(self-titled) CD

Michael Smith formed Pain of Truth out of the wreckage of his old band Hangman in 2020, and this self-titled follow-up to 2023's Not Through Blood doesn't pretend hardcore ever needed reinventing. Will Putney, the Grammy-winning producer behind Knocked Loose, Every Time I Die, and Body Count, handles the boards, and the songs lean straight into 1990s tough-guy hardcore, Dog Eat Dog and Biohazard's blueprint of groove and breakdown.