POLARIS // ‘Masochist’ Takes Out Top Spot On The Faction’s Hardest 100

Sydney’s unbeatable metalcore upstarts Polaris have taken out #1 spot on The Faction’s Hardest 100 countdown with single Masochist as the event garnered its biggest vote and nationwide turnout since beginning in 2017.

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The Hardest 100 is a celebration of the heavier side of Aussie music, with the general public voting for the previous year’s best heavy tracks. The countdown was broadcast online at TheFaction.live with founder Tim Price, Paul Brown, and Ebony Story on Sunday, 22nd March. iHeartRadio, Download Festival Australia, UNIFY Gathering, 24Hundred & Wall of Sound presented the event.

The top three was an all-Aussie affair, with a close second place going to All My Friends are Dead by The Amity Affliction, and third place going to Ocean Grove for banger Ask for the Anthem.

Some of the highlights according to the crew:

• This was the first Hardest 100 Countdown where UK band Architects have not taken out the #1 spot (though they did grab #54 for their Deftones cover released in 2019)
• Northlane and Thornhill took the crown for most number of entries with five entries a piece, TOOL took out four spots and three-apiece went to Slipknot, Alpha Wolf, Ocean Grove and Dealer.
• Australian Artists took out 60% of the top ten, with fifty-seven tracks by Aussies across the whole countdown – a 60% Australian average throughout!
• The title of longest song in the countdown goes to Periphery with Reptile, clocking in at 16:43. Eat that, TOOL!
• Peak listenership across the countdown was up 278% on last year’s event, showing the turn towards music in tough times and more particularly, this massive year in metal.

Polaris‘ drummer and songwriter, Daniel Furnari, spoke with Brown and Price after the win, saying “I was not expecting that! I thought we might do ok, but this is incredible, thank you so much to all the people who voted!”

The song was the first single released from their recent record The Death of Me. The album debuted on the #1 AIR charts, #1 ARIA Vinyl Chart, #2 ARIA Australian Artist Chart, #3 ARIA Album Chart and is also climbing the US and Europe charts.

The full Hardest 100 list is below.

The Faction heavy music streaming service is available as an app on the Apple App Store, Google Play, and as a stream over iHeartRadio.

THE FACTION HARDEST 100 OF 2019

1. Polaris – Masochist
2. The Amity Affliction – All My Friends Are Dead
3. Ocean Grove – Ask For The Anthem
4. Bring Me The Horizon – Ludens
5. A Day To Remember – Resentment
6. Slipknot – Unsainted
7. Northlane – 4D
8. Northlane – Bloodline
9. Make Them Suffer – Hollowed Heart
10. Thornhill – Nurture
11. Falling In Reverse – Popular Monster
12. A Day To Remember – Degenerates
13. Thornhill – Where We Go When We Die
14. I Prevail – Bow Down
15. Northlane – Talking Heads
16. Knocked Loose – Mistakes Like Fractures
17. Windwaker – My Empire
18. Ocean Grove – Junkie$
19. Alpha Wolf – Sub-Zero
20. Dealer – Crooked
21. Splinter – Innocence
22. Parkway Drive – Shadow Boxing
23. Denzel Curry – Bulls on Parade (triple j Like A Version)
24. Thornhill – Lily & The Moon
25. Ice Nine Kills – IT Is The End
26. TOOL – 7empest
27. Dealer – Grotesque
28. Slipknot – Nero Forte
29. 23/19 – Attitude Error
30. Ocean Sleeper – Light In My Dark
31. Slowly Slowly – Jellyfish
32. Alpha Wolf – No Name
33. Wage War – Low
34.  While She Sleeps – The Guilty Party
35. A New Way Home – Into You
36. TOOL – Fear Inoculum
37. A Somerset Parade – Clementine
38. Gravemind – Volgin
39. Slipknot – Solway Firth
40. Windwaker – The Sitch
41. Gravemind – Phantom Pain
42. Kublai Khan TX – Boomslang
43. Ocean Grove – Sunny
44. Stand Atlantic – Hate Me (Sometimes)
45. The Gloom in The Corner – Misanthropic
46. Thornhill – Coven
47. FEVER 333 – BURN IT
48. Killswitch Engage – The Signal Fire
49. Bring Me The Horizon – Wonderful life ft. Dani Filth
50. Deadlights – Bathed In Venom
51. The Beautiful Monument – Deceiver
52. ATLVS – Mercury feat. Jamie McLees of Lotus Eater
53. TOOL – Pneuma
54. Architects – Change (In The House Of Flies)
55. Falling in Reverse – Drugs
56. Rammstein – Deutschland
57. Rumours – Incredulous
58. Alexisonfire – Familiar Drugs
59. Bring Me The Horizon – Medicine
60. Belle Haven – Forget Me
61. Dealer – Pretty Stupid
62. Ocean Sleeper – Hate Me Like You Mean It
63. Thy Art Is Murder – Death Squad Anthem
64. Thy Art Is Murder – Make America Hate Again
65. A Past In Ruins – No Going Back
66. I Prevail – Breaking Down
67. Knocked Loose – …And Still I Wander South
68. Rumours – Paralysed
69. Fit For A King – When Everything Means Nothing
70. Silverstein – Burn It Down feat. Caleb Shomo
71. The Daily Chase – Freedom/Fiction
72. (hed) p.e. – Can I Rock
73. A Swift Farewell – What You Wanted
74. Northlane – Eclipse
75. Stray From The Path – Kickback feat. Brendan Murphy
76. Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes – Crowbar
77. Kublai Khan TX – Self-Destruct
78. Mirrors – Damien
79. Northlane – Details Matter
80. Alpha Wolf – Russian Roulette
81. Reside – Replace Me
82. Beartooth – You never know
83. Slowly Slowly – Safety Switch
84. TOOL – Invincible
85. Dance Gavin Dance – Head Hunter
86. The Butterfly Effect – Unbroken
87. Thornhill – Views From The Sun
88. Pridelands – Dark Sources
89. Slowly Slowly – Creature of Habit Pt.2
90. After The Burial – Behold The Crown
91. Cog – Drawn Together
92. Counterparts – Paradise and Plague
93. Issues – Tapping Out
94. Periphery – Reptile
95. Sleep Token – The Offering
96. Void of Vision – If Only
97. Stepson – The Entire History Of You
98. Enter Shikari – Stop The Clocks
99. Dream State – Primrose
100. Osaka Punch – Drones