Death Before Dishonor

Being a hardcore band from Boston can be both a blessing and a curse — a curse in that it can so define a band that it won’t be able to move beyond that realm artistically. Death Before Dishonor, one of the hardest-working disciples of both the city and the genre it has radicalized, doesn’t seem concerned with any of that. (For proof, look only to “Boston Belongs to Me,” in which the guys mark their territory.) Since 2000, the act has occupied a niche grounded in surging metal riffs diluted by the blistering drama of punk while routinely playing upwards of 200 shows a year, during which time it has also put out ten albums. These are clock-punching, card-carrying devotees to whom hardcore is a way of life, not merely a style of music.