Every year, there are five or six hardcore festivals that serve as focal points for the entire genre. The hardcore years starts off with Tampa’s FYA Fest, which has already unveiled a 2024 lineup led by Trapped Under Ice and Maryland death metal heroes Dying Fetus. Now, Louisville’s LDB Fest, the second of those big annual hardcore marathons, has unveiled a supremely heavy lineup of its own.

Last year’s LDB Fest had local heroes Knocked Loose celebrating their 10th anniversary as a band. This year, the big draw is Hatebreed, the heavy hardcore pioneers who serve as inspirations for most of the bands on the bill. Hatebreed tour all the time, but it’s a different thing when they play a hardcore festival. Obituary, the Florida death metal originators beloved within the hardcore world, will also make a rare hardcore-show appearance. (I guess you could call that the Dying Fetus slot.) Brothers Taylor and Colin Young’s reactivated Twitching Tongues are also up there in a headlining spot, as are grassroots Bay Area phenomenon Sunami.

The rest of the LDB lineup — now known as LDBBB, with Triple B Records helping to promote — has many of the present-day hardcore and hardcore-adjacent bands that you need to know if you follow the genre. The bill includes Angel Du$t, Fiddlehead, Militarie Gun, Mindforce, Anxious, Harm’s Way, Gates To Hell, Koyo, Never Ending Game, One Step Closer, Pain Of Truth, MSPAINT, Sanguisugabogg, Gridiron, Soul Blind, Big Boy, Scarab, Ends Of Sanity, Apex Predator, Balmora, Domain, Heads Will Roll, Hold My Own, Missing Link, Surfaced, and Two Witnesses. New York hardcore bruisers King Nine will play a special set celebrating the 10th anniversary of their album Scared To Death. Knocked Loose aren’t on this year’s bill, but xWeaponx and Inclination, two Louisville bands feature KL members, are on there. You can find all the relevant info here.