Punk Reviews
36 Punk records in the Certified Archive. Every one of them earned five rainbow thumbs-up, because we only publish reviews of records we think are great — so treat this page as a listening list rather than a ranking. Newest first.
AJJ's 'Dirty Old Power' Is a Furious, Funny Masterpiece of Hoping on Purpose
Ninth album, self-released, and a reunion with John Congleton a decade after Christmas Island. Twelve songs about artificial intelligence, empathy and the exhausting work of refusing to give up.
Adult DVD's Debut Is Twelve Tracks of Leeds Dance-Punk With a Straight Face and a Filthy Grin
The self-titled debut from a Leeds six-piece formed in 2021, self-produced at The Nave Studios and out on Fat Possum. Album of the Year has it at 84 from five reviews with nothing below an 80, and Dork gave it a flat 100.
Deady's 'HUNKA JUNK' Is Three Days in a Louisville Attic Studio and Eighty Takes of One Solo
The Louisville five-piece's debut full-length for Romanus Records, tracked mostly live across three days in July 2024 at guitarist Chyppe Crosby's own Makeout Mountain studio. Post-Trash premiered it and praised its wide dynamic range; LEO Weekly called the results spectacular and the record an absolute must-hear.
Gurriers' 'Nobody's Coming To Save You' Finds the Light by Turning the Riffs All the Way Up
The Dublin five-piece's second album for Play It Again Sam, produced by Mark Bowen of Idles and Loren Humphrey, engineered by Chris Fullard and mixed by John Congleton across studios in Donegal and London. Four stars from DIY and Dork, 8/10 from Hot Press, and an 80 aggregate with no lukewarm verdicts in sight.
Gilla Band's 'Pugnello' Is a Deafening, Hilarious Masterpiece of Controlled Demolition
Four years and three Dublin studios later, the Irish quartet's fourth album lands ten tracks in forty-two minutes and gets scored 8.8 and Best New Music by Pitchfork, Album Of The Week by Stereogum, and five stars from both The Guardian and The Irish Times. Loud is the least interesting thing about it.
Protomartyr's 'Hotel Usona' Is a Baroque, Horn-Haunted Triumph of American Dread
The Detroit band's seventh album, made with Dave Fridmann at Tarbox Road, imagines America as a decaying hotel and gives every room its own haunting. Nine tracks, an 86 critic average, and the best reviews of their career since Relatives In Descent.
Spread Joy's 'III' Is 17 Minutes of Art-Punk Calisthenics Executed With Mathematical Precision
Ten songs in seventeen minutes on Feel It Records, the Chicago quartet's first album in four years. Post-Trash called them the city's tightest art punks and heard a band with 'the vim of beginners with the chops of absolute experts.'
Team Dresch's 'Furthermore' Is a Thirty-Years-Later Masterpiece of Queercore Fire
The queercore legends' first full-length since 1996's Captain My Captain, out on Jealous Butcher. Produced with Greg Griffith in Bristol, Connecticut, mixed by John Goodmanson. AllMusic says it sounds remarkably like they never left.
Whelpwisher's '777' Is a Fuzz-Drenched Masterpiece of the Song-a-Day Grind
Chicago's Ben Grigg (Babe Report, Fckr Jr, Geronimo!) wrote a song a day for three separate two-week stretches, then kept the best thirteen. Post-Trash heard static bliss, syrupy shoegaze density and sing-a-long joy.
Perennial's 'Modernism' Is Twenty Glorious Minutes of Organ-Powered Mod Fury
A Connecticut trio with an electric organ where the bass should be, ten songs in about twenty minutes, cut with longtime producer Chris Teti. Bandcamp Daily made it Album of the Day and summed it up in six words: punk has never sounded so stylish.
asia menor's 'Vaho' Is a Dense, Patient Leap Forward for Chilean Art Punk
The Santiago band's second album, out on Sello Fisura, produced by Víctor Muñoz and mastered by Chalo González. Eight tracks, two of them with Narval Orquesta, closing on a twelve-minute piece. Sitting at 81 on Album of the Year off nearly 300 listener ratings.
CULK's 'smogstar' Turns Vienna Post-Punk Toward the Light
The Viennese four-piece's fourth album, produced by Sophie Lindinger of Leyya and My Ugly Clementine and out on Siluh. Ten tracks of German-language post-punk, dream pop and shoegaze that Bandcamp Daily made an Essential Release — looser and more mellow than anything they've done.
I Will Die In This Jean Jacket Made One of 2026's Most Relaxing Records in a Cinder Block Basement
Jim Blaha of The Blind Shake spent three and a half years alone with a Tascam 388, a Minneapolis basement, and a quarter-inch of tape. Ten tracks, mixed down to cassette, out on Swami. Post-Trash called it 'somehow one of the most relaxing records of 2026.'
Guiding Light's 'Fear On My Own Time' Is a Bilingual Post-Punk Debut With No Wasted Motion
Austin four-piece, debut album, eight songs sung in German and English, out August 21st on Dean Spunt's Post Present Medium. Bandcamp Daily's punk column called the opener an instant punk classic.
Interpol's 'This Mirror Weighs a Ton' Is the Sound of a Band Deciding to Be Great Again
Twelve songs, fifty-three minutes, out on Partisan and made in New York for the first time in over a decade. NME calls it arguably their most consistent and satisfying since Antics; Under the Radar gave it nine out of ten. Fourteen reviews in and the aggregate sits at 81.
RIBS's 'COLD RIBS' Is a Post-Punk Record Built Backwards, and It Works Beautifully
Ten songs out on Three Lobed Recordings from a Raleigh four-piece who write the music first and hand it over for words afterward. Raven Sings the Blues says it hits like a sack of rocks to the small of the back. It also has a piano ballad on it. Both things are true.
Cobrafuma's 'Droga Total' Is Twenty-One Minutes of Portuguese Punk With No Fat On It
Seven songs, twenty-one minutes, one LP from Porto's Cobrafuma on the Portuguese label Lovers & Lollypops. Bandcamp Daily made it an Essential Release and called it a gem. It thrashes, it grooves, and it is gone before you can decide which genre it belongs to.
Ismatic Guru's 'Hell on Earth' Packs a Whole Nightmare Into Eight Minutes
Five songs, under eight minutes, the sixth EP from the Buffalo duo of Bran Schlia and John Toohill and their second release of 2026. Out on Toohill's own Swimming Faith Records. Post-Trash premiered the single and called it exactly that good.
Fontaines D.C.'s 'Marianne' Trades Guitars for Icy Reverb — And It Works
The lead single from the Irish band's upcoming fifth album 'Dopamine Chamber' swaps their usual guitar attack for strings, synth bass, and icy reverb. It's a quieter mode for them, and it still lands.
Getdown Services' 'Massive Champion' Is Deadpan, Danceable, and Completely Its Own Thing
The Bristol duo's second album mines British childhood and disco-punk grooves in equal measure, sliding from crunchy punk aggression to funk-lined sprechgesang without ever losing its wit. Massive Champion is deadpan, danceable, and completely its own thing.
Nina Winder-Lind's 'Wild Love' Is a Feminist Punk Debut That Sings With Real Bite
The New Eves frontwoman steps out solo with eleven raw, riotous songs that filter C86 jangle and girl-group doo-wop through pure DIY punk conviction. Wild Love is gloriously unpolished and all the better for it.
Sweeping Promises Add Muscle Without Losing the Snarl on 'You Say I Romanticize'
Recorded in the Lawrence, Kansas home studio Lira Mondal and Caufield Schnug share, this Sub Pop outing trades the thrilling-document feel of earlier records for a tighter, more intentional whole — with touring drummer Spensa Galler making her mark.
Man/Woman/Chainsaw's 'Cannonball' Is a Direct Hit of Theatrical Chaos
Five voices, one runaway train. Cannonball swings from piano ballad to post-punk detonation without ever losing the plot. Debut albums this confident are rare.
Ceremony's 'Tell Me Your Dream' Proves Reinvention Doesn't Mean Retreat
Their first album in seven years, co-produced with John Reis (who also plays guitar and sings backup) and featuring Tørsö's Jasmine Watson on bass, finds the longtime hardcore band chasing new-wave synths and dance-punk grooves without losing the songwriting bite. Stereogum made it Album of the Week.
Liquid Cross's 'Hateful EP' is a Snarling, Big-Hearted Masterpiece of Backyard Punk
A Eugene, Oregon four-piece takes the political heaviness of daily American life and turns it into four tracks of tuneful, buzzing catharsis. Wipers worship with a conscience — and a cause.
Militarie Gun & Mannequin Pussy's 'World's Always Burning' is a Shimmering Masterpiece of Kindred Spirits
Ian Shelton and Missy Dabice team up for the second time, and the song that almost didn't make the album turns out to be one of the best things either band has put out this year.
Opus Kink's 'The Sweet Goodbye' is a Riotous Masterpiece of Genre-Scrambling Brass
A Brighton sextet spends its long-awaited debut LP throwing ska, Ethio-jazz brass, Gregorian chant, and sea-shanty call-and-response into the same pot and somehow makes it cohere. Gloriously indulgent.
Yard Act's 'You're Gonna Need A Little Music' Is a Post-Punk Band in Maximum Flight
The Leeds band's third album, produced by Justin Meldal-Johnsen (Beck, Wolf Alice) and finished in Los Angeles after being built in their own studio, swings back toward grittier post-punk chaos. NME gave it 8/10 and called it 'the sound of a band in maximum flight.'
Quicksand's 'Bring On The Psychics' Is a Riff-Monster Return Worth the Five-Year Wait
Walter Schreifels and company's first album in five years is 29 minutes of chugging riffs and shoegaze haze, produced by Jon Markson (Drug Church, Drain). Stereogum made it Album of the Week; Treble called it the band's heaviest work since Manic Compression.
MESH's 'No Fun At All' Is a Jangle-Punk Debut That Earns Its Sharpened Edge
The Philadelphia quartet's debut full-length arrives on Feel It Records after a five-year gap since their 2021 cassette, eleven tracks of dual-guitar interplay recorded by Ian Norris. The Fire Note gave it four out of five headphones.
mary in the junkyard's 'Role Model Hermit' is a Volatile Wonder of Art-Punk Nerve
London trio's debut swings from feather-soft whisper to feral snarl, with a viola doing things violas shouldn't. Polished without being tamed. One of the year's most assured first albums.
Smirk's 'Speculative Fiction' is a Jangly Joyride of Punk Restraint
Nick Vicario's L.A. project trades punk excess for melody and comes out swinging anyway. Jangly guitars, dueling leads, real hooks. The most fun punk record of the summer.
snag.'s 'All The Cages Holding Us Will One Day Turn To Dust' is a Cathartic Triumph of DIY Screamo
Milwaukee's DIY screamo lifers sign to Deathwish and lose none of the basement. Recorded live to tape in three days. Pedal steel and horns show up. It rips and it weeps.
Cola Get Loose and Lethal on Cost of Living Adjustment
Cola's loosest, noisiest record is also their most deliberate. Wage inequality gets the gallows-humor treatment over post-punk that sounds gloriously frayed on purpose. Every squall earns its place.
Lip Critic Turn Chaos Into Cardio on Theft World
Two drummers, outlandish lyrical premises, and synth-punk energy that could power a city block. Theft World is a full-contact dance party. Stretch first.
The Twilight Sad Turn Heartbreak Into a Cathedral on IT'S THE LONG GOODBYE
Scottish post-punk masters fold shoegaze, darkwave, and gothic rock into one towering wall of feeling. Emotionally devastating in the best way — the kind of gloom you want to live inside.