In Defense of the Genre: Best Punk & Emo Songs of February

In Defense of the Genre is a column on BrooklynVegan about punk, pop punk, emo, hardcore, post-hardcore, ska-punk, and more, including and often especially the bands and albums and subgenres that weren’t always taken so seriously.

Dear faithful readers of In Defense of the Genre, it’s Andrew here letting you know that this column is actually about to go on a short break as I’ll be taking some time away from BrooklynVegan to help welcome my first baby into the world. The rest of the BV team will help keep my weekly album reviews column Notable Releases and our BV Weekly podcast alive in my absence, and I’ll be back in full force before you know it, so try not to miss me too much.

Before I go, I’ve got a list of 10 songs from in and around the world of punk released in February, and for whatever reason, this month’s list leans pretty heavily on trusted favorites. Maybe I was seeking some familiarity as I approach this major crossroads in my life, or maybe the vets just really delivered this month. Whatever the case, check out my picks below.

Before we get to those, some news: Circa Survive are reuniting, Carry On and The Rival Mob are reuniting for Sound & Fury (and hopefully more!), Jimmy Eat World are doing a Bleed American 25th anniversary tour with an insane cast of emo/punk openers, The Hotelier are doing Goodness 10th anniversary shows, and the Descendents‘ reissue campaign continues with Enjoy!. Org Music has been doing these reissues, and each album also comes out as a limited Blue Note-inspired “Punk Note” edition with new liner notes by yours truly and new artwork. Pick up limited variants in the BV shop.

Also: New Found Glory’s Jordan Pundik made us a list of 5 essential shoegaze albums and rising Chicago emo-grunge band Footballhead made us a list of 5 Chicago bands you need to know.

One last thing: while I’m busy becoming a dad, news will be announced on my debut book Emo Revival, which will be released later this year via Clash Books, and if you like reading this column, you might like my book too. Stay tuned for the pre-order to launch in March–I really appreciate any support you’ll be able to give.

Seeya soon, and until then, here’s my list of the 10 best songs of February that fall somewhere under the punk umbrella, in no particular order.

Dropkick Murphys & Haywire – “Citizen I.C.E.”

Haywire continue to be the punk band of the moment, Dropkick Murphys are punk lifers who have been especially fired-up lately, both bands are from the Boston area, and they’ve brought their two generations together for an ongoing tour and a tour-only split LP that includes two collaborative songs, each band covering one song by the other, and two other new songs by each band. The two collabs are streaming, and one of them is “Citizen I.C.E.” I’d call it one of the best Dropkick Murphys songs in years, though maybe that’s a little unfair since it’s a reworking of DKM’s 2005 song “Citizen C.I.A.,” but the anti-ICE sentiment is exactly the kind of punk protest song we need right now, and it just feels like the perfect meeting of the minds between these two bands. One listen will prove why every lifelong punk/hardcore fan needs to know Haywire and why all the new-gen hardcore kids cannot be sleeping on Dropkick Murphys. These two just bring out the best in each other.

American Football – “Bad Moons”

A lesser band would spend the rest of their lives living in the shadow of a holy grail debut album like American Football’s 1999 self-titled LP, but this band just keeps pushing forward. I think 2019’s LP3 is their best yet, and on the first single from LP4 (due May 1 via Polyvinyl), they’re still finding ways to surprise us. “Bad Moons” is an eight-minute song that starts out sounding about as classic American Football as it gets (but with some beautiful harp to slightly change things up), and then around the halfway mark, it veers into territory that American Football have never explored before. It takes a moody, noisy turn towards climactic post-rock, and it suits the band as well as their more classic material does. Seeing them still progress like this is really nothing short of remarkable.

Knocked Loose – “Hive Mind” (ft. Denzel Curry)

The increasingly, deservingly gigantic metallic hardcore band Knocked Loose are at least part of the reason that the current hardcore scene has been embracing nu metal lately (I saw them on tour with Slipknot not long ago), so when I heard they were doing a song with rapper Denzel Curry, I wondered if it might end up being kind of a nu metal song. But what it actually ended up being is something much more unpredictable. Before Denzel comes in, “Hive Mind” is actually one of Knocked Loose’s more overtly fast, circle-pit-inducing, hardcore punk songs, and then Denzel (who’s no stranger to working with heavy rock bands) comes in and turns it into a type of rap/rock crossover that really doesn’t sound like what you think of when you hear the term “rap rock.” It’s something new for both artists, and it makes me very curious to hear what else Knocked Loose have up their sleeves this year.

Social Distortion – “Born To Kill”

Social Distortion are finally set to return with Born To Kill, their first album in a whopping fifteen years and first since Mike Ness successfully underwent cancer treatment. It’s amazing news that this band is in full force again, and it’s even more amazing how much Born To Kill‘s title track sounds like classic Social Distortion. It’s a punked-up boogie rocker with lyrical nods to David Bowie, Iggy Pop, and Lou Reed, and it finds Mike Ness’ voice sounding as gritty and unmistakable as ever. Glad to have Social D back, and good reminder to never take any band for granted.

The Menzingers – “Nobody’s Heroes”

It feels like just yesterday that The Menzingers were a rising band carrying the torch for Americana-infused punk bands like Social Distortion, but now The Menzingers are veterans too, and they’re becoming the kind of veterans who you can always rely on to give you new songs that hit the spot. Their latest is “Nobody’s Heroes,” which finds them especially leaning into their heartland/folk rock side, with an especially impassioned delivery from Greg Barnett. It’s a little chilled-out compared to “I Don’t Wanna Be An Asshole Anymore” or “Good Things,” yet still unmistakably Menzingers.

Terror – “Still Suffer”

Very few hardcore bands do it like Terror. In a genre that tends to be youth-oriented and full of bands that break up after just a few years, Terror have been going strong for nearly 25 years and they’re still as much a part of the current hardcore scene as all the bands who formed in the past three years. Their last album Pain Into Power saw them bringing back original guitarist (and Nails frontman) Todd Jones as their producer, and it was widely considered one of the best Terror albums. Todd also produced the upcoming Still Suffer (which has guest vocals from members of Hot Water Music, Mindforce, God’s Hate, and King Nine), and the title track is exactly the kind of ass-kicking, anthemic hardcore song you want from Terror.

I Am The Avalanche – “The Horror Show”

With all due respect to I Am The Avalanche’s vast, impressive catalog, their first album is my favorite and “The Horror Show” might be the most they’ve sounded like that album since that album. The song was written about singer Vinnie Caruana’s best friend passing away “suddenly and unexpectedly,” and he turns that tragedy into some of the most impassioned, impactful songwriting of his entire nearly-30-year career, full stop.

Koyo – “Irreversible”

If you’re into I Am The Avalanche or Vinnie’s other band The Movielife (or The Movielife’s forebears Silent Majority), there’s probably a good chance you’re also into Koyo. But if you’re not, change that now. There’s no band carrying the torch for that exact type of Long Island melodic hardcore/emo than Koyo right now, and they’re sticking to their guns for their upcoming sophomore album Irreversible. “We wanted to refine our strengths instead of doing this purposeful departure,” vocalist Joey Chiaramonte says of the album, and that’s exactly what they do on lead single “Irreversible.”

We’ve got an exclusive clear glitter vinyl variant of the new Koyo album up for pre-order.

Chamber – “Violins”

Nashville’s Chamber have been a big part of the recent aughts-era metalcore revival, and new single “Violins” (off their upcoming album This Is Goodbye…) is one of my favorite songs I’ve heard from them yet. It kicks off with some of the most chaotic mathcore this side of We Are the Romans, and it proceeds to segue into a big clean-sung chorus and then a caveman breakdown. It’s a lot, and it’s over before you know it.

Foo Fighters – “Your Favorite Toy”

Can I really put Foo Fighters in a punk column? I mean, surely a band whose members were in Scream, The Germs, Sunny Day Real Estate, No Use For A Name, and the lesser-known Nirvana at least deserve the consideration. But on a more serious note, “Your Favorite Toy” is a pretty marked shift towards Stooges-derived garage punk, and it’s also one of the more undeniable Foo Fighters songs in recent years (though I thought their last album was very good too). Sometimes the biggest songs are easier to miss than the more niche ones, and I hope you don’t miss this one.

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In an effort to cover as many bands as possible, I try to just do one single per album cycle in these monthly roundups, so catch up on previous months’ lists for even more:

* Best Songs of January

* Best Songs of December

* Best Songs of November

For even more new songs, listen below or subscribe to our playlist of punk/emo/hardcore/etc songs of 2026:

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Read past and future editions of ‘In Defense of the Genre’ here.

Browse our selection of hand-picked punk vinyl.