Nirvana performed a reunion present — or, , “Nirvana” performed a “reunion” present. You noticed that, proper? A few weeks in the past, the band’s surviving members put in a shock look at FireAid, the most important of the various latest fundraisers for victims of the Los Angeles wildfires. (In addition they performed with Submit Malone on the SNL Fiftieth-anniversary live performance, however that’s not what we’re speaking about right here at the moment.) At FireAid, Nirvana performed a four-song set with 4 totally different visitor bandleaders. It was a cool factor to do, and I’m certain the folks within the Kia Discussion board that night time felt like they have been witnessing historical past. However no one was going to get elbowed within the throat when Joan Jett sang “Territorial Pissings.” When you have been on the lookout for that type of catharsis, you would need to look elsewhere.
There have been numerous wildfire profit reveals over the previous month, and that’s precisely what must be occurring. The identical night time that the Grammy Awards made a giant fuss about getting firms to donate, a really totally different fundraiser occurred throughout city. That night time, a profit present referred to as This Is LA took over the Belasco, and the invoice had among the best hardcore bands to come back out of Southern California in recent times: God’s Hate, Rotting Out, Xibalba, Downpresser, Zulu. Once I was a child, Strife have been most likely the most important LA hardcore band in historical past, or at the very least for the reason that days of Black Flag and the Circle Jerks. At this present, Strife have been simply midway up the invoice. This was a giant present, and I guess it was enjoyable as hell.
XXX pic.twitter.com/V2B1YJC62I
— God’s Hate (@GodsHate818) February 4, 2025
A couple of nights later, my very own native hardcore scene held its personal LA-wildfire profit. It was so much smaller than This Is LA, nevertheless it nonetheless felt like a giant night time. Personal Hell’s Mikey Kent, a Richmond man who I’m pleasant with, put collectively a invoice at Bandito’s, a Mexican restaurant with a facet room the place bands play generally. (I’ve been to a bunch of Bandito’s reveals, and I’m solely saying the title of the venue as a result of I’ve been advised that it’s OK. I’m not making an attempt to explode the spots of any DIY venues right here.) The present was solely introduced a few weeks earlier than it occurred, and it had the type of lineup that makes me murmur “oh, shit” out loud when the flyer pops up on-line — 4 heavyweights from throughout the Richmond hardcore-punk-metal spectrum, all in a room sufficiently small that you simply’re going to get knocked round at the very least a bit bit even in the event you’re not making an attempt to mosh. Good trigger or not, that’s the type of present I wish to see.
I’ve been reserving gigs since I used to be 16 years previous, and that is nearly definitely one of the best factor I’ve put collectively pic.twitter.com/3vROMH3Toh
— Mikey Kent (@Crystalplumage_) January 21, 2025
Earlier than Personal Hell’s set began, Mikey Kent mentioned just a few phrases about why he put the invoice collectively. Mikey misplaced his father very lately, and his father got here from Southern California, simply exterior LA. A few of Mikey’s earliest reminiscences have been visiting household in that a part of the nation. Whereas Mikey advised the story, I attempted to place the timeline collectively in my head. His father should’ve simply handed away when the fires began leveling complete Los Angeles neighborhoods, and Mikey should’ve began placing the present collectively instantly. Mikey’s bought a small baby at house. Grieving a guardian is probably the most fucking exhausting factor. So is elevating a child. Placing collectively hardcore reveals is numerous work. When you’re placing collectively a profit like that when you’re going by two of probably the most intense issues that individuals undergo, then that claims so much about your character.
One of many largest bands on the Richmond underground proper now’s Restrictor Plate, a proudly ignorant NASCAR-themed slam undertaking. They do the “gents, begin your engines” speech originally of their reveals and all the things. I haven’t seen Restrictor Plate but, however folks apparently go nuts for them. They’re already headlining native reveals although they principally simply began. Restrictor Plate didn’t play this profit, however that band’s primary architect additionally performs drums in a blackened thrash group referred to as Vigil, and so they opened the present. The members of Vigil appear to be metalheads — denim vests, lengthy goatees, all that stuff. They play quick and raspy and old-school, and so they’re actually good. Vigil didn’t get a direct pop from the group once they began, however the room bought an increasing number of energetic with each music, and other people have been flying in every single place by the top.
Personal Hell are taking part in as a three-piece now, and the power-trio setup fits them effectively. Mikey Kent’s band performs all-out head-down metal-punk, the a part of the sector the place Discharge and ’80s Metallica overlap, and I really like that shit. I like how easy and direct the present lineup sounds. Now, once they decelerate in order that Mikey Kent has room to shred, they often nearly sound like stoner metallic. I wasn’t anticipating to get emotional whereas watching Personal Hell, however that’s what occurred. It’s arduous to speak about going by severe life enterprise at a hardcore present. Earlier than he advised us about his dad, Mikey Kent tried to get folks to cease crowding within the room’s entrance in order that extra folks might get in. After he advised us about his dad, Mikey advised us to beat our mates’ ass when the primary music kicked in. He began one of many songs by barking out just a few bars of Tom Petty’s “I Gained’t Again Down” in metallic voice, and he didn’t need to say that it was a music that his dad beloved. You could possibly simply inform.
You could possibly possibly say that Dimension Six have been the one full-on hardcore band on that profit invoice, however Dimension Six are additionally the most hardcore band. Proper now, there’s a wave of youthful Richmond bands largely made up of children who’ve absolutely immersed themselves within the stompy fastball assault of elder Richmond bands like Down To Nothing and Bracewar. That’s cool as hell. That’s how cities develop their very own scenes and sounds organically. Dimension Six are proper on the prime of that heap, and so they destroy. At the very least one of many guys in D6 is an precise grown-up who’s sufficiently old to have Down To Nothing reminiscences, however I believe I heard that one other of them is a child who simply completed highschool. They play with complete locked-in fury, and all of their songs are lyrical pep talks about seizing management of your life and figuring out your individual destiny. They’re so good, and so they make folks lose their shit. I hope they stick round and turn into a regional staple, just like the bands that they clearly admire.
Dimension Six most likely might’ve headlined the profit, and so they most likely would’ve crammed the room. As a substitute, Mikey bought Enforced to play. Meaning we bought to see a giant band play a small room, which is at all times superior. This was my first time seeing Enforced since they performed a DC punk competition eight years in the past. Again then, they have been a part of the Energy Journey wave of hardcore bands taking part in ’80s-style crossover thrash. Since then, Enforced, like Energy Journey earlier than them, have absolutely moved into the metallic world. They’re taking part in large excursions with large bands — Obituary, Gatecreeper, Frozen Soul. They’re taking part in mid-afternoon slots at metallic festivals the place it’s important to have your shit fully collectively. They’re on the highway extra typically than they’re house, and so they’ve turn into an absolute machine. If you get to see that machine go to work in a tiny house, it’s one thing to behold.
I can’t sit right here and let you know my favourite Enforced music as a result of I don’t usually distinguish one Enforced music from one other. Each Enforced music principally brings the identical issues — nasty-fast hard-snap riffage, blazing divebomb-heavy solos, concussive-bark vocals, all-out thrash blitzkriegs all of a sudden downshifting into mosh-part breakdowns, numerous cymbal-tapping. They do actually, actually spectacular issues inside their lane, and people issues turn into far more spectacular in individual. The band snaps off these riffs with targeted authority, and so they do it whereas practising the type of stereo headbanging that at all times seems cool as fuck. Frontman Knox Colby seems like a compact fireplug Thor, and he is aware of methods to management a room. At one level, Colby talked about how we have been all there to assist individuals who had misplaced their properties, and that was true. However by the point Enforced took the stage, it wasn’t actually the main focus anymore. As a substitute, we have been all on the identical web page, feeling the type of bodily launch that solely a present like that may actually supply. A shock Nirvana reunion is cool and all, however I don’t assume it might probably do that.
Blazing Tomb – “Visions From The Grey”
The type of berserk magic that may solely occur when bunch of hardcore folks resolve that in the event that they’re going to attempt making some demise metallic, they need to make some demise metallic. This one lasts for 5 minutes nearly as a provocation. Like: We’re going to clank some chains, after which we’re going to play an superior gradual riff with further shredding, and then the music can begin, even when the music has no hope of being as arduous because the intro. However then the music is as arduous because the intro — a mouth-foaming demon-sprint that will get extra violent because it retains going. When that breakdown hits, it feels such as you’re making an attempt to sneak previous a horde of zombies and also you understand that the zombies simply observed you. [From Singles From The Tomb EP, out now on Creator-Destructor Records.]
Captive – “Rotting”
I don’t go to sufficient reveals. If I didn’t write this column, I’d by no means go to reveals. This column exists largely as a result of I needed to pressure myself out of the home, and I nonetheless keep house most nights, taking part in video video games or falling down YouTube holes as my household sleeps. For me, hardcore and inertia are direct opponents. Right here, Cleveland’s Captive include scary riffs and gargle-growl invective about how that at-home life isn’t any good: “Locked inside! Your flesh and your thoughts! They’re rotting!” Effectively. Fuck. Yeah. [From Conditioned To Suffering EP, self-released, out now.]
Combust – “Our Personal Breed” (Feat. Imposter’s Rory O’Neill]
There’s a photograph from the early ’90s the place Nas and Tupac are partying collectively in some membership, most likely the Tunnel, and Nas is sporting a Biohazard shirt. Combust make me consider that picture. They’re an actual New York hardcore band, as in a band of hardcore guys from New York Metropolis, and so they have the type of threatening swagger that feels simply as New York because it does hardcore, even once they get a British man to come back in and scream on the breakdown. Somebody get Nas a Combust shirt. [From Belly Of The Beast, out 3/7 on Triple B Records.]
Defiance – “Kisses”
I’ve a bizarre factor about hardcore from Western Europe, particularly from Germany and generally Scandinavia. There are many exceptions, however for no matter motive, I really feel like that stuff is a bit too clear and programmatic {and professional}. It doesn’t have the charisma or the immediacy of the stuff that I like one of the best. Possibly I’m being ignorant and basing concepts on preconceptions, nevertheless it’s a kind of dumb prejudices that I’ve a tough time shaking. However this band comes from Stuttgart, and I don’t get any of that dress-up sense in any respect. This shit bounces, and it sounds prefer it means one thing. If I hear another German hardcore that feels like this, I’ll begin reconsidering my dumb concepts. For now, this band appears like a unicorn. [Stand-alone single, out now on BDHW Records.]
Doomsday – “The Outlaw”
I as soon as bought into a celebration dialog with a punk man who was excited to go see MF DOOM on the Pitchfork Music Competition after which was bummed to be taught that it wasn’t the UK crust band Doom. (This was in that stretch the place DOOM dropped the MF.) So I believe it’s fairly enjoyable that there’s now a wild-eyed Bay Space crossover thrash band with a reputation that at all times means they present up in streaming-service outcomes after the primary MF DOOM album. We should always preserve this going. There must be punk bands who name themselves Madvillainy and Mm.. Meals with out realizing that these names are without end related to any individual else. Additionally, this music slaps. [From Never Known Peace, out 3/28 on Creator-Destructor Records.]
Dose – “Full-Tilt”
I solely know just a few folks from Iowa, and so they’re among the nicest folks that you simply ever met in your life. I’m certain I knew that that they had hardcore in Iowa as a result of why wouldn’t they? They’ve hardcore in every single place. However I’m vaguely impressed that they’ve scary hardcore in Iowa — and never Slipknot scary, both. Dose are from Des Moines, and so they sound like once you’re at a fuel station at two within the morning and also you begin to really feel such as you’re about to get robbed. [From Trouble EP, self-released, out now.]
Eliminators – “B.A.S.E.”
I do know Ace Stallings as an enormous driving pressure in Richmond hardcore. Ace sings for Mutually Assured Destruction, and till lately he was most likely the individual most accountable for reserving reveals and boosting bands and customarily appearing as a spokesperson for a complete regional underground community. However Ace has been dwelling within the Bay Space for a few years, and B.A.S.E. is the straight-edge hardcore punk band that he began particularly in order that he might play reveals with Fentanyl in San Francisco. Eliminators sound nothing like MAD, or for that matter like several of Ace’s different bands, however their quick, elemental stomp-around urgency hits the candy spot. With a band like this, you need to have the ability to chant together with one thing easy and memorable, and that’s precisely what they offer you. [From B.A.S.E. EP, out now on Convulse Records.]
Ingrown – “Bullet”
Typically after I hear an Ingrown music, I get the bizarre, imprecise concept that what I’m listening to is solely not attainable — that an actual band can not constantly make music this quick and arduous and brutal. Ingrown aren’t making powerviolence-type stuff, the place the velocity is the level. They’re taking metallic stomp-around hardcore to its pure excessive, and once you assume their complete factor can’t get any crazier, they velocity up. They pull it off, too. If another band tried to sound like Ingrown, I might most likely hate it, however these guys converse on to my internal goon. This could be the primary Ingrown music video that doesn’t characteristic copious numbers of weapons and four-wheelers, so I suppose Ingrown are woke now. [From Idaho, out 3/7 on Closed Casket Activities.]
Siyakhal – “Evin Fireplace / آتیش اوین “
This Toronto band brings velocity and fireplace higher than most, and this music’s dirty jackhammer assault would most likely advantage a spot on this column even when this music was about consuming hen fingers and taking part in PlayStation or one thing silly like that. Nevertheless it’s not about one thing silly, and it’s genuinely inspiring to see somebody making wrathful and pointed Farsi-language hardcore punk within the Western world at the moment. [From Days Of Smoke And Ash / روزای دود و خاکستر, out 3/7 on Static Shock Records.]
Staticlone – “Honeycomb”
It was one factor that some former Blacklisted guys, together with singer George Hirsch, have been beginning a brand new hardcore band. That was cool and sudden. When Staticlone have been placing up flexis on Bandcamp and doing principally nothing to advertise them, I used to be into that. The music was good, too, which was unsurprising however reassuring. However now Staticlone are in album mode, working in an actual studio and placing out music on an actual label and all the things. The lead single from their LP is a enormously soiled D-beat barrage, and it’s higher than anybody had any proper to anticipate. They don’t look like part-timers anymore. [From Better Living Through Static Vision, out 3/7 on Relapse Records.]
