In the summer of 2020, as the country shut down due to COVID-19, the largest wave of protests in years erupted in the aftermath of George Floyd's murder. We all saw it on the news, and some of you may have taken part in the demonstrations that spread across the country. While many people eventually moved on and politicians' promises rang hollow, others never gave up the fight. The hardcore scene, in particular, has continued to stand behind those causes.
Out of that movement came Unhinged, a sludge-influenced hardcore band from Boston whose members participated in the 2020 uprisings and have remained politically active for more than a decade.
Unhinged was formed by drummer/vocalist Yaakov and guitarist Mandy, who first met during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests before officially forming the band in 2022, once shows resumed. They began rehearsing in perhaps the harshest, most unforgiving locale in the city: an Allston basement. Explaining the band's name, Yaakov says, "We practiced in a makeshift room down there that had just a slab of wood for a door. It's kind of stupid, but that's where the name came from. It was the door that was unhinged." (Laughs.) With Mandy coming from a death/doom background, the band naturally leaned into those influences while injecting them with the furious, mosh-heavy energy of '90s and 2000s Boston hardcore.
Speaking on this unusual blend of influences, Yaakov explains, "It's kind of inevitable that if you start a hardcore band with a doom metal guitarist, you're going to end up with a sludge band, so we just ran with it. EHG is in all three of our top heavy band lists, and their particular style of Sabbath/Flag worship isn't something a lot of modern sludge bands emulate, so we decided to put a Boston hardcore spin on that. The bluesy metal riffs and faster, punkier parts we got from EHG, the stompy two-steps and heavy mosh parts we got from BHC."
Those blues-influenced riffs make for some of the record's most memorable breakdowns, while the thick, sludgy production reinforces the band's sound. At times, it's reminiscent of the slower material on Blood for Blood's Spit My Last Breath, with the same brooding hostility, contempt for society, and crushing riffage. The band also recorded a cover of Product of Waste's "Them," one of the Rhode Island hardcore band's most confrontational tracks.
Lyrically, Unhinged backs up its political message with action. Yaakov isn't simply voicing his frustration with the world around him—he's searching for solutions, something that has long set hardcore apart.
"We're not just naming the problems, which punk and hardcore has done forever, but also pushing for solutions," Mandy explains. "On Sinister Forces we talk about breaking the capitalist two-party dictatorship, Palestinian resistance, the connections between the war economy and poverty, organizing with all workers to reconstruct a new system, and overcoming the urge to suicide—because if we don't stay alive and fight, they win."
One of the record's standout tracks is "Will & Testament." It opens with slow-building, Sabbath-inspired riffs that evoke isolation and despair before shifting into a relentless two-step section as Yaakov delivers what could very well be his final statement, reflecting on the struggle behind him as well as the one still ahead: "I fight for tomorrows I'll never see. One day death will set me free. I know I'm doomed. There's no saving me. May my blood water the seeds that will bloom in a land finally free."
Everything that makes Unhinged compelling is on display in "Will & Testament." It's one of Sinister Forces' most affecting songs, capturing both the overwhelming weight of the struggle and the determination to keep fighting for working-class power.
Their blend of hardcore and sludge metal already sets Unhinged apart from many of their peers, but what's even more interesting is how they present themselves live. With Yaakov pulling double duty behind the kit and on vocals, you'd think getting a crowd fired up would be a challenge, but Unhinged never has that problem. Between lyrics condemning government overreach and bluesy, crushing breakdowns, the band knows exactly how to get a room moving.
"At our best shows we've set up a mic for the crowd, and kids completely take over for verses or even full songs," Yaakov explains. "It's our way of bringing the traditional hardcore dogpile to our setup. Those moments have always been incredible because they capture the best part of hardcore—blurring the line between performer and audience, and bringing the two together as a united community."
Knowing they had to get creative with crowd interaction, Unhinged leaned into Yaakov's willingness to step away from the drums. That led to the band's closer, "A Certain Amount of Madness."
"Our closing song on Sinister Forces contains a spoken-word break where Yaakov goes off on a political rant," Mandy says. "We wrote the song so he could leave the kit and get into the crowd more like a traditional frontman, speaking about the biggest issues of the moment. We used to close our sets with it a lot more, but as we've incorporated more of that message into our newer songs, we've played it less. We didn't want it to become a gimmick. At one of our favorite shows ever, at the Cambridge Community Center, kids basically demanded we play it, which was really special because it meant the song resonated with them."
Watching a vocalist jump into the crowd is standard practice at a hardcore show. Watching the drummer step out from behind the kit with murder in his eyes is another story. Having shared plenty of pits with Yaakov over the years, I can tell you he's never been afraid to get bloody, and this song gives Unhinged the perfect opportunity to turn that energy loose.
With Sinister Forces approaching its first anniversary, the band has announced its first-ever vinyl pressing, a project completed entirely in-house. "Yaakov used to be a radio DJ with an all-vinyl hardcore show on WHRB Cambridge, so he wasn't going to be satisfied until he could spin the wax," Mandy explains. "We funded it ourselves, so it's going to be a single limited run that you can only buy at shows."
The vinyl release coincides with Unhinged's appearance tonight (August 7) at Somergloom Festival in Somerville, where they'll open for Dropdead alongside Miracle Blood, Severed Boy, and KO Queen.
Alongside all of these announcements, Unhinged is also putting the finishing touches on its second EP, due out this fall. Speaking about the new material, Mandy says, "It's a six-song EP called Anger Is Not Enough. If you've seen us play in the past year, you've already heard a couple of the songs. Lyrically, it builds on the foundation we laid with Sinister Forces, speaking to the strategy it takes to win a liberation struggle, the danger of Americanism as a distinct kind of fascism, keeping revolutionary optimism alive in the face of repression, and taking a hard look at our own subculture to see where it has failed us. There's also a special cover we're keeping under wraps for now. If you can guess which band and song without Yaakov having spilled the beans, you get a free record when it comes out."
Between their personal lives, political organizing, and the day-to-day struggle of simply getting by, Unhinged has built an impressive amount of momentum while staying committed to its principles. The band plans to remain just as busy through the rest of 2026.
"We're gonna drop this EP by the end of summer or early fall, rip some benefit gigs at the Midway, O'Brien's, the Cambridge Community Center, and/or Middle East Upstairs, maybe do an end-of-year weekender out to upstate New York, and keep up our organizing work. We're all involved with a campaign to elect a socialist candidate for Senate, Joe Tache, so that'll keep us busy in addition to the day-to-day organizing in Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville where we each live."
Unhinged occupies an interesting lane within today's hardcore landscape. Their combination of sludge metal and Boston Hardcore gives them a distinct identity, while their commitment to activism extends far beyond the lyrics. They're the kind of band people end up talking about outside the venue after the set—the "sludgy hardcore band" everyone tells their friends they need to see next time.
Check out Sinister Forces, available now on all streaming platforms, and keep an eye on Unhinged's social media for updates on Anger Is Not Enough, upcoming shows, and future organizing efforts.
Unhinged would also like to shout out Care For, Latch, Vicegrip, Neighborhood Shit, Billy, Move BHC, Silent Spring, Helldog, Stryga, No Chain, Praxis, Impulse Control, Aces High, Downburst, Bracer (coming soon), A Monolithic Dome, Knelt, Half Step, Lark's Head, ICBM, DOD, Mulching, Trollmilk, Search Warrant, Can't Lose, Satiate, and the young bands in Breakout From Oppression and Step First.
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Unhinged on social media: Instagram
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