A year ago, Gridiron seemed like a side project. The hardcore band, formed during the pandemic, features members of bigger bands like Never Ending Game, Year Of The Knife, and Payback, and those members are split across the states of Michigan and Pennsylvania. But after releasing their 2020 demo and their 2021 split with Despize, Gridiron have emerged as a force in themselves. After a few crazy sets at a few high-profile hardcore shows, Gridiron have now announced plans to release their first full-length, and they’ve just dropped its extremely hard opening track.

Gridiron’s LP is called No Good At Goodbyes, and it’s set to arrive one month from today. The album-opening title track works as a statement of intent. “No Good At Goodbyes” is heavy, hard-stomping, rap-influenced hardcore, and it’s not the tiniest bit embarrassed about the “rap-influenced” part. A lot of people are going to want to make nü-metal comparisons, but to my ears, “No Good At Goodbyes” has more in common with pre-nü-metal bands like Rage Against The Machine and (especially) Downset. Listen to the song below.

TRACKLIST
01 “No Good At Goodbyes”
02 “Trench”
03 “Helta Skelta”
04 “Brothers In Arms (12th Man)”
05 “25/8”
06 “Triple Threat”
07 “Battle Hardened”
08 “Faceless Enemy (Remix)”
09 “Hate Sells”

No Good At Goodbyes is out 3/28 on Triple B Records.