One cool thing about hardcore: It’s a genre where a band can still get a ton of attention thanks to a single demo. Case in point: Ekulu. Ekulu are a New York-based hardcore band, and members of the group have spent time in a bunch of different well-regarded groups: Candy, Ecostrike, Glory, Illusion. But the reason why Ekulu are booked at pretty much every American hardcore festival this year isn’t because it’s some all-star enterprise. (It’s really not. None of those other bands are huge.) They’re booked because they released a three-song demo last year, and it absolutely crushed. (Triple B ended up releasing that demo as a 7″.) And now they’ve got two new songs, and those crush, too.

Ekulu exist within a grand tradition of hard, anthemic, metal-infused New York hardcore, and like a lot of the best hardcore bands currently working, they’ve got some ’80s thrash in their DNA. And their recordings sound heavy and clean, not raspy and lo-fi. They’ve just come out with two new songs, “Half Alive” and “Emulation,” that make me want to stand in the middle of the highway and headbutt an 18-wheeler. Listen to them below.

“Half Alive” and “Emulation” are out now on Triple B, and you can get them at Bandcamp.