100 Greatest Songs of the 20’s So Far #76 Gel – Bitchmade

Released: 2021

Gel’s announcement that they had ceased all activity was a kick in the guts to hardcore as well as themselves. It’s a scene which by definition is small and close knit, and one which outsiders are usually welcome to, but rarely visit. Life for most artists hasn’t changed much from the way the trailblazers did it over 40 years ago; get in the van and play wherever they’ll let you.

Whilst you can argue about whether anyone ever truly breaks out, the New Jersey quintet had in the few years of their existence crept further up bills and experienced relative succeess, although following their final statement we now understand that all of this came with a very human cost behind the scenes.

Bitchmade was the standout track from their first official release, the Violent Closure EP which became available in 2021. Part of a chaotic 7 songs in 10 minutes, the frantic psychosis and unrelenting energy were evidence of a band who’d found a way to push orthodoxy to the limit. It’s still worth celebrating, even if we now know what we didn’t know at the time.