Commando - Come Out Fighting

I have plenty of criticisms of the fleeting nature of music in digital formats, but I'm willing to admit that services like Bandcamp have made it much easier to track down demos that I might otherwise only get my hands on by going to shows in places I don't live. Commando's Come Out Fighting demo is a great example. It's only been posted for a couple of weeks, is not currently available in any physical format (though tapes are on the way soon) and the band just played their first show this week. Meanwhile, I'm sitting here 1,400 miles away enjoying these four songs just like I would anything else in my collection. Yay technology! As for those songs, they strike that critical balance between punk and hardcore that so many bands are striving for. These tracks are rough, tough stompers, but with a healthy dose of melody too. It's hardcore for punks, if that makes any sense. -- Adam Eisenberg

GWAR - War Party

Man, things are messed up in the USA right now. Things are REALLY messed up. It used to be that every four years, no matter how chaotic, frantic, and ugly the election was, you could always count on GWAR to put the candidates in their place. I'll never forget the "Electile Dysfunction" tour, that culminated in President Obama and Hillary Clinton fighting to the death (and of course GWAR had their way with the mutilated corpses). GWAR's political skewering reached its apex with the 2004 masterpiece War Party. On that album, GWAR decided to give humanity what it had been craving for eons: oblivion. GWAR formed a political party ran a campaign with the platform solely being the extinction of the human race. GWAR is always at its best when acting as a mirror for humanity. But now, quite sadly, Oderus Urungus has passed away and in the current clime, we need his brutal, insightful wit more than ever. -- John Gentile

Richard Hell and the Voidoids - Blank Generation

The best thing about HBO’s "Vinyl" is it inspired me to revisit Richard Hell. After Hell panned the premiere of the show, I threw on Blank Generation, which still sounds great almost 40 years later. Then I went down a rabbit hole, checking out his autobiography, the incredibly titled "I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp," and his second album Destiny Street, which I admittedly had never heard before. Still, Blank Generation is his most famous work for good reason. He and the Voidoids were the beginning of New York punk rock. Songs like “Blank Generation” and “New Pleasure” document what CBGB was like before John Varvatos took over the space. Robert Quine’s guitar work is incredible, but it’s the snotty energy that’s inspired generations, from the Sex Pistols to James Jagger. -- Nick Poyner

Morning Glory - Born to December

Morning Glory’s upcoming release Post War Psalms is easily my most anticipated EP of 2016. So in preparation I’ve been listening to their discography (more than I usually do) from Tha Suicide Singles and The Whole World Is Watching to Poets Were My Heroes and War Psalms. Some people like the early Morning Glory material and some like their newer stuff more. Personally, I love it all. Ezra Kire can do no wrong as far as I’m concerned. Though I do really enjoy the whole M-Glory catalogue I keep finding myself coming back to the Born To December 7-inch -- a release that in my opinion was criminally overlooked when it came out in 2013. And it’s not just the big, ballad-y title track that I am talking about. It’s those two B-sides “Jesus Christ Boogie (O Aneurysm!)” and “Sara Says” that deserve a lot of credit for making this EP as great as it is. Both of them have very catchy hooks, those screaming guitar octaves, and those great anthemic melodies that only Morning Glory can pull off. It should be very interesting to see how this EP and Post War Psalms compare (along with the rest of the band’s releases) when it comes out. And once it does, all this band needs to do is tour…like a lot more than they have since War Psalms came out because at least from what I have seen online they put on an awesome show. -- Ricky Frankel

The Record Collection - Revolutions

Everyone has a friend who seems permanently down, whether they happen to be angry or depressed depends more on the content of the alcohol they consumed rather than the context of the situation… Well my friend Thomas was once that guy. Over the last couple of years he has snapped out of the funk that he was in for the last decade. I am not sure if his shift in temperament was due to just getting older/more mellow or because he started writing amazing punk-fueled rock and roll jams with a great bunch of dudes, The Record Collection, but whatever the reason I am really excited that he is in a better place and that he is making some excellent tunes. -- Adam Gecking, Say-10 Records