New York City may not be the birthplace of hardcore, but it sure put its violently gritty bootprint deep into backbone of the genre. And as the scene began to spread across the U.S. at the dawn of the Eighties, there was something especially raw and dangerous about what a bunch of dusted-out street kids were producing while trudging through the veritable warzone that was pre-clean-up NYC. Uncannily ugly, but magnetic to this day.
From primordial punk attacks at CBGB matinees, to the onset of thrash-intensified crossover and the melodic vibes of the Youth Crew, to the breakthrough grooves that popped up on MTV in the Nineties, NYHC has seen its fair share of foundational players over the years.
It’s likewise a scene that impossibly produced both goth-metal icons and one of the most successful hip-hop groups of all time, among other legends. Meanwhile, the movement’s traditionally chunk-and-chug-centric guitar work and groove-moshed paced continues to influence hardcore around the world.
But who delivered the greatest NYHC album of all time? When Revolver reached out to readers last week for input, the mighty Sick of It All even chimed in with a laundry lists of killer potential clinchers from Agnostic Front, Cro-Mags, Murphy’s Law, Leeway, Killing Time, Crumbsuckers and more — humbly leaving themselves off the list.
Rest assured, SOIA weren’t left out of the top five when we tabulated everyone’s votes.
Biohazard – Urban Discipline
Brooklyn’s Biohazard are certainly up there with the biggest-selling NYHC bands of all time. Around the time the band dropped sophomore full-length, Urban Discipline, in 1992, hardcore was edging into the mainstream like never before. And through memorable videos for bridge-bounding beatdowns like “Punishment,” Biohazard ended up becoming late-night mainstays on MTV’s Headbanger’s Ball.
Informed by the brute foundations of hardcore godfathers Agnostic Front, but likewise merging shout-rapped cadences with a love for melodic SoCal hardcore (this album sports a Bad Religion cover) and the one-man circle-pitting of oddly-bluesy lead guitarist Bobby Hambel, Urban Discipline managed to transform the record’s “Shades of Grey” into platinum-worthy heaviness.
Gorilla Biscuits – Start Today
Gorilla Biscuits’ lone full-length was a melodically-charged revelation when it shot out of the straight-edged Youth Crew scene of the late Eighties. While also featuring members of Youth of Today, Judge, Side by Side and more, Gorilla Biscuits went decidedly hook-heavier than those other projects, fusing sleek octave melodies and vocalist Anthony “Civ” Civarelli’s raspy croon into otherwise furious speed runs like “Degradation” and “Forgotten.”
The 1989 LP was a regal swan song for the group, literally beginning with a majestic brass sample before barreling into the all-timer “New Direction,” an anthem about staying true to the hardcore scene that birthed them. GB’s on-again-off-again reunion pace since the mid-Nineties has kept Biscuit Power pounding in fans’ hearts ever since.
Merauder – Master Killer
When it comes to the high watermarks of New York hardcore, few albums cleave through the competition like Merauder’s ultra-heavy-edged Master Killer.
Formed at the turn of the Nineties, Merauder leaned into the more metallic side of hardcore, helping land them tours with Biohazard, Fear Factory and more. Master Killer is teeming with bruisers that merged detuned, minor-key Slayer-isms (“Life Is Pain”), guts-grimy guitar trilling arguably more common in death metal than the Boroughs-made hardcore of the time, and other fully-shredded moments from late six-stringer Javier “Sob” Carpio. Lyrically, Jorge Rosado was permanently on the attack.
Merauder saw your pain, and they increased it one-hundred-fold.
Sick of It All – Scratch the Surface
Sick of It All were NYHC veterans by the time they delivered Scratch the Surface in 1994. And while clobberin’ time had technically begun nearly a decade prior, the sonic heft the Queens quartet harnessed on their massive-sounding major-label debut made for their heaviest-hitting songs yet.
It’s a monumentally well-rounded menace of mean-mugged groove (“Consume,” “Scratch the Surface”), pseudo-blast paranoia (“Insurrection”) and darkly melodic pit-starters (“Step Down”). Vocalist Lou Koller’s glass-chewin’ screech is running full-force, while brother Pete leans into near-perfect melodic guitar aggression.
Though it’s a record that features the raging “Goatless,” a strong case can be made that this is Sick of It All’s G.O.A.T.
Cro-Mags – The Age of Quarrel
While Cro-Mags bassist Harley Flanagan entered the New York punk scene in the late Seventies as the pre-teen drummer for the Stimulators, it was his next band that made the hugest impact on hardcore. The land-leveling mushroom cloud on The Age of Quarrel’s album cover speaks volumes, but then again, Cro-Mags’ music did that, too.
Flanagan himself explained in the American Hardcore documentary that the record signaled the second wave of NYHC, no doubt fueled by the chaotic aggression of Agnostic Front and Cause for Alarm before them, but likewise infusing that energy with the shredded professionalism of a metal album.
The three-chord, instrumental tough-guy swing that starts up “We Gotta Know” alone set the pace for decades to come, though heavy-hitters such as “Hard Times” and “Malfunction” likewise prove that we’re still in awe of the crossover Age.