In Depth Look At Hardcore Act SOUR’s Latest Release by Jeremy Duke

SOUR | Hardcore
By Jeremy Duke

A Korean boy on the cover of SOUR’s Heaven, USA stands cross-armed beside a weathered sign, staring defiantly at the camera. 

The album’s insert shows scenes from the life of “a devil boy whisked away to the West”: the boy in a hanbok, alone in a cornfield or surrounded by toys in a living room. He stands apart, marked by his distinct features, the absence of his parents’ feathered wings, and his searching gaze. 

SOUR frontman Jeff Stuckel shared how the music, lyrics, and imagery reflect lessons he’s learned about identity and belonging.

Finding a Voice

In an earlier interview with Unite Asia, Jeff reflected on growing up as a Korean adoptee in rural Illinois. He encountered white supremacy early on but found connection in the hardcore scene. Music gave him a way to push back and reflect on where he belonged. That experience shapes SOUR’s debut LP, Heaven, USA, out now on DELAYED GRATIFICATION RECORDS. 

“Time is so fleeting, so limited when it comes to how to say things,” Jeff said. “We have this opportunity now, as adoptees, to be able to speak for ourselves. It’s perfect timing for that. So that’s what I’ve stepped into the last few years because of the community. Now, I need to tell this the way I can tell it best. I need to tell my story the best way I can.”

Community and Identity

Since SOUR’s first release in 2022, the band has grown alongside Jeff’s vision. Their sound has become a way for him to express what he has lived through, both personally and as one of over 200,000 international Korean adoptees. Years in the Columbus, Ohio scene, home to Delayed Gratification Records, gave Jeff space to focus and write the ten heavy, purposeful tracks that make up Heaven, USA. The album explores confusion, pain, and the search for connection that often define the adoptee experience.

“I think when you’re in a community with people, it empowers you,” Jeff said. “And it also helps you take things that are rattling around in your head and put them outside your mind and look at them and say, ‘This is what that actually means.’ Now I can articulate this because I have other people to relate to.”

Key connections in SOUR’s growth include Sehun and Chang-hwan of No Model, fellow Korean adoptees who share Jeff’s dedication to calling out abuses of power and lifting up adoptee voices.

“Sehun and I have talked about this. We’re kind of the first when it comes to hardcore bands that talk about what we talk about. Neither of us knows another hardcore band that talks about adoptee experiences like this. Hopefully we aren’t the last. We want this to plant a seed for other people. We hope this is just the start,” Jeff said.

Taken and Reclaimed

As SOUR has gained attention, so has the demand for adoptee voices. “This year, I’ve realized that the timing of all of this is kind of spooky,” Jeff said. “Most of this album was written last year. I was just trying to write about my own experiences and now it feels very timely.”

In March 2025, South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission released a report confirming thousands of children were wrongfully sent overseas during the adoption boom of the 1970s to 1990s. Many were taken without consent, with records falsely listing them as orphans. A 2024 PBS Frontline documentary further exposed how agencies helped conceal the truth to meet global demand. 

These revelations echo Heaven, USA’s themes of institutional betrayal, loss, and the struggle to reclaim identity. For adoptees like Jeff, what was taken includes not only a homeland, but also a name, language, and the chance to connect with their birth families.

Building Heaven, USA

Rooted in Midwest hardcore, Heaven, USA fuses powerful riffs with emotional clarity. Jeff’s longtime friend and guitarist Nate Snitchler helped shape its sound and structure.

“When I told Nate what I was thinking about for this album, concept-wise, he said, ‘Ok, I’m going to write this album from start to finish.’ He wrote almost the entire thing in the order of the final album. He really knew where he wanted to take it because of our conversations.”

Lyrically, grief becomes anger, then focus and strength. “The start of the album is me when I’m young, coming to America. The end is me reflecting on what I want out of this life before I die,” Jeff explained.

The record conveys anger, pain, and longing in ways that I recognize from my own experience as a Korean adoptee. “Peacetime Child” swings in tempo, melody, and emotional volatility. “Angels Reside In Fulton County” presents a rumbling slow burn and tender clear-eyed vulnerability, over a steady march of palm-muted thunder.

The LP’s artwork, created with Jeff’s wife Hannah Spiker and designer Ilija Nocovski, features imagery of a “devil boy” in a foreign land. “I was basically trying to capture growing up in central Illinois. Growing up around cornfields, you’d always see beat-up town signs. It’s just something I was used to seeing.”

A Return to Korea

In July, SOUR and No Model announced three Asia shows for September, including one in South Korea. The tour brings three Korean adoptee musicians back to their birth country to perform songs about their experiences. 

“Sehun and Chang-hwan were connected with some people who book hardcore shows in Seoul, so I ended up following a few of them too,” Jeff explained. “One of them, Chang from True Color Collective, and I had been talking for about a year. I sent him some merch and zines, and about two years ago, he messaged me after seeing the HATE5SIX video and said, ‘Hey brother, I just saw the live video. I’d love to book you if you want to come to Korea.’ No Model got added right away as part of the package. This has been in the works for a long time.”

For Jeff, the show in Korea is a personal milestone.

“When we were messaging about the show, Chang asked if it would be OK for him to speak to the crowd about the wrongs of the government and what they’ve done to adoptees. It really struck me in a good way that he gave a shit about that. It means something to him and shows that he wants to make this happen on multiple levels. That’s why I love this. It’s way deeper than music. It’s real stuff. Real human connections.”

Healing Through Creation

Reflecting on the process of writing Heaven, USA, Jeff said it has helped him make peace with what he cannot control.

“I learned how to forgive myself for the things I don’t know and the things I didn’t get to control. To not hold myself to some unnecessary, unfair standard. I can only be where I am because of the things I’ve experienced. I’m just allowing myself to embrace that and know that that experience is enough.”

Photo Credit: Hannah Spiker