Here are the 10 best U.K. hardcore bands right now, chosen by Creak’s Jack Dunn.
The band is one of the ascendents among the current scene, having released the biting Bitter Picture EP in 2020, with eyes on their debut full length, Death Perception.
Creak create separation from the crowded modern hardcore scene with their own blend of bruising, breakdown-intensive hardcore, the noisiest early metalcore and nu-metal. It’s a corrosive sound that goes from bludgeoning to batshit in a blink
“The album overall focuses on dealing with family illness and trauma, and for me personally my internal struggle in a lot of those situations,” begins Dunn, specifying, “Feeling guilty about my own emotions, and going over things in a circle in my own head, trying to get to a point where I can try to become comfortable with them. The album was a way for me to get a lot of that negativity out.”
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Get a taste of Death Perception by watching the music video for “Restless Dreams” below and view Dunn’s picks for the 10 best U.K. hardcore bands right now further down the page.
Get your copy of ‘Death Perception’ here (out Aug. 18 on Prosthetic Records) and follow the band on Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, Bandcamp and Spotify.
We caught Heriot for the first time last year at Burn It Down Festival in the U.K. and we were all taken back by the wall of sound that they have live, and the way they jump between some of the fastest and heaviest parts possible into slower atmospheric sections.
We’ve seen them a few times since Burn It Down and they’ve never disappointed. We had a lot of fun playing with them at this year’s Tech Fest.
We recently played with these guys on the Newcastle date of their tour with World of Pleasure, who are another sick band. Cauldron are one of the tightest bands around at the moment, and Frazer is easily one of the best vocalists in the U.K. currently.
Cauldron are everything about the early 2000’s metalcore revival done right. “In the Passing of a Season” and “The Last Words” from 2020’s Last Words: Screamed From Behind God’s Muzzle EP have become favorites in our playlist.
We’ve shared the stage with these guys a couple of times now and every time we see them we can’t help but pay attention. Grief Ritual play a really filthy style of blackened metallic hardcore laced with heavy beatdowns, and doomy riffs.
Geist, like ourselves, are from the North East of England. They combine crusty fast riffs with aggressive vocals perfectly to create an overall assault on the senses. We met these guys a few years ago when some of our members were playing in another band before Creak was formed and we’ve been paying attention ever since. One of our favorite tracks of theirs is “Heirloom Dogma.”
This band is relatively new to the scene but features members of Pest Control and Higher Power. Everything from their sound to their artwork screams ‘90s nu-metal and it’s something that really resonates with us. Bodyweb is a breath of fresh air in U.K. hardcore and we’re very excited to catch them live as soon as possible. The unique style of their EP, with its groovy riffs and eerie interludes leaves us wanting more and we’re excited to see what direction they take next!
Dissonant hardcore from our Prosthetic labelmates. They recently released an album that’s filled with crazy chaotic riffs. We first found out about them from touring together last year and they’re just as sick live as they are on the record.
“P.A.N.S.Y” is a favorite of ours from A Garden of Dead Flowers.
An aggressive blend of ‘nu-metal’ riffs and breakdowns. These guys angrily land somewhere between ‘90s and modern heavy music. We’ve been friends with them for a while, and have been lucky enough to play quite a few shows together. They never disappoint and we always look forward to catching them again.
Another band from Prosthetic that’s smashing it at the moment. We’re all big fans of Botch and The Dillinger Escape Plan, and for us Pupil Slicer sounds like a mix of those bands with their own spin. They’re also great live and releasing a ton of new music, which is definitely worth checking out. “L’appel Du Vide” from their debut album, Mirrors is one of our personal favorites.
Pure early 2000s metalcore worship in the vein of Poison the Well, 7 Angels 7 Plagues and On Broken Wings. We’re really into how they combine melodic and aggressive sections, and how unapologetically raw they are. Our favorite album of Renounced would probably be The Melancholy We Ache.
Higher Power is a long time favorite of ours. We’ve been going to see these guys for years, and have all been fans since before Creak started. We’ve seen them in both small venues and big venues and no matter where they play they’re always sick. For anyone looking to check them out or who hasn’t had a chance to listen to their new stuff, their early Space to Breathe EP was what got us into them and made us such big fans.