21 December 2020

American Music website STEREOGUM (founded in 2002 – 320.000 followers on Facebook) has published its 2020 list of best Hardcore Albums. Here’s the deafening top 10…

1. Impenetrable Cerebral Fortress by GULCH (Wichita, Kansas)

Released: 24 July 2020
Stereogum: “There is so much happening in this wild 16-minute ride of an album. Mysterious Santa Cruz berserkers Gulch bring the icy grandeur of Mayhem, the erratic bloodthirst of Nails, the adrenalized speed of Infest, and a whole lot else.”

Yeaaaaahhhhhhh…

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2. World House by MIL-SPEC (San Jose, California)

Released: 25 September 2020
Stereogum: “The band draws inspiration from ’90s bands that combined fury with melody — Turning Point, Quicksand, Moss Icon. But Mil-Spec also have a way of taking those influences, twisting them into new shapes, and transforming them into something urgent and vital and new.”

Wham bloody bam…

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3. Ronin by ROTTING OUT (Pasadena, California)

Released: 17 April 2020
Stereogum: “The Los Angeles band that Delgado has led for a decade-plus, has a whole lot of Californian surf-punk in its sound; they’re the rare modern hardcore band who sounds as much like Pennywise as they do Madball.”

Go nuts…

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4. ’27 Miles Under Water’ by HIGHER POWER (Leeds, UK)

Released: 24 January 2020
Stereogum: “The line between populist riffage and hardcore stomp isn’t an easy one to walk, but Higher Power do it better than anyone this side of Turnstile.”

Hell this way…

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5. Cruelty Of Heaven by

Released: 21 August 2020
Stereogum: “Sometimes, when hardcore bands slow things down for the mosh pit, it feels obligatory, a clockwork part of a long-established format. When Unreal City do it, it sounds like the sky turning ash-grey before blood rains down.”

Here’s the mosh-pit…

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6. California Cursed by DRAIN

7. Black Line by RESPIRE

8. Rather Be Alone by POWER ALONE

9. Punishment Park by BIG CHEESE

10. Flesh, Steel, Victory… by SEED OF PAIN