Kerrang says these are the 50 best American hardcore bands right now

Rock mag Kerrang has followed their 50 Best American Metal Bands From The Last Decade list with a related news list: The 50 Best American Hardcore Bands Right Now. They explain, “One of the rules we used to narrow our [metal] list was that these bands had to be metal on a gut level — specifically, they couldn’t have their roots in hardcore. This, of course, resulted in us having to disqualify plenty of talented acts, as well as a lot of teeth gnashing among Internet historians and scene veterans. The next step was clear: publish a list of the 50 best American hardcore bands blowing up the scene right now.”

Kerrang also point out in the intro that the band must still be actively playing shows and releasing albums, the band’s debut full-length or EP must have come out in 2010 or later, “the band may have metal influences, but must be discernibly hardcore or have hardcore punk roots,” and the band can’t have been listed on their metal list. (They also mention that “bands like Cult Leader, Full of Hell, and Varials are great but ultimately crossed the admittedly arbitrary ‘metal’ threshold we’ve set,” though for what it’s worth, those bands didn’t make the metal list either.)

You can read more at Kerrang and see the full list below. What do you think of their list… and can you guess who’s number one?

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Kerrang‘s 50 Best American Hardcore Bands Right Now
50. C.H.E.W.
49. ECOSTRIKE
48. BANDIT
47. FRAIL BODY
46. TRANSIENT
45. TRAIL OF LIES
44. EKULU
43. TØRSÖ
42. EXIT ORDER
41. MINDFORCE
40. RED DEATH
39. +HIRS+
38. KING NINE
37. CLOSER
36. CLOUD RAT
35. GREAT AMERICAN GHOST
34. ABUSE OF POWER
33. SEEYOUSPACECOWBOY
32. XIBALBA
31. FUCKED & BOUND
30. HANDS OF GOD
29. SHARPTOOTH
28. AMYGDALA
27. LORD SNOW
26. SOUL GLO
25. OSTRACA
24. SANCTION
23. HESITATION WOUNDS
22. OFF!
21. DRUG CHURCH
20. SHIN GUARD
19. PORTRAYAL OF GUILT
18. FURY
17. JUDICIARY
16. STATE FAULTS
15. THE ARMED
14. HOMEWRECKER
13. WAR ON WOMEN
12. SECT
11. SHOW ME THE BODY
10. YEAR OF THE KNIFE
9. CANDY
8. GOUGE AWAY
7. END
6. ANGEL DU$T
5. CODE ORANGE
4. JESUS PIECE
3. VEIN
2. TURNSTILE
1. KNOCKED LOOSE