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.
September was an insanely good month for Midwest emo in particular. In addition to getting the first Algernon Cadwallader album in 14 years, we also got so many good albums from the genre’s new generation, including Saturdays At Your Place, TRSH, and Aren’t We Amphibians (and I’ll give another shoutout to last month’s Kerosene Heights album that kinda kicked off this whole late summer/early fall of Midwest emo). Some of the singles in my list below of 10 songs from September are in this realm too.
Elsewhere under the punk umbrella, this month I reviewed albums from The Starting Line (first in 18 years), The Sound of Animals Fighting, La Dispute, Maruja, Fleshwater, Restraining Order, Die Spitz, Sprints, and Deaf Club; and EPs from Secret World, Many Eyes, Public Opinion, and Duck Duck Goose.
Also this month, we learned that Foxing are going on indefinite hiatus so I ranked every Foxing album as a way to commemorate their career.
Other punk-related features and videos we ran this month:
* 20 classic emo & post-hardcore albums turning 20 in 2025
* Dying Wish pick 5 Portland hardcore/metal albums you need to know
* Spite House pick their 10 favorite post-hardcore albums
* The Starting Line‘s Ken Vasoli picks 5 favorite comeback albums
* The Sound of Animals Fighting members each discuss a “top 5” album
* Saturdays At Your Place‘s Esden Stafne picks 5 Michigan bands you need to know
* Here’s all the punk at Coachella 2026
We also recently launched some new exclusive punk vinyl, including the new reissue of Descendents’ I Don’t Want To Grow Up (ocean vinyl), the 25th anniversary edition of The Offspring’s Conspiracy of One (translucent cobalt blue), American Football’s LP3 (clear purple w/ red & black splatter), Samiam’s Clumsy (black/orange smash w/ splatter), Marietta’s Summer Death (neon sun), The Blood Brothers’ Crimes (black & bone white marble), multiple Coheed & Cambria records; upcoming albums from New Found Glory and Spiritual Cramp; and Music For Everyone Volume 2, a compilation curated by John Nolan (of Taking Back Sunday and Straylight Run) and Born Losers Records that benefits the ACLU and has a stacked tracklist that features Taking Back Sunday, Straylight Run, John Nolan solo, L.S. DUnes, Sparta, Kevin Devine, Jeff Rosenstock, Zeta, Catbite, and more. That last one is limited to just 100 copies. Check out the punk section of the BV shop here.
Head below for my picks of the 10 best songs of September that fall somewhere under the punk umbrella, in no particular order.
RIP Bruce Loose and Tomas Lindberg.
Speed – “Peace”
Speed’s hardcore is for everyone. It’s too ass-kicking to turn off any diehard purists, and it’s so welcoming and fun that it’s no surprise that their increasingly-large fanbase has expanded beyond the niche hardcore community. They’re the perfect band to be opening Turnstile’s current tour, and right before that tour started, they announced the All My Angels EP, a stop-gap between their excellent debut album Only One Mode and their confirmed sophomore album. The EP has three songs, and it was inspired by three of the band’s close friends passing away in the last 18 months. On lead single “Peace,” they deliver some of their most personal, powerful lyricism to date, all set to a backdrop of tuneful aggression that makes a clear step forward from their debut LP. It’s easily one of the best and most impactful Speed songs yet, and that’s really saying something.
Ben Quad – “It’s Just A Title”
Following a screamo EP and a Midwest emo LP, Oklahoma City’s Ben Quad channel yet another era/style of emo on the first single from their upcoming sophomore album Wisher (due 11/14 via Pure Noise). They said they took inspiration from early/mid 2000s bands like Motion City Soundtrack and The All-American Rejects (who both just so happen to be on our new list of classic emo albums turning 20 this year), and “It’s Just A Title” finds them repackaging the spit-shined, hook-fueled emo of that era for the new generation. You can especially hear the Motion City Soundtrack influence on the song’s synths, though it overall never really sounds like them or any other particular band from that era. Ben Quad embrace those familiar vibes without ever sounding like imitators.
Destiny Bond – “Peace As A Punchline”
Between the new Restraining Order album and now this Destiny Bond song, it’s been a good time for music that reminds me a little bit of early Fucked Up. Similar to FU in the pre-rock opera era, “Peace As A Punchline” sounds like the perfect cross between first-wave ’70s punk, early ’80s hardcore, and the present day. It’s as vicious as it is catchy, and as you’d probably guess from the title, there’s some cleverly-worded sociopolitical critique in there too.
Spaced – “Cause and Effect”
Right from the get-go, Spaced were a hardcore band that seemed very interested in defying the boundaries of hardcore. And the more they go on, the more that becomes noticeably true. “Cause and Effect” is off their first EP for Pure Noise (following releases on Revelation and New Morality Zine), and you can hear a change in sound right from the start? Are those clean vocals? Did the song start with a heroic classic rock solo? Yes and yes, but still, this is the Buffalo hardcore band you know and love. As they veer into more and more genre-bending territory, the progression feels natural.
Equipment – “Facial Protection”
A lot of different types of emo are happening at the moment, from the scrappiest basement emo to the shiniest pop emo, but one thing we’re not getting enough of is soaring, celestial, Clarity-style art-emo. That’s why it’s so exciting that Equipment have given us exactly that with “Facial Protection,” the seven-and-a-half minute three-part suite that closes their new First Time Using Slang EP. It’s a hell of a song, and a massive leap from 2023’s already great Alt. Account. Is this a sign of what’s to come next from Equipment, or just a mesmerizing detour? Either way, I’m very happy that Equipment have made this turn.
Radioactivity – “Time Won’t Bring Me Down”
Between The Marked Men and Radioactivity, Jeff Burke and Mark Ryan are masters of raw, catchy punk that’s poppy but never “pop punk,” and both bands remain influential on generation after generation of DIY punks with a knack for melody. It’s been a decade since Radioactivity released an album and even longer for The Marked Men, but now the former are set to release Time Won’t Bring Me Down this Halloween and the lead single/title track makes it feel like no time has passed at all. It’s as sugary and rippin’ as this band ever was, and there’s still nobody doing it quite like them.
Many Eyes – “The Clock Behind All Other Clocks”
After loudly embracing ’90s grunge on the first Many Eyes album last year, former Every Time I Die singer Keith Buckley is now back with a quick and dirty four-song EP from his new group that leans much harder into the riffy metallic hardcore that ETID were best known for. One of its best songs is lead single “The Clock Behind All Other Clocks,” which could’ve fit seamlessly on The Big Dirty or Ex Lives or the band’s epic swan song Radical without anyone batting an eye. I mean, is there more of an Every Time I Die-ism than “STARING AT THE VOID WITH MY SUNGLASSES ON”?
Gumm – “New From the Pain”
I called Gumm’s 2023 debut album Slogan Machine “a cross between Drug Church, Touché Amoré, and Revolution Summer,” and those ingredients are probably all in the mix for new single “New From the Pain” but everything blends together a little more seamlessly on the first taste of LP2. Don’t call it “hardcore-adjacent”; this revved-up song is straight-up melodic hardcore, and a very refreshing melodic hardcore song at that. The band sounds even tighter and sharper than they did on the debut, and vocalist Drew Waldom really knows how to turn his gravelly shouts into anthemic hooks.
Combat – “Bob Dylan To Me”
All the songs that’ve so far been rolled out from Counter Intuitive Records’ 10th anniversary compilation have been great (including tracks from Origami Angel, Price Daddy & the Hyena, and ANORAK!), but for the purposes of this list I’d like to turn your attention to “Bob Dylan To Me,” the first Combat single since their 2024 breakthrough album Stay Golden. For the uninitiated, Stay Golden is an explosive indie-punk concept album / semi-rock opera with echoes of Jeff Rosenstock, PUP, Titus Andronicus, and the aforementioned Prince Daddy & the Hyena, and “Bob Dylan To Me” feels like a natural step forward. Stay Golden is the kind of album that could take everything out of a band, but Combat have barely taken a breather and they’re already back with more heat.
Wednesday – “Wasp”
Wednesday’s new album Bleeds is one of my favorite albums of the year, and though most of it is in the indie rock/country crossover realm, I’d be remiss not to bring up the album’s screamo song “Wasp” as one of the best punk songs of the month. From the downstrummed sludgy guitars to Karly Hartzman’s shrieks, it kinda sounds like a cross between Dinosaur Jr at their most hardcore and the current screamo underground, and this is no genre exercise–Wednesday do this as expertly and faithfully as they do the gorgeously countrified “Elderberry Wine.” Karly has already expressed that she’d like to write more Wednesday music like “Wasp” in the future, and I for one would love to see that happen.
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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.
