Hammok’s favorite hardcore bands

Hardcore is a wide bag, encompassing everything from posi-core to beatdown to melodic. At its foundation, though, is community, offering out a hand to lift you up, share resources, and make room for people who live on the fringes. After forming during pandemic lockdowns, Hammok’s second full-length, When Does This Place Become Our Scene, arriving last week via Sargent House, gives love to that very space, balancing out blistering intensity with pop production. The members all owe a lot to punk (bassist Ole Benjamin’s first show was Green Day in 2010, which led to dyeing his hair blue and playing in a local band), but they were particularly inspired by the international fanbases that embraced them during their 2025 tour, floored by meeting people who cared about their community and the music that poured out of it. In that same vein, Hammok threw small house party shows for the record’s singles to “create real space for our community and our scene, to practice what this album is all about. Finding your people, building a home, building a scene.”

Read more: The state of hardcore with H2O’s Toby Morse and Shapel Lacey

With this in mind, we asked Hammok to tell us their favorite hardcore bands right now — though their picks intentionally stretch the definition of the genre. “Like everything hardcore, it’s all adjacent,” Hammok say. “So, this is a wide-ranging list of bands and artists that inspire us the most while keeping the ethos, messaging and community of hardcore at the forefront.” Dive in below.

Bad Brains

I had to bring it back to the start of everything. Decades after these songs were first played, they still sound like the epitome of the genre. Nobody played faster or harder than these dudes, probably still hasn’t been anything like them since. PMA forever. 

The Blood Brothers

Keeping the intensity high, nothing is more frenetic than this band at their peak. The specific blend of screamo, scramz, and punk is something that has laid a lot of the groundwork for so many bands. Making aggressive music without any machoisms and negative connotations to violence. It’s just pure positive chaos, with the most high-pitched screams ever.  

Touché Amoré

This band has really defined a lot of what we do, maybe more than any other. The melodic and jangly guitar mixed with the super passionate and personal approach to screamed vocals did everything for us, and still does. Truly one of the modern heroes of the genre as a whole, and worthy of a spot on the Mount Rushmore of hardcore.

Refused

Can’t do this list without mentioning Refused. They really called their album The Shape of Punk to Come, and it actually came true. That’s the hardest thing ever. Taking all the best parts of classic beatdown hardcore and making it feel like the most fresh and progressive sound out there, while keeping the physical and visceral energy at the forefront. Not easy, but they really pushed everyone out of their comfort zone and inspired the entire world with their music.  

Code Orange

Truly ahead of their time. Nothing beats this band in keeping it real, conceptual, and fresh. Just a song like “Swallowing The Rabbit Whole” or “A Drone Opting Out of The Hive” is more than some bands do in their entire career in expanding their sound. Not to mention the more melodic moments like “Mirror” or “Take Shape.” It’s hardcore in its roots but with a complete disregard for rules and nostalgia.

Glassjaw

HOLY SWAG. This band does things that change lives on a daily basis. Their approach to rhythm is incredibly unique and special. Combining that with their very own version of hardcore riffs and progressions puts this band up there with the most important and influential in the genre. 

Honningbarna 

Have to include our Norwegian heroes. This band is probably the most influential band in Norway if you are under the age of 35. And the best part is, they are releasing their best music now. A band that, like others on this list, is not afraid of breaking from tradition and rules, while keeping everything engaging and dangerous, like this genre only knows how to.

Drop Knee

TRONDHEIM VAGAN HARDCORE. That’s the bio. Perfectly tells you what you need to know. The Trondheim hardcore scene is quickly becoming the most blossoming scene in Norway, and Drop Knee is one of the many great bands filled with great people, doing real things, to create real community. All connected to hardcore, straight-edge, and vegan culture.

trueandtrue

Oslo hardcore at its most visceral. This stuff sounds like it’s been deep-fried 10 times. Pushing the intensity to the max is a real art, and this band will take it there and then some. 

Converge

The GOAT. We had to include them. Setting the standard for metallic hardcore for decades and still putting out uncompromising, great music to this day. With a catalog this deep, the entry points are unbelievable. A band with too many great eras to count. 

Honorable mentions

Machine Girl

Turning hardcore into rave, all while tearing your head off.

The Armed

Maybe the most inspirational band out there right now.

Show Me the Body

The banjo is never wrong. This band slaps so hard.

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