Pittsburgh hardcore outfit Unreal City went silent after their 2020 debut “Cruelty of Heaven” dropped on Closed Casket Activities. Not the dramatic kind of silent โ just life pulling people in different directions. Vocalist Joseph Sanderson moved to Southeast Asia and started fighting Muay Thai full-time. Not as a side hobby. He racked up around 30 fights and became a three-time champion.
Now the band is back, signed to War Records, with a new EP called “Blood Memory” due out March 6, 2026. The first single, “Emptiness,” is already out with a video directed by Johnny Hopkinson of Modest Director.
“Emptiness” has been kicking around in different demo forms for years, according to the band. They offered some context directly: “Emptiness is actually an old song of ours. There were several different versions of it for years in demo form and as Mars Recording Studio was set to close at the time of this session, we wanted to make sure we left no material out. We really liked the way this version came together and felt it needed a release of its own.”
The video itself is a compilation of live footage from Unreal City’s last three hometown Pittsburgh shows, put together by Modest Director โ whose DVD comp documenting Pittsburgh’s underground scene is worth tracking down on its own.
“Blood Memory” was tracked at the legendary Mars Recording Studio with the late Bill Korecky, whose fingerprints are all over records by Integrity, Undying, and a long list of Midwest heavy music staples. The artwork comes from the late Stephen Kasner, known for his work with Sunn O))) and Rotting Christ.
In a recent interview with No Echo, Sanderson talked about the weight of those sessions. He and Korecky had worked together across both Unreal City and Eternal Sleep over the years. “I learned a lot working with him and it was always a joy to listen to him wax about all the classic records he’d been a part of and all the characters that had passed through that studio,” Sanderson said. The “Blood Memory” material was recorded during the “Cruelty of Heaven” sessions specifically because the studio was closing โ the band wanted to leave nothing on the table.
“He had become a friend and I’m glad we are able to put something else into the ether with his fingerprints on it. RIP Bill.”
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The timeline is worth laying out. Unreal City had just released the “Satyr/Sheol” 7″ and were about to hit the road with Reserving Dirtnaps in April 2020 when everything shut down. Sanderson described the situation plainly in the No Echo interview: “The timing of the shutdowns annihilated that bit of momentum.”
Rather than sit around, he leaned into Muay Thai โ something that had already been part of his life through amateur fights. When uncertainty around live music dragged on, he made the call to relocate to Thailand. Guitarist Rob was apparently one of the most vocal supporters of that move, even knowing the band couldn’t stay active.
“We knew when the time was right, we’d return to it, and here we are,” Sanderson said. “Now I have about 30 fights and a bunch of new scars to my name.”
The band themselves put it simply when talking about the return: “Unreal City has always just been about trying to create the kind of hardcore music we wanted to hear. The sounds have changed slightly here and there but it will continue to reflect that.”
People keep putting Unreal City in the Holy Terror box โ that Cleveland-rooted lineage running through Integrity and Ringworm. Sanderson isn’t really buying it. Speaking to No Echo, he was pretty direct: “I’m not totally certain we really fit the bill. I know for me, I just consider Unreal City a hardcore band.” He pointed to Integrity and Cro-Mags as the bands that shaped his taste growing up, but pushed back on the idea that the band writes toward any particular label. “Anything past that is likely a side effect.”
The band’s own bio describes their approach as “Slayer played at half speed with a NYHC swag,” which honestly does more work than any subgenre tag.
Unreal City are now on War Records and have a short run coming up this month โ Pittsburgh, Rochester, and Erie โ followed by a record release show. They’ve said they want to play as much as possible this year. A tour with Haywire and Missing Link is also lined up for early 2026.
Sanderson told No Echo he’s been paying attention to what’s happening around him: “One of the stand out aspects of hardcore in 2026 is the fact that bands as sonically disparate as Haywire and Missing Link enjoy an overlap of listeners. It is cool to see younger kids not picking a lane and just taking it all as their own.”
He also shouted out Berthold City, Home Invasion, Like Heaven, and Direct Measure from the War Records roster, plus Cross of Disbelief, the reissued Confront record, Missing Link’s “Miracle Smile” EP, the recent C4 record, and Aaron Melnick’s Nuclae.
“Blood Memory” is out March 6 on War Records.
