Celebrating new music is important. In the subculture, we are constantly faced with a chorus of people who will tell you that the genres are dead and that there is nothing good coming out anymore. This opinion alone indicts how out of touch a person can be. There is a deluge of incredible new music coming out every year and it is important to take the time to praise the work of those who contribute to the subculture's sonic archive.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Best Hardcore / Punk LPs
1.) Savageheads - Service To Your Country (Social Napalm)
2.) Mindforce - New Lords (Triple B)
3.) The Flex - Chewing Gum For The Ears (Static Shock / Lockin Out)
4.) White Lung - Premonition (Domino)
5.) Vein.fm - This World Is Going To Ruin You (Closed Casket Activities)
6.) Gridiron - No Good At Goodbyes (Triple B)
7.) Candy - Heaven Is Here (Relapse)
8.) Innocent - Architects Of Despair (Side Two)
9.) Warfare - Doomsday (Triple B)
10.) Rigorous Institution - Cainsmarsh (Black Water)
11.) Terror - Pain Into Power (Pure Noise Entertainment)
12.) Syndrome 81 - Prisons Imaginaires (Destructure)
13.) Electric Chair - Act Of Aggression (Iron Lung)
14.) Mock Execution - Killed By Mock Execution (La Vida Es Un Mus)
15.) Frisk - Stalker (Iron Lung)
16.) Irreal - Era Electrónica (La Vida Es Un Mus)
17.) Bad Breeding - Human Capital (One Little Independent / Iron Lung)
18.) Long Knife - Curb Stomp Earth (Black Water)
19.) Arma X - Violento Ritual (Quality Control HQ)
20.) T.S. Warspite - Stop The Rot (Quality Control HQ)
Honorable Mentions
1.) High Vis - Blending (Dais)
Best Hardcore / Punk EPs
1.) Chainsaw - When Will We Die? (Roachleg)
1.) The Final Agony
Eteraz - Villain (Iron Lung)
Praise - All In A Dream (Revelation)
Lexicon - Devoid Of Light (Iron Lung)
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Best Metal Releases1.) Gauntlet Ring - Tyrannical Bloodlust (Blood And Crescent)
2.) Worm - Bluenothing (20 Buck Spin)
3.) Sumerlands - Dreamkiller (Relapse)
4.) Fellwinter - Night Of The Blood (Blood And Crescent)
5.) Undeath - It's Time...To Rise From The Grave (Prosthetic)
6.) Arizmenda - Spiders Lust In The Dungeon's Dust (Self-Released)
7.) Ares Kingdom - In Darkness At Last (Nuclear War Now!)
8.) Negative Plane - The Pact... (The Ajna Offensive)
9.) Fugitive - Maniac (20 Buck Spin)
10.) Ifernach - Neo-Tribal Manimal (ASRAR)
11.) Archgoat - All Christianity Ends (Debemur Morti)
12.) Innumerable Forms - Philosophical Collapse (Profound Lore)
13.) Faceless Burial - At The Foothills Of Deliration (Me Saco Un Ojo)
14.) Ebon Reliquary - Malicious Blood And The Fullmoon (Dark Adversary)
15.) Tribal Gaze - The Nine Choirs (Maggot Stomp)
16.) Phobophilic - Enveloping Absurdity (Prosthetic)
17.) Mortuous - Upon Desolation (Carbonized)
18.) Vampirska - Vermilion Apparitions Frozen In Chimera Twilight (Inferna Profundus)
19.) Greve - Föllo Af Svavel, Lifvets Dimridå (Purity Through Fire)
20.) Trhä - Endlhëdëhaj Qáshmëna Ëlh Vim Innivte (Self-Released)
Honorable Mentions
Cave In - Heavy Pendulum (Relapse)
Sanguine Relic - From Ruin & Emptiness (Destroyed Remains & the Absent Beauty) (GoatowaRex)
Imprecation - In Nomine Diaboli (Dark Descent)
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Best Rap / Hip-Hop Releases
Best Rap / Hip-Hop Releases
1.) SZA - SOS (Top Dawg)
2.) Pusha T - It's Almost Dry (GOOD Music)
3.) Hackle - Gunsmith Tha Mixtape (Haunted Mound)
4.) Benny The Butcher - Tana Talk 4 (Griselda)
5.) Future - I Never Liked You (Epic)
6.) Westside Gunn - Peace "Fly" God (Griselda)
7.) Freddie Gibbs - $oul $old $eparately (Warner)
8.) Stormzy - This Is What I Mean (#Merky)
9.) Conway The Machine - God Don't Make Mistakes (Griselda)
10.) YoungBoy Never Broke Again - 3800 Degrees (Never Broke Again, LLC)
11.) Megan Thee Stallion - Traumazine (1501 Certified)
12.) Earl Sweatshirt - Sick! (Tan Cressida)
13.) Bladee & Ecco2K - Crest (Year0001)
14.) Denzel Curry - Melt My Eyez See Your Future (Loma Vista)
15.) The Weeknd - Dawn FM (XO)
Honorable Mentions
Buckshot - Burning Barn (Haunted Mound)
Nas - King's Disease III (Mass Appeal)
Quavo & Takeoff - Only Built for Infinity Links (Quality Control Music)
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Best Releases In Open Competition
Best Releases In Open Competition
1.) High Vis - Blending (Dais)
2.) Weyes Blood - And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow (Sub Pop)
3.) Beyoncé - Renaissance (Parkwood)
4.) The 1975 - Being Funny In A Foreign Language (Dirty Hit)
5.) Björk - Fossora (One Little Independent)
6.) Harry Styles - Harry's House (Columbia)
7.) Beabadoobee - Beatopia (Dirty Hit)
8.) The Berries - High Flying Man (Run For Cover)
9.) Rosalía - MOTOMAMI (Columbia)
10.) Straw Man Army - SOS (D4MT Labs Inc)
11.) Liam Gallagher - C’mon You Know (Warner)
12.) Angel Olsen - Big Time (Jagjaguwar)
13.) Charli XCX - Crash (Asylum)
14.) Jockstrap - I Love You Jennifer B (Rough Trade)
15.) Rina Sawayama - Hold The Girl (Dirty Hit)
16.) Beach House - Once Twice Melody (Sub Pop)
17.) FKA Twigs - Caprisongs (Young)
18.) Mitski - Laurel Hell (Dead Oceans)
19.) Soccer Mommy - Sometimes, Forever (Loma Vista)
20.) Orville Peck - Bronco (Columbia)
21.) Duster - Together (Numero Group)
22.) Alvvays - Blue Rev (Polyvinyl)
23.) Shygirl - Nymph (Because Music)
24.) Isabella Lovestory - Amor Hardcore (Self-Released)
25.) Warpaint - Radiate Like This (Heirlooms)
Honorable Mentions
Confidence Man - Tilt (I Oh You)
Sault - 11 (Forever Living Originals)
Wizkid - More Love, Less Ego (RCA)
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1.) Chainsaw - When Will We Die? (Roachleg)
2.) Warthog - Warthog (Toxic State)
3.) Ä.I.D.S. - The Road To Nuclear Holocaust (La Vida Es Un Mus)
4.) Speed - A Gang Called Speed (Flatspot)
5.) Extortion - Seething (Self-Released)
6.) Mirage - Immagini Postume (Roachleg)
7.) Brain Tourniquet - Brain Tourniquet (Iron Lung)
8.) Flower City - Maggots Consume (Esos Malditos Punks)
9.) Rashōmon - Nin-Gen (Iron Lung)
10.) Killing Pace - Killing Pace (Triple B)
Honorable Mentions
Abuso De Poder - Vago Muerto (Roachleg)
Persona - Free Your Mind! (Iron Lung)
Poison Ruïn - Not Today, Not Tomorrow. Parade of Phantoms/Edifice. (Roachleg)
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Best Demos
Best Demos
1.) The Final Agony
2.) Save Our Children
3.) Churchgoers
4.) Phantom
5.) Invertebrates
6.) Xero
7.) Semtex 87
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Best Sets
1.) Mercyful Fate @ King's Theatre in Brooklyn, NY (11/10)
2.) Warthog @ Bowery Ballroom in Manhattan, NY (5/7)
3.) Nick Cave / Warren Ellis @ King's Theatre in Brooklyn, NY (3/25)
4.) Cold World @ Market Hotel in Brooklyn, NY (2/25)
5.) War Hungry @ Saint Vitus in Brooklyn, NY (2/26)
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