Final Exit

A North Hollywood grindcore/crust act formed in 1989 out of the West Coast powerviolence scene, known for splicing manic grind and blast-beat black-metal tremolo with surf-rock detours, jazzy guitar asides, and outright circus-music absurdism, topped by 'make any noise necessary' vocals. Longtime signees to System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian's Serjical Strike Records, with 2004's Lynch the Weirdo produced by SOAD guitarist Daron Malakian; still active into the 2020s with new lineups.

7000 Dying Rats are a long-running Chicago 'comedy grind' collective, active in various lineups since 1992, built around joke song titles and a deliberately rotating cast of 30-plus contributors rather than a fixed band. Their records (Fanning the Flames of Fire, The Sound of No Hands Clapping, Season in Hell) mix grindcore/noise aggression with tasteless, cult-favorite humor. The most notable alumnus is drummer/vocalist Weasel Walter, who passed through the Rats between stints leading The Flying Luttenbachers and later drumming for Behold... The Arctopus.

Train Come To Town . . . Make Town Dirtyplay in the dock

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Split Cranium is a trans-Atlantic crust/d-beat/hardcore punk project pairing American musician Aaron Turner (Isis, Sumac, Mamiffer) with Finnish musician Jussi Lehtisalo (Circle). Lehtisalo and Turner conceived the band during Circle's 2009 European tour with Isis, with Lehtisalo writing riffs and Turner adding vocals, guitar, and noise. Their self-titled debut arrived on Hydra Head Records on March 20, 2012, followed by the more experimental "I'm the Devil and I'm OK" on Ipecac Recordings on May 25, 2018. Turner has described the dynamic as "Jussi loves melody and I love dissonance and noise."

Better Lovers is an American metalcore and chaotic hardcore band formed in 2023 in Buffalo, New York, uniting three former members of Every Time I Die (Jordan Buckley, Steve Micciche, Clayton Holyoak) with guitarist/producer Will Putney and vocalist Greg Puciato of The Dillinger Escape Plan. The group released the EP God Made Me an Animal (2023) and its debut full-length Highly Irresponsible in October 2024 through SharpTone Records. Puciato fronted the band from its formation until the two parties amicably parted ways in February 2026.

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Retox was formed in San Diego in 2011 by vocalist Justin Pearson and drummer Gabe Serbian, who had already spent years detonating grindcore convention together in The Locust. Trading that band's sci-fi costumes for stripped-down nihilist hardcore, Retox specialized in short, sharp blasts of noise-punk — their Ipecac debut Ugly Animals burns through eleven tracks in about thirteen minutes. Two further albums, YPLL (2013) and Beneath California (2015), followed on Epitaph before Pearson and guitarist Michael Crain carried the lineage into Dead Cross with Dave Lombardo and Mike Patton.

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Formed in Austin in 1987 and relocated to Chicago in 1989, The Jesus Lizard perfected a blueprint of noise-rock menace: David Wm. Sims and Mac McNeilly's lurching, hydraulic rhythm section, Duane Denison's wiry precision guitar, and David Yow howling from deep in the mix like, in one critic's words, 'a kidnap victim trying to howl through the duct tape over his mouth.' Their Steve Albini-recorded Touch and Go albums Goat (1991) and Liar (1992) stand among the most significant noise rock records of the era, and a split single with Nirvana briefly brushed them against the mainstream. After disbanding in 1999 and reuniting for tours from 2009 onward, they released Rack in 2024, their first album in 26 years.

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Dead Cross is a Southern California crossover-thrash/hardcore supergroup formed in late 2015, uniting drummer Dave Lombardo (Slayer, Fantômas, Mr. Bungle), bassist Justin Pearson (The Locust, Retox), and guitarist Michael Crain (Retox). The Locust's Gabe Serbian was the original vocalist but left after the debut was recorded; Mike Patton replaced him in December 2016, rewriting the vocals over the existing instrumentals. The band has released two albums via Patton's Ipecac Recordings — the self-titled debut (2017) and II (2022) — delivering short, violent blasts of thrash and hardcore punk.

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At the Drive-In are a post-hardcore band formed in El Paso, Texas in 1994, best known for Relationship of Command (2000) — a chaotic, tightly-wound record critics have called "the high against which every post-hardcore record since 2000 has been measured." The band split in 2001; frontman Cedric Bixler-Zavala and guitarist Omar Rodríguez-López went on to found The Mars Volta, and bassist Paul Hinojos later joined them there too. ATDI reunited in 2016 for the album in•ter a•li•a (2017).

Qui are a Los Angeles noise-rock group formed in 2000 by Paul Christensen (drums/vocals) and Matt Cronk (guitar/vocals) as a guitar-and-drums duo mixing punk, noise and experimental rock with tight vocal harmonies. In 2006, after a run of guest appearances, David Yow of The Jesus Lizard and Scratch Acid joined as full-time vocalist, fronting the 2007 album Love's Miracle. That record was released on Mike Patton's Ipecac Recordings.

Maïsman is a Grenoble collective built around a fictional vegetable-superhero mythology, pitting its titular hero against the villain 'Méchant Man' (voiced on record by Lofofora's Reuno) across two concept albums, Le Plus Grand des Super-Héros (2006) and Le Retour de Méchant Man (2010), blending funk, new wave, synth-pop, hardcore and alternative metal. Live, the project stages a full theatrical production — characters, costumes and sets, a Star Wars/Disney pastiche — making the show, as much as the genre-shifting studio sound, its defining trait.