Bands Like Pierce the Veil: 18 Post-Hardcore Artists You Should Hear Next

If you are looking for bands like Pierce the Veil, start with Sleeping With Sirens, Chiodos, Dance Gavin Dance, Hail the Sun, Saosin, Circa Survive, Alesana, The Used, Silverstein, and Isles & Glaciers.

The difficult part is that Pierce the Veil has never sounded like an ordinary post-hardcore band. Their music mixes emo, punk, screamo, progressive guitar work, dramatic storytelling, pop melodies, sudden tempo changes, and occasional Latin-influenced touches. Apple Music classifies them broadly as alternative and describes them as post-emo rockers known for grand arrangements, while AllMusic places their sound across post-hardcore, screamo, emo-punk, and progressive rock. (Apple Music – Web Player)

So the best recommendation depends on what you love most about Pierce the Veil.

If it is Vic Fuentes’ high, emotional singing, begin with Sleeping With Sirens or Saosin. If you want the unpredictable guitars of Selfish Machines, try Hail the Sun or Dance Gavin Dance. For the theatrical darkness of Collide with the Sky, go toward Chiodos, Alesana, or Get Scared.

1. Sleeping With Sirens

Start with: “If You Can’t Hang,” “A Trophy Father’s Trophy Son,” “With Ears to See, and Eyes to Hear”

Sleeping With Sirens is probably the most obvious first recommendation.

Kellin Quinn’s remarkably high tenor gives the band an immediate vocal connection to Pierce the Veil, while the music similarly moves between clean melodies, screaming, fast guitars, and emotionally exaggerated choruses. Apple Music describes the band’s early sound as a dual-guitar post-hardcore attack built around Quinn switching between agile high singing and screams. (Apple Music – Web Player)

The connection became literal on “King for a Day,” where Quinn appears alongside Vic Fuentes. Apple Music identifies the 2012 collaboration as one of Pierce the Veil’s signature recordings. (Apple Music – Web Player)

Sleeping With Sirens is the place to begin if what you want most is another singer capable of making emotional desperation sound enormous.

2. Chiodos

Start with: “Baby, You Wouldn’t Last a Minute on the Creek,” “The Words ‘Best Friend’ Become Redefined,” “There’s No Penguins in Alaska”

Chiodos is one of the strongest recommendations for fans of Pierce the Veil’s theatrical side.

The band was a major force in 2000s post-hardcore, combining frantic guitars, keyboards, screams, unusually high clean vocals, and arrangements that could change direction without warning. Apple Music describes Chiodos as one of the leaders of that era’s post-hardcore scene. (Apple Music – Web Player)

Where Pierce the Veil can feel romantic and cinematic, Chiodos often feels more chaotic and gothic.

Try them if your favorite Pierce the Veil songs are the ones where it seems as though three different songs are fighting for control.

3. Dance Gavin Dance

Start with: “We Own the Night,” “Death of a Strawberry,” “Uneasy Hearts Weigh the Most”

Dance Gavin Dance is one of the best recommendations for anyone obsessed with Pierce the Veil’s guitar work.

Instead of relying on straightforward power chords, Dance Gavin Dance builds songs from technical guitar lines, unusual rhythmic turns, clean singing, screamed vocals, funk, progressive rock, and occasional R&B influences.

Apple Music describes the group as constantly pushing its sound in different directions, noting how “Death of a Strawberry” can move from indie-pop-like singing into much heavier passages while “Young Robot” mixes progressive and R&B-influenced ideas. (Apple Music – Web Player)

The result is less emotionally direct than Pierce the Veil but often even more unpredictable.

If Selfish Machines is your favorite PTV album, put Dance Gavin Dance near the top of your queue.

4. Hail the Sun

Start with: “Human Target Practice,” “Relax / Divide,” “Glass: Half Empty”

Hail the Sun is especially good for listeners who want Pierce the Veil’s technical side pushed further.

AllMusic describes the band as progressive post-hardcore built around blastbeats, breakdowns, and technical riffs. (AllMusic)

Their songs can feel almost restless.

Guitar lines twist around the vocals. Rhythms suddenly change. Melodic passages can collapse into aggression before returning to something surprisingly beautiful.

That makes Hail the Sun one of the closest recommendations for listeners who hear Pierce the Veil not simply as emo or post-hardcore, but as a genuinely progressive rock band disguised inside that scene.

5. Saosin

Start with: “Seven Years,” “You’re Not Alone,” “Voices”

Saosin belongs here because of one word:

voice.

Both Anthony Green and Cove Reber brought unusually high clean vocals to different periods of Saosin, creating a sound that helped define melodic post-hardcore.

Apple Music describes Saosin’s style as keyboard-driven post-hardcore influenced by emo and progressive music, highlighting the soaring quality of “You’re Not Alone.” The band was still releasing material in 2026, including the April single “Starting Over Again.” (Apple Music – Web Player)

“Seven Years” is the place to start if you want something urgent.

“You’re Not Alone” is better if the huge emotional chorus is what you are searching for.

6. Circa Survive

Start with: “The Difference Between Medicine and Poison Is in the Dose,” “Act Appalled,” “Get Out”

Circa Survive is the recommendation for people who like Pierce the Veil when the music becomes strange, dreamy, or emotionally disorienting.

Anthony Green’s high voice immediately makes the connection easier to hear, but the deeper similarity is atmosphere.

Circa Survive often allows guitars to shimmer rather than attack. Songs can feel fluid, surreal, and almost weightless before suddenly becoming intense.

Apple Music traces the group back to its Juturna debut and highlights “Get Out” among its better-known material. (Apple Music – Web Player)

Try Circa Survive if tracks such as “The Balcony Scene” or Pierce the Veil’s more atmospheric passages are what keep pulling you back.

7. Alesana

Start with: “The Thespian,” “Apology,” “Seduction”

Alesana takes Pierce the Veil’s theatrical instinct and makes it even more dramatic.

The band mixes post-hardcore and metal with pop hooks, screamed vocals, clean singing, and concept-heavy storytelling. AllMusic and Apple Music both describe Alesana’s foundation as post-hardcore paired with metallic heaviness and melodic hooks. (Apple Music – Web Player)

Their 2010 album The Emptiness is especially worth hearing if you enjoy music that treats heartbreak almost like gothic theater.

Pierce the Veil often turns relationships into dramatic scenes.

Alesana can turn them into entire horror stories.

8. The Used

Start with: “The Taste of Ink,” “Buried Myself Alive,” “All That I’ve Got”

The Used is essential if the emotional release matters more to you than technical complexity.

Bert McCracken’s vocals can sound fragile, furious, sarcastic, and desperate within the same song, while the band’s early records sit squarely within the emotionally charged post-hardcore explosion of the early 2000s. Apple Music describes the Used as a Utah post-hardcore band that emerged during that period and notes the success of its 2002 self-titled debut and 2004’s In Love and Death. (Apple Music – Web Player)

“The Taste of Ink” is particularly effective because its emotional message is fundamentally hopeful without losing the restless energy around it.

Fans of Pierce the Veil’s ability to make pain sound exhilarating should understand the Used immediately.

9. Silverstein

Start with: “Smile in Your Sleep,” “My Heroine,” “The Afterglow”

Silverstein offers another version of the clean-vocals-versus-screams formula, but with an unusually strong sense of melody.

The Canadian group formed in 2000 and became one of the most durable bands to emerge from the early-2000s emo and post-hardcore wave. Their 2005 album Discovering the Waterfront became a major breakthrough. (Apple Music – Web Player)

“Smile in Your Sleep” is an easy Pierce the Veil recommendation because it balances darkness with an immediately memorable chorus.

Silverstein is usually more structurally direct than PTV.

But the emotional urgency lives in the same neighborhood.

10. Isles & Glaciers

Start with: “Clush,” “Hills Like White Elephants,” “Viola Lion”

For Pierce the Veil fans, Isles & Glaciers is more than a similar band.

It is practically an alternate-universe branch of the same musical family.

The post-hardcore supergroup included Vic Fuentes alongside musicians connected with Chiodos, Dance Gavin Dance, and other bands from the scene. Apple Music lists Isles & Glaciers directly among Pierce the Veil’s similar artists. (Apple Music – Web Player)

Because multiple vocalists trade parts, the music feels crowded in the best possible way.

“Hills Like White Elephants” is probably the easiest place to start.

If you mainly want more Vic Fuentes without simply replaying Pierce the Veil, this is essential listening.

11. Before Today

Start with: “Pierce the Veil,” “Roots Beneath Ideals,” “Failure Is Relative”

Before Today is the most obvious choice for anyone interested in where Pierce the Veil came from.

Vic and Mike Fuentes played together in Before Today before developing the project that became Pierce the Veil. Apple Music explicitly connects the two bands and lists Before Today among PTV’s similar artists. (Apple Music – Web Player)

The music is rougher and less fully formed.

That is exactly what makes it interesting.

You can hear pieces of the later Pierce the Veil identity before the dramatic arrangements, production, and songwriting became as refined as they would be on A Flair for the Dramatic and Selfish Machines.

Think of Before Today less as a substitute for PTV and more as its early sketchbook.

12. Get Scared

Start with: “Sarcasm,” “Don’t You Dare Forget the Sun,” “Badly Broken”

Get Scared is an excellent choice for the darker side of Pierce the Veil.

AllMusic describes the Utah band as putting a gothic spin on post-hardcore, which captures the appeal well. (AllMusic)

The music is melodic enough to remain immediately accessible, but there is a darker visual and emotional atmosphere surrounding it.

“Don’t You Dare Forget the Sun” is the strongest starting point.

If you like PTV because heartbreak always seems one step away from catastrophe, Get Scared understands the assignment.

13. A Skylit Drive

Start with: “Wires and the Concept of Breathing,” “All It Takes for Your Dreams to Come True,” “Too Little Too Late”

A Skylit Drive belongs in any list built around high vocals and melodic post-hardcore.

AllMusic describes the California band as combining screamo aggression with the pop-oriented side of emo, which makes the connection to Pierce the Veil fairly immediate. (AllMusic)

Their music frequently contrasts very high clean vocals with heavier screams and fast guitar arrangements.

If Sleeping With Sirens is your first recommendation, A Skylit Drive should not be far behind.

14. Scary Kids Scaring Kids

Start with: “The Only Medicine,” “Faces,” “My Darkest Hour”

Scary Kids Scaring Kids occupies the more frantic side of early-2000s post-hardcore.

AllMusic describes their sound as capable of being both aggressively chaotic and soothingly melodic. (AllMusic)

That contrast is precisely why they work for Pierce the Veil fans.

The songs rarely feel emotionally neutral.

Everything is pushed toward urgency—whether through screaming, keyboards, guitars, or dramatic clean vocals.

Try them if you want music that feels like it could collapse at any moment but somehow keeps its melody intact.

15. My Chemical Romance

Start with: “It’s Not a Fashion Statement, It’s a Deathwish,” “Thank You for the Venom,” “Helena”

My Chemical Romance is the obvious recommendation when theatrical emotion matters more than strict sonic similarity.

Apple Music lists MCR directly among Pierce the Veil’s similar artists. (Apple Music – Web Player)

Both bands understand that an emotional rock song does not need to be modest.

The relationship can be doomed.

The vocals can sound desperate.

The guitars can be enormous.

The lyrics can treat one heartbreak as though the entire universe is falling apart.

That willingness to embrace melodrama rather than apologize for it is one of the clearest connections between them.

16. Underoath

Start with: “Writing on the Walls,” “A Boy Brushed Red Living in Black and White,” “In Regards to Myself”

Underoath is the recommendation for listeners who want to push Pierce the Veil toward something heavier.

Their music played an important role in the 2000s post-hardcore and metalcore landscape, and Apple Music places Underoath among the artists closely related to Chiodos—another central part of the same musical ecosystem. (Apple Music – Web Player)

“A Boy Brushed Red Living in Black and White” still has enough melody to appeal to PTV fans.

“Writing on the Walls” provides a harsher next step.

If Pierce the Veil introduced you to screaming but left you wanting more, go here.

17. Bring Me the Horizon

Start with: “Drown,” “Can You Feel My Heart,” “Teardrops”

Bring Me the Horizon is less like classic Pierce the Veil than many bands on this list, but it makes sense for listeners interested in how post-hardcore and heavy alternative music evolved afterward.

Apple Music lists Bring Me the Horizon among Pierce the Veil’s similar artists. (Apple Music – Web Player)

Both groups also refuse to remain frozen in the sound that first made them famous.

“Drown” is the best starting point for PTV fans because it is emotional, melodic, and large without abandoning the band’s heavy background.

If your favorite Pierce the Veil record is The Jaws of Life rather than Collide with the Sky, Bring Me the Horizon becomes an even stronger recommendation.

18. Sianvar

Start with: “Omniphobia,” “Stay Lost,” “1100 Days”

Sianvar is for listeners who hear Pierce the Veil and immediately focus on the guitars.

The project brought together musicians connected with Hail the Sun, Dance Gavin Dance, Stolas, and A Lot Like Birds. AllMusic describes it as a post-hardcore supergroup formed from members of that technical, progressive corner of the scene. (AllMusic)

The music is intricate without abandoning melody.

You get unusual guitar patterns, busy rhythms, high vocals, and arrangements that reward repeated listening.

For Selfish Machines fans, Sianvar is one of the deeper recommendations on this list.

What Bands Sound Most Like Early Pierce the Veil?

If A Flair for the Dramatic and Selfish Machines are your favorite PTV albums, focus on Before Today, Chiodos, Saosin, Circa Survive, Hail the Sun, and Dance Gavin Dance.

Those bands capture different pieces of early Pierce the Veil: high vocals, technical guitars, abrupt structural shifts, theatrical emotion, and the feeling that a song may suddenly move somewhere completely unexpected.

Before Today is especially interesting because it connects directly to Vic and Mike Fuentes’ pre-PTV history. (Apple Music – Web Player)

What Bands Sound Like Collide With the Sky?

For the Collide with the Sky era, start with Sleeping With Sirens, Chiodos, Alesana, Get Scared, Silverstein, and the Used.

That album’s appeal depends heavily on contrast.

The guitars can be aggressive, but the choruses are enormous.

The lyrics are dark, but the melodies can be beautiful.

The singing can suddenly turn into screaming.

Sleeping With Sirens is the most obvious companion, especially because Kellin Quinn’s appearance on “King for a Day” permanently connected the two bands for many listeners. (Apple Music – Web Player)

Bands Like Pierce the Veil With High-Pitched Singers

The strongest choices are Sleeping With Sirens, Saosin, Circa Survive, A Skylit Drive, Dance Gavin Dance, and Hail the Sun.

Do not expect another Vic Fuentes.

His vocal phrasing is a major reason Pierce the Veil remains difficult to copy.

But if the high register and emotional instability of his singing are the main things you enjoy, those bands come closest to satisfying the same impulse. Saosin and Sleeping With Sirens are particularly strong starting points. (Apple Music – Web Player)

The Bottom Line

There is no perfect replacement for Pierce the Veil because their best songs combine too many things at once.

They can sound like post-hardcore, emo, pop-punk, progressive rock, screamo, and alternative rock without settling comfortably into any one of them. (AllMusic)

For the closest overall match, start with Sleeping With Sirens.

For something more theatrical, choose Chiodos or Alesana.

For technical guitar work, move toward Dance Gavin Dance, Hail the Sun, or Sianvar.

For atmosphere and high vocals, try Circa Survive or Saosin.

For darker emotional post-hardcore, choose the Used, Silverstein, or Get Scared.

And if what you really want is more of Vic Fuentes’ musical world, go straight to Isles & Glaciers and Before Today. Apple Music itself places both projects directly beside Pierce the Veil in its similar-artists recommendations. (Apple Music – Web Player)

The trick is not finding a band that copies Pierce the Veil perfectly.

It is figuring out which part of Pierce the Veil you cannot stop replaying—the frantic guitars, the high voice, the screams, the romance, the melodrama, or the sudden feeling that the song is about to fall apart—and following that sound into the next band.

Cover image suggestion: A chaotic but cinematic post-hardcore rehearsal space with an anonymous high-voiced singer gripping a microphone, two guitarists playing beneath red and blue lighting, a drummer surrounded by cymbals, torn concert posters and handwritten lyrics on the walls; dramatic emo/post-hardcore mood, no Pierce the Veil likenesses, logos, or recognizable album artwork.