In Defense of the Genre is a column on BrooklynVegan about punk, pop punk, emo, hardcore, post-hardcore, ska-punk, and more, including and often especially the bands and albums and subgenres that weren’t always taken so seriously.
Before I get to any of this month’s new music, I want to talk about Haywire. This month the Oi!-influenced hardcore band completed their insane task of doing a tour that hit all 50 states over the course of the past six months, a tour that they kept adding more and more dates to as it went on. It felt like a totally grassroots campaign that took them from proper venues to VFW halls to skate parks to locations where live music wasn’t legally permitted, and even if you missed the chance to see one of these 50+ shows, there’s still a good chance you’ve seen how wild the tour was. Whether it was because of one of their regionally-specific covers like Title Fight in Wilkes-Barre or because of playing a fireworks-filled show on the streets of Brooklyn before the cops showed up, the tour was full of exciting real-life moments that turned into internet-viral ones, and it never felt like a contrived attempt to create viral moments. It felt like a punk band doing the punk thing of playing as many live shows as possible and making themselves seen and heard the old fashioned way. And it’s working: Haywire’s live show schedule isn’t slowing down any time soon. They’re on tour now in Europe opening for Dropkick Murphys (whose 2026 North American tour they’ll also open), and they’ll join bands like System Of A Down and Deftones on the massive nu metal nostalgia fest Sick New World, both of which feel like bookings that wouldn’t have happened last year, even though Haywire have only released two new songs and a cover (on a split with No Guard) since issuing their debut album and a followup EP in 2024. Haywire’s rise isn’t about a hot new single, signing to a bigger label, or even a sleeper hit; it’s a result of touring their asses off and creating real-life moments that people can’t stop talking about, and that’s why this tour has become one of the most interesting and important punk stories of the year.
Meanwhile, October was also a huge month for punk because three of the genre’s biggest festivals took place: Las Vegas second/fourth wave emo fest Best Friends Forever, Las Vegas third wave emo fest When We Were Young, and Gainesville punk mecca The Fest. I attended When We Were Young, and I wrote about the best sets I saw and also filmed backstage interviews with Taking Back Sunday, Bad Religion, Alexisonfire, Drain, The Starting Line, Arm’s Length, Destroy Boys, Jack’s Mannequin, Straylight Run, and The Movielife, all of which you can watch in full (for free) at Veeps.com.
As for October album reviews, this month I reviewed new releases from Good Luck, Speed, Militarie Gun, Destiny Bond, Gumm, Radioactivity, Spaced, Black Eyes, The Acacia Strain, Stay Inside, Massa Nera, Weatherbox, Weakened Friends, and Mirrorless (mem Elliott, Coliseum, etc).
We’ve also got some new exclusive punk vinyl in the BV shop, including a new variant of Turnstile’s Never Enough, the new Joyce Manor album, the expanded reissue of Modern Baseball’s The Perfect Cast, the 25th anniversary edition of The Offspring’s Conspiracy of One, a new splatter variant of American Football’s LP3, the new reissue of Descendents’ I Don’t Want To Grow Up, and more.
Head below for my picks of the 10 best songs of October that fall somewhere under the punk umbrella, in no particular order.
Angel Du$t – “Cold 2 The Touch”
The journey that Angel Du$t have been on since their 2013 formation has been virtually unparalleled. They were ahead of their time with the brightly melodic hardcore of 2016’s Rock the Fuck On Forever that helped set the tone for the post-Glow On by Turnstile (an album that shared three of the same members as RTFOF) era, and they made the unpredictable pivot towards embracing jangle pop and classic rock on the two albums they released for the hard rock/heavy metal label Roadrunner Records. In a way, those albums were ahead of their time too, at least in the sense that it seemed to take a few years for those albums to make sense to the Angel Du$t fanbase. By the time of 2023’s culmination-of-everything album Brand New Soul, the full picture of Angel Du$t was clearer than ever.
I think the less aggressive Roadrunner albums are essential and I wouldn’t have wanted Angel Du$t to evolve in any other way, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a ton of fun to hear AD circling back to some Rock the Fuck On Forever vibes on the singles from their first album for Run For Cover, Cold 2 The Touch. They have an entirely different lineup than they had in the early days, but they did reunite with producer Brian McTernan, who helmed their 2014 debut LP A.D., and the new album’s title track sounds like a fresh twist on the adrenaline rush of that era. From the pummeling rhythms to Justice Tripp’s shoutalong-ready refrain, this sounds like such a classic Angel Du$t song I almost can’t believe it only just came out this month.
Knumears – “Breaking Ground”
The new generation of screamo has been getting louder and louder and Knumears have increasingly been at the forefront of that. (If you haven’t heard last year’s four-way split with Vs Self, Catalyst, and Party Hats, you should change that now.) They’re fresh off sharing the stage with emo legends at Best Friends Forever and they also recently brought some screamo to one of the summer’s biggest destinations for hardcore with a Sound & Fury kickoff show, and now they signed to Run For Cover and Summer Shade, a new RFC imprint led by Sound & Fury co-booker (and Fury member) Madison Woodward. “Breaking Ground” is their first single for the label, and it’s also one of their strongest songs to date. The production is a little crisper than we’re used to hearing from Knumears, and the desperation is more tangible. It’s a screamo song for the ages, the kind that could unite the genre’s newest fans with the ones who saw Saetia at a house show in the ’90s.
Glitterer – “Stainless Steel”
Ned Russin is one of his generation’s greatest conveyors of emotion. In his early 20s as a member of Title Fight, he captured grief, suburban malaise, and the existential dread of a quarter-life crisis in a way that was both deeply personal and widely relatable. Now in his mid 30s, he’s doing it about the hopelessness that sits in when you look at the world around you. “How am I supposed to create change I wanna see?,” Ned roars on the second verse. “It’s not enough to sit around and worry while the world is blowing up.” The temporary relief from it all comes during the song’s surging chorus: “I’ll pretend that I’m stainless steel.” It’s all set to the kind of grungy post-hardcore that’s right in the center of Ned’s musical wheelhouse.
Home Star – “The Middle”
One of this year’s biggest emo comeback stories has been Marietta, who came out of a 10-year hibernation to put on some truly wild reunion shows–if you didn’t attend or see footage of their hometown show at First Unitarian Church in Philly, I highly recommend watching that. No word on new music from Marietta at the moment, but singer/guitarist Evan Lescallette did release new music with a new solo project, Home Star, whose debut album A Binding Life comes out on January 9, 2026 via Born Losers. On lead single “The Middle” (which is not a Jimmy Eat World cover), Marietta’s noodly Midwest emo is nowhere to be found, and in its place is catchy, crunchy, power-poppy alt-rock that brings to mind bands like Weezer and Superdrag. Whether you missed Marietta or just love catchy rock songs, don’t miss this.
Recollection – “Less Is More”
As if Austin Sparkman isn’t busy enough taking Haywire around literally the entire country, he’s also playing guitar in yet another band called Recollection, which is fronted by Josh Hynes (Rude Awakening, Hammer Bros) and also features guitarist Joshua Long (Skinhead, Criminal Instinct, Rude Awakening, Hammer Bros), bassist G (Hammer Bros, The World), and drummer Snooka (Life’s End). Their Taylor Young-recorded debut EP Vivid Dreams arrives 11/7 via Pop Wig, and lead single “Less Is More” finds them putting their hardcore punk energy towards blissfully melodic alt-rock. They call it “hard indie,” which feels like the perfect descriptor. Similar to peers like Fiddlehead and forebears like the Wipers, it’s an indie rock-style push towards slower tempos and melancholic melodies on which the dust of the band’s hardcore punk roots never fully settles.
Violent Way – “My Dearest Friend”
The Oi!/street punk resurgence keeps getting stronger, and one of the bands that has remained at the forefront of it is Buffalo’s Violent Way (whose members also back Terror’s Scott Vogel in his band Bad Blood). Their third album A Need For Something More arrives February 1, 2026 via Longshot Music/Contra Records/Battle Scarred Records, and the songs they’ve released from it thus far have been some of their catchiest yet. “My Dearest Friend” is part of the long lineage of Oi! songs that blends a tough, gritty exterior with bittersweet emotion, something OGs like Cock Sparrer and the Angelic Upstarts did so well during the genre’s late ’70s / early ’80s heyday. And outside of the OGs, a song as sweetly catchy as “My Dearest Friend” even brings to mind popular Oi!-kissed US bands like Rancid, Bouncing Souls, and Dropkick Murphys. If you like any or all of the bands namedropped in this blurb and you need a good rousing, anthemic punk singalong right now, start here.
Squint – “Overslept”
Squint are one of the more dare-I-say-underrated of the hardcore/alt-rock crossover bands and they’re also one of the most prolific. Following last fall’s release of their debut album Big Hand, they’re already about to return with another new EP, Drag (their third EP overall), due November 7 via Sunday Drive. On lead single “Overslept,” the St. Louis band employ punchy power chords that take them further into Third Eye Blind territory than ever before, while vocalist Brennen Wilkinson maintains a gravelly delivery that reminds you this band was namedropping Rites of Spring and Turning Point when they first introduced themselves.
Insignificant Other – “In Parking Lots”
Insignificant Other haven’t released any new music since their very good 2019 album I’m So Glad I Feel This Way About You!, but now they’re finally back with their first new song in six years and they say that more is to come. A lot can change in six years, and “In Parking Lots” makes a pretty huge leap from the Florida emo band’s last LP. It’s their sharpest, best-produced song yet, and the slicker sound only makes Insignificant Other hit even harder. It’s a charged-up fusion of punk energy, emo melodrama, and pop hooks that anyone who even thought about attending this year’s When We Were Young or Warped Tour festivals should feast their ears on.
In Loving Memory – “Dead Stars” (ft. Febuary’s Rila Ogawa)
Since returning with their 2023 EP A Gentler Sun–their first release in 22 years–Iowa screamo veterans In Loving Memory have continued to stay very active with more new music and live shows. They’re as much a part of the current screamo scene as rising bands like Febuary, and on their new single “Dead Stars,” they come together with Febuary vocalist Rila Ogawa for a collab that every generation of screamo fans should be able to get behind. The combo of Rila going back and forth with In Loving Memory’s own vocals makes for some serious chaos.
Burial Waves – “Causer”
While we haven’t gotten new Pianos Become the Teeth music since 2022’s Drift, we did just get the debut album from PBTT vocalist Kyle Durfey’s band Burial Waves (which also includes members of We Were Black Clouds, Deleted Scenes, Caverns, and more), four years after the release of their debut EP Holy Ground. If you like hearing Kyle’s voice over soaring, heavy post-rock, check out album opener “Causer” and then just let the rest of the LP roll if you like what you hear.
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In an effort to cover as many bands as possible, I try to just do one single per album cycle in these monthly roundups, so catch up on previous months’ lists for even more:
For even more new songs, listen below or subscribe to our playlist of punk/emo/hardcore/etc songs of 2025.
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Read past and future editions of ‘In Defense of the Genre’ here.
Browse our selection of hand-picked punk vinyl.
