Rival Pack doesn’t waste time pretending they’re reinventing the wheel. They just make sure it hits the ground hard. Burn, out June 20 via Thrash Out Records, is ten tracks of scorched-earth hardcore from the West Netherlands scene. It’s the kind of music that takes years of damage, pressure, and buried grief, and turns it into something upright, loud, and real.

The band formed in 2019 when Kevin (vocals) and Luc (drums) started writing again. They weren’t chasing a trend, they just needed to feel something. What followed was a quiet kind of resurrection. Kevin’s brother Perry (guitar) and bassist Barry, both from their former band Bound in Blood, returned after years away. Merijn, a kid who used to watch them from the pit, joined on guitar. Matty, another longtime fan, handles merch. There’s history here - not the press-release kind, but the kind that leaves a scar.

The record they made doesn’t pull from a single subgenre. It’s rooted in the spirit of late ’90s/early ’00s hardcore - shout-along urgency, unvarnished production, that sense that every second matters. But Burn is less about nostalgia and more about release. These are songs for people who’ve held it all in for too long.

Tracks like “Too Strong,” “Free From Pain,” and “No One Else” deal in blunt force and precision. But even at its loudest, the album holds a specific kind of warmth - not comfort, but commitment. Kevin, who works as a blacksmith and fight choreographer, isn’t interested in weak, empty gestures. His voice feels lived-in, like someone who’s had to start over more than once.

The record’s centerpiece, “Burn,” features Thiago Monstrinho from Worst, and it’s a mission statement: there’s no glory in pretending to be okay. Just the slow work of becoming someone who can stand in the fire without lying about the heat.
 

Burn is heavy, but not hopeless. Rival Pack knows there’s no easy catharsis. They just believe that maybe, with enough volume and enough honesty, you can find a way through.