(self-titled) LP

Michael Smith started Pain of Truth on Long Island in 2020, right after his old band Hangman broke up during the pandemic, and what he built hits like a weight room with a boombox in the corner: tough-guy, beatdown hardcore with 90s groove and hip-hop stitched into the muscle. The 2023 debut Not Through Blood and splits with Age of Apocalypse and Sunami got them noticed, and they've opened for A Day to Remember, Terror and Kublai Khan. The lineup is Smith, guitarists Nik Hansen and Ridge Rhine, bassist Zach Stachura and drummer Nick Barker.