Of course, many look back on the period with longing. While some are nostalgic for a scene they remember well, others are just wishful that they’d been able to participate in it. Really, if anyone has a case to be made that they were born in the wrong decade, it’s Gen Z. 

Read more: See how 3OH!3 returned to their roots with first new music in four years

Nevertheless, what’s gone is not forgotten, and music tends to prove just that. Even 20 years out from everyone’s favorite era, there are still a number of artists keeping it alive. Read on to discover 10 alternative bands who are keeping ’90s music modern. 

Nothing

Delivering an eclectic blend of heavy metal and shoegaze, Philadelphia’s Nothing seem to explore every corner of the era. Despite their throwback sound, however, they still feel remarkably relevant to the modern scene. In fact, their latest record, The Great Dismal, might just be the most “2020” album of the year—and not just for the track “Bernie Sanders.”

Lever

Drawing on a variety of ’90s influences, including Nirvana and the Vines, Lever present what they coin “bipolar grunge pop.” While a unique take on the decade’s sound, the likeness is undeniable. In fact, we challenge you to put them in a playlist alongside Nine Inch Nails and Soundgarden and tell us they don’t belong. 

Turnstile

Honestly, “Baltimore grit” should be enough to describe this powerhouse. But in case that doesn’t paint a clear enough picture, we’ll go on. At their core, Turnstile are a modern take on ’90s metalcore with a surprisingly upbeat twist. Think Earth Crisis or Converge but more groovy. 

Read more: 30 metal bands who pioneered heavy music in Latin America

PROJECTOR

If you’re in the market for abrasive ’90s angst, PROJECTOR will be an easy sell. The Brighton-based grunge-pop outfit have a moody, raw energy that puts them comfortably alongside the likes of early Foo Fighters or Mudhoney. By all accounts, though, they made their debut in 2017, but we’re not convinced that history isn’t off by a margin of 20 years… 

Basement

The ’90s scene was marked by extensive experimentalism across genres, and Basement deliver readily on that trend. Their sound is most aptly described as a hybrid of pop punk, grunge and emo, with injections of melodic hardcore. Don’t let the DIY punk vibe fool you, though. The group have been making big waves in the scene following their signing with Fueled By Ramen in 2017.

Teenage Wrist

Really, is there anything more seemingly indicative of ’90s influence than a single (and forthcoming album) titled “Earth Is A Black Hole”? Granted, that sentiment is pretty #2020, too… We’ll digress. Another band marked by an eclectic blend of various ’90s-rooted genres, L.A. duo Teenage Wrist are bringing the nostalgia. From grunge to shoegaze to early pop punk, this band hit all the marks while maintaining a totally unique, modern sound. 

Read more: 10 underrated bands you don’t remember defining the ’90s

Heart Attack Man

Gritty and dark, Heart Attack Man combine early pop-punk and post-hardcore elements with a touch of grunge. The resulting sound is a trifecta of all things ’90s. Think early Weezer but with turbulent lyricism more in line with Sunny Day Real Estate. You’ll be 10% more emo for listening. 

The Lousekateers

This one was deserving of a double take. The Lousekateers are on a mission to “bring punk rock back to the masses and expose the evils of Disney.” While we can’t speak to that latter goal, we can attest that they’re bringing the punk…hard. Though the band derive influence from the ’70s through the ’90s, we’re certain that they entered a time machine in 1995. The unbelievable part is that they didn’t make their debut until 2018’s Johnny Danger EP.

Microwave

All right, Microwave may not have a strictly ’90s sound like some of the other bands on this list, but their stylistic elements are clear. Case in point: Their 2019 album, Death Is A Warm Blanket, leans markedly toward post-hardcore with notable grunge accents. It’s no surprise, either, given that they’ve attributed inspiration to the likes of Queens Of The Stone Age and OutKast. 

Read more: 15 bands you probably didn’t realize are supergroups

The Galacticas

This one’s for all the pop-punk purists out there. The Galacticas are giving us a much-needed dose of ’90s-era punk with a classic sci-fi aesthetic to boot. Their sound reads somewhere between early blink-182 and Green Day, so regardless of where you stand on which band are all-supreme, you’re sure to love them. 

Which bands do you love for bringing back the ’90s? Let us know in the comments below!

It’s been a very long time since he was raising his heart rate in front of a circle pit. As a young Black man in Louisville, Kentucky’s hardcore scene in the late ’90s and 2000s, Terrence was an outsider within a scene of outsiders. He built his reputation powering emo/hardcore hopefuls Christiansen for seven years, touring with bands great and small. But after three albums and tons of road miles logged, Terrence wanted more.

Read more: These 16 Afro-Punk artists made huge contributions to alt-rock

He began playing with Recover’s Dan Keyes in his next outfit, Young Love. Terrence then ended up manning the drums for such dance-punk outfits as Santigold and Heartsrevolution. He even started his own post-punk outfit, Hussle Club. But when the financial burden of trying to keep a band solvent in NYC became too much, he folded the group.

These days, Prince Terrence has reinvented himself as a triple threat. He’s an in-demand club DJ who knows the science of escalating a dance floor. Terrence is also the editor of and creator of the digital culture magazine/record label Cell Vision. And finally, there’s Rare Form, his musical outlet for mixing smooth grooves with post-punk mystery (Let’s call it “goth slow jams”). Sometimes, you can see Terrence onstage with Steve Aoki when the superstar DJ needs some rhythmic muscle.

Read more: Rage Against The Machine on why doing is the best way of saying

The Prince Terrence story is fascinating. As a POC, he always felt like an outsider within the greater walls of an outsider scene. And as much as he embraced hardcore and its attendant camaraderie, he knew it wasn’t the pinnacle of his skills. Where he is now is a far cry from Warped Tour. But it’s supposed to be.

You came up through the Lousiville, Kentucky, hardcore scene of the ’90s, playing drums with Christiansen. But there was a different type of energy happening with Christiansen. It wasn’t a bunch of guys singing through their adenoids about their girlfriends leaving them. That band were ahead of the times. 

When you listen to Christiansen, maybe one of the first things you’ll notice is the rhythm section. It’s at the forefront in my mind. It was me and Brad [Magers], who plays bass in the Bronx now. We were best friends in first grade, and we learned our instruments together. He used to go to a guitar lesson in middle school. During his whole guitar lesson, I would be out in the other room playing on all the demo drums because I didn’t have my own drum kit. So we grew from that. It’s how our friendship is—just always locked down. We started our first band together. I think Christiansen were our first real band that went further than our garage or our parents’ basements. I listened to the records fairly recently, and I’m like “What were we thinking?” [Laughs.]

Read more: Here are 10 new hardcore bands launching the genre into the future

Exactly, you were ahead of the game, even within the hardcore scene. It wasn’t indicative of what was happening at the time.

All of those influences just merged and became this post-punk, jazzy strand of hardcore emotional music. It’s just all over the place.

Christiansen played house shows, and we played the House of Blues. Big shows, small shows, Warped Tour. We had so much invested in the band, like so much time and so much blood, sweat and tears, as they say. But for me personally, I had to make the selfish move and see what else was out there. I was watching other artists from Louisville that I once looked up to that were in darker places. And I attributed all of that to them not having the opportunity to step outside Louisville. Louisville was always looked at as a mini-music mecca. Bands like Slint came out of there and Rodan, those types of bands. Later on, My Morning Jacket put it back on the map. That was what happened at the time when Christiansen dissolved. But I had gotten an opportunity to get out of Louisville and move to New York. I always felt the energy pulling me to New York. At that time, you just feel something is shifting in your life. And that was that moment for me where something was drastically changing.

Read more: See Tom Morello gift his prized stratocaster to Nandi Bushell

You moved there to play with Dan Keyes’ new band, Young Love. By that time, a lot of bands were looking at their existence, in terms of sheer careerism. 

That was around the time when Island Records was signing all the hardcore bands, the bands that [Christiansen] would tour with. Thursday, the Bronx, Thrice. The major labels infiltrated the hardcore scene and just signed everyone. There was a shift, like when you saw At The Drive-In or Thursday on MTV for the first time. Or My Chemical Romance. You just saw this explosion of those bands around that time. That was a time when a lot of bands that were doing it for fun became more and more career-minded. Everybody had fancy booking agents and managers at that time. 

As a member of Christiansen, you toured with all kinds of bands considered hardcore. And even more who were leaning pop. But you were really entrenched in this community. But let’s face it: It’s also an extremely white community. Did you experience any racism?

That’s a crazy thing. I look at what’s happening now, and I think back about those early days. Like the night we were going to be driving through the middle of Mississippi at 2 in the morning. I never thought of any of those things. And I think that this is really weird because all of these things were still happening back then. But I didn’t have any concept of it. I wasn’t aware of it. I just thought, out of sight, out of mind. But as far as the scene, I never experienced anything like it on the race side. 

Read more: 15 rising hardcore acts from Europe who deserve your best speakers

I was always most of my white friends’ only Black friend. The older I get, the more it bothers me. Not by any fault of their own. Obviously, just because people that are into certain things gravitate toward certain things. I can count on my hand the number of hardcore indie-rock dudes who live in Louisville that are Black. I was the only Black kid  at every show I ever went to. But no one ever came up to me and called me the N-word or anything like that. But it never crossed into my world.

It’s good that you were never marginalized or slurred in the scene you came up through. 

When I was in high school, the scariest moment racially that has happened to me didn’t happen directly to me. I went to this show to see Helmet on the bill, and the headliner was Korn. The opener was Limp Bizkit before they were big. I think they were giving us their tape with that George Michael cover on it. So it was a Korn show. And Korn fans are reckless. There’s a Korn show in Kentucky, and you can imagine that there’s a lot of rednecks.

Read more: Here are 10 times Rage Against The Machine brought truth to power

I’m standing there. And then suddenly people around me start saying “white power” when Korn were about to start. People are yelling random things, right? And these guys are chanting “white power.” And I’m like, “OK, how did I get in the middle here? Really?” I put my hood on and put my hands in my pockets so they couldn’t see my skin color. That was probably the closest I came to a scary situation. Late ’90s. I was definitely still in high school.

Why do you think people of color never got involved in hardcore or the whole scene of dudes playing guitars loudly and quickly? 

Well, I can only speak for the thing that I’m a part of, and there’s just a big disconnect between them. There’s a lot of suburban white kids, and I’m a suburban Black kid. I was born in Detroit, and we grew up in the projects. Part of the reason we left there [was] because my grandfather had gotten out of the projects and bought a house. You see a picture of my first-grade class. There’s like three children of color. You do the math. Like, one of those kids might be into heavy music. 

When I look back at why I listen to the music that I listen to, I was tricked into it in a way. And if I wasn’t tricked into it, then I probably wouldn’t have ended up playing with the band that I played with. I was super-into Rage Against The Machine. I was always into rock ’n’ roll music from a young age. I used to sit in front of TV and watch MTV. Guns N’ Roses and Whitesnake videos while waiting to be taken to school. I discovered Jimi Hendrix from one of my cousins who was like, “You should listen to a Black rock ’n’ roll artist.”

Read more: These groundbreaking Black artists helped move the underground forward

So I found this scene in a really strange way. I was thinking that if I never met the people that I met and if those things didn’t happen, where would I be? I was playing football and baseball. I would probably be an athletic type. Never listening to that music. Never gotten into a band. Or never put Xs on their hands and got in an Earth Crisis mosh pit in the ’90s.

After Young Love ended, you started playing drums with Santigold and Heartsrevolution. You then had your own band, Hussle Club, throwing down post-punk vibes. Now you’ve reinvented yourself as Prince Terrence, a DJ, and you’re making music under the name Rare Form. What made you walk away from band life?

I started DJing as Prince Terrence because the hardest part about touring is not touring. You come home, and you aren’t getting paid, and you’re like, “OK, now what?” I’ve been DJing for the past 10 years in high-end clubs around the city. 

That’s always been the way that I keep going: I always try to reinvent myself. Some people will know me from Louisville, but they might know me from high school. Or they might know Terry, the drummer from this band, the hardcore kids. I know people who know me from Young Love. Some people don’t even know that I’m a drummer. Some people don’t even know that I’m a DJ. I have all of these different things going on. 

It’s a blessing and a curse because I’m always moving. And people have to catch up. The whole reason I moved to New York in the first place is because I never wanted to be that guy that was only known for one thing. 

From straight-forward hardcore to breakdown-induced slam death metal, here are 10 albums that inspired deathcore before it became a movement.

Read more: 10 bands who’ve had success with multiple vocalists

Suffocation – Pierced From Within

Suffocation have long been argued as the true first deathcore band. Coming up in the ’90s death-metal boom along with bands such as Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, Morbid Angel and more, Suffocation were injecting their music with brutal breakdowns and low and slow groove riffs long before Myspace turned out a never-ending stream of new bands copping their sound, and Pierced From Within shows where many of the early ideas for the genre came from.

Devourment – Molesting The Decapitated

Devourment formed just before the emergence of deathcore, but their influence on early bands such as Despised Icon and the Red Chord is heavily felt. Their disgustingly named debut record captures everything great about the slam scene, and its influence can be felt in the churning chug beatdowns many bands pump out today. 

Embodyment – Embrace The Eternal

Embodyment wrote what’s arguably one of the first-ever deathcore albums, though Embrace The Eternal doesn’t quite sound like what we picture deathcore today. They genuinely blended hardcore punk with death metal before quickly ditching it all for a more melodic sound, but the record shows hints of elements frequently heard in bands such as Suicide Silence and Whitechapel. 

Read more: 10 up-and-coming deathcore bands to watch in 2020

Hatebreed – Satisfaction Is The Death Of Desire

Hatebreed never exactly embraced death metal like the deathcore scene did, but their brand of hardcore leaned heavily into the evil aggression of the genre. Countless bands have crafted their sound with Satisfaction Is The Death Of Desire as the blueprint, and the longstanding hardcore act’s passion for subtly introducing a death-metal influence earns them some recognition for contributing to deathcore’s formation.

Dying Fetus – Killing On Adrenaline

Dying Fetus are more commonly held up for their technical prowess, but it’s often understated how much hardcore influence you can hear in their sound. Obviously, the band’s low-gurgling vocals and shredding speed can be seen in deathcore bands, but Dying Fetus are masters at introducing knuckle-dragging beatdowns with Killing On Adrenaline. The record features a cover of Integrity’s “Judgement Day,” another band who arguably influenced the early stages of deathcore. 

Read more: Watch Bring Me The Horizon dust off their old deathcore songs

Bloodlet – Entheogen

Bloodlet fall a lot closer to the hardcore side of things than death metal. However, you can definitely hear the extreme metal influence in their sound. Scott Angelacos’ vocal delivery on Entheogen may not be a huge influence on the genre, but the structure of their riffs is evident in so many of the songs people hold up as classics. 

Disembodied – Heretic

Disembodied are one of the biggest contributors to deathcore’s formation, but now bands branching into metalcore such as Knocked Loose and Code Orange have also shined a light on them. Heretic is about as close as you can get to deathcore from an era where it just wasn’t a thing, and their influence being felt today is a testament to their innovative nature. 

Read more: 10 deathcore songs to listen to when you’re really angry

Day Of Suffering – The Eternal Jihad

Day Of Suffering brought together hardcore and death metal in one of the closest forms to modern deathcore with their album The Eternal Jihad. Razor-sharp shredding metal riffs were abound, but their vocal bark brought the harsh extremes of the genre to hardcore in a more succinct way than just about anyone else in 1997. 

Obituary – Cause Of Death

No matter what some death-metal purists think, Obituary embraced elements of hardcore very early in their career. Cause Of Death takes a turn away from the full-bore speed of most death-metal bands with a slow, groove-oriented approach to brutality that bands look to today as an important influence on the doomy side of deathcore. 

Earth Crisis – Destroy The Machines

Similarly to Hatebreed, Earth Crisis weren’t really a death-metal band. However, their sound had plenty of the evil tendencies of the genre and brought a harsher approach to the scene. Their blending of metal and hardcore isn’t exactly like what most picture metalcore as, but the popularity of Destroy The Machines and the band as a whole helped the hardcore community reach a point of embracing metal, eventually combining the two scenes into one. 

They released an unannounced album Blood of the Beasts today–featuring 10 all-new tracks.

Read More: Sharptooth announce fall tour dates with Wristmeetrazor and Limbs

SECT most prominently features Andy Hurley, the drummer of Fall Out Boy, but is comprised of hardcore scene veterans galore. The band mixes their influences into a caustic, gnarled, metallic alloy of pulverizing hardcore intensity.

Alone with their last album, No Cure For Death, SECT’s Blood Of The Beasts LP was recorded at GodCity with Kurt Ballou, who also performed clean guitar on the song “Skies Wide Shut.” The infamous Dre Black also provides guest vocals on the song “Cirrhosis Of Youth.”

Along with the new album, SECT also dropped a new video for the lead track of Blood of the Beasts, “Like Animals.” The video was directed by legendary documentary photographer Reid Haithcock and is a must-watch.

The video can be seen below.

“Ten reflections on the myth of progress, the new old tribalism, the single face of all subjugations, the broken promise of automation, love, loss and obsolescence, set against the dying light of a better tomorrow.” vocalist Chris Colohan says of the album.

The full Blood of the Beasts album can be streamed here and any merchandise affiliated with the band is through Southern Lord, which can be purchased here.

Below is entire the tracklisting for Blood of the Beasts. SECT’s upcoming tour dates can be seen below as well.

Blood Of The Beasts Track Listing:

Dates

How do you feel about the new album? Let us know below.

See more: 10 concert posters from your favorite bands before they blew up

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See their update below!

Read more: Fall Out Boy drummer Andy Hurley’s hardcore band release new song—listen

SECT, a straightedge vegan hardcore band featuring Fall Out Boy's Andy Hurley as well as past and current members of Earth Crisis, Cursed, Burning Love and Catharsis, will be heading to Salem, Massachusettes to start recording at GodCity Studio, Kurt Ballou of Converge's studio.

The band posted this teaser video on Facebook, mentioning that “a Grammy nomination isn't out of the question.” 

Outside of Fall Out Boy, Hurley has played drums in both FocusedXMinds (straight-edge hardcore band) and the Damned Things (with members of Every Time I Die and Anthrax), so don't be too suprised that SECT is heavier than what you might expect from a member of Fall Out Boy.

According to their bandcamp page SECT features “ex-members of Shut The Fuck Up and current members of SECT.” Clearly the members want you to listen to their new music with an open mind and not be overshadowed by their other monumental endeavors, and that's just what we plan on doing! 

We don't think a Grammy is too far off either. Let us know how stoked you are for SECT's new music down below! 

Today's metalcore simply wouldn't be the same without these 10 excellent forerunners. Check it out.

SHAI HULUD

Guitarist Matt Fox's “Guild of Misanthropy” has been inspiring the dreamers since 1995. Best known for featuring New Found Glory's Chad Gilbert as their defining vocalist, subsequent singers Geert van der Velde and Matt Mazzali furthered the fervent cause. Equally energized by Chain Of Strength, Deadguy and Metallica, Hulud turned the tides with 1997's Hearts Once Nourished With Hope And Compassion and 2003's That Within Blood Ill-Tempered, igniting an entire epoch of metalcore commiserators in disparate divisions, from Hundredth to Misery Signals to Silverstein.

CHECK OUT: “Let Us At Last Praise The Colonizers Of Dreams”

CONVERGE

One of metalcore's biggest boons, Converge was started by vocalist Jacob Bannon and guitarist Kurt Ballou in 1990. Now eight albums into their remarkable 26-year career, 2001's Jane Doe still sticks out as the genre's preeminent entry; it was an imaginative masterstroke that fanned the flames of innumerable ensuing metal acts. Converge proved that metalcore could be both visceral and intelligent, and bands far and wide (Bring Me The Horizon, Every Time I Die, Killswitch Engage, etc.) pushed on and soared higher thanks to the Boston-based group's indisputable influence.

CHECK OUT:  “Phoenix In Flight”

ZAO

Starting out as a Christian hardcore band in 1993, Zao really got going during their renovated “Second Era” of mind-blowing metal. Their classic trilogy of trendsetting albums (1998's Where Blood And Fire Bring Rest, 1999's Liberate Te Ex Inferis and 2001's (Self-Titled)) introduced a generation of emo kids to the stormy sounds of metalcore. Zao continue to produce and provoke; the band will release their first album in seven years, The Well-Intentioned Virus, this December.

CHECK OUT:  “Five Year Winter”

EARTH CRISIS

Formed in New York in 1989, Earth Crisis reconciled the divide between hardcore and metalcore with an articulate onslaught of albums advocating straight-edge living. Well known for their support of veganism and animal rights, their 1995 album Destroy The Machines remains an early metalcore staple. Earth Crisis broke up in 2001 but reunited in 2007, and the band's impact can be felt in myriad metal acts such as as Between The Buried And Me, Hollow Earth and Terror.

CHECK OUT:  “Born From Pain”

UNDEROATH

The recently reunited Underoath, who first lit the flame in 1997, are another massive influence on today's heavy music scene. Bands like Issues, Norma Jean, Rival Choir and Silent Planet followed a path forged by the band's essential They're Only Chasing Safety (2004) and Define The Great Line (2006) albums. Underoath drummer and vocalist Aaron Gillespie is practically rock royalty at this point, playing with Paramore and releasing music as both a solo artist and with his previous side project, the Almost.

CHECK OUT: “Reinventing Your Exit”

Read more: Earth Crisis announce ‘The Discipline’ EP on Bullet Tooth

Featuring support from Ricochet, Homewrecker, Hellmouth, Ante Up and The Worst Of, the show will go down in true hardcore fashion at the Royal Oaks Modern Skate Park. Take a look at the flyer below.

“We think the songs on Destroy The Machines are still strong, and relevant, two decades later. We have always wanted to re-record them, and figured the 20 year anniversary of the album was a fitting occasion. Our intention isn’t to erase the original versions, just offer another version we feel will offer the power and clarity the songs deserve.  We also decided to record two songs we demoed years ago because they’re great and people need to hear them! “Behind The Mask” and “Time Of Strife” are timeless and we think ExC fans will love them.”

Pre-orders on seven-inch vinyl and CD are forthcoming from the label.

Read more: Earth Crisis stream latest studio album, 2014's Salvation Of Innocents

Upcoming Tour Dates:

April 4 – Fayetteville, NC @ Empire w/ Biohazard, Sworn Enemy
April 5 – Jacksonville, FL @ South East Beast Fest w/ Life Of Agony, Biohazard
May 16 – New York, NY @ BNB Bowl w/ Madball, Candiria
May 30 – Rennes, France @ Superbowl Of Hardcore

“Lyrically, it focuses on animal rights/anti-vivisection. Many know this is what the band is known for, but we've actually never solely dedicated an entire album to the topic,” says vocalist Karl Beuchner.

It's available now from iTunes and on CD or vinyl.