Counterparts

Counterparts, a Canadian hardcore outfit distinguished by its ferocious and meticulously exacting style, originated in Hamilton, Ontario, near the close of the 2000s. Only with their fourth album, Tragedy Will Find Us in 2015, did the group attain broad recognition. Even after a substantial personnel overhaul, momentum built through the 2017 release You're Not You Anymore and the 2019 album Nothing Left to Love, which secured their strongest chart showing. The band resurfaced in 2024 with both a live album and the EP Heaven Let Them Die.

Formed in 2007 under the name Brigade by vocalist Brendan Murphy, guitarists Jesse Doreen and Curtis Washik, bassist Eric Bazinet, and drummer Ryan Juntilla, the ensemble briefly operated as Sharia before adopting Counterparts and performing regularly across Ontario. Washik exited in 2009; Alex Re joined as guitarist, and the band embarked on an intensive cross-Canada tour. That year they signed with Verona Records, the Canadian punk label that issued their debut album Prophets in 2010. Also in 2010, Juntilla departed and Chris Needham assumed drumming duties, after which Counterparts recorded a split EP with Exalt. Following extensive road work throughout Canada and the United States, they signed with Victory Records, the American independent label, in 2011 and began sessions for their second album. Needham left during those sessions, and Juntilla returned to the drum kit.

Their first Victory album, The Current Will Carry Us, arrived in fall 2011, after which the group resumed touring. By the Canadian leg, Juntilla had again left; Kyle Brownlee of Majesty filled in on the road, and in 2012 Kelly Bilan of I Am Committing a Sin was named the permanent drummer. The third full-length, The Difference Between Hell and Home, appeared in July 2013. After initial touring, Re announced his final show with Counterparts for December 2013. Further lineup shifts preceded the 2017 emergence of a new configuration consisting of vocalist Murphy, guitarists Adrian Lee and Blake Hardman, bassist Tyler Williams, and returning drummer Kyle Brownlee. This lineup delivered the fifth album You're Not You Anymore through Pure Noise Records in September 2017, which reached number 112 on the Billboard 200. The same members recorded the punishing 2019 album Nothing Left to Love, which improved on that placement by entering the U.S. Top 100. While touring behind the record, Counterparts captured a concert at Toronto's Danforth Music Hall and issued it in 2024 as their first live album, Live in Toronto. Later that year they released the EP Heaven Let Them Die, calling it the most aggressive work of their career.