Massachusetts has been one of hardcore's most fertile states as long as the genre has been around. In the early 1980s, a boisterous scene emerged that was led by bands like SSD, DYS, F.U.'s, Jerry's Kids and later Slapshot, which took inspiration from the straight-edge philosophies of Minor Threat and Co., but had more in common with the stompy sound of the nascent NYHC scene.
In the early Nineties, bands like Only Living Witness and Sam Black Church held down the state while New York dominated the national hardcore zeitgeist, but by the end of the decade, many of the era's most crucial hardcore bands had sprung up from Massachusetts's soil — Converge, Cave In, Bane, American Nightmare, the Hope Conspiracy, Blood for Blood and Ten Yard Fight, to name just a few.
In the 2000s, the establishment of pivotal labels like Bridge Nine, Deathwish Inc. and Lockin' Out resulted in further Massachusetts domination, and the crucial bands kept coming; Have Heart, Suicide File, Righteous Jams, Mental, Rival Mob, Death Before Dishonor and so on.
In the 2010s, Boston's Triple B Records claimed the throne as the most prolific and important new label in hardcore, spotlighting regional, national and international powerhouses concurrent to the rise of present-day hardcore mainstays like Vein.FM, Fiddlehead and Fuming Mouth — all of whom call Massachusetts home.
So, yeah, Massachusets and hardcore have always gone hand-in-hand, and right now there's a whole new generation of emerging bands who're coming out of the state and helping to steer the broader genre into its ever-brightening future.
Below are seven Massachusetts bands that anyone who calls themselves a hardcore fan should know. There's something for everyone here — from powerviolence shit-starters and metalcore mosh-inducers, to good ol' classic hardcore punk.
Adrienne
There's a Y2K-era metalcore renaissance happening right now, and Adrienne are at the forefront of it. These Mass murderers have become a must-see band in hardcore for their scholarly revival of the chuggy, squealy and refreshingly raw sound that was first popularized by Undying and Prayer for Cleansing at the turn of the century.
Obviously, the metalcore genre got glitzier and more commercial sounding in the two decades that followed, but Adrienne and their bevy of peers on labels like Daze and Ephyra Records (Balmora, A Mourning Star, Since My Beloved, etc.) are bringing this mosh music back to the hardcore underground where it belongs. Metalcore for the spin-kickers.
Anklebiter
Technically, only one member of Anklebiter is from Massachusetts (the others hail from Rhode Island and New Jersey), but these Northeast straight-edge purveyors deserve honorary residency for how indebted they are to the Boston sound.
Their great 2022 demo and even better 2023 EP, To Live and Withstand, are openly reverent of early 2000s Lockin' Out pillars like Mental, Stop and Think and Righteous Jams — bands who, like Anklebiter, strike a pristine balance between fiery, honest and playful-sounding hardcore.
Pick up an exclusive pink vinyl variant of Anklebiter's, To Live and Withstand, over at our shop.
Burning Lord
Burning Lord only have a couple demos to their name, but when they get around to releasing a proper EP or LP, there's a good chance it'll pop. Supported by Tribe Dream Records (a small Boston label that released early music by Final Gasp and C4) these guys have a fucking charred-to-shit sound that's like a cross of early Sepultura and early-Nineties moshcore Bostonians B'zerker and Overcast (Brian Fair's pre-Shadows Fall band).
The songs on 2022's Demo #2 are caustic and mean, but let their contribution to this year's Scheme Until It's Your Reality comp be your intro. Nasty, noisy and loaded with an unbelievably heavy breakdown-turned-two-step jaunt, "Walls of Fear" is a goddamn monster of a song.
C4
C4 seemingly give no shits about being popular, and that's what makes them so likable. The unruly Bostonians made waves with their 2021 Triple B debut, Chaos Streaks, an 11-minute spew of blasty, powerviolence-y hardcore that sounds like Negative FX, but feels spiritually in-touch with old-school BHC miscreants Gang Green.
The record has ridiculous song titles like "Health Freak Headstomp" and humorously low-brow lyrics that range from simple belches ("suck my nuts") to, uh, creative threats to tell off the landlord by smearing fecal mater on the walls. Amazingly, C4's minute-long hardcore loogies have resonated, and now they're beloved both inside Boston and out.
Move BHC
Boston's Move BHC are one of the most politically outspoken bands in hardcore right now, and their pummeling music takes a vitally blunt approach to addressing their city's (and country's) shameful ongoing history of racism and oppression.
Their brand new album, Black Radical Love, recalls the stompy, fiery sound of New York's Incendiary, and features unvarnished spoken-word testimonials about the Black experience in a way that's similar to their L.A. pals in Zulu — whose drummer, Christine Cadette, guests on this album.
With scathing invectives against fake allies ("Black lives aren't a trend") and mosh calls aimed at cowardly lawmakers ("Your politic is reform/No new ideas but to conform"), Move's music is as much as call to political action as it is an incentive to get shit moving in the pit.
Restraining Order
When it comes to present-day bands making classic-sounding American hardcore, Restraining Order are in the upper echelon. The West Springfield, Massachusetts, unit caught the scene's ears with their rippin' 2019 debut, This World Is Too Much, which called back to early Eighties Bostonians like SSD and Jerry's Kids, and even had a touch of Minor Threat anthemic-ness in there.
This year's Locked in Time LP is more eclectic, slowing down their blazing tempos just a bit to accentuate the rousing, Oi!-inflected choruses of tracks like "Another Better Day" and "Fight Back." Restraining Order are a superior live band who hold their own on a bill alongside beatdown bruisers, emo bands or whoever else. If you truly like hardcore, then you'll truly like this.
Pick up Restraining Order's Locked In Time on exclusive colored vinyl over at our shop!
Risk
Boston's Risk technically formed way back in 2010, but then disbanded only to reform a few years back and deliver last year's scathing Monologue of Misery album. They reside on the thrashier, heavier side of the hardcore spectrum, but frontman Brendan Glennon has a shrieky, glass-shattering vocal style that's unlike a typical thrash grunt, and differentiates them within that subgenre.
In the last couple years, they've paid their dues gigging heavily around the Northeast, sailing to the top of their city's scene, and buddying up with their Philly proteges (and recent split-mates) in Fool's Game — all of which makes Risk feel as much like a young band on the rise as the other groups on this list.
