Gorilla Biscuits are a New York City hardcore punk band whose brief original run left a permanent mark on youth crew hardcore and melodic punk. Formed in 1986 with Anthony "Civ" Civarelli, Walter Schreifels, Arthur Smilios, and collaborators from the New York hardcore scene, the band released a self-titled 7-inch and the landmark Start Today before splintering into other influential projects. Gorilla Biscuits fit punk scope directly through hardcore punk, straight-edge-associated youth crew culture, and Revelation Records history. Their music is fast, optimistic, and tightly written, using short songs, bouncing rhythms, and shouted choruses to carry messages about friendship, self-respect, scene unity, and personal direction. They were less metallic than some New York hardcore peers, but their influence on melodic hardcore and later punk is enormous. Start Today in particular showed that hardcore could be urgent and positive without losing bite, and Walter Schreifels' songwriting became a bridge toward Quicksand, CIV, Rival Schools, and broader post-hardcore developments. Gorilla Biscuits endure because their catalog is concise, energetic, and unusually generous in spirit while still sounding unmistakably like New York hardcore.

Brooklyn's Grass take the stoner metal template and run it through New York City noise and nervous energy, ending up somewhere perpetually hazy and unresolved. A different beast from their Philly namesake, they've been tilling that fertile sonic ground since 2016.

Brooklyn's Green Hog Band blend psychedelic rock, stoner riffing, and doom-paced heaviness into something loose-limbed and groove-driven. Since 2020 they've been staking out the cosmic, smoke-hazed intersection of those worlds in New York City's underground.

Gridiron is a Long Island hardcore band that delivers punishing beatdown and metallic hardcore fueled by the aggression of the New York scene. Formed around 2018, the band's combination of tough-guy hardcore vocals, crushing breakdowns, and no-nonsense attitude makes them a formidable force in the modern NYHC lineage. Their name and ethos reflect a football-like commitment to brute force and physical intensity.

Guilt Trip is a ferocious hardcore band from Syracuse, New York that blends metallic hardcore, beatdown, and death metal influences into an unrelenting sonic assault. Formed in 2016, the band delivers crushing low-end heaviness paired with venomous vocals that channel both rage and despair. Their releases have earned them recognition in the increasingly heavy modern hardcore underground, where they've become fixtures on stacked lineups.

H2O have been stalwarts of the New York hardcore scene since forming in 1994, playing positive, melodic hardcore punk that bridges the gap between the CBGB era and the modern scene. Vocalist Toby Morse's uplifting lyrical approach and the band's Bad Brains and Minor Threat-inspired energy make them a refreshing counterpoint to hardcore's angrier factions. Albums like 'Go' and 'Nothing to Prove' are celebrations of community, straight edge values, and the enduring power of punk rock positivity.

Named after a demon of transformation, Long Island's Haagenti began with melodic death metal roots before evolving into a heavier, more unrelenting death metal sound over their decade-plus existence. Their trajectory mirrors the demonic namesake — a gradual, deliberate shift into something darker.

Canandaigua, New York's Haborym bludgeons with brutal death metal authority, offering the full-spectrum punishment that the subgenre requires since their 2024 formation. Dense, guttural, and relentless.

Out of Greenwood Lake, New York, Hail Batlord emerged in 2022 with a stripped-down, ferocious approach to black metal. Unadorned and unapologetic, they lean into the raw primitiveness the genre was built on.