Hardbone Hardbeat Review
Hardbone
Hardbeat
Massacre Records
2026
Few things move my meter quite like some good ol’ Aussie Rock N’ Roll admiration. Yes, I’m talking AC/DC and Rose Fuckin’ Tattoo-inspired bands - the kind of bands that plug in, crank the amps to eleven and proceed to make enough noise to piss off the neighbors three counties over. Rhino Bucket, Airbourne, Krokus and, finally, Germany’s own Hardbone. There are certainly more bands carrying that torch, but those are the big four that immediately come to my mind.
Germany’s Hardbone are the lesser known of the bunch, and the reason is pretty simple: they just haven’t gotten much of a chance to get over here to the States and hit us American folk square in the mouth with their particular brand of Rock N’ Roll. Thanks to the internet and a handful of other Rock Warriors like me, I got in on the Hardbone mania several years back, and I’ve been following these guys ever since.
Currently, Hardbone are gearing up to drop their first release for Massacre Records, “Hardbeat,” and this is a pretty damn big step in the right direction. Massacre obviously has a much bigger reach than the band’s previous home, Rude Records, and hopefully that means a whole lot more ears are finally going to get the shit kicked out of them by this band.
For their debut on Massacre, not much has changed, and that's a very good thing. Hardbone are still plugging in, turning the knobs to ten, firing up the engines and backing a road-weary tour van into the parking lot before unloading an entire truckload of Boogie-Woogie, Smash-Mouth Rock N’ Roll. I’d expect nothing less from these guys. This is full-on AC/DC-style worship: keep it between the ditches, keep the tempo four-to-the-floor, stomp on the gas and demolish everything in sight.
Admittedly, Hardbone’s take on this tried-and-true musical formula is a little more refreshing than some of the previously mentioned bands. They still approach this shit like they just started up yesterday, have something to prove and desperately want the world to know their names. To some, they already do. To me, they don’t, at least not nearly enough. This band has been whooping Big Rock ass for several years now, and with the backing of a bigger label behind them, it’s about damn time they started getting the attention they deserve.
On “Hardbeat,” there’s a little more melody than we’ve heard on some of their previous releases. The riffs are catchier, the hooks stick around a little longer, and the whole “Boogie” aspect is more prominent and much easier to identify. In other words, they’re not quite as aggressive as they’ve been in the past, but they haven’t exactly gone soft on us either. This is still Hardbone, after all. The production is well done, too. It’s clean and organic without sucking the life out of the music, which is exactly what this kind of Rock N’ Roll needs.
“Hardbeat” just might be the album that finally breaks Hardbone in America. Having the Massacre Records machine behind them means the record is going to be considerably easier for us Yanks to get our grubby little hands on, whether through Amazon or the other big-box retailers carrying Massacre releases. But the distro is only part of the equation.
This is simply a great fucking Rock N’ Roll record. It’s built on a tried-and-true formula that’s been moving Rock fans since the early ’70s, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Sometimes you just need to pour yourself a liquor drank, crank the stereo, and let the Rock N’ Roll do what it was put on this earth to do. “Hardbeat” is a good start for just such an occasion!
Standouts – “One Night Away”, “Bad As You Want Me To Be”, “Going Commando” and “Four To The Floor”.