WORLD I HATE - YEARS OF LEAD BLACK VINYL (OUT OF 200)

Second pressing now available for preorder! Black 140 Gram vinyl out of 200.

Music journalists love to celebrate hardcore that they perceive as clever, boundary-pushing, or innovative, but for all the lip service paid to novelty, hardcore’s efficacy can actually be gauged by one incredibly simple metric: Its ability to incite a room full of maladjusted goons to extreme violence. Measured with that barometer, Milwaukee’s World I Hate is ten times the hardcore band any flavor of the week act could ever hope to be.

Initially formed at the end of 2018, World I Hate released their debut EP Collapse in 2020 and played their first show in 2021. The band performs a brand of hyper-competent, no frills hardcore that combines the best parts of the genre’s last 25 or so years into a potent and hard-hitting formula that’s nearly impossible to dislike. The fact that their lineup is bolstered by a member of Texas stalwarts Judiciary doesn’t hurt matters.

On their new LP Years of Lead—releasing on WAR Records—the band delivers on the promise of Collapse and further hones their already razor sharp edge. Unafraid to blend blazing fast, near-powerviolence tempos with battering ram New York hardcore stomps, Years of Lead expands upon the template put forth 20 years ago by Massachusetts legends Think I Care and rises to the standard set by likeminded contemporaries such as Spine or Odd Man Out. The record’s 19 minute runtime is replete with breakneck speed and room-clearing breakdowns, bolstered by production that is crushing and crisp without a hint of sterility.

If you prefer your heavy music to have radio-ready choruses and crossover appeal, look elsewhere. But if you’re in the market for unrelenting capital “H” Hardcore that is unconcerned with trends, look no further than World I Hate.