The 20 best rock songs right now

Next month (April 8) The Linda Lindas will release their debut album, Growing Up. This title track is an effervescent ode to being carefree and making your own way in life.

There comes a time in history where good wishes do nothing to stop people suffering and yet it’s all we really have to offer sometimes. Louisville, KY straight-edge hardcore band Inclination tackle that feeling of helplessness on this ferocious single, which features as part of an EP called A Glimpse Through The Lens, out now.

"Blow me away / Too shy for the stage, too careful to be brave," Canadian-Korean artist Luna Li sings on her massive new song. The track, a collaboration with beabadoobee, is a celebration of all things gentle but delivers the message with a sledgehammer production with guitar solos and fuzz leading the charge.

Enumclaw's Aramis Johnson finds himself between good and evil on the lo-fi indie rock “2002” as he wakes up and considers a world of misdeeds that lay before him. The devil and God are raging inside and it doesn’t seem like the guy in white stands much chance of winning this battle.

Andy Shauf is standing at the gates of hell and ready to take the step through to the other side. Singing about the devil’s offer of some fun-sized candy and how a life of fiery damnation is his new reality, Shauf paints a vivid picture and somehow makes the idea of swimming in a big lake of fire seem enticing. That’s quite a skill he has.

Taken from the band’s forthcoming album Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky, out May 20 via Secretly Canadian, “Back To The Radio” is a reminder of what makes Porridge Radio so special. In Dana Margolin they have a front person who can deliver emotion in its rawest form. She dominates this song, spewing her feelings across the page and her band’s backing track as if it’s the sole place her thoughts and feelings make sense to her. As the song builds and builds a sense of being brought into someone else’s headspace takes over until the whole thing reaches a critical mass and slowly climbs down from its peak.

Romero’s power-pop anthemics and heavy metal riffs take their cues from Thin Lizzy and, for a more recent name, Sheer Mag. This is a great thing. The world needs more straight up fun bands. Dig your leather jacket out of storage ahead of Romero’s debut album (also named Turn It On! on April 8.

Cola’s debut album Deep View drops May 20 and this jittery post-punk moment suggests it’s going to be an instant hit.

Exide first made themselves heard back in early 2020, shortly before the whole world turned upside down. It’s been a minute but they’re back with new music and teasing an upcoming album. “Uncoil” is full of energy and fast-paced riffs, drawing comparisons to TURNSTILE plus scene veterans Helmet and Snapcase. Press play for chaos, basically.

"Any Day Now" is from hardcore-adjacent band SPICE's new album Viv, out May 20 on Dais Records. This lead single is packed with longing and sadness, buried deep beneath the squall of guitar and upbeat melodies.

It’s perhaps unsurprising that the artists bunched together under the micro genre tag bedroom pop have gone on to explore radically different lanes once they gained access to more traditional set-ups. Grace Ives continues this trend with a synth-y new single that’s unafraid to get grimy, too. In a statement, Ives says she wrote the song while “living in a bed bug infested apartment, withdrawing from SSRIs, not sleeping. There’s nowhere to go but up.”

There are no half measures with Sadness’ Damián Ojeda who this past month contributed a 20 minute track as part of a split release with fellow atmospheric black metal act Unreqvited. “Redroom Autumn Tensions” is full of tension and release, owing as much to the post-rock cinematics of, say Mogwai, as it does the more traditional black metal sound.

Just Mustard is both Ireland’s buzziest new band and the world’s worst menu order. “Still” is much better than that terrible joke and arrives ahead of the group’s debut album Heart Under, out 27 May on Partisan Records.

London punks Chubby and the Gang showed their romantic side with special Valentine’s themed EP Labour Of Love this month. “Who Loves Ya (Coup d'état)” compares a relationship to biting down on train tracks which, if nothing wlse, is surely unqiue in a love song.

“K.M.B.” stands for Kill My Boyfriend and, to underline that point, U.K. grunge duo Nova Twins have explained the song “will stitch-up the hearts of the heartbroken, teaching the ones who broke it a lesson.” The band will share their second album Supernova on June 17.

Oso Oso’s Basking In The Glow was one of the best emo/pop-punk albums of 2019. On the record frontman Jade Lilitri committed to a better life, marrying his journey towards happiness with sunshine melodies and open chords. New song “pensacola'' starts in less positive terrain, with Lilitri having just $79 to his name and needing to show someone close to him that he can change. There’s an undeniable sadness that runs throughout but the hooks remain luminescent and I’m excited to hear what comes next.

“Rockstar” sends up the whole idea of becoming a big name idol, guitar solos and all, while also making it clear that the members of Momma would actually love to be living the cliche. Now that’s honesty.

Fresh from touring with Big Thief’s Adrianne Lenker, Lutalo is prepping a new EP (Once Now, Then Again

Tobias Dray is a French TikTok musician whose sound is ever-evolving. This month he dropped “Espada Primo,” which has scuzzy riffs and “woah-oh” vocals that sound like something Beck would have put out in the ‘90s. Who knows where Dray goes in the future but sometimes the fun is in catching artists in an inspired creative moment. “Espada Primo” is brimming with that energy.

NYC death metal band Undeath like to throw in some laughs amid their blood-soaked riffs. “Head Splattered In Seven Ways” is pure nightmare fodder, a heavy AF rager that comes with a video featuring more bloody violence than anything a metatextual horror movie remake could hope to deliver right now.