By No Echo |
|

12.31.2025

Hardcore in 2025 came from everywhere and hit from every angle. For this article, I asked musicians and label owners across the scene to share the releases that hit hardest for them this year.

Thanks for reading the website, and stay tuned for much more hardcore music coverage in 2026!

-Carlos Ramirez

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Aaron Jamili (Alpha & Omega)
Hardcore has had a resurgence in the past few years, and 2025 was no different. I’d argue these are some of the best releases of the year in general, not just in hardcore. 

Combust — Belly of the Beast
End It — Wrong Side of Heaven
Scarab — Burn After Listening 
Skinhead — It’s a Beautiful Day, What a Beautiful Day
Propagandhi — At Peace

Justin Vela (Stand Tall)
Dynamite — Settle the Score
Scarab — Burn After Listening
Firestarter — Still Holding On…
C4 — Payback’s a Bitch
It Comes From Within… (compilation featuring Envision, Statement of Pride, and Destiny)

Jacob Tyler (The Chain)
Iron Eater — Demo
Wits End — Demo I and Demo II
Mil-Spec — Mil-Spec
No Idols — No Idols
Bulls Shitt — Bulls Shit
C4 — Payback’s a Bitch
Scarab — Burn After Listening
Iron Mind — Test of the Iron Mind

Guillaume Scaillet (Sorcerer)
Hellbound — Seventh Seal
A bunch of friends I made this year released this killer EP while we were touring together. I love this kind of raw hardcore stuffed with metal. Glasgow rules.

Excide — Bastard Hymns
Is it really hardcore?  Nevermind, I was expecting this one, and I was not disappointed. Insane production, several hits, can’t wait to have them in Europe. Shoutout to our friend, Tyler.

Cross of Disbelief / Impunity — New York vs North Yorkshire
Good connections usually make a good EP.

Age of Apocalypse — In Oblivion
I’ve been digging this band since day one, and this one is their best release to date. I wish they toured more cause they are also really impressive live.

Nick Acosta (New Morality Zine)
Method of Doubt — Total Soul Ignition
“There’s gotta be a different way!” This record pulls out all the stops for me – extraordinary lyricism (drawing one-liners from some of my favorite bands), chunky start/stop riffs, and powerful side-to-side breakdowns.

Scarab — Burn After Listening
Wow. I wasn’t sure how an LP from this band would stack up against their previous releases, but this record absolutely did it. It feels written with the intention of crawling into the darkest parts of one’s own mind and letting that push to the forefront. Brutal in all the right ways. Plus, it features a menacing contribution from one of my favorite hardcore vocalists, back in the pocket with his signature sound.

Excide — Bastard Hymns
A record that truly stands on its own. Since its inception, this band has always done what felt right to them. While some of the comps here are obvious, it’s the weirder, more dynamic influences and sounds that really keep my attention.

What Counts — The Brigade
A record for the people, through and through. This band talks the talk and walks the walk. If you want the Youth Crew sound with a harder edge while still being fun, this record is for you. Putting on for Indiana and the Gulch Brigade.

Indecision — Unorthodox (remastered reissue)
An all-time album from an all-time band got the remaster it deserved. While it’s not wholly new, it certainly felt new. This version sounds monstrous, and it’s so much easier to pick up on the nuances of the guitar playing and the details the band captured. A chance for them to really flex on their past work.

Seudo Youth — Nobody Gets Down Like…
I’m not going to lie, the second I heard this, I was transported back to hearing Minor Threat for the first time. The somewhat discordant, underproduced, amateur-pitched vocals, paired with the raw sense of urgency and absolute zero frills of youth playing hardcore music. Fucking love it.

Matt Weltner (Chopping Block)
Dry Socket / Violencia split
Both these bands walk a line between punk and hardcore, and I freaking love it. Raw, honest, and unhinged. The song “Shame Convictions” has been on repeat for weeks. 

Wits End — Demo II
The first demo was great, but the blue demo broke my brain: all killer, no filler. Every band should sound just a little bit more like Wits End. 

Step By Step — New World View
We know skatepunk is a thing. Is skatecore a thing? This album makes me want to bomb hills. Or let’s be real, I’m too clumsy for that, so let’s say this record makes me want to speed down windy roads with the windows down. 

There are 15 more records I could list here, so I’ll leave it with this: Go Seahawks, fuck ICE, free Palestine. 

Shae Alexander (Terminator)
No Idols — No Idols 
Bulls Shitt —  Bulls Shitt
Fatal Realm — “Of No Consequence” (single)
Identity Shock — Traces 
Unmoved — Demonstration 

Andrew Kline (Strife, Berthold City, WAR Records)
Scarab — Burn After Listening
Scarab’s debut LP, Burn After Listening, stands as my personal favorite hardcore release of 2025, and to be honest, nothing else even comes close. With just eight songs in twelve minutes, the band distills the crushing intensity of Satisfaction Is the Death of Desire-era Hatebreed while injecting the unhinged volatility of Nails. The result is a record that feels brutally immediate yet sharply focused, and it’s heavy without lapsing into beatdown clichés. Truly a debut that lives up to the hype!

Method of Doubt — Total Soul Ignition
Method of Doubt’s Staring at Patterns quietly landed in 2021 and immediately carved out a place in my top ten of the year. It was a record that felt both fully formed and criminally overlooked. Released with little fanfare and followed almost immediately by the band’s breakup, the band seemed destined to become a footnote. Earlier this year, Method of Doubt announced a few shows, and I was excited to see that they released a new EP in November.

Rather than reinventing themselves on Total Soul Ignition, Method of Doubt pick up exactly where they left off, delivering sharp, melodic post-hardcore that recalls the emotional urgency of Guy Picciotto fronting Supertouch. It’s another strong statement from a band that never quite got its due. Now bring it to the West Coast!

End It — Wrong Side of Heaven
Ever since Unpleasant Living dropped in 2022, we have all been waiting for the arrival of a full-length record from End It. In the years since, they’ve been tearing up stages worldwide and cementing their reputation as one of the best live bands in hardcore today. This LP wastes no time and delivers precisely what longtime listeners have been waiting for: sharp, direct, and uncompromising songs that hit with total confidence.

What truly sets End It apart, though, is a quality many of its peers lack: personality. It’s the kind of presence that can’t be manufactured, and it’s what truly elevates this record.

The Final Agony — Depraved From Darkness
The Final Agony arrive as a bruising hybrid of Cleveland grit filtered through Baltimore and DC, now sharpened further with Aaron Melnick on guitar. Their first EP showed promise, but Depraved From Darkness is where everything locks into place, pushing the band into truly commanding territory. For anyone who holds Humanity Is the Devil-era Integrity sacred, these 4 songs carry the same suffocating weight and conviction.

Combust — Belly of the Beast
Belly of the Beast is NYHC done right, played by true students of the game. The record channels the songwriting of Killing Time’s Brightside with the swagger of The Icemen – some huge shoes to fill. Combust is a band putting in real work, and their relentless touring over the past year has only solidified their role in helping put NYHC back on the map.

Tats (Blow Your Brain Out)
Wits End — Demo II
Demo of the year. “Big Time” is the biggest tune of 2025. Packed with pure HC essence.

Discontent — Processing Upheaval
I am anti “Anti purposefully shitty sound production”.

Dynamite — Settle the Score
You probably have a favorite early ’80s NYHC band. Try imagining it—this record has elements of all of them.

The Final Agony — Depraved From Darkness
Arpeggios, the guitar solos, the dime bombs and the vocals that sound even more Dwid than Dwid himself.

Bruo — Demo 2025
Another demo of the year. If Negative Approach devoured power violence, it would sound like this—a perfect four minutes.

These were the other ones that totally ruled: Dead On Your Feet, Corrosives, Nihilistic Easyrider, No Idols, Weighted Class, and T.S Warspite.

Che Figueroa (Flatspot Records)
End It — Wrong Side of Heaven
I was an integral part of End It during the band’s formative years.  I’ve been there during the pre-End It formation phase and have seen their rise all the way up until now.  This record is a product of everything they’ve gone through to get to the point where they are now.  

I’ve been a fan of Baltimore hardcore since I went to my first Baltimore hardcore show in 2002, and this record makes me proud of the city that adopted me as one of its own.  This record has been on repeat since it came out.  

Adam Lentz (Revelation Records)
Destruct / Svaveldioxid split
Destruct already have released two LPs of Bastard-worshipping hardcore. Still, on these three tracks, they actually got even harder and dirtier, with vocals that sound more like Framtid this time around, but this is a huge step up from an already excellent formula. Svaveldioxid do more d-beat madness and are from Sweden, and if there is one thing Swedes do well, it’s blazing d-beat. See Infernoh, Paranoid, etc. if that’s your shit.

Big Laugh — Days of Dissaray
I might be partial cause I helped put out their previous record. Still, this record is more of the band making a really unique sound, which is a difficult thing to say about a hardcore record—straightforward hardcore but with lots of Die Kreuzen and now Rorschach influence.

Seudo Youth — Nobody Gets Down Like
Self-described “anarcho Youth Crew” from LA with some fun guitar effects. Lying somewhere between Youth of Today and Neighborhood Brats.

Alienator — Meat Locker
Flawlessly executed late-’80s NYHC played by tru punks. Think DFTS-era Warzone and Cause for Alarm-era Agnostic Front.

Planet on a Chain — Ritual Routine
Another one that I am biased towards because I put it out, but Brian Stern can really do no wrong. Look Back and Laugh was the best live band I have ever seen, and these are three of its members.

Scarab — Burn After Listening
A more modern-sounding hardcore band I actually like. Skitsystem-influenced fast parts but with breakdowns? Yes, pls.

No Idols — No Idols
Stomping, pounding hardcore in the vein of Violent Reaction, 86 Mentality, etc. I’m a sucker for that shit.

Ultimate Disaster — For Progress
You know what else I am a total sucker for? Shit that sounds like Disclose, Bastard and Framtid, but I think we already covered that.

Identity Shock — Traces 
Fast straight edge hardcore punk.

Hedonist — Scapulimancy
I was obsessed with the demo, and I swear I sent a link to Greg from Southern Lord, who put out this LP. Yeah, I’m going to take credit even though that probably isn’t how it happened. Lots of Bolt Thrower and Nihilist (the pre-Entombed band) influence. Heavy.

Tommy Harte (Anxious, Price of Redemption)
My personal favorites were the new LP from Killing Me Softly [To Forever Fall Through God’s Safety Net] and Neolithic’s new EP [Barbarism]! Both bands are making music that pushes hardcore into more interesting places!

The hardcore bands you should check out are the ones in your local area who are making the youth most excited! You’ll be seeing a lot more of them, so get familiar.

Buddy Armstrong (Stigmata, Unbeaten Records)
Sin Against Sin — Demo
Final Resting Place — Bound by Affliction
Skinhead — It’s a Beautiful Day, What a Beautiful Day
End It — Wrong Side of Heaven
NOIR — Pointless Existence

Bjorn Dossche (Wrong Man, Rise and Fall)
What I noticed in 2025 is the incredible influx of demos and EPs. Men and women much wiser than I have pointed out that those are the perfect formats for hardcore punk, and well, they could be right. Here’s my top 5:

Radioactivity — Time Won’t Bring Me Down
I know, I know. This is adjacent at best, but this records just hits all the right spots for me. Incredible songwriting, full of feeling, and closing the album with “Shell Into Pain” is a power move. 

Method of Doubt — Total Soul Ignition
When they dropped that LP and almost immediately broke up after, that hurt. But coming back with this perfect synthesis of 1991 and your best songs yet is beautiful.

Speedway — A Life’s Refrain
The passion and energy we all love about hardcore, perfectly captured by these rocking Swedes. Taking that early ’00s sound but planting it firmly in the now. Sick.

No Idols — No Idols
After a perfect demo, a perfect EP. The ideal balance between stomping caveman music and intelligent songwriting. Love this. 

Combust — Belly of the Beast
A lot of swagger, a lot of attitude. A deep love for NYHC that shines through in every song. Classic style done just right: Combust has the sauce.

Darren Nanos (Born Sinner, Death Certificate, Runnin Hot)
I’m sure I’m not the first to offer the sentiment that 2025 was a solid ass year for hardcore. When you consider the number of new bands, countless epic nights to remember, and perfect records released by seasoned vets over this year, anyone would have a tough time picking a favorite anything! But, since that’s precisely what we’re here to do, I guess I’ve gotta narrow it down…

My most anticipated release of the year also turned out to be my favorite. I began following Oxnard, California’s Dead Heat when I stumbled upon their 2019 LP Certain Death while browsing the Edgewood Records back catalog. They say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but when I laid eyes on that album, I had a feeling there was something to this band. All it took to get me hooked was to notice they had recorded a cover of Long Island’s own answer to crossover-perfection, the Crumbsuckers, and I was sold.

Since then, I’ve been loving everything they’ve done, and I head out to see them whenever I possibly get the chance. It’s their newest LP, Process of Elimination, released by the Goliath of metal labels, Metal Blade, that’s my top choice of 2025. Sounding huge under the production of Paul Fig, the band elevated their game across the board on this one. Every song is bigger and better, more complex, and has even more swing. My top track of the record is “Enemy” – it’s got everything I love about the genre: an endlessly pummeling riff, pounding rhythm section, high-energy vocal rasp, and gang vocals that feel like something Suicidal would’ve done in the late ’80s. Throw this shit on and bang your head until your neck hurts. 

The other album that really got me hyped up is from the torch carriers in the realm of what a lot of folks would consider “traditional hardcore”: Restraining Order. In 2025, these dudes have been busy as hell criss-crossing the world more than a few times, signing to Blue Grape Music, and releasing their latest long-playing entitled Future Fortune. With a band like Restraining Order, you know what you’re getting, and I mean that in the most admirable of ways!

They consistently deliver what I believe is the perfect blend of punk-rooted hardcore with catchy hooks, relatable, anthemic lyricism, as well as some of the best live performances from any band you’ve ever seen. With every new release, the band wears more and more of their varied influences on their collective sleeves. The pacing of Future Fortune slows just slightly on some of the tracks, but in a way that blends a Tell Us The Truth-era Sham 69 with Hidden World from Fucked Up. “The Suffer” has to be my favorite on this one because it delivers both the speed and the groove, and a couple of classic r’n’r licks to boot. As the band that has best tackled a “classic” hardcore sound of recent years, I can’t recommend this one enough.

Beyond these two LPs, I’ve got an unfair advantage with my last pick because I helped create it. My favorite demo of the year comes from New York’s Fröthing Mad, and I was behind the boards in recording it, so I’ll keep this blurb brief! But the fact that I was there for it all doesn’t detract from what these guys have achieved. They had a pretty clear vision when they entered The Locker Room: to do a band that felt like it could fall in line with an album like Cause For Alarm by Agnostic Front, and with the songs they crafted, they did just that!

Since the release of the demo, they’ve played a handful of shows around New York, and each one has gotten livelier. Even if I hadn’t helped in some way, just seeing them play, I would’ve easily tapped them for a top-five list. They’ve got the great combo of speed to swing, with vocal stylings that you might find on the New Breed comp. A few blistering leads paired with incredibly pit-able break downs, this one has everything you need. The demo is now being made available as a 7” on From Within Records, so get into it!

Philip Amos (The Few, Gumm)
Dead Heat — Process of Elimination
Contempt — You Still Suffer 
Sikm/The Slads split 
Chaos Must Bow — EP
Bleeding Heart — Demo 
Advent — God Is the End 
Face the Pain — Time and Dedication

Tony Bavaria (Calling Hours, Don’t Sleep)
My favorite hardcore release of 2025 is Berthold City’s No Brotherhood EP. 4 short rippers, good mosh parts, it’s exactly what I want. Andrew sometimes stretches some words out that, to me, sound a bit Ray Cappo-esque, and I’m 100% here for it every time.  

Joe Kelly (Ozone)
Yo! 2025 was a dope year for the core. I had everyone in the band choose their favorite release of the year. See y’all in 2026!

Jak: Zero Mob — Demo
Omar: Bad Beat — LP 2025 
Joe: Order of Living — Demo 
Uri: Madman — Demo
Clayton: C4 — Payback’s a Bitch
Ty: Scarab — Burn After Listening 

Edo Zavarella (Blvd of Death)
Combust — Belly of the Beast 
Crush Your Soul — Living Gracious 

Speedway — A Life’s Refrain (best EU) and Square One — Demo (I fucking love the Skip Candelori tribute in both of these picks).

Cape Fade – A Dream We All Share + “Eyes to the Sky” (song included on Streets of Hate’s Representing Hardcore compilation). This song fucks with my soul.

Nick Birtles (If It Rains, Just Us, Attrition Rate, Physical Therapy)
I tried not to pick anything I put out or played on, but special shoutout to Through and Through, The Blind, and Neolithic for representing Rhode Island Hardcore and Punk. 

Fröthing Mad — Demo
From the vocals to the guitar tone, everything checks the boxes on what I love about a demo. They sound like all my favorite New York bands, and the mosh in “My Way” with a solo over it into what should be an end verse everyone learns the lyrics to is incredible. 

Method of Doubt — Total Soul Ignition
I think “Aggregator” is the hardcore track of the year. It was refreshing to hear a band give a fuck again. 

9Million — 9Million
My honest answer and my most listened to band this year is 9million, but for hardcore it’s gotta be Scarab. I feel like that’s gotta be pretty unanimous? A couple of the moshes I had to run back immediately upon the first few listens.

Joey Rodríguez (Faced Out)
C4 —Payback’s a Bitch 
Azshara — Ashen Skies 

CT (Yetzer Hara Records)
Even More Scene — if Pink Floyd made this album, you would’ve loved it. Arkansas, whatever-core that’s equal parts metalcore, math rock, and early deathcore—but not the palatable parts of each subgenre by any means. Like throwing Owls, The Chariot, Roadside Monument, and Emmure into a blender. Very, very weird and very, very fucking cool. Probably my most listened-to release this year. 

St. Clovis — Demonstration of Rock and Roll
Fast, fast, fast, and dark, dark, dark. More Coke Bust than Mind Eraser, but straddling that line of fastcore and darker fake-power violence like Bracewar/Soul Swallower. Unbelievably good shit. One of the best bands doing it right now. 

NOIR — Pointless Existence
In a world of Emmure clones, rip off The Acacia Strain. Crazy talented kids from Albany. Awesome demo, and a ton of potential. Heavy without being boring—a tricky dance to do. To no one’s surprise, a buddy in NY told me they do a sick cover of Carbomb. A band to watch out for in 2026. 

Figurine — Air Capital Hardcore
Super talented homies from Wichita, whose members also play in Stepped On and One Big Game (highly recommend both). Another EP I wore the treads off of. Super well done, earnest hardcore for Vans Authentics skaters and Air Max 90 jocks alike. Listen to “Buying In” and tell me the kids don’t get it. 

Advent — God Is the End
They still got it because they always had it. I saw Advent play at a YMCA in Hickory, North Carolina, in 2007 when I was 14 years old, and I think that show may have been the one where I “got” hardcore music, so obviously I’m partial to the band. That being said, these tracks are objectively some of their best material.

The new tracks sound incredible, and the re-recording of “One Crushing Blow” is precisely as heavy as it is live. Advent has always been in their own lane sonically, even as they experimented with parts of their sound, and this EP felt like them synthesizing everything across their 20-year run into a distilled, no-frills version of “Advent-Core.” It’s perfect. 

Andy Franchere (B.D.R., Ill Communication)
My top demo is Subversive Intent, from San Diego. It’s raging hardcore punk with shredding guitar solos and catchy singalong parts.

Scarab’s Burn After Listening is my favorite LP. This record is gnarly in the best ways. Mean vocals, hard mosh parts, and angry lyrics. Listening to this makes me wanna smash my enemies and the world. 

Last but not least is Tehachapi’s own Step by Step’s New World View. This is probably my favorite record overall for 2025. 13 minutes of ripping Youth Crew hardcore. It’s the total package: great lyrics, a high-quality recording, and an eye-catching layout/art.

Scott Magrath (Maggot Stomp)
I can’t say I’m up on all things 2025 hardcore, but here are my favorites from what I heard this year.

Fatal Realm —  “Of No Consequence” single
It may only be one song, but that one song is better than anything else I’ve heard this year.

Age of Apocalypse — In Oblivion
The top 2 spots go to the Hudson Valley. This record scratches several itches for me; it’s heavy and catchy, and I can definitely picture dudes in North Face spin kicking to this.

Firestarter — Still Holding On…
Los Angeles Fucking Straight Edge. This makes me want to listen to A Life Less Plagued. Can’t get mad at that, plus the cover looks like the Champion record I did.

Cyclops — Demo
The most hardcore of anything on my list.

Mongrel — Baptized in the Gutter
This is heavy as fuck. Heaven help us if they actually sit down and record an entire full-length.

Chuck Bradford (Asidhara)
Still In Love — Recovery Language is a top album for us this year, and we were able to play their great release show.
Combust — Belly of the Beast
AFI — Silver Bleeds the Black Sun (AFI are absolutely a hardcore band)
Wits End — Demo I and Demo II
Violator — Unholy Retribution
Scarab — Burn After Listening

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Tagged: stand tall