Check the preview of one of hardcore’s biggest annual events and the bands set to have standout sets.
The full spectrum of hardcore is set for one of its biggest annual celebrations this week as Sound and Fury will again hold court on the storied grounds of Exposition Park in Los Angeles. The two-day congregation assembles some of the most important, most in-demand and most promising voices in the space and has become a real barometer for who’s who in hardcore.
The 2023 edition follows last year’s historic showing, which saw more than 5,000 attendees daily to bear witness to seminal headlining sets from Drain and the final ever set from GULCH. Anecdotal accounts suggest that the festival was among hardcore’s biggest-ever, with the attendance and the subsequent pit footage, suggesting hardcore’d health is the best it’s ever been.
Looking ahead to what this year’s edition has in-store, the line up includes several storylines ranging from highly-anticipated reunions (of sorts), the international implications with bands from across the world prominently featured and the rise of the next generation – with newer bands making an impact and moving the culture forward.
Sound and Fury has become an important platform – for those suggesting otherwise, reference the kind of year God’s Hate, Scowl and Drain had following last year’s set. Here is a shortlist of bands that are primed to show out at Sound and Fury 2023.
One of the most exciting hardcore exports from the UK, High Vis garnered universal acclaim with their 2022 release, Blending. The band’s emotive brand of hardcore, fused with elements of everything from punk to Britpop, in tandem with their incendiary live set make for compelling stuff. The band made their Stateside debut earlier this year and have since secured spots at Riot Fest, Furnace Fest and already have sold out dates on their Waiting Patiently summer tour which kicks of on Sound and Fury week. For High Vis, the hype is most definitely real.
The Aussie hardcore sensation have become one of the most in-demand bands in the space and speak to the kind of international reach the culture has seen in recent years. Speed made their live US debut at Sound and Fury 2022 and went absolutely apeshit with the kind of set that has since become the stuff of legend. Having spent the last year sharpening their tools on the road with live dates across the globe, Speed will now doubt deliver a set of that “real Sydney shit”.
Maybe there is a little bias here, (Colin Young is one of our colleagues here at Knotfest.com) but the announcement that Twitching Tongues was set to revive and make an appearance at Sound and Fury feels like a full circle moment with big implications. With Taylor Young having developed a teflon reputation for his superior production work and brother Colin thriving as a important voice in hardcore – the climate feels right for something big from TT. Having announced that a new album is on the way from Closed Casket Activities, fingers crossed we get a couple of live previews of new tunes at S + F.
Among the interesting subtexts of Sound and Fury includes the international reach of hardcore culture and the intersection of heavy subgenre – how hardcore and death metal seem to be meshing so well. Tokyo prospects Kruelty check off both of those boxes, representing a region where hardcore thrives with a sound that bridges genres. An amalgam of 90s era hardcore beatdown with accents of European death and doom, the Japanese collective has been touring relentlessly in support of their sophomore album, Utopia, which landed earlier this year via Profound Lore Records.
There is a speed and energy to crossover that is infectious – ideal for frenzied circle pits and mayhem. Hailing from the land of nardcore where bands like Ill Repute and Dr. Know first forged the sound, Dead Heat will be a wild card on this year’s Sound and Fury – but one that just might take the house. Set to release their TankCrimes/Triple B Records EP, Endless Torment just one day before their S + F set, the band will be firing on all cylinders when they take the stage in Los Angeles.
Expect fireworks.
The PNW metallic hardcore collective have leveled up with the announcement of their new album on SharpTone Records due out later this year and seem to be ramping up for the arrival. Having conquered Europe earlier this year with Counterparts and Kublai Khan TX, submitting a standout set at the return of Milwaukee Metal Fest and recently being added to Wrecking Ball Metal Madness 2023 along with Dying Fetus and Despised Icon, the band’s stock has never been more valuable. Harnessing that momentum, Dying Wish will be coming in hot for Sound and Fury.
That Jersey brand of hardcore just hits different and Gel’s debut album, Only Constant, further proves it. Earlier this spring, the band’s made an emphatic introduction via their Convulse Records debut and are currently out in support of the release with the likes of Spy, The Truth Cult and The HIRS Collective. Bridging punk’s confrontation and hardcore’s conviction, vocalist Sami Kaiser leads the charge as Gel has earned a rep for leaving it all onstage. There is room to speculate that Gel might be the sleeper band of Sound and Fury 2023 the same way Scowl set it off in 2022.
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