Turnstile
“Never Enough” (Roadrunner Records, 2025)

To talk about Turnstile is not so much to talk about evolution, but about metamorphosis. These lads came out of the Baltimore hardcore scene, gritty, raw, full of sweat and spirit, and ended up with a billboard on bloody Sunset Boulevard. What the actual hell is that?! You feel me? No hate, just jaw-dropping awe at how far they've come. It's surreal. It’s insane. It’s inspiring.

So here's the million-dollar question: Are they still hardcore?

Honestly? Who cares. Music is music. If it moves you, if it hits a nerve and leaves a mark, that’s what matters. But sure, for argument’s sake: do they still carry that old-school hardcore DNA? I believe they do. They’ve just refused to be cornered by the Scene or pressured into releasing the same record over and over again. And that, in itself, is punk as hell.

Turnstile didn’t follow a script. They wrote a new one.

When "Glow On" dropped, it hit me like a ten-ton existential hug. It had range, it had soul, it had weight and warmth and weirdness in equal measure. It didn’t care about genre purity. It just existed, honestly, vulnerably, and people felt it. They played Outbreak and other hardcore fests, and fans went wild. Because real punk and hardcore isn’t about gatekeeping, it’s about liberation. It’s about saying “no” to what the world tells you to be. And Turnstile shouted that “no” beautifully.

Then came "Never Enough", released on June 6, 2025. And I’ll be honest, my first thought was: “Ah, this is just "Glow On", Part II.” That mindset almost blocked me from hearing the brilliance. Because yes, it follows a similar thread. Yes, it leans into their now-signature sound. But it still slaps. It's still brilliant, because it flows with ease. It doesn’t ask the listener to decode 12 layers of tech-metal complexity. It just connects.

That’s not to say it lacks substance. Turnstile know exactly what they're doing. They make emotionally resonant, rhythmically infectious, and genuinely joyful music. And that joy is contagious.

So what’s "Never Enough", really?

It’s a dream. A ride. A burst of love. It’s full of peace and freedom, but it never loses its pulse. It's a record that radiates light without being soft, that expresses care without losing its edge. It's hardcore, it’s pop, it’s punk, it’s Turnstile, doing whatever the hell Turnstile want to do.

And if that's not enough for you, maybe you're the one who's not hardcore anymore.