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As you might already know, I've put Total Collapse on the backburner for a few reasons. If you don't know, feel free to skim through this for the sake of not repeating myself. I only mention this because it's one of a few reasons why I'm compiling the last two months into one post (it's also because I'm lazy but shhhh). That aside, this one's gonna be an extra lengthy one, but I'll try—keyword, try—to keep this reasonable.

In my opinion, it's fair to compile these last 61 days as one and the same—they're a transition from bitter cold to smouldering heat, it's around the time when things pick back up—usually in anticipation for an action-packed summer, and they tend to whiz on by (for me, at least) due to an unending torrent of momentous occasions—in this case, lots of shows and lots of music releases. Full fucking speed ahead, whether it's hardcore, hip-hop, indie, whatever. I've managed to shorten my list down to ten in March, and ten in April, along with a slew of others that I simply couldn't ever justify leaving out. My brain is going to be mush by the time this is done, so let's get going.

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This is the punk record for the everyman. From tongue-in-cheek criticisms on every major city in America, to overly possessive and controlling parents, to the biggest lie we've all ever had shoved down our throats—the American Dream, Allentown, PA-based ruckus starters Pissed Jeans return with their first album in seven years. And in that amount of time, they have not only sharpened their edge, but further refined it for more efficient cutting through barriers both sonic and psychological. They seamlessly blend newfound pop-punkish sensibilities with their signature racket and sense of humor, and end up with a body of work that is relatable enough to even get the typical dress-shirt-and-khakis office wage slave up in arms. 'Everywhere Is Bad' with its crudely sung yet extremely catchy chorus, paired with clever remarks on why locations from Seattle to Rome suck, is easily one of the most infectious songs I've heard off a straightforward hardcore record in a while. 'Junktime' is an ever-pummeling slew of news headlines that we only witness sitting on the couch, and 'Sixty-Two Thousand Dollars in Debt' is a jaded recollection of the overwhelming debts that modern day capitalism throws onto us to chip away at til the day we die, and then some. Half Divorced puts on full-display the horrors of everyday American life with a sneering grin and a craving for destruction, and the seven year-wait was very well worth it.

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ScHoolboy Q is back in his element after 2019's CrasH Talk and a lengthy five years, the longest gap between releases from the man behind some defining hits of the previous generation. This is by far his smoothest, jazziest, and most theatrical release yet, and with 18 tracks and a 56 minute runtime, not a single moment goes wasted on this record. ScHoolboy Q has always been one of the most versatile rappers to come out of the West Coast in the past 20+ years, but it truly shines through on every single track on this work—from the fast-paced, trunk-rattling lead single 'Yeern 101' to more introspective, laid-back cuts like 'Lost Times' and 'Cooties'. He spends the length of his record reflecting on everything that led him up to this point, lyrically and sonically; voicing his achievements, ups and downs, unfaithful friends, tributes to the dead (Mac Miller on 'Blueslides', most prominently), etc., yet he still leaves ample room for his gangsta rap roots to take center stage. To top it all off, every single feature serves a purpose—Rico Nasty's in-your-face style compliments the aggressive boom-bap beat on 'Pop', while Jozzy slides effortlessly on the soulful backing of 'Lost Times' with the most infectious hook on the whole record, and Freddie Gibbs' rapid-fire rhymes serve as an epic climax to 'oHio', one of the more varied songs on this album. While it may be a bit early to call Blue Lips the magnum opus of ScHoolboy Q's long-spanning career, it's a surefire contender that displays his masterful songwriting abilities and sense of cohesion.

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NYC-based, abstract-yet-grounded poetic mastermind MIKE proves that he's for more than the oldheads by collaborating with Tony Seltzer, a producer with credits with a range of artists that span many corners of hip-hop, from Ski Mask the Slump God to Rich the Kid, Freddie Gibbs to Benny the Butcher, to formulate what may be the most downright fun album to listen to in MIKE's whole discography. Short and sweet with 11 tracks at 21 minutes of runtime, I cannot help but wonder how long they spent tweaking and tailoring this album—the beats for MIKE to hop on, the guests to include—because everything here sounds perfectly refined and carefully selected. MIKE delivers immaculate flows with witty punchline after punchline, and he seemingly does it with the effort of someone who's fried and couch-locked after five spliffs back to back. Bars like "I want big ice like Antarctica, I'm beefin' like I'm Suge/I've spent big time at LaGuardia, be sneakin' in the good" would be career highs for some, but on 'Two Doors', he's only getting started. Tony Seltzer's beatmaking abilities are on full display here as well, with funky, futuristic G-funk-type beats accompanying Evilgiane-esque sample drill, 808s are crisp and the basslines shake up entire sound systems. Every guest on this album brings their best on here as well, particularly Earl Sweatshirt and Tony Shhnow on 'On God' (even though the former is sadly relegated to a single hook, no verse). Additionally, Jay Critch on 'Reminiscing' delivers a downright hilarious bar and a half at the end—"I need M's in the bank like I'm stutterin'... muh, muh, muh-muh, muh, muh..." In simple conclusion, the replay value on this album is absolutely insane, and damn near every single song on here will stay in regular rotation throughout the rest of the year.

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After it was tragically shelved in 2011 and our only glimpse of it was through unreleased demos, these grind monsters finally fucking did it. The Sawtooth Grin have finally released the Jabberwocky EP, and god DAMN they just never let up. These guys have been on a strong run since officially reuniting for 2022's Good., and although their assault is much more calculated, it is nonetheless characteristically unrelenting. Weaving the faintest trace of melody and some Middle-Eastern influences in the ever-twisting hurricane of mathy chaos, the boys turn a series of scrapped demos into quite possibly the most varied release in their entire career. There's somewhat of a lyrical emphasis this time around—despite vocalist Rich Lombardi's signature illegible screech—chronicling a grown person's recollection of their childhood through a scrambled and sporadic version of the English language. That aside, so much happens in only an 11-minute runtime, from the rhythmic rattling towards the tail end of 'Brown Recluse', to the quiet, eerily chanted opening to 'The Meadow' that sounds like the soundtrack to a chase scene with the creature on the cover. As a result, the boys conclude with a monstrous release that should (justifiably) be considered a landmark in modern grind, and I hope to one day see these guys perform all of this live.

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Upon hearing revered screamo band widowdusk's first full-length release (and sadly, their last, as they have broken up shortly before this), the first word that came to my mind was "intimacy". Everything screams intimate, from the jokey folk intro track 'take a trip' to the self-referential 'this is the one where we chant'—it all sounds like you're in there just chilling in the studio (or whatever space they used as one) while they crack jokes and take turns recording and mixing each other's parts, staying cool on an 80-something degree summer day—when the cover art appears to have been taken. I don't know how to describe it, but these guys have mastered the emoviolence sound, creating melody simply so it can be quickly eradicated by metallic dissonance and layered ramble-screaming. In short, if you told me this was from anywhere between '96 to '04, I would've believed you wholeheartedly—particularly when it comes to tracks like 'Fucking assholes and their compact cars!' and 'Meow!'. While it's an absolute bummer to see these guys part ways with each other, this is a great note to end on and something I see becoming a cornerstone in modern skramz. While with most of these bands, I won't bet on them reuniting, but nonetheless I wish them luck in their future endeavors.

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Yet another full-length debut from a notable band in the modern skramz scene, Burial Etiquette stand out in particular for their epic, climactic duality between sung and screamed vocals from Taylor Jocelyn and Jaccob Hanley respectively. Taking the post-rockier aspects of the likes of Saetia and City of Caterpillar and melding it with speedier melodic cuts from Suis La Lune and the post-hardcore sensibilities of Touché Amore, Burial Etiquette create a whole journey with Mise​-​en​-​sc​è​ne. 'Mirrors For Eyes,' the teaser track for this LP (as featured on Zegema Beach Records' 22nd ZAMPLER) has one of the most soul-soothing refrains I've heard in recent times, 'Ivy Staircase In Ruin' maintains catchiness admidst all the sporadicity, and the sole acoustic cut, 'Blue Orchids,' is a soft, somber song that really ties the whole project together. An essential skramz release, and one that I hope garners more traction in the time to come.

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Comprising mostly of members from the legendary Majority Rule, DC hardcore veterans NØ MAN take a more traditional hardcore punk approach while maintaining the flaming ferocity of their band of origin. Vocalist Maha Shami snarls and growls with the rage of an entire population that has been displaced, tortured, and massacred for almost 80 years—a subject that is prominently tackled in Glitter and Spit as Shami returned to her homeland of Palestine and witnessed firsthand the acts of atrocity being committed upon her people by the state of Israel. 'Can't Kill Us All' is a cry to action and a savage callout to the powers that be—"Scratch their back and they'll hatch wars/Election day thieves settle the score," she screams with bloodletting passion. Songs like 'March of Ides' and 'God's Neighborhood' blaze along at breakneck speeds, while 'Burning Skull' and 'Eat My Twin' slow down to frightening paces, carrying on a feeling of contempt and pure rage against the cruelty committed against the Palestinian people, as well as the United States for endorsing it all. Glitter and Spit is hands down one of the angriest albums to come out this year, and is a shining example of the Palestinian's unwavering strength amidst terrible destruction of their home.

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After a long wait between now and 2019's A Brief Memoriam, Rockford, IL legends Frail Body are finally out with their sophomore album, which is equal parts gorgeous, haunting, soaring, beaten down and broken. An immaculate blend of skramz, black metal, post-HxC, post-rock, post-whatever, Artificial Bouquet is a bloodied beauty—one that the artwork, created by none other than Converge's Jacob Bannon, perfectly embodies. 'Scaffolding' starts the entire record off falling in a blaze of glory, with unending blast beats giving way to melodies signalling feelings of longing and cries for help. This emotion carries on throughout the entire record, with an atmospheric aura that leaves plenty of room for agonizing chaos to ensue through Lowell Shaffer's tormented shrieks and metallic riffage complimented by Nic Kuczynski's bass work, and Nicholas Clemenson's beastly drumming capabilities. Tracks such as 'Critique Programme' and 'No Resolution' ebb and flow in epic proportions, while others such as 'Monolith' and 'Refrain' show zero signs of ever stopping. I, as well as many others, can agree that this all forms one of screamo's highest moments in recent times, and we are all ecstatic to see this trio in top form and crazier than ever.

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Connecticut modern metalcore prodigies Boundaries are angrier than ever, channeling pure hatred and contempt for the world into their newest full-length Death Is Little More. Taking a speedier and far more blood-boiling approach as compared to 2022's Burying Brightness, Boundaries smash everything in sight with heavier riffage, grittier vocals, and more gut-punching breakdowns. The aptly titled 'Turning Hate Into Rage' starts off with a barrage of panic chords making way for breakdowns that begin after brutally upfront shouts of "I FUCKING HATE YOU" and "THIS WORLLD IS EVIL AND I AM THE DEVIL," and it only gets crazier. 'Like Petals From A Stem,' being the shortest on the album, is by far the most concetrated fit of pure hostility Boundaries have ever come out with, while 'Darkness Shared' leads into the former with yells of "I AM LESS, I AM MORE" that grow in speed and ferocity. Guest vocalists Matt Honeycutt of Kublai Khan, Lochie Keogh of Alpha Wolf, and Marcus Vik of Invent Animate perfectly compliment Boundaries' savagery, and the resulting output is a fist-clenching, ground-shaking ball of pure rage that is sure to propel these guys higher in the metalcore scene.

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This right here is what I had looked forward to the most the entire month of March, and holy fuck was it worth the whole wait. Skramz-turned-metalcore legends Wristmeetrazor are finally back, three years after their monumental release, 2021's Replica of a Strange Love. These guys have never quite stuck to a singular sound for more than one album, and Degeneration is no different, aiming for a more melodic sound more akin to bands like Killswitch Engage and Trivium, while simultaneously leaning further into the industrial influences of their previous album. This mixture results in an odd juxtaposition, with the tracklist jumping back and forth between less melodic, breakdown-heavy songs like 'Turn On, Tune In, Drop Dead' and 'Trepanation,' and riff-laden, cleaner sounding cuts like 'Xeroxed Reflection' and 'Love Thy Enmity'. Nonetheless, this contrast is welcomed as the band displays total mastery of both of these sounds, with the sudden breakdown on 'No Ceremony' and the pulsing interlude on 'DogdayGod' being particular highlights for me. I had the treat of seeing these guys at Preserving during their tour for this album, and I can say for sure that these songs rip equally as hard live as they do on record. Totally worth the three spinkicks straight to the neck. A metalcore highlight for me this year, and one that I feel shouldn't be glossed over.

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And now for some honorable mentions!

Future & Metro Boomin - WE DON'T TRUST YOU

Aside from being what initially set off the beef between Kendrick, Drake, and Cole, Future and Metro had some chemistry on this joint project. Nothing too outstanding, but there was a few takeaway tracks for me.

Versera - Calliope

Solid, brief, heavy screamo from California band Versera. In 16 minutes, they employ metallic riffs, tongue-in-cheek humor, and an acoustic outro.

Ski Mask the Slump God - Shibuya

Ski Mask shows that he can perfectly adapt with the times by hopping on a beautifully ragey beat and truly making it his own.

RXKNephew - Shawty RXK 4

I'm only putting this on here for 'Crack Love Story', but you can never go wrong with some good ol' Neph'n'B.

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A skramz record that should be on many lists, this certainly took me by surprise among pressing play. With a temperament that can go from veering on the edge of total insanity to a relatively levelheaded hardcore edge, this collective hailing from Atlanta, GA (one member from Turkey) displays a mastery of melody against dissonance with a myriad of tricks; including pulling the rug out from underneath and opting for full-on unorganized chaos, as evidenced on 'Too Late'. So much is packed into this 12-minute EP, with each of these seven songs being an explosion of their own intensity. 'Alone' cuts to the chase with relentless blasting, before taking somewhat of a melodic break with the sole backing being pained and torn screaming. 'Gratitude Denied' and 'Golden Calf' perfectly encapsulate the cover; something—or someone— holding on by an inevitably snapping thread to maintain appearances despite being thrashed about and stripped for parts, much like the Prius depicted here. 'Epilogue' is the longest track at a mere three minutes, closing off as a rough-edged instrumental that perfectly encapsulates the emoviolence sound. A gem in the ZBR/Tomb Tree roster that I look forward to hearing more from.

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This Milwaukee collective displays an incredibly varied sound that's reminiscent of early to mid 2010s screamo akin to La Dispute and Pianos Become the Teeth with an emphasis on the 'hardcore' in post-hardcore, if that makes any sense. With a sense of purpose and urgency, Garden Home balance melody and madness on a thin tightrope, emphasizing the sense of unease reverberating throughout this LP. The range of their sound is on full display here, prime examples being the breakdown finishing off 'Hot Water / Cold Hands,' a gothic/post-punk quality that exceptionally shines in a brief break on 'The Worst of It,' or the intro on 'Grim,' all of which are backed by equally bleak screams of desperation. For as dark and pained as this album is, it has many colorful and bright aspects that perfectly compliment the cover—crystal clear instrumentation, a dense atmosphere, and an amazing sense of musicianship. This deserves more attention, hands down.

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Look, I usually don't make huge spotlights for singles like this, but let me make one exception for my absolute favorite band, alright? The New Brunswick, NJ pioneers of emo/post-hardcore as we know it today, hardcore veterans (at this point), absolute fucking legends, Thursday have finally made a public return to the studio on the 13th anniversary of their last release, 2011's No Devolución. And oh my God, OH MY FUCKING GOD it's an amazingly triumphant return after on-and-off record conflicts, a crippling heroin addiction for vocalist Geoff Rickly to overcome (read his book Someone Who Isn't Me, one of the best novels I have ever read), and various side projects. Structually, Application For Release From The Dream almost comes off as a rift in the Thursday timeline—like they've turned the dial back on time back to their basement show days, while simultaneously sounding like they never even left. The majority of the song has a grandiose, soaring atmosphere, with lines that beg for response—"I can hear the angels call/Can you hear the angels call?", Geoff beckons to the skies. Everything plummets into flames starting with the call and response of "What is light? (A spark!) What is life? (A moment!)", leading into incendious hiss-screams of "SPARK, MOMENT! SPARK, MOMENT!" from Rickly, until the song reemerges into blue skies once again, concluding on a beautiful note. Thursday have announced that they plan to release singles sporadically as they see fit from here on out, and if this is how they sound after 13 long years, I eagerly await anything that comes from this reunion.

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Rising from the ashes of 2010s screamo band Youth Novel, Heavenly Blue come in swinging with a debut that sounds as concentrated and carefully thought out as it does raw and uncompromising. With a sound that's equally time-specific and timeless, this stacked collective (seven members!) juggle moments of heaviness and mobilility alike with the skill of longtime scene veterans. Blackened screams at blistering paces, with brief outbursts of emoviolence instrumentation littered throughout make for an album that would fit in perfectly with the likes of Pg.99 and Reversal of Man without wearing such influences on their sleeve. 'Static Voice Speaks to Static Me' employs straightforward hardcore, while 'Certain Distance' comes crashing through with borderline metallic riffage. 'Pando' switches between explosive percussion and subdued melody, while '...And Like That, A Year Had Passed' progressively descends into total chaos. Fact of the matter is, Heavenly Blue perfectly encapsulate every aspect of skramz without it sounding fragmented or out of place. Rather, they perfectly blend together and culminate in an all-around solid release that is sure to turn heads as time goes on.

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This album is indeed terrorism. Not that I mind, since RXK and Christ are an underrated duo that are long overdue for a joint project. DJ Smokey as usual provides his signature out-of-pocket tags, and production is handled by the likes of Fwthis1will and Seepy. If you're familiar with most of these names, then you already know that war crimes are about to be committed on your ears with the power of a million nukes. The drill sound on most of these tracks compliments Neph's flows (if you've kept up with his YouTube, you've likely heard him hop on old Chief Keef and Fredo Santana tracks), while adding to the absurdity when Christ hops on the mic. Additionally, 'girl can I trap out yo house' is a reworked version of a throwaway on Nephew's YouTube that sounds way fresher, and makes for a nice, slowed-down plugg track to mix things up. 'Neiman Marcus' has Neph going on tirades about Chief Keef being dumb and dirty and a girl in Chicago taking him downtown for "stale ass chicken at Harold's" when he'd rather have pizza, while 'Fast Money Slow Money' has Christ claiming he's the "B.B. Simon final boss" and that he has more coke than Adin Ross. Another consistent project from these two.

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After listening to this several times over, and going as far as to look up live shows on YouTube from this California septet, I was fucking ecstatic to find another band that perfectly fits a niche that I feel not enough bands fill; filthy, grimy, grindy screamo straight from the depths of MySpace. Combining the most chaotic aspects of bands such as Hayworth, Heavy Heavy Low Low, Love Lost But Not Forgotten, me and him call it us, etc etc etc., Kiowa wreaks as much havoc as they possibly can in less than 13 minutes of runtime. 'Batter Up!' packs a boatload into 55 seconds, starting off with metallic madness that leads into discordant strumming, concluding with an utterly satisfying breakdown. 'Are You __ Or Are You Just Happy To See Me?' and 'You're Eggin Em On!' especially rip and tear with no remorse, with all sorts of highs and lows, louds and quiets, I'd sound like a broken record going on about this entire project. If these guys ever come out with a full-length, I'll likely be one of the first to hear it.

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It would be a disservice to call this album a love letter to the MySpace era of old, let alone anything but a total evolution of every corner of punk and hardcore of the 2000s. SeeYouSpaceCowboy... have been at the forefront of the scene for a while now, but they simply keep getting better and better with every release. Blending lounge and stage theatrics with emo, metalcore, sass, dance-punk, damn near everything you can think of, 'Coup De Gr​á​ce' is easily SYSC's most varied, beautifully produced, and expertly crafted release yet. Crafted around the concept of a theatre show, every song has a purpose and a scene—sung interludes from iRis.EXE set the stage, like the aptly named 'Allow Us To Set The Scene' that throws you into a downright nightmarish breakdown, and 'Respite For A Tragic Tale,' a track of her own. Every song here is different in its own right, like the easily danceable 'Lubricant Like Kerosene' with Kim Dracula, or the tragic 'Chewing The Scenery' with an infectious hook, "Who'll stop the bleeding, as you're stabbing my heart with the dullest of knives?/Does this bring you joy?" Or better yet, 'To The Dance Floor For Shelter' with the legendary Courtney LaPlante of Spiritbox, who gives a soaring performance before plummeting into madness in a screamed duet with Connie Sgarbossa. They've already announced a tour for this album, and I expect at least half of the crowd (myself included) will have memorized most of the lyrics off this album by then. Easily a contender for album of the year.

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Fresh off the heels of two collaborative albums with Primitive Man and Nothing (with the latter, When No Birds Sang, becoming one of the most critically acclaimed in both bands' discographies), grind titans Full of Hell return to their own space with a newfound appreciation for conventional song structure and gentler forms of music. Of course, this by no means comes off as an announcement that Full of Hell is going pop in any way, as their expeditions out of their comfort zone have only added to their arsenal. 'Half Life of Changelings,' the opening track, starts off with a chord you would sooner hear off a Loma Prieta record than any grindcore, which makes things all the more exciting when it quickly descends into Dylan Walker's familiar screeches. 'Fractured Bonds to Mecca' veers into industrial noise territory, while the six-minute monster 'Bleeding Horizon' is a sludgy cut that sounds akin to the aforementioned Nothing collab. The title track has a tinge of true blue hardcore in its DNA, while 'Gelding of Man' is a slow ripper filled with discordance. The variety laid out on Coagulated Bliss makes for one of the most colorful albums in Full of Hell's lengthy career, albeit those colors are blood red and a grotesque pink. Another album that further cements Full of Hell's place in extreme music today.

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A surprise drop little more than a month after Bladee and Yung Lean's collab Psykos, Cold Visions throws a fresh coat of paint on the raw and messy picture of Bladee's classic tapes. With production all across the board from F1LTHY, as well as co-production from the likes of Whitearmor, Yung Sherman, and Skrillex, Bladee takes you on a wild fucking journey across the sound spectrum he has helped bring into the limelight, through the lenses of someone whose rise to stardom was like that of a space rocket. With a grand total of 30 songs, it's a shocker this project maintains consistency, as there's more bangers than duds from front to back. From the melancholic and sweet 'FLATLINE' (the hook here rivals that of his best Icedancer moments, fight me) to the ragey and ridiculously bassy 'SAD MEAL,' the speedy 'RED CROSS' to the synthy 'OTHERSIDE' with Black Kray/Sickboyrari, this tape is unabashedly overblown and all over the place in the best ways. Various sound effects are littered throughout, often overlapping Bladee's mellowed, worn out rapping, occasionally even cutting off the entire track—ambulance sirens, glitched out laughs and screams, and "COLD VISIONS..." tags throw themselves into the mix without any rhyme or reason, and it results in a beautiful mess that should be considered an essential Drain Gang project. Yet another cornerstone in Bladee's ever-rising career.

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Yeah, I lied, I'm putting the spotlight on another single. But hey, can you blame me? This is the spark that truly set one of the most brutal rap beefs aflame (albeit how one-sided it was). This song singlehandedly became the theme song to being a Drake hater (which, considering how trash his music has been for the past 6+ years, among many other things, is completely justified), and brought to light many issues that had been circulating around Drake, such as his status as a culture vulture, the way he surrounds himself with those who rose from the trenches for fake street cred, his ghostwriters, etc. in a laser-focused manner that essentially spelled Drake's demise from the very beginning. 'euphoria' is also a prime example of Kendrick's songwriting ability in the heat of the moment, firing shots right off the bat over a mellowed-out soul tune, before going all-in over a bombastic beat that gets even darker halfway through. What's even more admirable is how he was able to pull this off not once, not twice, but four fucking times altogether throughout the week following this diss track. I can't say anything about this that hasn't already been said by the entire world at this point, but holy shit, what a track this was.

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Now, for even more honorable mentions!

Kicked In the Head By a Horse - TV Therapy

Local Pittsburgh heroes Kicked In the Head By a Horse return with two new songs, both of which sound deadlier than ever.

Bladee, Ecco2k, and Thaiboy Digital - TL;DR

The Drain Gang boys come back together for the first time in what seems like a while, with a hauntingly bouncy track produced by Whitearmor.

Catalyst, Knumears, Vs Self, and Party Hats - 4-Way Split

Four of the best screamo bands of this generation, giving a piece of their best in their own way. Catalyst is somewhat along the lines of true hardcore, think Title Fight-esque. Knumears is the loudest and most violent of the bunch. Vs Self and Party Hats embrace the noodly antics of Midwest emo.