Death Records Now

What I have here is a short list of some of my favorite hardcore bands from my home-state of California. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list, nor should it be taken as an accurate depiction of the scene as a whole.

Killing the Dream:
Killing the Dream is a melodic hardcore band from Sacramento who are known for their breed of emotive, intense hardcore music. Sporting album artwork from Converge’s Jacob Bannon, and being signed to Bannon’s label, Deathwish inc., I think that despite differences in style, there is a lot of crossover appeal between the bands.

Loma Prieta:
Featuring members of Punch, this San Francisco trio continues the tradition of chaotic, scream-laden music, but this time with a more melodic approach, and more mellow instrumental breaks, conjuring Orchid, or the original 90’s emo bands.

Nails
Fast, heavy, intense. A recent arrival on the Southern California scene, Nails are very quickly gathering a very strong following based on their no messing-around, hard hitting sound with a tone that screams "grindcore" and an old-school vibe. A year after the release of their 14-minute debut "full-length" album, ‘Unsilent Death’, and they are already signed to Southern Lord Records, one of the leading labels for doom and sludge, who have recently expanded more into hardcore "Entombed-alikes" with signings of bands like Black Breath or Trap Them.

Touché Amoré
Another newer band on the Socal scene, Touché Amoré have one full-length album, and a handful of 7" releases: splits with Make Do and Mend and La Dispute, a self-titled EP, and a live studio recording that never saw it’s intended airplay. Having toured with the likes of Converge and Envy, and recently signing with Deathwish, they are quickly making a name for themselves, and their breed of angsty old-school hardcore with a decidedly modern twist.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5keuwHntyY
Sorry, I got a little caught up in the writing, and forgot the original question.

Of these bands, which is your favorite?

What are your other favorite hardcore or non-hardcore bands from California?

where’s the question. this isn’t a promotional site. do you mean newer bands only or can we list old school bands as well? and who gave us thumbs down for trying to clarify what the question was? some people are seriously juvenile.