Vinyl Colour: green
Release: 2016
Label: Painkiller Records
New Breed-style NYHC has now been entrenched as a stylistic mainstay for hardcore bands longer than the original Lower East Side heyday actually lasted, and it will probably remain that way as long as hardcore continues to be a means of expression for young people. But while plenty of bands continue to dip into that plentiful well, few do it as well as NYC Headhunters who have an uncanny knack for knowing the right times to dress things up and when to dumb them down. Comprised of personnel from The Rival Mob, Step Forward and plenty more, and backed by the expected, period-appropriate production, their debut 7" manages to tap the vein of raw, late-'80s NYHC without sounding rote or tired 30 years after the fact. Not retro, just timeless.