Five modern hardcore bands you should be listening to
From the sweat-stained walls of a few Washington, DC clubs back in the 1980s, to a sprawling network of DIY artists stretching across the globe, hardcore has always been so much more than a mere offshoot of the punk revolution.
Built upon a staunch do-it-yourself ethos of ‘here’s three chords, now form a band’, punk rock has always been the music of the underground, but nothing reflects the raw power of punk quite like its hardcore counterpart. First emerging during the late 1970s and early 1980s, centred around the harsh concrete jungle surroundings of New York City and Washington, DC, hardcore was faster, sweatier, and more aggressive than anything peddled by safety-pin-bedecked punks back in the mid-1970s’ early days.
Given the unparalleled power of hardcore, it is no surprise that the scene has witnessed a far more enduring appeal than many of the other subgenres falling under the punk umbrella. Groups like Minor Threat, Bad Brains, and Agnostic Front might have laid the foundations back in the day, but that same anarchic flag is still being flown today by everybody from Turnstile to Knocked Loose, thus spawning an entirely new generation of hardcore excellence.
With the likes of Turnstile converting an ever-increasing number of audiences into two-stepping, moshing hardcore revolutionaries, it is worth remembering just how prosperous the current landscape of hardcore music is. There is a seemingly endless deluge of incredible hardcore coming from all corners of the globe, provided you know where to look for it.
In an effort to expose some of the greatest current voices in this enduring scene, we have collated a list of five essential groups to sink your teeth into. It is, by no means, an exhaustive list, but it does aim to capture the sonic diversity and raw power of the modern hardcore landscape, as well as giving you a reading list of utterly incredible outfits. See you in the pit.
Five modern hardcore bands you should be listening to:
DoFlame
Brampton, Ontario, is rarely credited as being a musical hotspot – often overshadowed by its neighbour, Toronto – but what it lacks in notoriety it more than makes up for in spirit, something that DoFlame so perfectly captures. The artistic alias of 23-year-old Mateo Naranjo, DoFlame, unleashed his debut album, Bent, last year, and its infectious hardcore energy, coupled with hip-hop sensibilities, makes it one of the most dynamic and compelling hardcore releases of recent years.
Hip-hop and hardcore have an extensive shared history, and there are countless blends attempting to blend the two styles together, but DoFlame seems to have landed on a sound unlike any other. Awash with a sense of spontaneity and beautiful anger, the musician has been steadily rising in prominence over the past year, with some landmark gigs in Europe exposing entirely new audiences to the hardcore sounds emanating from Brampton.
Traidora
Punk is, always has been, and always will be Queer, and as authority figures become increasingly oppressive towards the LGBTQ+ community, a lot of that anger has been channelled into the creation of liberating hardcore punk. London-based Traidora are among the greatest hardcore outfits on the scene right now, offering an endearingly primitive, stripped-back D-beat style and an almost gothic image which certainly sets them apart from the rest of the British hardcore scene at present.
Spearhead by Venezuela-born trans woman Eva Leblanc, the project’s latest release was Una mujer trans sin país (A trans woman without a country), and it acts as an incredible introduction to their unrelenting, unshackled, and expansive sound. Inevitably, Traidora are a group that must be witnessed live and in the flesh to truly appreciate, but it is the mark of a good hardcore band that their energy and aggression also translates onto those studio recordings.
Cannonball
Heading up north to the musical haven of Sheffield, Cannonball burst onto the scene with a remarkably raw demo tape last summer, and have spent the intervening months firmly establishing themselves among the greatest live acts on the modern hardcore circuit. With their straight edge sound, Cannonball are probably closer to the ‘traditional’ hardcore sound than some of the other groups on this list, but that certainly doesn’t detract from their appeal.
Even on that demo tape of six tracks (only one of which breaches the one-and-a-half-minute mark), Cannonball expertly demonstrates the breadth of their output. From traditional straight edge hardcore to a kind of early 2000s throwback – which is sure to score nostalgia points for any hardcore kids of a certain age – to more light-hearted offerings, the group’s limited output thus far shows an unparalleled level of promise, and they are certainly ones to keep an eye (or ear) on.
Haywire
If you have taken even a passing interest in the hardcore scene of the past few years, the chances are that you’re already well aware of Boston outfit Haywire. Sticking firmly to their punk roots, rather than going over to the dark side of metal-based hardcore, the band’s 2024 record Conditioned For Demolition is among the greatest hardcore releases of the 2020s thus far, harking back to the old-school sound of Boston hardcore while simultaneously driving it forward into the modern age.
There is no excess weight when it comes to Haywire, just hardcore in its simplest and arguably most effective form, which is something of a breath of fresh air in an increasingly saturated scene of artists attempting to totally reinvent the wheel. With a seemingly endless tour schedule taking them all over the world, notably with The Dropkick Murphys on an upcoming jaunt through Europe, all the signs point to Haywire continuing to dominate modern hardcore, and quite rightfully, too.
End It
If not the greatest modern hardcore band out there, End It are certainly the most direct and confrontational. From their home base in Baltimore, the infectiously abrasive outfit have been making waves in the scene since their inaugural release back in 2017, but it was only this year that they unleashed their masterful debut album, Wrong Side Of Heaven, via Flatspot Records – a haven for hardcore excellence.
While it is not uncommon for lyrical content to become buried underneath a wall of distorted guitars and unrelenting drums in hardcore music, End It places a core focus on their lyrics, which should give you some indication of just how great the band’s writing is on tracks like ‘New Wage Slavery’, for instance. Not only are they one of the best hardcore bands out there right now, but they’re also one of the most important (and are, therefore, not to be missed).
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