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N.E. Vains

Running Down Pylons
Big Neck Records (2025)

N.E. Vains’ Running Down Pylons delivers that kind of glorious, basement-level destruction. You know, back in the ’70s when every basement had those flimsy swinging room-dividing doors, and your skinny 130-pound frame suddenly ripped them clean off the hinges in a fit of imagined superhuman strength? The day you went from sand-kicked weakling to full Charles Atlas mail-order muscle miracle? … Read more

Poison The Well

Peace In Place
Sharptone (2026)

There’s no way to talk about Peace In Place without acknowledging the shadow it steps out from. Poison the Well isn’t just another reunited band dusting off an old name. They’re literally architects of the genre. The Opposite of December… A Season of Separation didn’t just help define metalcore, it rewired how heaviness and vulnerability could coexist. And honestly, is … Read more

Bitter Branches

Let's Give The Land Back To The Animals
Equal Vision (2026)

Sometimes when you think of a town you think of a certain sound. Philadelphia is not one of those cities for me, as the bands I know from the area vary a lot in style. Yes, there is the Dan Yemin tree (Lifetime / Kid Dynamite / Paint It Black) but there are also poppy bands and emo bands and … Read more

Top Jimmy & The Rhythm Pigs

Pigus Drunkus Maximus (Reissue)
Blind Owl Records (2026)

If rock ’n’ roll ever had a smoky, beer-soaked, throbbing heartbeat, it lives in Top Jimmy & The Rhythm Pigs’ Pigus Drunkus Maximus. Recorded in 1981 but not released until 1987 on Restless Records, the album always felt like a document out of time — lightning caught like fireflies in clumsy hands, then bottled too long. This newly remastered reissue, … Read more

Dream Fatigue

No Requiem
Daze (2026)

There’s a particular tension that makes alternative rock compelling. I love the emotional push and pull between softness and eruption. On No Requiem, Massachusetts outfit Dream Fatigue thrive in that space, crafting a seven song EP that balances dreamlike melody with bursts of distortion and emotional urgency. Born from the creative partnership between drummer Matt Wood and vocalist Jonali McFadden, … Read more

The Went Wrongs

This Isn't What I Ordered
Transcendental Revolution (2026)

I'm not sure what's happening to me in middle age. I used to find samples clever and a nice change-of-pace technique on albums. But lately I feel like they interrupt instead of compliment what I'm hearing. This Isn't What I Ordered starts off really strong with fast, melodic and personalized punk over the first few songs. Then the sound clips … Read more

Spillings

Spillings
The Garotte (2026)

Spillings is a minimalist reconfiguration undertaken by two artists whose careers have been about genre deconstruction. The paths of Mathieu Ball and Liam Andrews have been running on parallel tracks, but both have been aiming for a similar endpoint. That is to strip down the heavy, experimental rock form, while at the same time retaining its destabilizing core. With Big … Read more

Pacifist

Five
Independent (2026)

There’s a reason five doesn’t feel like just another EP title. This isn’t a casual release or a stopgap between bigger moves but a line in the sand. On their latest five song statement, Bombay’s Pacifist sound fully aware of the lineage they’re working within, and just as aware of how much effort it takes to keep those ideals alive … Read more

Pure Intention

Pure Intention
Independent (2026)

Pure Intentions is a hard hitting punk band first emerging in the Chicago scene in 2020. Since its formation by Joe Asshole and Tommy Volume, they have since added Judson Jones in 2024 to become its current standing trio. During that time, these guys have spread their gritty sound by touring the United States while gaining a strong following along … Read more

Exhumed

Red Asphalt
Relapse (2026)

There are few bands in extreme metal who understand their own lane as well as Exhumed. For nearly three decades, Matt Harvey and company have made gore feel theatrical, technicality feel fun, and deathgrind feel almost celebratory. Red Asphalt doesn’t rewrite that formula but weaponizes it, straps it into the driver’s seat, and floors the accelerator straight into oncoming traffic. … Read more

The Dumpies

Lub Dub
Dirt Cult (2026)

Ok full disclosure, I sung backups on (allegedly) three of these songs and one song is a cover (albeit a stretch lol) of a song I co-wrote. What can I say tho? I was a fan of The Dumpies from the get go, before we all became very close friends and constant tour mates! Dub music diehards might be a … Read more

Elway

Nobody’s Going To Heaven
Red Scare (2025)

There’s a specific kind of punk record that doesn’t try to inspire you, doesn’t bother offering solutions, and doesn’t pretend things are going to work out in the end. Nobody’s Going To Heaven is firmly planted in that tradition. Elway returns sounding less interested in rallying cries and more invested in documenting collapse as it happens. They cover every collapse … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Heather The Jerk

Very Motorcycle EP
Goodbye Boozy (2025)

Heather The Jerk is a project from Madison, WI musician Heather Sawyer -- a scrappy punk band with garage and pop influences running rampant through the peppy, raw sound. This 4-song EP is called Very Motorcycle, released about a year after the Not Very Motorcycle tape. I have no idea what the phrase means, yet it sets a distinct mood. … Read more

Toys That Kill

Triple Sabotage
Recess (2026)

If you were lucky enough to catch Toys That Kill live last year, you were maybe treated to a set that included classic F.Y.P bangers like “Come Home Smelly” and “Jerkoff”. I made the trip down to Seattle to see them with Off With Their Heads specifically for this reason and was in no way disappointed. I had somehow managed … Read more

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