A new year means a new wave of artists ready to shape what comes next. After watching and listening to AP’s 2025 rising artists, like This Is Lorelei, the Paradox, Lambrini Girls, and more, make an impact over the last 12 months, we’ve narrowed down the most exciting rising acts to watch in 2026 — which wasn’t an easy task. Like years past, this list is about discovery — some are hovering on the edge of a breakthrough, others just dropped a debut full-length, and a few are building on momentum that’s been in the making. From Empty Shell Casing and Boyish to I Promised The World and Um, Jennifer?, their sounds stretch across genres, whether it’s dream pop and industrial nü metal to straight-ahead rock and ’90s emo. In one way or another, these are the artists shaping the alt landscape today.
Read more: 50 best albums of 2025
Betón Armé
Though Montreal oi! outfit Béton Armé have been around since 2018, upon releasing their debut full-length, Renaissance, last year, and making their way onto bigger stages, they really started to have legs in the U.S. and beyond. Their sound, a fusion of melodic and classic oi! inspired by the ’80s French skunk, is delivered with uniquely raw, brute energy — perhaps a nod to Biohazard and other NYHC bands vocalist Oli listened to in his formative years. As such, their performances are brash and memorable, as stripped down as the sound itself — introducing fresh, original flavor to a satiating style of punk that’s been boiled down to its purest form. You can catch them in North America again this March, on tour with Drug Church. —Anna Zanes
Bodyweb
Listening to Bodyweb is an experience that’s equal parts suffocating and cathartic — a sound that has the same emotional bite as ’90s and early 2000s metalcore and emo. The hardcore quintet thrive on juxtaposition — pairing abrasive force with moments of release that feel hard-won. The band, which includes members of Higher Power, Big Cheese, Empire State Bastard, Pest Control, and Stiff Meds, note Dystopia and Aphex as influences, a touchstone for their sound. deadwired, their latest release, balances chaos and control, unleashing jagged breakdowns at precisely chosen moments. Each hook lands with purpose, signalling a band not only confident in their direction, but actively building toward something enduring. —Kelsey Barnes
Boyish
While Boyish were making Gun, their debut album released last year, they fell under the spell of Twin Peaks and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. “We wanted the album to feel like a physical place you could go when you listened,” they said, so much so that they created an entire guide to the made-up town. Their time there plays like a fever dream, hinged on touches of opera, huge guitars, and, at the center of it all, a poisonous love story. When the queer duo took those songs on the road, “Prom” quickly became the standout — a song whose swaying, ’80s-flecked melancholy inspired fans to show up with lights and homemade merch. This kind of theatrical heel turn, made with producer Loren Humphrey, is bound to bring them a major year. —Neville Hardman
Cashier
Julia’s War, run by They Are Gutting A Body Of Water frontman Doug Dulgarian, has become a source of intriguing alternative as of late. No two bands sound alike, but they all share a murky throughline that makes them kin. Among them is Cashier, a four-piece out of Lafayette who’ve been making deliriously good rock songs — earning them opening slots for Dinosaur Jr., Nothing, and Hotline TNT (not to mention props from Frank Ocean, who gave them a flood of new fans when he posted their song “Beginner” on Instagram). After a series of loosies, the group recently shared “Like I Do,” the first preview of their debut EP, The Weight, that marries whirling heaviness with enough hooks to gleam through the fuzz.—Neville Hardman
Empty Shell Casing
Of the many groups being swept under the nü-metal “revival” umbrella, Fort Worth’s Empty Shell Casing might be the most exciting. Coming out of the burgeoning Texas DIY scene, this sextet have harvested influences spanning hardcore, grind, and metalcore — which is in the DNA of both their music, and their lawless live sets. ESC’s sound, self-described as “thug metal,” doesn’t bother holding a mirror to the early aughts and the genre’s “big four.” Rather, this group have given scratchy rap-metal a full-blown blood transfusion, and another chance at life. Their latest EP, Empty, arrived last fall — but new music is on the horizon for 2026. In the meantime, catch them on tour this month with Catalyst. —Anna Zanes
False Reality
Vocalist Rachel Rigby commands every second of False Reality’s music, her voice a razor-edge that shifts seamlessly from snarling aggression to melodic clarity. Rooted in London’s hardcore scene, the band have honed a sound that fuses classic hardcore intensity with dynamic arrangements, giving a nod to bands like Poison the Well and Knuckledust for influences on their sound. They spent last year touring with Stick To Your Guns, Heriot, and CKY, and released Faded Intentions, their debut LP, which leans on Rigby’s delivery to drive each song. What’s truly compelling about them is how easily they move between heavier and more melodious moments, crafting a sound that honors the genre they’ve grown up in while aggressively expanding what it can be. —Kelsey Barnes
Febuary
Febuary opened up the first day of Sound and Fury last year, quickly making an impression through heart-wrenching lyricism, fried screamo parts, and post-hardcore heft. At the time, their Run Like a Girl EP,which was repressed this month by Run For Cover imprint Summer Shade, had only been out for a few days, though they’d played countless shows before releasing anything. Meeting through the Las Vegas DIY circuit, it’s clear that Febuary possess deep knowledge of the scenes that’ve come before them — ’90s hardcore, 2010s Tumblr emo — while collecting a cultish fanbase, even foretelling their own hype with the final song on their 2024 debut LP. They just started a winter headlining run, with appearances at Coachella, Something In The Way, and Outbreak ahead. —Neville Hardman
Feels Like Heaven
When three of your members are from another acclaimed band, you already have something to prove. It’s a feat that Feels Like Heaven handle with ease. The band, which includes most of Stockholm’s Speedway, opened 2026 with their debut LP, Within Dreams, a slight pivot toward a more overtly emo-leaning sound, sitting in the space between Anxious and Basement. The production is sharp and unpretentious, giving each track room to hit with force without compromising its emotional weight. Spanning 10 songs in under a half-hour, the record moves with an immediacy that hits hard. It’s the kind of release that makes you reach back for another spin — a confident statement that knows exactly what it wants to be. —Kelsey Barnes
First Day Back
There’s an honesty to Santa Cruz emo outfit First Day Back’s sound that makes it hard to manufacture or duplicate. That authenticity is what makes it so easy to connect with their music, which is likely why the Linda Lindas tipped AP off to them, describing their soaring melodies and pure joy as “contagious.” That joy is buoyed by a deep emotional undercurrent, giving the music heart and heft. Forward, their self-released debut album that came out last year, taps directly into the spirit of second-wave emo without dipping too far into nostalgia. Even if none of the band members were alive during the turn of the millennium, they are making music that sounds like it was plucked straight from that decade. —Kelsey Barnes
Held.
Having yet to officially introduce themselves, post-hardcore trio Held. have been dropping hints of their existence over the last month, ranging from painfully cryptic, like playing an unreleased single during a New Jersey Devils game, to more obvious clues, like posting enigmatic video clips on IG. However, Held. might need less of an introduction than one might think — because these three are scene stalwarts: Douglas Robinson and Sal Mignano of the Sleeping and Coheed And Cambria’s Josh Eppard. This supergroup’s strength, however, isn’t really about its parts, but rather, the Fugazi-meets-Failure flavored sum. Their forthcoming album, GREY, is both fresh and fully realized — and positions these creative vets as tornado chasers, ripping and tearing through the eye of an urgent, volatile, and surprising sonic storm that just won’t let up. Luckily, they’ve got well-honed tools. Eppard’s heady, textural approach with Coheed is at the heart of Held.’s harder-driving, bestial beat. And the dynamic energy that landed the Sleeping on so many video game soundtracks, it’s fully charged. Keep your eyes peeled for their first single — it features a very special guest. —Anna Zanes
High.
Hailing from small-town New Jersey, High. drift confidently between genres, avoiding easy clichés in favor of something more personal and considered. Their shoegaze textures, fuzz-infused melodies, and visceral lyricism have helped them carve out a sound that’s built to linger — tracks that are carefully layered but never overproduced, instilling a tenderness that feels integral to their identity. Last year’s Come Back Down was a heavier turn from past releases, but the melodies and lyricism remain the emotional core — sparse, deliberate, and familiar. With upcoming shows alongside Glare, Flowers for the Dead, and Texas Is the Reason, High. are gathering momentum without losing the subtlety that makes them so compelling. —Kelsey Barnes
I Promised The World
It feels like I Promised The World are on the tip of everyone’s tongue, and not without merit. Another young band born from Texas’ vibrant DIY scene, their screamo-infused post-hardcore captures something raw, emotion-driven, and visceral — think Thursday, Finch, early Senses Fail. But in spite of the gap between their age and sonic references, IPTW don’t stand in anyone’s shadow or feel like a tribute band. Formed in the wake of vocalist/guitarist Caleb Molina’s father’s passing, this group’s focus from the start has remained steadfast: unbridled expression of grief, in all of its stages, and sounds. IPTW’s soft, emo underbelly comes out in melodic moments, as Molina’s voice fumbles fittingly through tough feelings — before they’re cleansed by the fire of vocalist Hunter Wilson’s screaming growl over metalcore breakdowns. In three years, they’ve ascended fast — touring with Koyo, Deafheaven, with the Devil Wears Prada, festivals and headlining slots ahead. Not to mention, they’ve just signed to Rise Records, and last week released an impressive self-titled EP. —Anna Zanes
key vs. locket
Laura Almeida is a 20-something artist from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil who straddles entire worlds, going from digicore to Parannoul-inspired full-lengths to heartfelt Midwestern emo. Since retiring her twikipedia project, she’s pivoted to the latter as key. vs. locket, pursuing the music that she’s always wanted to make. The songs are still expertly home-recorded — 2025’s i felt like a sketch featured guitar, vocals, production, and mixing by the artist — but it’s her blatant mastery of styles that’s the real standout. In October, Almeida performed a one-off show at Brooklyn’s Market Hotel in support of the new album, backed by a full band. The place was packed out, and through fan-shot videos and effusive YouTube comments (“we two step to half enough”), it remains obvious that there’s a cavernous desire for more music. —Neville Hardman
Malick Koly
With just a handful of singles out, Malick Koly has already shown that his musical inner world is intimate and expansive. The New York-based drummer and singer-songwriter’s work, which he describes as “déprave grunge,” is rooted in introspection, with each song shifting between tones that are reminiscent of alt-rock acts of the ’90s and the early aughts. Every track is invigorated by his expertise as a drummer and his education in jazz. It’s his storytelling, though, that sets him apart. Much like the influences he references, there’s a sense of conversation in his songwriting: He doesn’t overperform or overexplain, trusting listeners to meet him halfway. He’s performed alongside artists like hrlum and Crosslegged, and he throws and headlines his own free-to-enter parties in New York just to play shows and show his range. His upcoming music will continue to let the songs speak for themselves, solidifying his voice even further. —Kelsey Barnes
MX LONELY
The members of MX LONELY first met at AA meetings in NYC, naming themselves after vocalist/synthesist Rae Haas’ sleep paralysis demon. Since releasing a gritty pair of EPs that’ve opened up their sound, MX LONELY have fully been leaning into a heavy iteration of ’90s-indebted, guitar-maxed rock that owes much to their love for Deftones, Weezer, and Pixies. The result is huge-sounding, making their lyrics about anxiety, gender dysphoria, and addiction a compelling juxtaposition. The band’s debut album, ALL MONSTERS, arrives next month via Julia’s War, entirely self-recorded to capture the urgency of their live shows, where Haas — inspired by drag performance — does death drops onstage. —Neville Hardman
Prostitute
From the beginning, Prostitute have been nuclear and relentlessly ambitious, falling somewhere between MC5’s Kick Out the Jams and the Armed (the latter of whom they toured with last year). 2024’s Attempted Martyr was the evidence — a pileup of bludgeoning noise, squalling horns, and Arabian rhythm that hit like an anxiety attack, reckoning with a lifetime of bigotry, particularly after 9/11, while growing up in Dearborn, Michigan. Just a year after its release, the group signed to Mute, which will reissue the LP in March, are gearing up for a European spring tour, and are at work on their next album. Teased by vocalist Moe Kazra in a recent interview, “[Attempted Martyr] sounds like a war, but it’s mystical at the same time. We have the same intention with the second album, but with more melody.” —Neville Hardman
Public Opinion
Spawned from the Denver hardcore scene, Public Opinion have spent the last five years growing. Growing their audience, accolades, and miles traveled touring with Alkaline Trio, Spiritual Cramp, and Militarie Gun. Not unlike the latter, Public Opinion’s sound takes the rough edges of their punk roots, and gives them a melodic shine — an amalgamation that’s only become bigger, more anthemic, and brought them closer to the Hives than their contemporaries with each release. Call them proto-punk, emo-adjacent, hardcore-inspired if you must, but this band are begging us to get down to brass tacks. Public Opinion are making straight-up, relentless, rock ’n’ roll. And thank God. Recently, they followed their debut full-length, Painted On Smile, with an aggressive and hooky EP, Perpetual Motion Machine, which listens like a juicy epilogue to the story their LP began. Catch them on tour this spring with Drug Church, White Reaper, and Spy. —Anna Zanes
Racing Mount Pleasant
When Racing Mount Pleasant were coming up in Ann Arbor, they reveled in making tiny rooms sound epic. As they’ve moved on to bigger stages, the intimacy of those DIY house shows has remained, notably when they opened for Geese’s Getting Killed tour this past fall. It’s a feat to watch seven members cram together onstage, operating with a silky chemistry that reflects a group of college friends who once shared a home. They’re still the same band that laid down songs in an old church, using mattresses to create a makeshift isolation booth, but how they weld together jazz, rock, and chamber pop only continues to get sharper. As of last year, the members relocated to Chicago, where they’re already working on the follow-up to last year’s self-titled album. They’ve been teasing a couple of those songs on a headlining jaunt, wrapping with a hometown show at Lincoln Hall on Jan. 31. —Neville Hardman
she’s green
You can always tell when a band favor control over spectacle, and that’s the case for she’s green. With understated arrangements drawing from alternative, dream pop, and indie rock, their music sits in a sort of dichotomy — carving out a space that feels both fragile and self-assured. Subtlety and sincerity do most of the work here. Live footage of the band demonstrates how their music creates a strong impression on its own, without needing overtly grand production or over-the-top performances. Last year, opening for acts like Softcult and Blondshell helped place them in front of audiences primed for emotionally resonant songwriting, and they slipped into that world with ease. With upcoming shows in China and a slot at Slide Away in 2026, their reach is already extending well beyond their local orbit. —Kelsey Barnes
South Arcade
It’s not an easy lift to make 2000s-inspired music in 2026. Especially if you were born post-Y2K — us millennials are tough critics, as we take mallcore nostalgia very seriously. But English band South Arcade have been building toward this moment quietly but deliberately, emerging as a pop-punk band to watch — for fans raised on the Warped Tour era of alternative music, and beyond. The U.K.-based group pull from the neon-lit instincts of early 2000s pop punk and alternative rock, drawing clear lineage from artists like Avril Lavigne’s Let Go era and the polished urgency of bands like Tonight Alive. Beneath the glossy hooks and singalong-ready choruses, especially on their most recent release, there’s a groove-forward, melodic nü-metal element, shaped by influences like Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit surfacing in the band’s dynamic rhythmic punch. Rather than leaning on nostalgia or revivalist aesthetics, South Arcade reframe these reference points through a modern lens, and a shinier, poppier, and more concise production style, for a sound that feels familiar without being derivative. As their audience continues to amass on and offline, and they hit more and more stages around the globe, South Arcade are proving to be a formidable facet of the future pop-punk landscape. —Anna Zanes
Starcleaner Reunion
Self-described as “Euro-pop,” crediting Stereolab as a key influence — you’d be surprised to hear that NYC’s lo-fi Starcleaner Reunion grew up in New Jersey hitting less-than-classy DIY venues like Meatlocker. Since their start a few years back, the band have been building on the avant-pop seedling they’d planted, working as sonic cartologists to expand their band’s musical map with an insatiable eagerness for experimentation. Why not take Club 8 and fuse it with feeble little horse? With that spirit in mind, they found a perfect match in Ruben Radlauer of Model/Actriz on their latest EP, Cafe Life, whose mixing style, and musical style are surprising, multi-layered, and complex, to say the least. Starcleaner Reunion took their core sound and stretched it in all directions, incorporating electronics, grungier rock sounds, sampling rain, sub-bass, ripped synths from an old copy of GarageBand — all from a makeshift home studio. Though DIY runs through their process, where the band really stand apart is in their ability to keep that transportive Euro-pop sound at the forefront. Somehow it’s strange, exciting, laid-back, chic, all at once. —Anna Zanes
Total Wife
At the heart of Total Wife, a shoegaze duo out of Nashville, lies the creative partnership between Luna Kupper and Ash Richter, who’ve known each other since high school. Last year’s come back down was an immersive back-and-forth of breakbeats, jagged riffs, and samples from an unfinished Elliott Smith cover. From front to back, it was an experimental twist on the genre, reconfiguring its ’90s foundation to include all sorts of surprising elements — often using so much digital manipulation that it sounded like their music was leaking from a busted laptop, and then once acclimated to that overload, unafraid to settle into a lush guitar loop or a spate of feedback. “This album is made from a single thought unfolding endlessly,” Kupper says. “I was always trying to remind myself of the initial idea and always fall back on how I felt when I first fell in love with recording.” The pair begin a short tour opening for Sword II in February, expanding their lineup to include a bassist, a second guitarist, and a drummer. —Neville Hardman
This House is Creaking
Last year’s album, I Want to Feel at Home Here, fully laid out This House is Creaking’s warped landscape, splitting the difference between Midwestern emo, Skrillex’s Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites, and the golden era of shoegaze. Self-released by Chicago duo Micah Miller and Ehmed Nauman, it’s a disarming project from start to end, perfect in its gnarled, pedal-soaked fuzz and glitchy experimentation that ultimately make way for bouncy pop bits, resulting in a delirious bliss. They’ve been bringing those sounds to the stage as of late, having made fans out of Water From Your Eyes, feeble little horse, and DIIV, naturally. As of now, THiC will play Tomorrow Never Knows and a benefit show for Noise for Now, both in their hometown, and teased that new music is on the way. —Neville Hardman
Truck Violence
Truck Violence are an enigmatic ode to the prairieland of Western Canada, an often misunderstood landscape to which the members are still tethered in many ways, though they now call Montreal home. Unraveling the dichotomy between their roots and city life, their music reflects and reacts to uneasy realities like addiction and abuse with sonic depth and unflinching intensity. It’s both brutalist and elegant, an avant-garde blend of brash, sludgy metal and bluegrass, with ’gazey moments of blurry melancholia. Their debut album, Violence, delivers — jagged shifts and crushing breakdowns are layered with intricate harmonics, and pained, shattering screams, astutely balanced by the Mona Lisa smile of a stripped-down, melodic song. Though adjacent to their experimental metal contemporaries, Agriculture, Chat Pile, and Show Me The Body, the space Truck Violence owns is uniquely theirs. The Parnassian music they make is an inherently emotional and sonic expression of their rough-hewn experience, spanning introspective, somber acoustic tracks and ferocious, high-voltage anthems. Alongside Canadian alt-royalty Alexisonfire, they’ll be heading to the U.K. for this year’s Outbreak Fest. —Anna Zanes
Um, Jennifer?
The origin behind Um, Jennifer? is classic: Eli Scarpati and Fig Regan met at a party in Brooklyn, where Scarpati wanted to hook up with Regan’s friend. Instead, the duo got a room, working out unfiltered and sarcastic punk songs to please their vengeful god, Jennifer, most recently on 2025’s Um Comma Jennifer Question Mark. Beneath all the humor, though, lies a genuine message: “Everything I do is for trans people, and so I hope especially young trans people listen to this and feel like there is a life outside of suffering and a life outside of detransition and a life outside of having to repress your natural experience at the hands of a government and a culture that wants us gone… If we can offer a little bit of a musical hug or a confidence boost, that’s what I want people to get out of this.” Their next single, “Comedy 42,” arrives Feb. 13. —Neville Hardman
WHATMORE
Listening to WHATMORE is to listen to all the best parts of New York and the music within it. For the NYC outfit, who are blurring the lines between indie rock, hip-hop, and R&B, they are rooted in experimentation. Every member comes from different parts of New York and has experience in varying genres — jazz, hip-hop, rock, R&B, and beyond — making WHATMORE a melting pot of sorts. Thanks to that, their songs always keep you on your toes without feeling scattered — each risk is anchored by intent, and each turn is purposeful. On their 2025 self-titled debut, they are sharp and controlled, weaving quick dynamic shifts that keep us locked in. But what makes WHATMORE particularly compelling is their fearlessness and open mind, refusing to become static.—Kelsey Barnes
