Forgive me for thinking otherwise, but a new Youth Avoiders LP in 2026? I genuinely didn’t see this coming. A decade ago, this Paris-based band were one of the brightest lights in the European punk and hardcore scene, their brand of melodic hardcore hard to rival. Their last full-length came out in 2018, and I had quietly assumed that was the end of the story.

Turns out I was very wrong. Youth Avoiders are back, and Defiance hits with the same urgency and conviction that made them essential in the first place. Still fast and furious, still sharp and melodic, and still operating in a lane that feels unmistakably their own. This is hardcore punk that sounds fully engaged with the present moment—listen to the track titles, feel the aggression in the songs, take in the intensity of the delivery. Whatever happened in the years between records, one thing is clear: Youth Avoiders never stopped caring, their fire never went out.

Defiance ships early February via Destructure Records (Sorry State handles US distribution), with tapes to follow through Dispear Records.

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