It’s year-end list season on No Echo. Stay tuned for my picks, plus takes from some of the site’s contributing writers on our favorite hardcore releases of the year.
In this entry, Thomas Vanderpol highlights some of his favorite melodic hardcore releases from 2025 that might have flown under your radar.
-Carlos Ramirez (No Echo)
***
Lead Spirit — Lead Spirit (From Within Records)
FFO: In My Eyes, Our Turn, Battery
Lead Spirit caught my attention with their 2024 single, "Release (Hounds of Hope)." Playing a style of hardcore prominent in the mid-2000s, the Omaha band is resurrecting this sound, focused on sing-alongs, two-steps, and raised fists.
This 7" sold out so fast this year, I couldn't believe it.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Like Heaven — Hope In Hell (WAR Records)
FFO: Blacklisted, Last Lights, American Nightmare
Like Heaven is a brand new band from St. Louis, featuring Drew and David from Time and Pressure on vocals and guitar, respectively. Maxey's signature melancholic lyrics are the icing on the cake for this dark, brooding band. Bonus points for each song that is one word, starting with the letter f.
Nobody's got style like that these days. Drew has one of the rawest, most consistent voices in hardcore, so it's nice to see him back in the saddle for a band that is pushing the sonic limits for this style of hardcore: great drums, the Phil Spector "wall of sound" theory, and a blackened new wave grit. It's like a beautiful smile from dirt-caked teeth.
Buy Hope In Hell via WAR Records
Read more about Like Heaven
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Do Crime — Caught Up (Triple Hammer Records/State of Mind Recordings)
FFO: Shook Ones, Kid Dynamite, Lifetime
Melodic hardcore is a spectrum. From the emotive and metal-tinged to the octave-laden, skate punk adjacent, the label can be somewhat of a catch-all for bands that don't quite fit the "Capital H Hardcore" definition. Do Crime fall somewhere in the latter half of that definition.
The group from Buffalo released this EP in 2024 on the B-side onto wax with Triple Hammer Records and State of Mind Recordings (both upstate New York labels), and it’s sold the fuck out.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Love Sick — I Am No One Now (51st State Records)
FFO: American Nightmare, Strife, Life Long Tragedy
Ever wonder what it would sound like if members of Koyo got together and decided to do a band that sounded like sad boy fast hardcore from the early 2000s with Spock rock haircuts and track jackets fucked with camo pants and basketball jersey ‘90s breakdown core? Now you don't have to.
Love Sick's I Am No One Now combines both of these great things into one vocal-reverb-heavy expression of 8 songs in 9 minutes. Doesn't look like there's any info on a physical release for this as of yet, but I've got my eyes peeled.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Drink Deep — Burning House (Control Records)
FFO: Dag Nasty, Fugazi, 7 Seconds
Yet another testament to the varying definition of melodic hardcore, Drink Deep from Berlin reaches deep into their 1980s Revolution Summer influences. Featuring members of Remission, No Longer At Ease (did you forget how good their one release was?), and Praise, this group of North and South American expats reminds us how fun the early years of Washington, DC sound.
Drink Deep released their Burning House 7" in the fall, but I will be looking forward to jamming it in the summer, because I don't know about you, but this sounds like summer to me.
Buy Burning House via Control Records
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Fading Signal — Only An Echo (Indecision Records)
FFO: Life Long Tragedy, Stay Gold, True Love
If you missed this record, crawl out from under that rock. Fading Signal is one of the most exciting new bands around—packed with young kids reviving that Bridge 9-meets-Rivalry Records sound that owned the early 2000s. If the kids are into it, you know it’s got legs.
With backing from Indecision Records and guest spots from Contention, True Love, Divine Right, and Stateside, Fading Signal has co-signs from across hardcore generations. Here’s hoping a full US tour is coming in 2026.
Buy Only An Echo via Indecision Records
***
Tagged: do crime, drink deep, fading signal, lead spirit, like heaven, love sick
