It's time to check in on this thing we love. 

We're almost halfway through the 2020s, and hardcore is beginning to feel different now than it did at the beginning of the decade. We remark on how the vibes have shifted (for good and bad) since the post-COVID lockdown boom of summer 2021, and think about how 2024 has felt like a strange transitional year for the genre. Not too many essential LPs, a lot of ephemeral micro-trends, and a lot of reverence within hardcore for sounds that aren't hardcore. 

Intro song: Praise - "Coming Up for Air"

Outro song: Condition One - "Hard Shift"