Contention Share Awesome New Surprise EP Nuclear Summer

Last weekend was Sound And Fury weekend, the moment for the gigantic Los Angeles festival that remains the biggest annual item on the hardcore calendar. We're deep in the afterglow. Haywire and God's Hate have both dropped new music since playing Sound And Fury, and now that list also includes the fiery Tampa straight-edge crew Contention.Contention bring wild-eyed, idealistic commitment to '90s-style heavy hardcore, and their fucking awesome full-length Artillery From Heaven was one of my favorite hardcore albums of 2024. Last night, the band announced that they'd have a new EP called Nuclear Summer out at midnight. It's here now, and it's fucking awesome.Nuclear Summer has two absolutely crushing new songs, "Second Sun" and "Blank Stare," as well as a cover of the Swarm's 1999 straight-edge anthem "Upside Your Head," along with its "X On Our Knees" intro. This is some primal, intense, deeply satisfying mosh music. Here's what vocalist Cosmo Vidussi says about it:Modernity brings no enlightenment, only more refined methods of annihilation. Annihilation of the enemy. Annihilation of the self. Our leaders have shed their increasingly thin facades of humanity. The masses shamble thro...