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30. End of a Year - You are Beneath Me (Deathwish Inc., 2010)
Through their prolific existence, Self Defense Family/End of a Year have transitioned from the red-headed stepchildren of hardcore to outliers in a slightly adjacent freak scene. Smack dab in the middle of that transition they released You Are Beneath Me, a perfect time-capsule of early 2010's post hardcore. For their first Deathwish full length, the band slow down and start experimenting beyond power chords. The result is a true coming out party for bassist Sean Doody. He handles the melody and keeps the band chugging along underneath tense guitar interplay and the charming but grating bark of vocalist Patrick Kindlon. This album, perhaps accidentally, captures the 2010 zeitgeist with an undeniably punk, yet equally ambitious offering.
29. Wild Side - Who the Hell is Wild Side? (Triple-B Records, 2019)
Niagara Falls' Wild Side rarely arrive anywhere on their debut full length in a straight line. The songs wind and detour through multiple parts, keys and tempos, with plenty of time for guitar solos, bass breaks, and other fun stuff. The formula is a risky one, especially for straightforward hardcore, which tends to thrive on simple songwriting. Somehow, the songs on ...Wild Side? all arrive at their destination, Moshville, ON, sooner or later. Every song on this album has a part you can dance to. Many of them also have singalong parts, stagedive parts, and other fun shit that makes Wild Side's live show so intense. To stuff as much into one song as these boys do and still make it sound cohesive is a testament to the songwriting muscle they flex again and again on this album.
28. Blind Justice - No Matter the Cost (Flatspot Records, 2018)
Jersey Shore natives Blind Justice probably spent an equal amount of their formative years at the beach, the skatepark, and the local VFW hall. At least that's how it sounds on their second full length. The album gives off a laid back party attitude, melding upbeat skate punk 2-step riffs with ass-beating east coast hardcore a la Floorpunch and the Mongoloids. The result is a well rounded, criminally underrated record that will make you mosh around your bedroom for 20 minutes straight.
27. Turnstile - Nonstop Feeling (Reaper Records, 2015)
It's hard to think of a more polarizing album this decade than Nonstop Feeling. In the run-up to its release, Turnstile were shit on by old heads left and right. Sergeant D dropped a piece on Metalsucks accusing the band of dressing like assholes and ripping off the shitty Leeway records. People were begrudgingly comparing Turnstile's sound to Rage Against the Machine and Red Hot Chili Peppers. Some clever troll even did this. The problem with disparaging a band for pulling in 90's alternative influences is that most of Turnstile's target audience (present company included) actually LOVE 90's alternative. Plus when you listen to Nonstop Feeling, you'll come to understand the not-so-cool influences are sprinkled across an otherwise studious and well-crafted hardcore record. Turnstile won over the kids, and eventually, most of the old haters (including Sergeant D, who often wears a Turnstile longsleeve on his new channel, the Punk Rock MBA).
26. Chief Keef - Finally Rich (Glory Boyz Entertainment, 2012)
If Lil Uzi Vert vs The World is mumble rap's Vitruvian Man, then Finally Rich is the primordial ooze from which it rose. The album sounds like a troubled Chicago teen, who grew up equally on Lil' Wayne and Waka Flocka Flame, expressing himself in earnest. But to the hip-hop establishment at the time, it signaled something more sinister. It was derided for being obnoxious, absurd and simplistic. In fairness, Finally Rich is all those things -- but it's also revolutionary. The album introduced rap to a type of delivery, production and bravado never before seen. Young, boisterous rappers would spend the remainder of the decade trying to replicate the magic Keef had on Finally Rich, but very few -- if any -- came close to matching it.
25. Vein - Errorzone (Closed Casket Activities, 2018)
Errorzone comes out in an era when the market is seemingly saturated with bands who sound like Vein. What sets Vein apart is their ability to write interesting riffs. Their guitarists are actually working the fretboard pretty hard, instead of sticking to the open-note chug b/w panic chord formula most of their less interesting contemporaries seem to be stuck on. The band conjures up the chaos of early 2000's metalcore a la Converge or Every Time I Die, with a healthy dose of bounce and sampling effects borrowed from nu-metal. This album puts the listener in a feedback-induced confusion one second, then has them kicking their foot through the wall on a devastating mosh part the next. Of all the "chugga-chugga-weeooh" albums released in the later half of this decade, Errorzone is almost certainly the best.
24. Freddie Gibbs - ESGN (ESGN/Empire Distribution, 2013)
Freddie Gibbs' decade highlight, to most of the music press, is 2014's Madlib assisted Pinata. That's because they're all living in downtown lofts, drinking soy lattes, and pretending to like JPEGMAFIA. For the kids who spent the first half of the decade hotboxing shitty cars and driving around the suburbs, it's ESGN all the way. Equal parts 2pac and UGK, ESGN is catchy, raw, and hard hitting. It's a gritty portrait of life in the urban Midwest, with features from legends, high-profile stars, and seemingly, Freddie's trap homies. In all seriousness, Gibbs has proven twice (Pinata and 2019's Bandana) he can do the Dilla thing pretty well. But when Gangsta Gibbs ratchets up the GANGSTA, people like me feel him the most.
23. Kanye West - Yeezus (Def Jam Recordings, 2013)
Keeping Kanye West in the public eye has hardly been worth it. His last three albums have been awful. His executive producer talents have been severely overrated. His public persona has ranged between hilarious in a cringey way and just plain disgusting. His shoes are overpriced. Yeezus makes it all (almost) worth it. There's moments of pure, stripped down energy that border on punk rock. There's layered, perfectly-sampled compositions which are engaging for all of their five plus minute run-time. There are a few classic four minute long radio bangers which got severely underrated when they were released. Ye's beatmaking, songwriting and production are all nearly perfect. There are a lot of dumb lyrics on Yeezus, but the general gist of what he's talking about is quite profound. Racism, consumerism and religion are all tackled here in an insightful and meaningful way. West's late-era magnum opus is a stern reminder of why people don't scoff when he calls himself a genius.
22. Trash Talk - Eyes and Nines (Trash Talk Collective, 2010)
My favourite podcast, Axe to Grind, recently echoed a sentiment many people in hardcore have about Trash Talk. That is, they don't have enough songwriting chops to be remembered as a great band. That's because when Vice-core norms latched onto Trash Talk circa 2009, tr00 hardcore kids stopped paying attention. The band's mid period, Eyes and Nines and the spectacular 2011 EP Awake are far more than just 45 second long mosh riffs. These offerings are full of hooks, bridges, and even a slow song or two. The short ass mosh songs for kids to beat the piss out of each other in the pit are still there, but the actual hits stand out. It's easy to see why Vice dudes loved this band, too. There's a clarity to the vocals and plenty of bounce to go along with the blast-beats. Trash Talk burned bridges with hardcore heads, and their Vice fans evaporated faster than piss on hot asphalt. This leaves them in legacy purgatory. I won't be surprised when kids rediscover Eyes and Nines in a couple years, though. This album is just too good.
21. Danny Brown - XXX (Fool's Gold, 2011)
Everyone loves a good story, so it's easy to see why the tale of an aging
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