Flatspot Records is most the best hardcore labels around, and today it releases its latest compilation, The Extermination Vol. 4, with new tracks from Speed, The Chisel, Buggin, Section H8, Jivebomb, End It, Spy, Law of Power, Mutually Assured Destruction, and Choice To Make, and a Crux cover by Raw Brigade. That’s a very good sampling of why the hardcore scene is so great right now, and you can stream the full comp below.

In celebration of the comp’s release, we asked five bands involved to tell us about their favorite Flatspot release, and three of them picked the label’s breakthrough release: the 2007 Trapped Under Ice demo. “I only put it out because it was my boys’ band. I hadn’t even listened to them yet,” Che Figueroa said in a recent interview with Hugo Reyes. “I just said I’ll do it without even listening to them yet. It sounded cool in the studio. I thought it would do well locally. I didn’t think it would do what it did.” Read on for all five answers, with commentary on each pick.

TUI are headlining Flatspot’s sold-out Disturbin’ The Peace showcase in Baltimore this Saturday (1/28), with End It, No Warning, Scowl, Never Ending Game, Zulu, Buggin, Mutually Assured Destruction, Jivebomb, and Hold My Own. They play a sold-out show at NYC’s Brooklyn Monarch the next night (1/29). Flatspot are also throwing the sold-out Flatspot World in Brooklyn on April 8 with Speed (NYC debut), Scowl, King Nine, Regulate, End It, Raw Brigade, Hangman, Buggin, and Jivebomb.

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FIVE BANDS ON FLATSPOT’S NEW COMP NAME THEIR FAVORITE FLATSPOT RELEASE

Jem (Speed)

Without a doubt the Trapped Under Ice demo has gotta be the most influential Flatspot release for SPEED. This band and record provided a new blueprint for modern hardcore… lifted the ceiling for bands of that time and shifted the sound, style and swagger of the genre to this very day. An unmissable chapter in the story of hardcore.

Ace Stallings (Mutually Assured Destruction)

My favorite Flatspot release is the Trapped Under Ice demo 7″. When I say this record changed the game, I mean it very literally. After it dropped the waves it made could be felt in every corner of the genre. The influence this record still has over a decade later can be heard and seen on a regular basis. It wasn’t just the fresh take on playing NYHC in the modern sphere, it was the look and vibe around this record as well. A few sentences cannot do the impact of this record justice (no pun intended), I’m just happy I live in a world where it exists.

Michael Rasmussen (Buggin)

Cross Me – Paid in Full. This EP was super influential for me and hardcore in the Midwest. It was one of the first times I saw a Midwest band get put on by a bigger hardcore label. I grew up in Milwaukee, and seeing a band full of people I knew get recognized on a large scale was very inspiring. It was the first time I thought maybe I could do that too.

Chris Gonzalez (End It)

The most influential Flatspot release to me is definitely Trapped Under Ice’s demo from 2007. That demo was played over and over non stop when I first heard it. It didn’t sound like anything else at the time, it just represented Baltimore perfectly and TUI were opening a lot of cool shows at the time but I would mainly go to those shows to see them play these songs. I still listen to this demo and still take influence from them. TUI forever.

Mexi (Section H8)

Hard to nail it down to one release so I’d say every End It release. No gimmicks, no bullshit… straight up hardcore. And the label has been riding for them since the jump. That’s how I heard of them. One of my current favorite bands of any genre period.