American Standards Issue Final Album “Future Orphans”

After 15 years of uncompromising chaos and fiercely DIY ethos, Phoenix, AZ hardcore band American Standards released their final album, Future Orphans, on June 30th. The date mirrors the release of their debut full-length Still Life in 2012, marking the end of a full circle journey that’s left an undeniable stamp on the underground heavy music scene. Future Orphans captures the band at their most self-aware and stylistically unhinged. It doesn’t just nod to the past, it weaponizes it. From 2012’s Still Life to 2023’s Dopamine Dealer, American Standards have delivered an emotionally charged body of work that’s earned them cult status in the hardcore and metalcore community. With no tour planned, this album is the band’s definitive farewell, and a challenge to a scene that too often rewards polish over purpose.

“After 15 years of making music together, we’re releasing what will be our final album as American Standards. Future Orphans is out today, June 30, marking exactly 13 years since our debut, Still Life. In a small but meaningful full-circle moment, both albums were recorded by Jay Maas (Defeater, Counterparts) at Getaway Recording. We never set out to have an overly grandiose farewell. Just one last record we poured everything into, written fully aware it’d be the last. It’s rough around the edges in the way we always hoped this band would be: honest, raw, and made without compromise. Over the years, we were lucky enough to share stages with bands we grew up admiring, Converge, Knocked Loose, Every Time I Die, Norma Jean. But honestly, what’s stayed with us more than any show is the community: the benefit events we were part of for mental health and suicide prevention, the charity compilations that lifted up local scenes, and the countless nights in basements where people showed up simply to feel something together. Future Orphans is our way of saying thank you to those people. The ones who gave us a chance, shared a floor, or helped carry a speaker up the stairs.”