Here at Revolver, we pride ourselves in living on the cutting edge of heavy music, from metal and hardcore to industrial and hip-hop, and we try to keep you on the front line, too, by giving you a deep look at the innovative noisemakers poised to shape the sound and the scene.
To that end, we've rounded up a handful of musicians who, we think, are on the rise across several different genres. From clobbering metalcore to Deftones-esque alt-rock, here are five artists you'll want to get on now.
Magnitude
RIYL Strife, Earth Crisis, Trial
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE Magnitude have sneakily become one of the biggest bands in hardcore. At fests, the pile-ups during the chants of "To Whatever Fateful End" and "Defy" have become reliable weekend highlights. While straight-edge culture doesn't presently rival the fever pitch that it reached in the Nineties and early 2000s, Magnitude are carrying that torch proudly within the scene. Their songs are heavy but also bouncy, catchy and heartfelt. Fans scream back their lyrics with the devotion of religious scripture.
QUOTE "I think we're a band that sincerely believes in the positive impact we all as individuals can have on others and the world at large," says frontman Russell Bussey. "We believe in movements. The movement of hardcore. The movement of straight-edge. The movements of vegetarianism and veganism. We believe in hardcore's ability to go beyond just the music and make a meaningful impact in this world for the better."
Pick up Magnitude's Of Days Renewed... on exclusive colored vinyl over at Revolver's shop.
Comet
RIYL Deftones, A Perfect Circle, Sonic Youth
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE Comet is the NYC-based project of an "art-ish girl turned musician" who taps everyone from A Perfect Circle to Fiona Apple as influences, and sounds like a rawer, noisier version of Deftones. She describes her forthcoming EP, Two Winged, as "a journey through a loss of innocence," and lead single "One" sounds absolutely anguished and macabre in the best way possible.
QUOTE "I've been in bands since I was 18 and I finally wanted to go solo after moving to NYC," Comet says. "I hated playing without musicians backing me up so I got a live band and I became mega-attached to the parts they came up with, so we accidentally became a band again. C'est la vie... I'm just bleeding onstage for everyone to see. There is no specific goal or message. If people relate, I hope you feel less alone and sorry that happened."
Balmora
RIYL Underoath, Prayer for Cleansing, From Autumn to Ashes
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE Balmora are a metalcore band. No, not that kind of metalcore. They're the type that emerged out of rented VFW halls and DIY basement venues in the late Nineties. Essentially, hardcore kids adding melodeath leads and shrieks — and tons of thespian drama — to their breakdown-packed mosh parties. Their kickass 2023 debut EP, With Thorns of Glass and Petals of Grief, sounds like it could've been released in 2000, right before metalcore became commercial sounding. Back when it was still fucking clobbering.
QUOTE "If you look at some of the show bills from the '00s, you'll see a lot of metalcore bands playing alongside straightforward hardcore bands," singer Chris Misenti tells Revolver. "Somewhere along the way that disappeared and I'm not sure why, but now I think it's coming back in full swing. I think hardcore transcends just being a style of music — to me hardcore is a mindset, a way that you carry yourself and the values that you hold. In that regard, Balmora will always be a hardcore band. Also, Balmora will always encourage and advocate for violent dancing."
Jobber
RIYL Quicksand, Burn, Pixies
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE Jobber have found a way to meld candied alt-rock, heavy post-hardcore riffs, and wrestling-themed lyrics all into one cohesive package — and they fucking rule. The NYC band's 2022 EP, Hell in a Cell, and 2023 single, "Summerslam," have all the groove of Quicksand or Burn, but also the belt-it-out catchiness of bands like the Breeders or Pixies. They even had a wrestler smash a cake in singer-guitarist Kate Meizner's face at their EP release show. How fun is that?
QUOTE "Maybe listening to so much Madball and Hatebreed at an early age wired my brain in such a way that I just have an insatiable desire to write big riffs," says Meizner. "Every project I've written songs in blend sugary pop sensibilities with heavy, dissonant guitars, so I would say it's a common thread in my songwriting that's more intuitive than intentional... I recently sent somebody a new song, which is a power-pop song that dissolves into this riff that sounds like it came from the depths of hell. Like a mix of Slint and something off of [Cro-Mags'] Age of Quarrel."
Worn
RIYL Napalm Death, Integrity, Candy
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE Worn hail from Wilkes-Barre, the region of Northeastern Pennsylvania that Cold World, Title Fight, War Hungry and other genre-bending hardcore institutions call home. Except Worn are gnarlier than all of those bands. Drawing from the haggard metallic hardcore assaults of Integrity, the grindcore nihilism of Napalm Death and the mosher's delight death-metal of World Demise-era Obituary, Worn's sound is uniquely caustic and uncompromising within the modern hardcore landscape.
QUOTE "We are sort of a niche outlier band," says frontman Daniel Schultz. "We don't really indulge in heavier parts and a lot of songs are structured around d-beat influences. They're are other bands doing similar styles, but I think with Worn we hit a little bit of a different area influence-wise. Our goal is to mesh extreme music we love and bring it into the hardcore sphere."
