RANKED: The Top Ten Turnstile Songs

Jake Longhurst
May 27
5 min read

Turnstile, as a band, are many things. They are probably the largest hardcore band in the world, certainly top two with Knocked Loose. They are the writers of what might be the best record of the 2020s in the spectacular GLOW ON. They even inspired your favourite online heavy music publication's name with their song 'Out Of Rage', off of their 2015 album Nonstop Feeling.

All of these things add up to the fact that they are, inarguably, one of the most essential bands in the modern era of music. The fact they're coming back to the UK to headline Outbreak's Friday in London, their first ever full-size southern event, is frankly just a cherry on the top of the fact that they're also releasing a new album at the same time, so there's hardly a better band in the world for us to discuss the discography of - and with that, here are their top ten songs according to one of our managing directors.

10) Never Enough

Wow, it's good and all, but tenth already? Sure, plenty of you may be thinking something like that, but think again about just how addicting the track is and how regularly you've likely had it on since release day - can you say for certain that it DOESN'T belong in the top ten? The rise of shoegaze's influence permeating heavy music has caused a paradigm shift across all genres within, and hardcore is no exception. This has been seen within Turnstile's music before, notably on GLOW ON, but it's even more pronounced here, until the gear change that kicks everything off and causes an instant hit of dopamine. This will be a glorious moment at Outbreak this year, and if you disagree then just wait and see.

9) Death Grip

A sadly much-ignored area of the band's discography, the early EP's are still a treasure trove of goodies for the discerning hardcore fan. Featuring more overt hardcore sounds than a lot of their later releases, Death Grip (not to be confused with the band with the rather similar name) is a pure banger. Taking all the energy of Turnstile old and new, but running it through a little bit more of an aggressive tone, you get the crowd-obliterating tune that is Death Grip. Custom-built for the stage, there is no world in which this song doesn't cause spontaneous eruptions of movement at any performance - we can only hope it's brought out for Outbreak this summer.

8) Mystery

Opening up the best and biggest hardcore record of the decade is no mean feat, but when it's this good, it just feels natural, like it was meant to be there. Creating a powerful duopoly of both energy and explosiveness, and also expectation for the rest of the album, is damned difficult, yet it's handled with grace on Mystery. The slight shoegaze influence of modern Turnstile started here, and we'll be eternally grateful for that, as well as for kickstarting the 2021 GLOW ON extravaganza.

7) Time + Space

Hardcore loves a sample to open a track, and the finale and title track on Time + Space has one that fits better than most. Utilising some almost relaxed "Ooo-oooh" chants along with the barely contained guttural energy across the song is a masterclass in musical juxtaposition, to alternately soothe and enrage the listener in one last-ditch attempt to mess up a room totally and utterly (spoilers - it'll work).

6) Blue By You

What a strange song this is. Somehow both a high-energy hardcore adjacent track about a soul sucking relationship and also a pop rock track for the sad boys, Blue By You appeals to a broader set of music tastes in less than a minute and a half than most albums. Doing such a genuine track about a topic so outside the typical hardcore sphere isn't a simple move, but Turnstile pulled it off with aplomb on what is still one of their catchiest songs, period.

5) Step To Rhythm

The titular finale to the band's first LP, Step To Rhythm has a nasty riff that repeats throughout, which is a very large part of why it's on this list. Not to be called just a riff track, though, this song is immensely singable and has just enough tempo changes to satisfy pretty much every member of the pit. An early cut to be sure, but one that displays incredibly clearly the potential and ability, Turnstile already had at this point of their career.

4) Holiday

Any song that's good enough for a Taco Bell advert is good enough for us - but aside from its brief stint as the sound of questionable Mexican takeaway, HOLIDAY is a hardcore track with a groove that runs as deep as possible. Two-steppers worldwide have enjoyed this track from the moment it came out, and will continue to do so for many years. The refrain of "So I'll never feel the cold" is an instant sing-along, and combines so effortlessly with the devilishly delicious riff that runs below it.

3) Real Thing

Don't tell me that the opening to Real Thing doesn't get you fired up, you know you'll be lying to both yourself and me. Those drums keep everything cruising along, whilst the yelled "Can't keep it all together, waiting for the real thing" just hits harder and harder every time it comes on. As the opener for Turnstile's 2018 album, it rips you headfirst into the gloriously high-energy world of theirs and doesn't dare let you go until they've suitably spun you about the place and left you absolutely unable to think of anything aside from finding that very important real thing.

2) Keep It Moving

Coming out of the gates surprisingly slowly, Keep It Moving doesn't sound like it's going to do quite that until the drums take everything up a notch. After that, we're in prime hardcore rager territory, and even this early in the band's evolution, we can hear hints of the shoegazey path they are now firmly treading. With a rare Turnstile guitar solo making an appearance on this cut from Step to Rhythm, that then cuts to a gnarly breakdown that's sure to evoke grimaces all about the room, there is genuinely not much more this track could have in it.

1) Blackout

I defy you to find a single hardcore song that has the same blisteringly anthemic quality as BLACKOUT. From the undeniably groovy cowbell rhythms, the surprisingly deft bassline and the fuzzy five note lick mid-chorus, it's a demonstration of all the very best bits of Turnstile, and the possibilities within hardcore to expand an untold amount, and still encompass the quintissential rage, energy, and visceral feeling that no other genre can quite touch. There aren't many bands who have a discography that bursts at the seams like this one, but even amongst the enormous selection of brilliance, this song still rises to the top - both on record and in the flesh- as the one that just can't be beaten.