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 ...

Combust needs very little introduction in terms of the current-day hardcore music landscape goes. Formed in late 2017 in the NYC borough of Staten Island they have made a steady rise from their 5 song debut demo to where they sit today as a well-respected recording/touring hardcore band who fly the NYHC flag proudly. Guitarist Pete Martingano is part of the Combust foundation having been there since the jump and now comes word of a new project called Egos Divide with members from Combust and others from a few states over in Michigan. The Egos Divide demo came out in ...

chemical-x out of New Jersey who formed in late 2020 have been gaining a lot of momentum recently with a relentless do it yourself approach which includes three cross country US tours and the release of their latest album “Is This Tomorrow?” which came out on Creep Records back in June. The entire band contributed replies to this interview which took place in mid-August just after they arrived back home from their latest tour that saw them play 29 shows in a month’s time that included stops in not your everyday punk towns like Shiprock, NM, Yuma, AZ, Pocatello, ID, ...

Supporting real DIY hardcore punk in various forms is something we take seriously here at In Effect Hardcore and when we noticed 3 independent labels out of New York all recently releasing old-school style compilations on cassette and CD we took notice. Greg from New Found Hope (Queens, NY) grew up around the corner from me and I am glad that he has rejoined the ‘core in his 50’s, Raph from Knifetwister (Westchester, NY) found us when he asked for an In Effect Hardcore interview last year and Becky from Memory Loss (Westchester, NY) is an old friend and writer ...

  NYHC legends Madball dropped their 10th studio album on July 24th on Nuclear Blast Records titled “Not Your Kingdom”. The Madball lineup has changed over the years since their inception in the late 1980's with Freddy “Madball” Cricien being the one constant. When the press release came out for the new album I was a bit surprised to see that drummer Mike Justian was now in his 15th year with the band and guitarist Mike Gurnari’s tenure is now in its 7th. With longtime fill in/friend Paul Delaney now taking over the full-time bass duties Madball seems to be ...

Time X Heist are a straight edge hardcore band out of Denver Colorado. Their first show was in the fall of 2022 and since that time they have been a very active band with a bunch of releases as well as tours including three tours of Europe. Their latest album, “The Measure Of My Devotion” (released in May on Indecision Records) sees the band level up on the Youth Crew sound showcasing their members’ skills while stepping out of the box a little at the same time. With so many releases these days being short EP’s it is refreshing to ...

Flatspot Records is one of the premier record labels out there today consistently putting out hardcore from across the world with bands like Terror, End It, Speed, Raw Brigade, Whispers, and Scowl all putting out releases under the Flatspot flag. The Baltimore/Brooklyn duo behind it all consists of Che Figueroa and Ricky Singh who many may remember from the Long Island band Backtrack who dropped their demo in ’08 before touring almost non-stop through 2019 when they disbanded. Figueroa also plays bass in The S.E.T. who dropped their debut on Flatspot back in March. We wanted to find out more ...

Just a few months back I admittedly had never heard of Southern California’s Human Issue. A seemingly random email showed up with band info, photos and the music to their now released album “In Flesh” put out by Smart Punk Records. Their sound is diverse going from more hardcore style to more punk vibes from song to song and there even may be a song played on a piano as well. Visually they dropped a few cool music videos and they were out there hustling on tour with a lot more in store as 2026 rolls along. With each passing ...

Start Today out of Los Angeles are taking the modern day hardcore scene by storm with their charged Youth Crew style of hardcore and consistently playing out. They are currently in the midst of playing a 36 date tour opening for Terror, Pain Of Truth and End It. The average age of this five piece band is a little over 18 years old and they just put out the 9 song “Nothing To You” record on Rebirth Records this past March. You will see more of their commitment when you read this interview which took place with the entire band ...

Recently, Light The Fuse Records out of The Netherlands re-released the “Drowning Room” EP by the Brooklyn, NY band Lament whose roots date back to 1990. Lament’s early lineups had members that came from bands like Maximum Penalty, First Order and Social Disorder. Lament would release the 4 song “Drowning Room” EP in 1991 on Inner Journey Records and “Leviate” in 1994 on Too Damn Hype Records before ending in ’95. A couple of local reunion gigs would pop up years later but the name Lament had been regulated to "remember those guys?" status before Light The Fuse dropped this ...