In the early stages of the summer of ’26 we came across a good dose of hardcore demos that were essentially coming at us with a general theme of newer band, first or second recorded effort and just a lot in the way of hardcore grit and youthful energy that reminded us of when we first found this music. Instead of rolling them out one by one via a standard review we decided to keep a running log over the summer months and present them in a 2-part feature called “Demo Derby Summer 2026”. Part 1 is below and features Mark Catalina inspired artwork (read more about it and Mark at the end of this article) by our friend Sven Gjurcek with coloring by Jeff Snapshot. Please make sure to check out our Spotify Playlist that features 2 songs from each of these bands… and to check back in a few days for Demo Derby Part 2!
EGOS DIVIDE “DEMO 2026” (Total Supply, July 31st, 2026)
New band made up of members of Bad Beat from Detroit and Combust from New York along with Alex from Steamroll/Square One. Hardcore musicians switching spots is always an interesting thing to see and here Combust guitarist Pete Martingano makes his vocal debut and he does a really good job in this very Gorilla Biscuit inspired debut. 5 songs totaling 10 minutes in length gives us just enough to sink your teeth into making for one solid ass debut. Sonically this is not what you would be expecting if we told you we were throwing Bad Beat and Combust into a blender. Click HERE to listen and HERE for more info.
DEFY YOU “HAPPY HELLFEST” (RTF Records, Released June 26th, 2026)
Not officially labeled a demo but rather a 3 song promo (is there really a difference?) that the band put out with fellow Jersey homiez RTF Records as a way to promote their recent performance at this year’s Hellfest that went down in Carteret, NJ in early July. “Fragile Mask” kicks this one off and is an absolute attention grabber with just like this furious feel to it. Defy You seems to be pushing for a mix of early 00’s fast hardcore-punk, and 2010’s hard hitting hardcore. If bands like No Warning, Trapped Under Ice, and Backtrack are in your lane then definitely give this a listen. Track two; “P.O.D.” is a remake off of their 2024 demo and features guest vocals from Heavy Hand and things close out with a solid cover of “Won’t Change For Me” by Guns Up! Side note to close this out is two members of Defy You are also in Head Check who put out a solid 4 song demo back in April. Photo by: William Marks Photo. Click HERE to listen, and HERE to find out more.
FAR TOO LATE “DEMO ’26” (Released June 28th, 2026)
Brother/sister band of Step First (also included within this article) who all share multiple members as well as influences that center around maximizing moshability with a low end bass tone playing a big part in the process. If the last 10 seconds of “In My Eyes” or the first minute of “Live For Today” don’t get you moving can you really say you are into hardcore? Total old-school cassette demo vibes here despite this not being available on cassette. Listen to them HERE and find out more HERE. Photo by: Todd Pollock
ANIMAL INSTINCT “DEMO” (Rebirth Records, Released July 1st, 2026)
5 piece roots based hardcore out of Virginia that shows some metallic flashes while still keeping it ‘core with a ton of mosh. This one is short and sweet with 4 songs in 8 minutes and they are riding with Rebirth Records so this could probably be a precursor to something more substantial but damn this is a hard as fuck start. Lead off track “Not True” is your new favorite jam and screw having an intro to start your demo as Animal Instinct opts for the sub 2 minute “Outro” to close things out. Bands who take promo shots in front of a stuffed moose head are not to be fooled with. Photo by: Think Fast Photos. Click HERE to listen and HERE for more info.
AGAINST THE WORLD “DEMO 2026” (Edgewood Records, Released May 30th, 2026) 
Richmond’s Against The World are exactly the type of band we are going for in this article. Formed in August of ’25 and this is their first release. Charged, fast, raspy vocals, plenty of mosh and a Gravediggaz sample before “Don’t Come Back” are all reasons to check this new band out. Opener “Get Ahead” is only 1:20 and absolutely rips… best track but not far behind it is closer “Unmatched” with its initial two step stomp that leads into a nice minute plus fade out. The gritty production here amplifies this release’s hardcore authenticity. Click HERE to listen. (ATW has no socials at this time). Photo by: Think.Fast.Photos
STEP FIRST “DEMO” (Released July 31st, 2026) 
Young guns from Massachusetts with an old-school sound that makes me think of late 80’s era CBGB’s, hanging out at Some Records and buying every demo I could get my hands on. A moshy intro with a big “STEP FIRST” shout leads into the hardest track in “Stray” and it’s all groove and mosh from there with a total of 6 songs in 10 minutes. The average sounding recording adds an additional layer of realness to boot. Saw these guys in Queens in late June when they piled into one of their dad’s van and drove 4 plus hours with Far Too Late and played a killer set. They seem motivated and a band I would keep an eye on. Click HERE to listen and HERE for more info.
The original Demo Derby was published in In Effect Zine issue #11 which came out in the spring of 1998 and featured artwork by our good friend and amazing artist Mark Catalina who is no longer with us. Mark had amazing vision with his art projects and probably came up with the idea all on his own. Mark probably did more than 2 dozen pieces of art for In Effect Zine, many which ended up in the pages of the zine, some on stickers and even more on t-shirts. As time moved on he became highly sought out for his art and ended up doing tons of work for various bands around the NYHC scene. Wanting to keep Mark’s work alive we went to Sven Gjurcek from Croatia to do some updating to Mark’s original vision that had just two demo cars crashing into each other. We then asked Jeff Snapshot to add coloring which we think he did an amazing job with. We had Mark’s ZEUS graffiti tag added on a flag as well to further honor Mark’s memory.