No guests, a new producer and their own name on the cover: Long Island’s hardcore heavyweights bet everything on themselves, and it pays off….

Words by Felix Bartlett | Sep 23, 2026

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Three years is a long time in hardcore. When Pain Of Truth released Not Through Blood in 2023, much of the conversation was about who else turned up on it. A roll call of New York scene veterans lent their voices to a young band, and it felt like the old guard passing on its blessing. Their second album makes a different kind of statement. Nobody else gets near the mic this time, and the band have simply put their own name on the front.

The other big change is behind the desk. The debut was cut in Chicago with Andy Nelson. This one was produced by Will Putney, whose track record (Body Count, Counterparts, Knocked Loose) tells you plenty about the size of the rooms Pain Of Truth now have in their sights. The result is cleaner and more open, with every breakdown given space to hit properly. Anyone worried that polish means softening can relax. This is still music built for bruises.

Unforgiven shows the balance best. Its chorus edges towards something you could almost call a melody, while the parts underneath are as ugly as anything the band have done. Michael Brian Smith has said he wrote it to offer hope in horrible times, and that idea of uplift delivered with a clenched fist runs through the whole album. Fed By Fear turns the anger outward, taking aim at oppression and the divisions it feeds on. Chinatown, NY needs no explanation of where the band’s loyalties lie.

There are no real detours here, and that’s the point. By the time closer Destroy It All brings the shutters down in a squall of guitar noise, Pain Of Truth have given their testimony in full. The jury won’t need long.

Verdict: 💀💀💀💀💀

For fans of: Madball, Agnostic Front, Knocked Loose

Pain Of Truth is released on September 25 via DAZE.