Boston hardcore is thehardcore punk scene ofBoston,Massachusetts. Beginning in the early 1980s, bands such asSSD,DYS,Jerry's Kids andNegative FX formed a nascent hardcore scene in the city that was notably captured on the compilationThis Is Boston, Not L.A. (1982). By 1986, many of these bands had either disbanded or departed from the hardcore genre, instead beginning to playheavy metal. During the 1990s, the influence ofextreme metal became prominent in the scene withOvercast,Converge,Cave In andShadows Fall becoming prominent figures in themetalcore genre. However, a reaction against this metal influence quickly took place, which led to the mid-1990syouth crew revival ofIn My Eyes,Bane andTen Yard Fight. By 2000, the youth crew revival had declined, and in response to its lyrical positivity, bands includingAmerican Nightmare,the Suicide File andthe Hope Conspiracy began making music influenced by its music but centred on darker and nihilistic lyrics. In the following years, a reaction also took place against this lyrical style, which led to the rise ofpositive hardcore bands Mental andHave Heart. The 2000s also saw mainstream successful of Bostonmelodic metalcore bands includingKillswitch Engage,All That Remains and Shadows Fall.
Disheartened by Boston's local punk bands likeMission of Burma and the Neighbourhoods, and feeling enfranchised bystraight edge after watchingMinor Threat perform in New York City, Boston's first hardcore band wasSSD.[2] Formed in 1981 and performing live for the first time on September 19 of the same year, SSD influenced the formation of a Boston hardcore scene. The groups of bands especially influenced by SSD and their straight edge philosophy called themselves the Boston Crew, which includedDYS andNegative FX, while other early bands to join the scene includedJerry's Kids,the F.U.'s,Gang Green andthe Freeze.[3]The Proletariat, although a part of this scene were set apart significantly due to theirjangle pop guitars, influence fromGang of Four andWire andcommunist lyrics.[4] In 1982,Modern Method Records releasedThis Is Boston, Not L.A., a compilation album of the Boston hardcore scene. In addition to Modern Method wasTaang! Records, who released material by a number of the aforementioned Boston hardcore bands.[5]
Despite writing a mere 20 minutes of music and never playing outside ofNew England,Siege became highly influential. Their tracks onCleanse the Bacteria exposed them to wide audiences, includingLars Ulrich ofMetallica, who described them as the fastest band he had ever heard.[6] Numerous pioneering bands establishing thedeath metal andgrindcore subgenres in the 1980s cited Siege as a formative influence,[7] including British groupsCarcass[8] andNapalm Death.[9] Further outside of Boston wereWestern Massachusetts bandsDeep Wound (which featured futureDinosaur Jr. membersJ Mascis andLou Barlow) and theOutpatients, both of whom would come to Boston to play shows.[10] From nearbyManchester, New Hampshire wasG.G. Allin, a solo singer who contrary to straight edge used large amounts of drugs and alcohol, eventually dying of a heroin overdose.[11] Allin's stage show included defecating on stage and then throwing his feces at the audience.[12] At this time, a prominent venue was theGallery East.[13]
By 1986, the scene was in decline, SSD, DYS and the F.U.'s has begun to playheavy metal, with the lattermost doing so also changing their name to Straw Dogs.[14] By the end of the year, both SSD and DYS had disbanded.[15][16] Members of the Boston Crew then went on to form the bandSlapshot.[17] The members ofska punk bandthe Mighty Mighty Bosstones also originated from this scene.[18][19] Slapshot have been credited bythe Eagle Online as being one of the driving forces in the resurrection of hardcore in the Boston area, when all the other bands moved away from the genre.[20][21] Stewart Marson ofAllMusic wrote on their 1990 albumSudden Death Overtime stating “At a time when hardcore itself, never mind straight-edge, was on the ropes,Sudden Death Overtime proved that some bands were still in the game.”[22]
In the early 1990s,Only Living Witness andSam Black Church gained national attention during a time whenNew York hardcore dominated the scene.[23] At the same time, an earlymetalcore developed in Boston, led byOvercast who formed in 1990.[24] Much of this scene were based aroundHydra Head Records, which was founded byAaron Turner after moving to Boston.Converge were one of the earliest and most prominent groups from the city, formed in 1990.[25] Using Rorschach's music as their sonic template,[26] the band's experimental attitude, emotional lyrics and attention to dynamics led to them becoming one of the most influential bands in the genre.[27]
As a reaction against the dominance of metal-influenced hardcore amongst straight edge bands, around 1996, a revival of the sound of the youth crew bands began.[28] Bands includingIn My Eyes,Bane,Ten Yard Fight and Floorpunch, used the key aspects of late 1980s bands such as the gang vocals, high tempos and lyrical themes of straight edge, unity and vegetarianism.[29][30]
In 1997,the Rathskeller, a prominent venue in the scene was closed and the building was demolished, hosting acts such asBlood for Blood. In a 2014 article byVice Media, writer John Liam Policastro called it "Boston's legendary shithole".[31]
As the 1990s drew to a close, a wave of metalcore bands began incorporating elements ofmelodic death metal into their sound. This formed an early version of what would become themelodic metalcore genre. The first band to make use of this fusion was Overcast, who were soon followed byShadows Fall onSomber Eyes to the Sky andUnearth onAbove the Fall of Man (1999).[32]
By 1999 and 2000, the youth crew revival was in decline, with Ten Yard Fight, In My Eyes and Floorpunch all disbanding. As a reaction against the homogeneity and simplicity that scene had developed, Ten Yard Fight guitarist Tim Cossar and the band's roadieWesley Eisold formedAmerican Nightmare.[33] Although still musically rooted in the youth crew revival, the band's negative, poetic lyrics of self-loathing were inspired by groups likethe Smiths.[29][34] American Nightmare's influence was apparent promptly in their home of Boston,[33] then expanded nationally with the release of their 2001 debut albumBackground Music,[29] being followed by a wave bands includingCeremony,Ruiner,Modern Life Is War andKilling the Dream.[35][36] A 2011 article byLambgoat, called Boston bands American Nightmare,the Hope Conspiracy andthe Suicide File as three bands who in particular "left a noteworthy mark" in the scene.[37]
A reaction against this movement also took place, which began with Mental, who were quickly followed byHave Heart.[38] Have Heart's success led to the rise in popularity of otherpositive hardcore groups likeChampion,Verse andSinking Ships, and the rise in prominence ofBridge 9 Records.[39][40] In anAllMusic review, Greg Prato wrote about the label's bandEnergy that "While you wouldn't go quite as far as calling Energy "a hardcoreboy band," the group's leanings toward the mainstream are undeniable throughoutInvasions of the Mind.[41]
Defeater formed in Boston in 2008.[42] The band went on to be one of the forefront acts inthe Wave, a movement ofpost-hardcore bands in the late 2000s and early 2010s.[43] Their discography narrates an overarching story of a working classNew Jersey family in thePost-World War II Era.[44]
At the beginning of the 2000s, many of the bands from Boston's 1990s metalcore scene began becoming increasingly experimental, with Cave In starting to makeprogressive music and Aaron Turner'spost-metal bandIsis emerging from the scene.Metal Hammer writer Stephen Hill calledJane Doe by Converge "the high watermark of the Boston scene [in this era]". Around this time, many of these acts gained international mainstream attention, with Cave In signing to the major labelCapitol Records and touring with theFoo Fighters.[25]
Converge's album was released on 4 September 2001 to universal critical and fan acclaim. The album influenced the development of the sound of other U.S. bands likeNorma Jean andMisery Signals as well as international acts likeEden Maine,Johnny Truant andBeecher.[45]Blake Butler ofAllmusic stated that Converge "put the final sealing blow on their status as a legend in the world of metallic hardcore" with the album, calling it "an experience -- an encyclopedic envelopment of so much at once."[46]Terrorizer Magazine named it their 2001 Album of the Year,[47] and it was named the greatest album of the 2000s byNoisecreep[48] andSputnikmusic[49]
By the 2000s, the melodic death metal-influenced style of metalcore had become increasingly prominent, with this bands soon separating themselves into their own scene, which Converge vocalistJacob Bannon referred to as the "commercial metalcore scene". This scene was fronted byKillswitch Engage,Shadows Fall andUnearth.[25] In 2002, Killswitch Engage'sAlive or Just Breathing reached number 37 on theHeatseekers Albums chart.[50] In 2004, Killswitch Engage'sThe End of Heartache,[51] Shadows Fall'sThe War Within,[52][53] Killswitch Engage's 2004 albumThe End of Heartache[54] has been certified gold by theRecording Industry Association of America and their 2006 albumAs Daylight Dies[55] was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2007 and 2021,[56] respectively. Killswitch Engage's 2002 albumAlive or Just Breathing, as of 3 July 2004, has sold 114,000 copies in the United States.[57] Their album is a landmark album for the genre, being considered a foundational and highly influential record that helped define the metalcore in its early years.[58] The band also became the first to receive a Grammy nomination forBest Metal Performance at the47th annual Grammy awards in 2005.[59]
Shadows Fall began to pick up in popularity with their 2002 albumThe Art of Balance with his since surpassed 100,000 plus sales.[60] Their follow up 2004 album seen even more success peaking at number 20 on the Billboard 200 along with topping theIndependent Album Charts, and has since sold 200,00 units.[61] They also picked up two Grammy nods for Best Metal Performance in 2006 and 2008 respectively.[62]
Unearth began to have success among heavy metal fans in 2004 with the release of their second albumThe Oncoming Storm, which peaked at number 1 on theHeatseekers Albums chart on 17 July 2004.[63] On that same day, the album peaked at number 105 on theBillboard 200. Unearth's 2006 albumIII: In the Eyes of Fire peaked at number 35 on theBillboard 200. The band's 2008 albumThe March peaked at number 45 on theBillboard 200.[64]Oncoming Storm,III: In the Eyes of Fire', andThe March peaked at numbers 6, 2 and 3 on theIndependent Albums chart, respectively.[65] All That Remains achieved success with their 2006 albumThe Fall of Ideals, which, as of 1 October 2025, sold 500,00 copies in the United States.[66] All That Remains' 2008 albumOvercome peaked at number 16 on theBillboard 200 and has also sold roughly 500,000 copies.[67]Overcome's song "Two Weeks" peaked at number 9 on theMainstream Rock Songs chart on 16 May 2009.[68]
During the 2010s the Boston's Triple B Records became the most prolific and important new label in hardcore, spotlighting regional, national and international groups to the rise of present-day hardcore mainstays likeVein.fm,Fiddlehead andFuming Mouth, who are all Massachusetts based bands.[69] Fiddlehead, formed in 2014 by former members of Have Heart and English bandBasement, become one of the faces of melodic hardcore and post-hardcore in the city.[70][71] Vein.fm gained prominence in the national hardcore scene during the 2010s for their fusion of 1990s style metalcore, withnu metal.[72]Kerrang called them "the most explosive live act in hardcore today"[73] andMetal Hammer called them "the group on a mission to push hardcore forward".[74]
Metalcore and melodic metalcore continued its success into the following decade bands like Killswitch Engage, Converge and All That Remains continued to their success. Killswitch Engage's 2013Disarm the Descent album peaked at number 7 on the Billboard 200 and their 2016 albumIncarnate achieved their highest debut ever at number 6.[75] The group also picked up another 2 Grammy nominations for Best Metal performance in 2014 and 2020 respectively.[62] Converge only released two albums during the 2010s however both of them achieved their highest appearances on the Billboard 200.[76]
All That Remains 2010 albumFor We Are Many debuted at number 10 on theBillboard 200 and topped theBillboard Hard Rock chart. With all 3 singles reaching the top 10 of theMainstream Rock Charts.[77] They then shifted to a more hard rock sound with their 2012 album AWar You Cannot Win, which produced the singleStand Up which reached number 1 on the Mainstream Rock Charts.[78] The album has since sold over 120,000 copies.[79] Unearth continued to release new material and Shadows Fall went on hiatus in 2015.[80]
In 2018 Slapshot released their final studio albumMake America Hate Again.[81]
During the start of the 2020s many new Boston Hardcode bands began to pop up. In 2023,Revolver magazine released an article highlighting the top 7 Boston hardcore bands leading the new wave in the state, these included Adrienne, Anklebiter, Burning Lord, C4, Move BHC, Restraining Order and Risk.[69] However Adrienne and Ankle Bitter quickly disbanded in 2024.[82][83]
In 2021 Shadows Fall reunited and released new material for the first time in 12 years in 2024.[84] Boston hardcore stables Slapshot also announced their retirement and embarked on their final tours in 2025.[85]
Straight edge has long been impactful on Boston hardcore.[86] The ideology came to Boston after the members of the Boston Crew sawBlack Flag at Irving Plaza inNew York City. There, they metHenry Rollins who told them about straight edge. On their drive back to Boston, the members of the crew decided they "were going to make a conscious decision to take on this whole straight edge thing".[87] Boston hardcore musicians and took a more militant stance to the ideology. In Tony Rettman's bookStraight Edge A Clear-Headed Hardcore Punk History (2017), multiple proponents say that although straight edge was first thought of in Washington D.C., it was "solidified" as an ideology in Boston.[88] The band Slapshot and their debut albumBack on the Map which was released in 1985 both made significant contributions to the rise of straight edge ideology in Boston. With their lyrics being described as “the crux of the straight edge movement’s beliefs” in Boston.[89]
Straight edge remained prominent in Boston, with straight edge members being a part of Converge,[90] Have Heart,[91] American Nightmare,[92] All That Remains[93] and Killswitch Engage.[94] It experienced a major resurgence in the 1990s with youth crew revival bands such as In My Eyes, Bane and Ten Yard Fight.[28]
In the 1980s, the Boston scene made heavy use of slam dancing, influenced by that found in the Los Angeles and Washington D.C. scene, however more violent, incorporating punching below the neck, a style called the "Boston thrash" or "punching penguins". Another style of moshing common was "pig piles" in which one person was pushed to the ground and others would begin to pile on top of them. This originated during aD.O.A. set, and was initiated by SSD vocalist Al Barile.[95]
During the 1990s, Boston hardcore show attracted increased violence, with a 2014 article byVice Media recalling that "It was not uncommon to seepool balls in handkerchiefs, chains, and evencinderblocks in the hands of fans as they kicked the crap out of each other".[31]
In 2012, theBoston Police Department released a statement announcing that they would crack down on moshing during live events. This came following a performance byFlogging Molly at Boston'sHouse of Blues on February 21 of the same year where sixty concertgoers moshed,[96] during which one person was knocked to the ground and received aconcussion.[97] In reference to the event, Boston police spokeswoman Officer Nicole Grant stated "Dancing is a First Amendment right, but the behavior itself is a violation, especially when it becomes dangerous and a public safety hazard". On March 13, an article was published in theBoston Herald, where members ofthe Red Chord, Shadows Fall,Dropkick Murphys and Unearth criticised this decision.[96] On 2 April, the person who was concussed was interviewed by the blogPunk Rock Pravada, in which he stated he didn't agree with the police department's decision, and that he believed "Boston is just asking people to stop pumping money into their clubs".[97]
Friends Stand United (FSU) formed in Boston in the 1980s in an attempt to expelneo-Nazis from the scene.[98] By the end of the decade it had succeeded in this goal.[99]
In the late 1990s,Elgin James, a musician involved in the militant faction of the Boston straight edge scene, helped revive FSU.[100] By the early 2000s, there were FSU chapters in Philadelphia, Chicago, Arizona, Los Angeles, Seattle,upstate New York and New Jersey, and they were considered to have about 200 members.[101] TheFederal Bureau of Investigation eventually classified FSU as a street gang, which used violent methods and repeatedly assault people at hardcore shows and on Boston streets. In conjunction with the gang activities, James eventually did time in jail for extortion.[102] The group released twoBoston Beatdown movies featuring interviews with members, fights and live performances by bands.[103]
FSU members were present in bands includingDeath Before Dishonor, Ramallah andBlood for Blood.[104][105]
Al Barile (SS Decontrol): The Boston Punk scene was a congregation of drugged-out losers. They had this elitist attitude. I could not get with it at all. It was an older thing: The Neighborhoods and Mission Of Burma the established bands - but they had no connection to me; the guitars weren't heavy. I remember I went to a Neighborhoods show in 1980 or 1981. There was this Punk there, Bob White, who was the first victim of some kind of ritual slam thing with me. The other guy I was with got busted because we slammed this Punk around so hard.
Alan Barile, a beer-drinkin' hockey jock from blue-collar Lynn, MA, transformed himself in 1981 after seeing Minor Threat at New York's Irving Plaza. He established what became Boston Hardcore, and almost everyone fell in line with his uncompromising ethos. With shaved head, Straight Edge militancy and take-no-prisoners physicality, Al embodied modern HC stereotypes. He was the Pavarotti of shots to the body...
SS DECONTROL got started by Barile in the summer of 1981. Originally "Society System Decontrol," they shortened the name to SS Decontrol, then again to SSD. For a year or two, they were incredible. The virulent anti-drug lyrics of vicious guitarist Al - driven by the potent rhythm of bassist Jaime Sciarappa and drummer Chris Foley - came through throat-shredding vocalist Phil "Springa" Spring; one of HC's great frontmen and a scrappy fucker, the former Outlets roadie could slamdance and stagedive with the best of 'em. SS Decontrol's first album, 1982's The Kids Will Have Their Say (the debut on Al's X-Claim! label), certifies as a classic.
Dave Smalley: SSD were the guys. Without SSD, there wouldn't've been a Boston Crew, a Hardcore scene or a Straight Edge scene. Give credit where it's due.
A local scene coalesced at early SSD shows. They first gigged September 19, 1981 at the Gallery East, second in Cape Cod that November at the Mill Hill Club in Yarmouth, MA, third on December 26 in Boston at Street's, an uncool Rock Disco...
The clique of twenty or so Straight Edge toughs that formed around Al Barile and SSD got known as Boston Crew. They shaved their heads both as a belligerent Hardcore statement and to differentiate themselves from New Wave types with dumb angular haircuts. Boston Crew are the ones running up the capitol stairs on the first SSD album's cover. Crew bands included SSD, DYS and Negative FX. Other great Boston HC groups like Gang Green, The FU's, Jerry's Kids and The Freeze smoked weed or drank beer, thus exluding [sic] themselves from the Straight Edge pack.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)The early '90s was full of bands who promoted a straight edge lifestyle, but sounded more metal and played slower. Then the mid'90s brought bands made up of older guys from the late '80s who wanted that more traditional sound. There were younger guys who wanted that as well. So around 1996 or 1997, a full Youth Crew revival happened.
While death metal and hardcore had always intermingled to an extent, the first clearly identifiable instances of melodic Swedish metal being combined with hardcore seem to have sprung almost simultaneously, with Undying's This Day All Gods Die, Darkest Hour's The Prophecy Fulfilled, Prayer for Cleansing's The Rain in Endless Fall, Shadows Fall's With Somber Eyes to the Sky, and Unearth's Above the Fall of Man all being released within a year of each other (1998-99). It is unclear who first got the idea to combine the two styles. Darkest Hour had released an EP called The Misanthrope in 1996 which arguably contained elements of their later sound but was for the most part aggro-hardcore in the vein of Damnation a.d. On the other hand, Day of Suffering's 1997 album The Eternal Jihad is cited as an influence for many of the North Carolina bands that followed, such as Undying and Overcast is seen as having started the genre in Massachusetts.
Chris Wrenn: By 1999, Ten Yard Fight broke up, and In My Eyes and Floorpunch broke up soon after. That was the time for the next shift. Tim Cossar from Ten Yard Fight was my roommate, and when that band was breaking up, he started putting together American Nightmare. American Nightmare weren't really a crazy departure from Ten Yard Fight, but it was definitely darker. All of a sudden, all the bands that had red T-shirts or royal-blue T-shirts only sold black T-shirts.
Greg W: In Boston, Ten Yard Fight and In My Eyes had been the bands that were setting the tone for kids my age. Then American Nightmare got really big in Boston. I think that was a reaction to Ten Yard Fight and In My Eyes going on for so long. Kids didn't want to be the clean-cut straight edge; they wanted something darker. Bands like Hope Conspiracy and Converge were more metal. Trust me, we were into American Nightmare, but it reached a point where every band was an American Nightmare junior. I was just so sick of seeing T-shirts with scratchy fonts and all that.
Greg W: When we formed the band Mental, it was a reaction to bands in our area like American Nightmare and Panic. We wanted to do something that was different to what was going on at the time. Luckily, the older people who got me into hardcore as a kid put me onto classic New York hard-core. I could never connect to any of that baggy-pants Victory Records stuff too much. The guys in Mental and I wereso into old New York and D.C. hardcore. We worshipped it, and we wanted to bring that style of music back...
Chris Wrenn: I saw Have Heart picking up the straight edge torch afte Mental. Bands like American Nightmare and No Warning only had black T-shirts. When Bridge Nine Records started working with Have Heart, Pat's only concern was that we didn't make black T-shirts for the band, and I don't think we ever did; red and royal blue definitely, but not black.
Al Barile: The initial members of Boston Crew went to New York and saw Black Flag at Irving Plaza. Somehow I met Henry Rollins and he told me about the straight edge thing in D.C.
Jaime Sciarappa:Henry Rollins was the first one of the D.C. guys to talk to us. He said he heard from the Black Flag guys that the Boston Crew was cool. We hung out with him a little bit and Henry told us about the straight edge thing.
Al Barile: Straight edge hit me at a point in my life where drinking wasn't really important. Personally, drinking was already over for me. So when Henry told me about straight edge, it just became a very natural influence. I didn't ever say anything to the people with me, like, "Hey, we have to stop drinking and be straight edge." That was never said. Ever.
Alison "Mouse" Braun: To me, though, it was a light bulb moment, because I saw kids that looked cool to me and they were proud to be straight. I immediately saw the power of that, and for the first time ever I connected cool with being straight. I wanted to try to take that example of being straight edge and being cool, and bring that to Boston and basically spread it to the rest of the world. I wanted to run with it.
Jaime Sciarappa:I remember driving home to Boston that night with Al after the Black Flag show at Irving Plaza in New York. We had this talk that we were going to make a conscious decision to take on this whole straight edge thing. We weren't big drinkers. We'd drink a beer here and there. But when we saw those D.C. kids and how cohesive they were, we wanted to model the Boston scene on the whole D.C. scene.
Jonathan Anastas: Minor Threat wrote the song "Straight Edge." Boston took it further by bringing that Boston-tough-guy thing into straight edge. Kids in D.C. were not slapping beers out of people's hands. They weren't preaching about lifting weights and eating red meat. We took it to a different place. The branding of straight edge was solidified in Boston.
Mike Gitter: I think that Minor Threat wrote the script, and then SS Decontrol codified the message.
[...] Howard ist in vielen belangen ein eher gelassener Typ, der seine Meinung nicht unbedingt jedem aufbindet, dass wird auch sehr deutlich wenn man auf das Thema Straight Edge zu sprechen kommt: Ich denke, dass es für mich das Richtige ist, wenn es für jemanden anders aussieht, dann ist das in Ordnung. [...] (Howard is in many respects a rather serene guy who does not necessarily tie his opinion to anyone, that is also very clear when the topic of straight edge comes: I think it's the right thing for me, if it looks different for someone, it's all right).
Kids in the pit jumped on each other in "pig-piles." This unique local pastime, like the scene itself, often turned into a scary mess. At some point they'd throw some kid onstage and pigpile him right there. There'd be as many as twenty kids — stacked up so high they'd touch the lights — crushing those on the bottom.
Al Barile: It's a Boston thing. I think I was the first person to push someone down and start the pile. This D.O.A. show at The Underground was the first pigpile I remember. It got so crazy the drummer trashed his kit and jumped on top of the pile...
"Straight Edge" Hank Peirce (Boston scene): Boston was much more violent than slamming I'd seen anywhere else. We described it as "punching penguins." It had a name — "The Boston Thrash." New York had that big circle-storm thing. DC wasn't as organized — more chaotic with more diving. LA was the king of running in circles with no sense of rhythm to it. When you watched The Decline Of Western Civilization you said, "That's slamdancing!" But Boston really changed things.
The dancefloor action could turn savage but it was never about hits above the shoulders or blatant shots to the face. There were plenty of bloody or broken noses, but after knocking someone down, you'd bend over and pick them up.