The future is now. Like clockwork, every year-end comes with the trumpeting of the red-hot young guns set to smash the next 365 days. As we stare into 2022, however, there’s something authentically different about the crop of musicians stepping up to make their mark on heavy music. Genre boundaries are crumbling, yes, with sounds like grime and grindcore, pop and powerviolence more comfortable bedfellows than at any other time in music history. So too are the invisible cultural walls that have too long kept people apart on the arbitrary grounds of race and religion, gender and sexuality. Punk and metal are meant to celebrate the alternative, and, through a tidal wave of new outsiders, alternative music feels more unpredictable and exciting than it has in years. So, although ...
