Ace Stallings, a guy who I’m friendly with, does a whole lot for the hardcore community, both in his Richmond hometown and in his new adapted home in the Bay Area. Stallings books shows, does the great Forum Of Passion podcast, and sings in a bunch of bands. Last year, Age Of Decay, the debut from the Stallings-fronted Sentinel, was an Album Of The Week over here. A couple of months ago, he released the debut EP from his goth-punk project Rose Chamber. But Mutually Assured Destruction is Ace Stallings’ new band, and they have a monster of a new EP out today.

MAD’s style is heavy, crunchy metallic hardcore with a serious groove to it. When Lamb Of God’s Randy Blythe guested on one of their songs, it made total sense. MAD dropped their awesome full-length debut Ascension in 2022, and they had a new banger on a Flatspot compilation last year. Now, they’ve released an absolutely mean new three-track head-wrecker called Hexer. This record will only take up 10 minutes of your time, but it will make you feel like a giant bulletproof ogre, throwing boulders at jet fighters and knocking them out of the sky. Listen below.

The Hexer EP is out now on Creator-Destructor Records. MAD will play Greensboro’s Overcome Fest next weekend.