We have to talk about Wichita. I feel like I’ve fallen off a bit. Past versions of me would have been all over this burgeoning scene, but even Krate beat me to the punch here. That feels like admitting my wife cheated on me with my younger brother. Whatever. The important thing is I know about it now, and so do you. What’s that? You already knew about it. Oh. Okay.
In my defence, this shit seemingly came out of nowhere. One of the new young bands, Figurine, has a thanks list on their Bandcamp page. Most of the bands they mention are from out of state or direct contemporaries. The only band from their scene with any sort of tenure is Stepped On, a powerviolence-ish band who started in 2024.
All this to say, I have no idea how a group of youngsters in Kansas ended up creating three or four good, cool, classic-style hardcore bands with zero townie tendencies. Keep your eyes glued on these kids because something special is happening.
On the mesh shorts front, it appears 90s xvx-style moshcore is the flavour du jour for Summer 2026. Once The Eternal Jihad was reissued it was only a matter of time before people stopped trying to ape B minus-tier Italian edge metal and started recreating S-tier North Carolina edge metal instead.
If you think I’m trying to level “trendy” allegations, keep in mind my band tried some shit like this and didn’t even get close. Day of Suffering are incredibly unique, so paying homage without going too far afield is challenging. These new bands have been in the lab cooking straight Cackalacky crack. I can’t get enough of this shit, man.
Finally, I won’t spend too much time on it here, but something I predicted and then unpredicted (Scarab setting off a new wave of dark, fast hardcore) seems to be in full swing. Who knew grindcore would be a big influence on DIY hc in 2026? Not me!
Exit Life/Rejoice - Split (Delayed Gratification)
Something I didn’t have on my 2026 bingo card was a resurgence of moshy, metallic fast hardcore. I should have seen it coming with the success of Scarab and the fact that it was already in the water. When you do this right it’s got something for everyone, which makes it arguably the easiest style to translate across scenes. SFL upstarts Exit Life play grind-influenced hardcore with nods to both Clevo and bands like Insect Warfare. Their debut EP from last year had a solid amount of buzz around it, and people really seem to enjoy their side of this split. I think it’s cool that kids are doing this in 2026 and they have more than a couple undeniable parts. Ohio’s Rejoice have been around for a while at this point. It’s the first time I remember hearing them. They pull off something that’s a lot trickier than it seems on paper — infusing black metal into modern moshy hc. I always want these bands to lean more BM, but Rejoice has the chops to let those influences shine through while giving us plenty to spin kick for.
Temple Guard - Citadel in Flames (Eco Defence/From Within)
This British band is on release three, but I hadn’t heard of them until I saw the IG post announcing this record. The art and ffos front loaded things quite a bit for me. Track one coming in on a fierce chug riff under news clips of animal testing facilities being firebombed only calcified such notions. The 90s xvx mosh-core influence is indeed present, but this isn’t a 1:1. That threw me off at first. Parts on here feel like modern death metal, at least in the overbearing heaviness and unrelenting double kick. With that in mind, I hear as much influence from Xibalba and Harms Way as anything 90s. I first thought I’d been bamboozled, but after the requisite number of listens, I appreciate Temple Guard for carving their own lane. I believe this has members of xRepentancex, who arguably did Slayer-riff moshcore more faithfully than anyone in the 21st century. I understand the desire to branch out. FWIW, the 90s ethics are all in tact and centred here, which is more than 99% of Temple Guard’s contemporaries can claim.
Seven Crown - Despair of Sin (Self Released?)
There’s scarce info about this Alberta band online, which is pretty badass. I have no idea if they feature members of other bands in the province’s burgeoning metalcore scene, though I imagine they do. It’s hard to write something like this by accident, so the fact that Despair of Sin is the band’s first release makes me think it has members with tenure in other projects. To paraphrase what I wrote about this in a group chat, it sounds like “if Day of Suffering were ‘urban whites’.” The intro-into-blasts plus tin can production sound telegraphed FRP-style slam out the gate, but as soon as they hit that first two step riff it became apparent their intention was to make 90s style mosh metal. The selling point of this EP for me is that it continues to tow that line. Whether it’s intentional or a product of cool young people being cool and young is immaterial. This is almost everything you could ask from a demo. The concept is dope, the songs are promising, and it leaves us with much to be excited about for the next release.
Torture Realm - Altar of Punishment (Self released)
This Fort Wayne band earns the highest compliment anyone playing this style can get, which is “actually sounds like Day of Suffering”. They have the ‘Morbid Angel with breakdowns’ thing down pat. It’s fast and concise enough to be engaging while still placing a lot of emphasis on groove. There are a few heavily All Out War-coded ideas on this EP as well, along with some stuff that leans into the modern milieu of bands like Grael. The vocals remind me of X Force, which must be the Indiana accent coming out. Bro sounds like that on past material too. Torture Realm’s older stuff toys with similar ideas but the songs don’t really go anywhere. They’re four minute long mosh montages. Merauder tricked the world into thinking you could write good metallic hardcore without fast parts, which is wrong. They’re the only band to ever do that. Torture Realm got the memo, beating the “modern heavy hc” allegations and making an EP that lands in the upper echelons of the current mosh metal wave.
Care Free - Seven Songs (Self released)
Wichita, KS is suddenly a hardcore hotbed. After hearing this EP, you’ll understand why. We’ve spent the last 18 months gripped by democore fever, and while most bands of 25+ year olds do a pretty good facsimile of the exuberant, playful Lockin’ Out style, the classic material has a certain funk you can’t fake. Somehow, a group of youths in Wichita opened a time warp portal and started harvesting whatever energy was floating around Boston in 2002. For all the “Invasion” covers we heard in the last two years, not many bands actually sound like Righteous Jams. The singer of Care Free sounds like Joey C., which helps a lot, but they also deal heavy doses of the same Warzone-esque rock n’ roll swagger. I have one complaint. Songs like “You Don’t Think” absolutely rip. I believe every one of these tracks has the potential to be on that level but some of them seem undercooked. As a whole, though, that only adds to the amateurish, youthful vitality exuded by Care Free and their Wichita contemporaries.
Figurine - Figurine (Master Plan Tapes)
I was blown away when I read the credits and found out this Wichita band doesn’t share members with Care Free (unless I’m illiterate). A new scene in the middle of nowhere with ten distinct people into this style of hardcore is like winning the lottery. Both records were produced by someone named Canon, whose production style adds a lot to the vibe by absolutely nailing what it goes for. Sounding wet or professional in any way could kill the mystique. Instead we get a record that sounds like Urban Blight from a bunch of young adults in corn country. Musically this is a fair bit different from Care Free. Would a civilian or even the average beatdown lover be able to tell? Probably not, but we have refined palettes! Instead of bouncy LOC stuff we get classic youth crew tropes, lightly filtered through the stomp of late 2000s standouts like the aforementioned UB. The vocalist conjures a less violent Mike Judge, spitting “you stabbed me in the back” poetry as only a young, earnest coreman can. This rocks.
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