Another year has started and that signals the time on No Echo where I compile a list of 12 newer hardcore bands I think the site's readers should check out. If you're curious, you can check out the previous lists going back to 2016 at this link.
For now, here are a few of the bands I'm excited about this year.
Also, if you're on Spotify, I've started the 2025 Hardcore Releases playlist that I update it throughout the week.
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Bayway
For the uninitiated, Bayway is a New Jersey band specializing in a strain of hip-hop-influenced hardcore. The New Jersey unit's Bayway Takes Manhattan EP bleeds East Coast tough-guy mosh and won them an intrigued audience throughout the globe.
"We have some show announcements coming up, a new record in May, most likely, and we are planning a bigger headliner show in June for Jersey," vocalist Jay Way told me earlier this week about their 2025 plans. If you rock basketball jerseys (no pun intended) and love groove-driven riffs, Bayway should already be on your radar.
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Cannonball
Sheffield, UK upstarts Cannonball features members of Accusation and Step Beyond, playing a style of hardcore that Lockin' Out heads should take note of. "I would describe Cannonball as unserious straight edge," vocalist Dannii told me in a 2024 No Echo profile.
There's a loose and swinging vibe to what Cannonball does, and it's all driven forward with infectious energy. Checking in with the band earlier this week, I was told writing sessions for their debut EP are in full effect.
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Cross of Disbelief
With bands like All Out War, Mindforce, and Drowning Room coming out of the region, Hudson Valley, New York has proven to be a fertile breeding ground for excellent hardcore of various styles for decades. Cross of Disbelief is one of the latest groups to pop from the scene there, and their Hands Bound In Absent Prayer EP from last summer sounds as nasty as its title implies.
People love throwing "brutal" around when talking about hardcore and metal bands, but it's certainly an apt adjective here. Let's be clear, Cross of Disbelief know how to lay down a head-bopping groove, but they inject it with death metal-level savagery in the guitar and vocal tone departments.
Put these guys on tour with Obituary and Terror and the blood would spill.
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Divine Right
Part of the New Age Records roster, North Carolina's Divine Right got a Prayer for Cleansing-meets-'90s Victory Records metallic hardcore style that I feel is a lane a lot of groups will be riding in this coming year. Their Salvation Ends debut landed on my Best Hardcore EPs of 2024 list late last month.
"I think our current plan is to put out a promo sometime in the spring, and then, eventually, an LP," vocalist Josh told me about Divine Right's next moves. "Other than that, just playing shows, getting some runs planned out, all the works!" Hide your pointy headstock guitars!
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Echo Chamber
In 2023, I called Japan's Blow Your Brains Out the best NYHC band not actually from NYC. Ever since they blessed listeners with their godfuck self-titled EP last year, Echo Chamber have won that crown.
Hailing from Cologne, Germany, Echo Chamber's output sounds as tough and unrelenting as any local band I saw play venues like CBGBs, L'Amours, and Coney Island High back in the '90s. I'll have my fingers crossed that these gentlemen release a proper LP this year. Don't sleep on this band.
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Haywire
Whether they're delivering down-the-middle hardcore or street punk-laced anthems, Haywire deliver it with heart and fucking soul. The Boston bruisers dropped both an LP (Conditioned for Demolition) and EP (For Better or For Worse) in 2024, and their popularity within the hardcore community rose with each one.
The Haywire stomp is strong, and boots will be stomping this year (even if they want to occasionally throw a curveball our way).
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Hindsight
"FFO early 2000s bands that would have played with Carry On," read the listing for Hindsight's fantastic demo last year. The NJ/PA-based straight edgers live up to that description with no-bullshit, speedy hardcore that should never go out of fashion.
"We’re already working on new stuff, with an updated lineup and should have an EP coming in the first half of 2025," Hindsight bassist Ben Stuckey answered when I bugged him for an update the other day. The xXx hardcore contingent should be psyched on that.
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Missouri Executive Order 44
According to the musicians in Missouri Executive Order 44, they sound "like a herd of steer left to stampede across an empty prairie." I won't argue there.
The band's chaos-core is Christmas morning stuff for Coalesce and Dimitri-era Dillinger Escape Plan, with some Justin Pearson-like psychotic sass on top. The members of Missiouri Executive Order don disturbing-looking masks, resembling members of some religious cult along the way. Their 2024 Salt Sermon release featured 11 tracks and ran just over 15 minutes.
"Things are still in the working stages but expect us to be back out in the road next spring/summer for sure, hopefully with some new tunes," the band told me in an email. I can't wait to see these weirdos live!
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SLICE
"We like riffs," said SLICE vocalist Saffron Florea when I covered the Toledo, Ohio group last year. Breaking their sound down, the singer offered: "I think we pull a lot of influence from both hardcore and metal bands such as, Power Trip, Mindforce, Leeway, Cold World, Sepultura, and Excel."
SLICE's 2024 collaboration track with Jimmy from Bad Beat, "The Fool," was a heater and got me pumped for what lies ahead for them. "We are working on another EP that will hopefully be out around April," Saffron wrote me last week. The vocalist also said they've booked a slot on one of the bigger hardcore fests in America at the moment, but I won't spill the beans on that yet.
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Skud
The new pride of Western Massachusetts, Skud came rocking out of the gate in 2024 with two demos, a split EP (w/ Target Scammers), and a 3-song promo at the very end of the year. They play no-nonsense hardcore that could have come out in almost any era of the scene and been just as potent.
"We have two tours in the works right now and a couple random shows already booked, but expect to see us playing a lot," bassist Cazimir says of Skud's schedule. "We plan to drop an LP late summer- early fall."
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Step By Step
Boston-style hardcore and classic Youth Crew merge in the world of Step By Step. Their 2024 demo appeared on my year-end list, and the Tehachapi, California band's Promo 2024 also impressed me.
Drummer Nick Viterelli messaged me a few days ago saying that Step By Step will be back in the studio this spring. Ooh, baby.
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Terminator
Terminator is a Canadian band that's one of those cases where the moniker fits the music the name like a glove. Showcased on their explosive demo, and "How It Feels" single later in the year, the group was one of my favorite newer hardcore outfits to emerge in 2024.
"We just about finished writing for an LP," guitarist/vocalist Shae Alexander revealed in an email to me. "We've also got a couple of gigs booked: Montreal Madhouse at the end of January, one in Syracuse in February with Raw Brigade, and I believe, we’ll be playing the Rebirth Records fest in the spring. No touring lined up just yet. Should be starting to get stuff like that lined up once we get a record tracked."
Tagged: 12 newer bands to check out, bayway, cannonball, cross of disbelief, divine right, echo chamber, haywire, hindsight, missouri executive order 44, skud, slice, step by step, terminator
