It was a great year for music, but everything felt a little more splintered this year, and in fact, picking a #1 album this year felt harder than it has in a while. Instead of a few major, dominant moments, we had the indie-country boom hitting a new peak, the biggest year for black metal in a while, the best year for emo in a while
Ontario emo band Arm's Length released their second album There's A Whole World Out There in May, and they've announced a 2026 tour supporting it. They'll be joined for the shows by experimental mathcore-and-more band The Callous Daoboys, Normal, IL emo band Harrison Gordon, and their Pure Noise labelmates Super Sometimes. See all dates below. The NYC show is at Warsaw on April 25. Tickets to all dates go on sale Friday, December 12 at 10 AM local, with various presales starting today (12/9) at 12 PM local.
The same month that The Blood Brothers released the instant classic Burn Piano Island, Burn, they got back in the studio (this time with Sleater-Kinney/Bikini Kill producer John Goodmanson) and proved that they clean up good. Crimes is just about as chaotic as its predecessor, but everything sounds a little cleaner and Jordan Blilie and Johnny Whitney's voices veer closer to what the average person would call "singing," though cleaning up did not mean watering anything down.
This Saturday, rock trio Blueberry will showcase their unique style of "fruit flavored punk rock," blending melodic emo with upbeat punk tracks infused with 8-bit sounds.
The narrative and aesthetic style of My Chemical Romance, infused with theatricality and emotional intensity, resonated deeply with teenagers seeking expression through music.