12 Essential Bands to Check Out at Sound and Fury 2017

Sound and Fury has remained one of hardcore's best-booked festivals for over 10 years. Boasting a keen eye for both bands that are bubbling under the surface and important genre veterans that still put on an exciting show, it's one of the best festivals you can support. We picked 12 bands from the lineup that we're excited about — a hard task for a completely stacked festival.

FURY

Last year's Paramount was one of the best of the year both in the genre and music as a whole. The band has a stunning grip on what makes hardcore the exciting genre it is, and they inject the record with progression and skill not often seen in other places. Come celebrate what they've done.

TRAPPED UNDER ICE

TURNSTILE

We all know Turnstile are going to become the biggest band in the known galaxy in probably a year, so you should embrace them now and tell your grandkids about breaking your nose in the pit during the first seconds of "Drop."

VEIN

QUEENSWAY

WESTPOINT

With the mass of hardcore bands playing the festival, Westpoint help break things up a bit without getting too far away from the rest of the lineup. The Kingston, Pa., four-piece delivers driving, exciting rock music that isn't afraid to get weird at times, but never loses sight of killer riffs and tunes.

INCENDIARY

Thousand Mile Stare dropped earlier this month, and if you haven't listened to it, how the fuck are you on this site? The long-awaited follow-up to Cost of Living shows the band refining what makes their music compelling with a laser focus. It's one of the most driving and exciting records of the year.

PRIMAL RITE

Last year, Primal Rite put out Complex Life of Passion, a record that made many people pay attention quick. With an ease at switching back and forth between flourishes of thrash and nose-to-the-ground hardcore, the band is going to bring a real fire and energy to the bill.

XIBALBA

Xibalba remain one of the most crushing fixtures in the modern scene, their recent EP being a no-fucks-given crusher that doesn't waste any time in just throwing as many bombs at you as they can.

KRIMEWATCH

GATECREEPER

Arguably the most "metal" band on the lineup, Gatecreeper share a lot of commonalities with hardcore, especially in terms of attitude. Their apocalypse-welcoming riffing drives crowds to total madness, breakneck speeds always being the completely necessary go-to option.

LOCK

These L.A. upstarts show how much you can accomplish with a killer demo and an aggro live show. You can hear how hard the record is under the lo-fi production. No matter what format you're listening on, the relentlessness comes through loud and clear.