You may have already realized that heavy and hardcore music get a lot of love over on these pages. There’s probably no other genre which +rcmndedlisten broadly goes out of its way more to cover than their scenes, and with hardcore especially having a golden age moment, how could you not relish what’s happening right now to the fullest? That’s why these niche lists are important. With this site being just one human writing it, stretched bandwidth meant that not everything that went down in 2023’s review cycle got a proper spotlight.

With that, this list exists to celebrate the breakthroughs and the continued fetes of the scene’s continued evolution. Keyword: evolution. There will always persist those who approach what is and what is not part of this scene in absolute terms, but as you’ll see by including a band like Spiritual Cramp who had a phenomenal debut, the “adjacencies” brandishing hardcore roots while still embracing its community even if they themselves are no longer the heaviest out there are still part of it. Let’s keep it that way. These are the Best Hardcore and Metal Scene Albums of 2023.

Agriculture – Agriculture [The Flenser]

Self-professed “ecstatic black metal,” Agriculture elicit a spiritual connection with their sound that invokes a mend with the energy of the natural world around us. This becomes evident in a listen such as its epiphanic opener, “The Glory of the Ocean”, in which vocalist Leah Levinson’ screams give unto the self her power to forces much greater holding this universe together, and finding a restorative sense of freedom in that act. As the album moves inward to skyward in specificity by etching tiny moments in its tidal of joyous black metal, Agriculture are defining what it is to feel more than just alive in heaviness.

Angel Du$t – BRAND NEW SOUL [Pop Wig]

The ghost of Justice Tripp’s much more heavier and cult adored hardcore band, Trapped Under Ice, will forever loom over his artistic journey in hardcore subs no matter what he does. Now flying free and back at their independent home base of Pop Wig, Angel Du$t aren’t sweating the discourse floating around them on their fifth studio effort, BRAND NEW SOUL. If anything, they’re embracing the chance to get weirder and freakier for it, be it getting very psychedelic or making a return to very aggressive ferality. An embrace of indie rock, pop, or trying on new alien vibes atop of it, Angel Du$t does it all with purpose no matter which shape they transcend. Truly, this is the sound of the band’s creative soul being set free.

Big Laugh – Consume Me [Revelation Records]

Big Laugh do more than just pour another shade of heavy-spewed vitriol against societal norms tailor made for today’s swelling pits, as the Milwaukee four-piece inject an excess amount of speed and static as they sprint through the gamut that is their debut full-length, Consume Me. Quite literally, the band’s vocalist Drew lets their unhinged livewires do just that with his muddied shouts bleeding into one with its white noise of burnt up rippers, but in turn, they swallow you as listener whole with them as well across these 10 tracks. If anything, it puts Big Laugh on the more extreme ends of today’s modern hardcore scene, like they’re barely hanging onto the ledge, and it’s exactly where they want to be.

Broken Vow – Anthropocene [Triple B Records]

The debut full-length from the New England heavy hardcore five-piece as a microcosmic reflection of the Earth’s greater environment crises which they rebuke from their platform in a loud, intimidating conflict against anyone adding to our continued planetary doom. The names Earth Crisis, Undying, Chokehold and other politically-leaning bands who’ve done the work in the past have been dropped as inspirations within the scene which Broken Vow are taking up their torches from, yet Anthropocene moves quickly — and in anthem, at that — in spite of its heavy-weighted mixture of metalcore and melodic post-hardcore grinding itself down against stats, figures, and proven science to present the problem that is mankind’s desire to self-immolate in its long con habits for the sake of short-term wealth. This band isn’t going to let them burn the world to the ground without them facing the flames first.

Buggin – Concrete Cowboys [Flatspot Records]

Most hardcore songs clock in under two-minutes in length, and a chunk of the songs on Buggin’s debut full-length, Concrete Cowboys don’t stray from that pattern. Still, the listen sprints a marathon distance in what brevity it whips up in the pit with their fast, instinctive sound, feeding off a culture of frenzy. Vocalist Bryanna Bennett calls out matters more serious with words in hope of elevating the scene to a place where everyone is on an equal playing level, but don’t cross the Chicago band’s path wrong either, as Bennett is just as quick to take out the trash of toxic gossip folk. At least in Buggin’s case, the attention they’re getting is deserved since it equates to actually having something to say of substance.

DRAIN – Living Proof [Epitaph Records]

Drain have been on fire since the world erupted in one in 2020 with their debut full-length, California Cursed, an album that hit at a perfect moment in this timeline with amalgamizing their Santa Cruz surroundings’ red hot thrash and hardcore intensity with a few flares of metal that — alongside their violently fun live show — catapulted them to the top of the heavy listening scene’s best new acts. LIVING PROOF arrives on even heavier shoulders, but you wouldn’t guess it by the way Sammy Ciaramitaro is a wrecking ball of determination to be the best self despite whatever boulders life slings his way. Concision in the way Cody Chavez saws up an oncoming adversary as Tim Flegal’s rhythm doubles as a blast pad for Ciaramitaro makes for a listen that feels like an acknowledgement and the subsequent destruction of any negative energy.

Fiddlehead – Death Is Nothing to Us [Run for Cover Records]

Individual grief comes in all forms and has been the thread that has bound Fiddlehead’s music together, and in turn their relationship with its listeners. On the third chapter, Fiddlehead embrace the proverbial other side of this life no less darker — perhaps even all the more intense, and more profound. In accepting fates that which you cannot control, there’s an unstoppable freedom to be heard in Pat Flynn’s acknowledgements of it all, and this becomes the difference maker on this go-round the sun that comes not in the form of any critic-baiting directional shift, but rather a morbid celebration of being alive in lieu of what will come for us all, continuing to thrust Fiddlehead’s art into the thing of undying legend status by cementing themselves as among the most hyper-aware of the true modern human experience.

Full of Hell & Nothing – When No Birds Sang [Closed Casket Activities]

Heaven and Hell are at an antithesis on When No Birds Sang, and yet not even purgatory makes for a suitable meeting ground on Full of Hell and Nothing’s collaborative effort. A dense body of work born from fierce collaboration showcase the Philly and Ocean City-based bands’ insatiable desire to explore even further beyond the depths of the void which they’ve already ventured in a 9/11 allegory where our beautiful, common human existence coexists with the weight of tragedy and the notion that our mortality is absolutely finite with a big, dark unknown following close behind. Nothing frontman Domenic Palermo and Full of Hell vocalist Dylan Walker’s respective lyrics are the fine tip pens etching in the album’s details, and on its sonic canvas, a truly modernized vision of what slowcore can be in 2023, ambient shoegaze, and everywhere else, abstractions of heavy experimental rock where it isn’t always the volume that jars you, but rather the voices of the unknown occasionally creaking out from within.

FINAL GASP – Mourning Moon [Relapse Records]

FINAL GASP’s DIY ethos formed early on their first two EPs harvest the ability to summon several morbid shapes found in darker realms — metal, hardcore, punk, gothic alternative, and shoegaze — and collect them into one one demon driver on their debut full-length, Mourning Moon. Recorded with Arthur Rizk (Power Trip, Glitterer,) the effort hears the sextet refining a balance between a fiery charge with a dead-weight lurch nailed together in hook-laden songcraft swervedriving around Jacob Murphy’s proximal echoes from the underworld. Love, loss, and regret engage in FINAL GASP’s eternal battle for the soul, their forces reckoning during those late night hours when your mind allows uneasy thoughts an invitation, and ends up working even harder to exorcise the unwanted Hell unleashed within.

GEL – Only Constant [Convulse Records]

GEL dare not follow any trends on their debut full-length, Only Constant, a reminder that hardcore is and will always be through and through a community-building effort centered around working through the heavy shit together in unapologetically feral fashion. The New Jersey five-piece leave it all in the pit nonetheless with an album made for listeners who need a pure outlet of aggression to tackle whatever negative energy life attempts to fuck them up with. The listen — 10 tracks in 17 minutes — is confrontational with the self and the burning world around them, as Kaiser shoves intrusive thoughts away from the conscious and warns any outside forces not to step to them just as well. Whether you seek this one out to rage through a workout after a rough day or exercise your right to thrash it out live in the flesh, Only Constant gives back to the scene honest, hyper self-aware hardcore where burning every shred of emotion into the floor until the boards disintegrate never goes out of vogue.

Incendiary – Change The Way You Think About Pain [Closed Casket Activities]

Before the Turnstile effect took hold of hardcore, you could arguably make the case that Incendiary were doing the kind of gorilla press slam style of big impact anthems with authority best. The Long Island band aren’t going the pop or experimental direction like so many of the bands that have risen in the wake of their 2017 standout, Thousand Mile Stare, nor are they going to stay put either, as is the case with Change The Way You Think About Pain. Frontman Brendan Garrone remains at the forefront as a commandeer over one’s fate and directing anger at institutionalized bullshit. Behind him, the rest of Incendiary wield their heavy of metallic hardcore, slinging by all the more with might as Will Putney’s production stacks serious weight into their groove. Their message doesn’t just grab you. It rocks your point of view hard.

INITIATE – Cerebral Circus [Triple B Records]

Cerebral Circus is a hardcore highlight reel of an album and INITIATE’s most definitive statement to date on the art of self-realization, connecting the head, heart, and every nerve ending into an enlightened being rising straight up from the depths of the pit. Vocalist Crystal Pak leads the charge across the 10-track, 20-minute catharsis, meditating on her place in the world through a duality of confrontation and allowing herself the space to see these experiences before acting on them. It renders parts of the listen as an all-out existentialist war built around heavier riffs and grooves, and others where her cleaner vocals push through stormier views that borders pop-punk in its silver linings. Like a phoenix consumed by its own fire power, INITIATE reach a new form.

Jesus Piece – …So Unknown [Century Media]

Aaron Heard was Nothing’s ace of bass, but closer to the heart is his metalcore outlet Jesus Piece. With an breakthrough under their belt in 2018’s debut LP, Only Self, two things have become a focal point in his life since: life as a new dad and Jesus Piece full-time. The Philly band’s sophomore effort, …So Unknown, could be perceived as a reactionary work to where he is at this stage in his life, barreling right into whatever uncertain next chapter coming his way is. He shouts over an onslaught of grotesque, chugging riffs with an intensity that could pull pounds of flesh apart. Every corner of the listen is a jumpscare from the shadows, ripping you through life’s labyrinth even if it means confronting a big, nasty void.

Militarie Gun – Life Under The Gun [Loma Vista Recordings]

On the heels of the three extended plays that preceded it, Life Under The Gun is where Militarie Gun hinge upon perfecting their tick-tick-boom formula of heavy punk-pop and chunky riffed jams that accentuate the post-pandemic existential vibe. From the get go in its opening one-two punch, “Do It Faster” and “Very High”, shouting to anxieties allow frontman Ian Shelton’s inner aggression enough space to feel their way through the mellowed-out malaise of where things are at now and finding a sweet spot with the dark and light corners in life that aren’t mutually exclusive. New to Militarie Gun’s arsenal are resignations where Shelton’s sighs are as big as its chorus and harmonies all while the “pushing the boundaries of hardcore” tropes remain firmly in tact in their agility as an alternative rock band tempting many styles in their unwind.

Mil-Spec – Secret Passage [Lockin’ Out]

The energy moving through Mil-Spec’s view of melodic hardcore is a very pure, heart-pounding one that makes every word behind vocalist Andrew Peden’s lyrics resound in earnest. The Toronto’s sophomore effort, Secret Passage, is a leveled-up extension of that emotional adrenaline running through the band’s veins. Co-produced with Glitterer and Title Fight frontman Ned Russin and mixed by trusted heavy music production auteur Arthur Rizk (Code Orange, Power Trip,) Mil-Spec navigate the tour de force of life’s most tumultuous questions as time races by in a fearless nature that always stays several steps ahead of succumbing to nihilistic pitfalls, akin to their modern day peers in Fiddlehead, Praise as well as the inspiration laid permanent by the Revolution Summer. Secret Passage stays true to form with gorgeous riffs and rhythm cascading broad, heavy brush strokes in bright hues across darker, fractured skies.

MOVE – Black Radical Love [Triple B Records]

Hardcore in its more pure ethos is at once a revolution and resistance to the status quo of everything wrong in our society. MOVE are making damn sure that they are the embodiment of everything it stands for on their debut full-length, Black Radical Love. The Bostonian five-piece aren’t wasting their opportunity to fuel the fire of change for listeners with every second they’ve got in this content-saturated culture, piling concrete down onto the foundation of the backbone of those communities doing the hard work and casting fury over performative politics with their head charge of heavyweight riffs and confrontational callouts. It’s MOVE and everyone who is with them united against the worst of the Earth.

MSPAINT – Post-American [Convulse Records]

MSPAINT’s Post-American refutes the idea that this is the end of the world, as long as we’re willing to push back the dark and tower our own light over it. The sound behind the Hattiesburg punk band’s debut full-length is a synthesis of that energy, fusing the aggression of crusty hardcore with a wide awake frequency of synth-driven punk sans guitars, all catapulted into the conscious by frontperson Deedee who executes observation and truth in lyric with the punctual bombast of an underground rap sage. Culture is consumed into it, with tracks crushing down on societal decay through their own force of digital destruction. The power of the mindset busts through walls, finds its people, and touches grass on the other side.

Narrow Head – Moments of Clarify [Run for Cover Records]

Three albums into their career, to achieve further ascent into the atmosphere, Narrow Head’s gravitational fixation turns toward pop on Moments of Clarity to fuel the drive heavenward into life’s darker matter. The album doesn’t disassociate the Houston heavy rockers from the existential malaise that has permeated themes throughout the course of their liftoff, and rather acknowledges the weight through song. Working alongside producer Sonny Diperri (Nine Inch Nails, My Blood Valentine) it’s an album that also formally disconnects their sound from any relationship to alleged grunge-gazing by way of smoothing over their big hooks’ orbits, corralling wandering feedback into blazing riff columns, layering in high voltage synthesizers, and pushing them into view alongside that of the pain of the human condition.

Restraining Order – Locked In Time [Triple B Records]

If you’re going through it, then throwing on Locked In Time will help you get through to the other end — or at the very least in all its ugly, coarse, electric hardcore punk sizzle session, match your energy as you get there. The Western Mass and Connecticut scene collective follow gut checks on their sophomore effort where the bastion of life threatening to stop you mid-track is met with a faster and bigger-fisted hook-bound intensity with a bit more polish on its knuckles than its predecessor, 2019’d debut full-length, The World Is Not Enough. Inner chaos stews at a concentrated, near-psychedelic groove that’s intentional, allowing Patrick Cozens to mine the place of self-awareness among that which is out of one’s control. There’s a lot of rubble left in Restraining Order’s wake, but consider Locked In Time free therapy in how to let the bad times roll.

Spiritual Cramp – Spiritual Cramp [Blue Grape Music]

Spiritual Cramp polish up nicely for a bunch of punks on their self-titled debut LP. Before even forming, the San Fran hard mods had already put enough time inside of recording studios to understand what makes for a great-sounding album, even if the start of their respective careers as artists dug their way out from the Bay Area’s hardcore underground. Nothing about them sounds rough around the edges in their current light, however, as the listen melds those edges with ’70s punk, sharp angles of its post- and new wave eras, and the singe of Aughts garage rock neon punctuated with Bingham’s hives-raising goth howl and his zeroing in on self-absorption, be it our perpetually online states or that of our own vices and id. For all of the visceral energy shaking Spiritual Cramp to its nervous core, they wear destruction well.

SPY – Satisfaction [Triple B Records]

SPY are not an outlet of clean execution. There’s definitely words smattered about on Satisfaction, and they’ve got intention behind them, but attempting to distinguish what exactly is being shouted is a fool’s errand, but song titles like “No Redeeming Value” and “Big Man” paint the picture of the kind of contempt for society and its villains which the Bay Area hardcore punk band gnash their teeth into on their debut full-length. This is ugly, feral hardcore which across the 13-minute chase scene of 10 tracks, unravels in a fast slaughtering of swaggering noise as the band’s collective electrical discharge creates a thick film of static and saliva being spewed onto everything.

Zulu – A New Tomorrow [Flatspot Records]

Like all music and culture created by the Black artists it celebrates, Zulu do just the same in their own image on A New Tomorrow. To say that the debut full-length from the Los Angeles band is merely hardcore despite Zulu very much being growing out of the pit would be a disservice. Then again, in these post-Turnstile times when anything goes, that’s very much the spirit emboldened in it from the very moments the listen sets in on “Africa” and clashes underground rap beats, soulful R&B think bubbles, experimental jazz interludes, and funky guitars against the expectant thrash and near-powerviolence from there on out. It’s a story that’s been writing itself far beyond the birth of punk music and from the dawn of mankind, fighting for visibility and credit while innovating the future, with Zulu ensuring their footprints in history are seen here on out by those who follow in them.