximum energy before their self-titled album hits September 12.
Written as the first track for this new era, it’s equal parts good vibes and cheeky bravado (“We’re flykicking Jackie Chan, playing in a rock & roll band!”). The Tromsø crew have already torn up stages from Summer Breeze to Tons Of Rock, earned props from Lars Ulrich, and shared bills with DIE ÄRZTE and Skambankt.
melodic punk rockers TAKE TODAY have released a new single, Hide My Head, out August 14, 2025 via Pedal Boy Records. Formed in Southern New Jersey in 2003, the band has navigated lineup changes and stylistic shifts over the years, moving from early EPs like The Fear of Thinking (2005) and Somewhere Between Heaven & Hell (2007) to their reboot era starting in 2014.
Their recent output includes the Communiques series, ska-influenced singles such as SKAdiving / Up To The Top, and collaborations with CATBITE, FLYING RACCOON SUIT, JOYSTICK!, OMNIGONE, and others.
Pure Noise Records has signed San Diego pop-punk outfit SUPER SOMETIMES, formerly known as New Aesthetic, and dropped their new single and video “Say Something Now.”
The track appears on From Then & Now — a compilation pulling together past releases, a cover of BOX CAR RACER’s “All Systems Go,” and fresh material produced by Zach Tuch. It’s the band’s first time on vinyl, blending skate-punk urgency, Drive-Thru-era hooks, and Tumblr-era confessional edge.
SUPER SOMETIMES — Gabriel Muñoz, Dylan Guzman, Matthew Ludwig, and Matthew Anliker — have already played alongside STATE CHAMPS, HAWTHORNE HEIGHTS, and REAL FRIENDS, with more to come under their new label home.
SUNSET DETOUR fire off their latest pop-punk burst with “Shotgun Nellie”, out August 1 — all fast hooks, sun-drenched choruses, and early-2000s teen-movie energy.
Formed in 2023, the Danish four-piece is chasing the title of Denmark’s first fully committed pop-punk band, stacking up international streams and building a following across the US, Germany, Brazil, and the UK. The track kicks off a bigger run of planned releases for 2025–2026, aiming to carry the torch left behind by Sum 41.
Austin dreamcore unit COLORBLIND have announced their new EP Who Sold You This Truth, set for release September 12 via Solid State. Alongside the news, they’ve shared a visualizer for “Neversleep,” a track Travis Moseley says is “about caring so much it wrecks you… they leave, but you’re the one stuck with all the noise, the emptiness, the overthinking.”
The six-song release follows tours with Dayseeker and Catch Your Breath, and comes ahead of a September–October run with Blessthefall, plus an appearance at Louder Than Life Festival. The EP marks their first for Solid State/Tooth & Nail, capturing a mix of rumbling rhythm work, heavy riffs, and expansive melodies.
California melodic rock / post-hardcore veterans HAIL THE SUN have announced their seventh album cut. turn. fade. back., due October 24 via Equal Vision Records. Produced by Pete Adams and Grammy winner Johnny Kosich of Beach Noise, and mixed/mastered by Zakk Cervini, the record tackles military atrocities, humanitarian crises, addiction, lost love, and death across eleven tracks.
Alongside the announcement, the band have shared the video for lead single “War Crimes,” a politically charged closer that frontman Donovan Melero says confronts the cycles of control and violence in human history: “We do horrific things in the name of ‘liberation’… but who gains from these wars of carnage and death? Who always comes out on top?”
The release lands in the middle of HAIL THE SUN’s fall co-headline tour with Between The Buried and Me, running September 14–October 30, and includes a headline set at Kill Iconic Fest in San Antonio on October 5.
FOREIGN FILM — the cinematic post-rock project from members of Will Haven — have debuted their first single, “Santa Carla,” ahead of a planned full-length in 2026. Conceived by guitarist and primary songwriter Jeff Irwin in 2023, the band grew from early demos into a full lineup with Mitch Wheeler, Sean Bivins, and Adrien Contreras, plus additional collaborators on keys, guitar, and backing vocals.
Recorded at J Rigged Studios in Sacramento with producers Weston Ray and Robert Kerr, the track pairs lush textures with a movie-style video directed by Dave Blackley. Irwin calls it the oldest piece from the project’s demo sessions and a starting point for the group’s expansive, filmic approach. The single hits streaming platforms August 15, with live shows planned for late 2025 and US/European touring to follow in 2026.
CULT OF LUNA have expanded their “Beyond” series with a new three-track EP, pairing “Beyond III,” “Beyond IV” (featuring A.A. Williams), and a live version of “Beyond V.” The first two parts appeared on The Long Road North back in 2022.
Fredrik Kihlberg explains the concept came during those album sessions: different versions — some vocal, some instrumental — intended as interludes. “Unfortunately they couldn’t all fit on the album so we are happy to share them with you now,” he says.
STREET SECTS and STREET SEX dropped their final advance singles ahead of Friday’s dual album release via HEALTH’s new imprint Compulsion Records.
From Dry Drunk, STREET SECTS unleash Entertainment Law, a jagged, dissonant blast that locks into their industrial hardcore roots while pulling the listener through a haze of obsession and consequence. Its swagger and menace set the tone for the rest of the record, one of the earliest demos and a blueprint for its unrelenting mood.
STREET SEX answer with Half Laugh, the most club-oriented cut on their debut Full Color Eclipse, drawing on techno textures inspired by Avalon Emerson and Floating Points. Lyrically, it’s a twisted, humorous look at voyeuristic fantasy, delivered with the duo’s characteristic bite.
Both records were produced by Ben Chisholm (Chelsea Wolfe), and today’s singles mark the last preview before the full drop on Friday, August 15. The Austin-based pair of Leo Ashline and Shaun Ringsmuth take both projects on the road starting August 16 as part of the Industrial Worship U.S. tour with Youth Code, King Yosef, and Insula Iscariot.
Previous roundups:
- August 1-8
- July 25 – August 1
- July 23-25
- July 21-23
- July 19-21
- July 16-18
- July 12-15
- July 9-11
- July 5-9
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