Lo-fi hardcore is a great thing. When a piece of recorded music can make you feel like you’re mashed up against the wall in a basement and pushing your friends around while some band is playing on the world’s shittiest PA system, that feels good. But when a hardcore band brings that same intensity and makes it sound huge and overwhelming, that can be even better. And that’s what Inclination do on the new EP When Fear Turns To Confidence.

Inclination are a straight edge band from Louisville, and they play hardcore in the grand metal-influenced ’90s mosh-music tradition. They have huge riffs and gang-chant choruses and monstrous spinkick-inducing breakdowns. They’ve also got the dynamic range to, for instance, begin a record with a delicately proggy acoustic intro, so that it’ll punch all the harder when the riff comes in. Inclination are pretty new to the scene, and they released their debut EP Midwest Straight Edge in 2017. And yesterday, without prior warning, they followed it up with the titanic new EP When Fear Turns To Confidence. This thing rips so hard, and you can stream it below.

The When Fear Turns To Confidence EP is out now on Pure Noise.