Staff picks

Forty years ago, metal's cousin punk was branching off. Post-punk and new wave were already pretty established offspring, but hardcore punk is the one which would take the sound to even heavier directions. When this sound peaked is still up for debate, but few albums in 1982 were as explosive and noisy as Bad Brains' debut. Simple in its structures, heavily reliant on massive amounts of outpouring energy, sprinkled with reggae and dub to create a sound that has never been replicated. Not only is this a peak for hardcore and punk in general, a fantastic debut, and a striking genre combination, but also became the go-to black punk band.