One of the unsettling aspects of the post-internet explosion furthering punk rock’s globalization is that even far-off corners of the world can quickly absorb cultural influences and styles of the broader punk scene of any country, as opposed to developing in isolation with limited influences towards its own direction, leaving everything up for grabs for reinterpretation. The globalization of punk gives a familiarity to the sounds, imagery (the grim reaper riding a skateboard, the universal symbol of punks worldwide), or even band logos to almost any compilation of bands, whether it comes out of the former Soviet Union, Orange County, South America or wherever. Ultimately there’s more positives than negatives to that equation as punk’s cultural, lyrical, musical and artistic message infects the world, emphasized here by the high quality of this 14 band, 26 track compilation from across the two main islands of Aotearoa/New Zealand. Welcome to the Arse-End of the World is the first NZ punk comp in a decade or more, and there’s exceptionally great music throughout: metal-dosed grind by ABORTED CHRISTIANS, blown out Goner Records-style garage noise by TEEN HYGIENE, sludge powerviolence from CRAWLER, throttling blur fastcore from WASTELAND, seriously raging female-vocal hardcore from ROGERNOMIX, more great female vocalled and female powered proto-hardcore from NATURAL GLOW, almost IN/HUMANITY-styled weirdness mixed with screaming thrash from OILBARRONS, lo-fi assault from CASK GRINDERS, which mixes a MAN IS THE BASTARD lumber with scathing, screechy, dual-vocal thrash; metal crossover skate thrash from ELECTRIC MAYHEM, CAUSTIC CHRIST-style straight-up punk from HATEWANX, a throaty vocalled and buzzsaw guitar straight up punk assault from CONNIPTION, solid, crushing metal dirge from METH DRINKER and OPEN TOMB, and snippets of quick thrash from POLICE LINEUP. There’s a sparkling high quality to these bands and despite casting a relatively wide net of sounds and genres, this compilation plays consistently strong and unified throughout as an album itself, which is the mark of a great compilation. It includes a color booklet of mostly artwork and a few lyrics, which largely express the frustration punks feel the world over. The cover features Peter Jackson, the Rainbow Warrior, a kiwi, and, admittedly, probably more than a hundred cultural references and in-jokes I’m missing… Limited to 300 copies…Great, great comp!! (Always Never Fun Records)

This shouldn’t be a sudden realization to anyone, but every era, generation, and microcosm of punk/hardcore has its benchmark records that define the sound, attitude, and climate of what is going on in the moment. To me it’s records like Young Loud and Snotty, (GI), Jealous Again, Pick Your King, Loud and Clear, Dehumanization, My War, Can’t Close My Eyes, You’re Only Young Once…, Wind of Pain, Severing the Last Barred Window, the TALK IS POISON 7”s — I could go on for a while — that embody this, and I personally consider 1993’s lone 7” from the Bay Area’s JOHN HENRY WEST to be among them. Not only is it one of the best of its time, but one of the best of all-time, so the review gods are a-smiling on me this month.

Much like HEROIN, people like to throw around words like “emo” and “screamo” when referring to JHW, but that shit can be left at the door, ‘cause this is hardcore, plain and simple. Hell, even with its near complete lack of machismo, there are some parts in here that could be described as “hard” by some standard — and I just now noticed some riffs that were definitely copped by another popular Bay Area hardcore band from a few years back, that I won’t name, but in hindsight it makes perfect sense to me. JHW’s songs were usually fast, incredibly driving, dynamic, pissed off, technical, noisy and often chaotic, with great, tuneful chiming guitar melodies similar to Revolution Summer-era DC punk; a great light shining on my ideal sound for youth in the early 1990s.

Front to back, this record is like one guitar flourish, vocal pattern, and stomping intro after another that will no doubt get stuck in your head once these tunes get enough spins to become familiar. The vinyl part of this reish has the 7” on the A side, and the trax from the 3/12/93 and A History of Compassion and Justice 7” comps, plus two unreleased joints (!!!!!) on the flip. The two new ones, “John Henry West” and “Ammunition Aired,” fare perfectly well alongside songs that have been with me for the last eighteen years, and I can’t help but listen to them one-by-one, several times in a row like they are in catch-up mode, before moving on.

To be honest, I only bought this reish for the unreleased stuff, since I already had the rest, but that was before I knew about the accompanying 22-track CD, which has JOHN HENRY WEST’s demo tape, seven live songs from their 50th/last show at Gilman, and nine songs from the band playing a radio sesh at WUSB on Long Island. None of the songs here are exclusive and are all better represented sonically on the releases and non-releases that are on the LP part of this package, but the Gilman set is definitely chock full of that reckless abandon and chaos that one would expect from this band in a live setting (sadly, I never got to see ‘em), and similar can be said for the radio show, which ends with a short interview; all of which I’m stoked to have. I’m normally not one for reissues, but this package got the full glorious treatment that it was due and I can’t recommend it highly enough to those unfamiliar with one of the all time greats, and still worth it for those in the know for the two new tracks alone.

(Ebullition Records)

After doing reviewing records for a long time, you start to notice there are very few bands doing something completely original. Or even modestly original. Most bands create music that reflects (at times shamelessly) the music that inspires them. And that’s great, that’s fine. No problem. But every once in a great while you come across a band like SHARKPACT who create music utterly unlike anything you’ve been hearing. And that’s something extraordinary. But this album isn’t just original; it’s also really really fucking good. My attempts to describe the music are going to sound awful, so you’ll have to trust me on this one. The band is just two folks; one on the drums, the other on keyboard, both singing. And what comes out is like a mutant combination of goth and heartfelt pop punk. Wait, wait don’t stop reading, I swear this is awesome! The synthesizer has a late ’80s goth vibe while the drumming has a WARSAW-era JOY DIVISION on meth approach. But then add ONE REASON style vocal harmonies. Heartfelt, urgent, unrelenting. This album is obviously not for everyone, but I’m sold, album of the month, for sure. (Rumbletowne Records)

Slapped in a ultra-crustified cover of skulls, bullets and band photos, this final release from the original line up of Finnish legends RATTUS commemorated their final live appearance in September at Los Angeles’s California Discord Fest, with three new songs that highlight that the band—always experimenting over the course of decades— has never really stopped evolving. Parts surface the melody riffed, guitar-driven hardcore of their classic 1980s records, but fumble a little in their complexity and a modern recording that doesn’t ever seem to pull a cohesive direction to the attack. The bass plunks, the drums hammer, and the vocals have a really uneven delivery. Add in all the different influences—from modern metal to classic ’77 style moves—and it’s just slightly off and sort of just rambles and stews. But you know what? RATTUS were fan-fucking-tastic in LA, and are still one of the world’s greatest punk bands. Ever. So I’ll keep spinning this—like any of their diehard fans—to try to glean their inspiration. Lyrics are Finnish with no translation. On the flip, Riverside, CA’s HOLOKAUST delivers three solid, meaty standard issue DISCHARGE blasts. These tracks distinguish themselves in the basic, wadded up crunch that the guitars get in their semi-lo-fi recording—a recording akin to the happy accidents of ’90s crust records, as opposed to a current intentionally lo-fi noise fest. The drums sturdily roll around this thick, dumpy chunk of simple riffs, as the vocals blast standard issue punk declarations over the din “Brainwashed into Submission!” “Waves of Fire! Mushroom cloud! Incinerated!” making for a familiarly satisfying, two fingers in the air, dose of good punk rock fun. (Rotten To The Core Records)

ROYAL HEADACHE, another in an endless stream of fantastic new Australian groups, delivers an essentially flawless pop record in long form on their first shot. While their debut single totally impressed, they truly shine here, making the kind of record that folks from a wide array of genres will likely embrace. The performances are top notch across the board, complete with actual singing that’s so proficient and downright awesome that it sounds totally fucking jarring. The production is perfect, fuzzy in all the right places, propelled by a stabbing guitar sound that recalls the most powerful moments of classic UK DIY punk rock. The soulfulness and excellent songwriting exhibited throughout brings to mind a speedy, punk SQUEEZE, which I hate myself for saying, but fuck it, it’s there. Much like stateside heroes HOME BLITZ, ROYAL HEADACHE is capable of conjuring up a monster hook out of chaos and making a whole lot of other current pop bands sound terrible in the process. (RIP Society Records)

STAR FUCKING HIPSTERS – From the Dumpster to the Grave LP

Let the punk police come and take me away, let them strap me into a straightjacket and gag me on the way out the door, but I will still say that this record is fukkn great. I know it’s been long out of vogue to like ska punk, and NOFX has been passé for even longer, but my facial hair has been out of vogue for longer than most taste makers have had a turntable, so fuck ‘em. I mention NOFX not just because Fat Wreck is responsible for this release, but because STAR FUCKING HIPSTERS have taken the ska/punk hybrid that frontman Sturgeon perfected with his previous bands CHOKING VICTIM and LEFTOVER CRACK and injected into it the high energy ultra catchy hardcore punk that Fat Mike has been slinging for a couple of decades. It works. Rarely do the hours poured into a record make them so evident as they do on this release, but when From the Dumpster veers off on over instrumentalized tangents it never seems trite—it just seems right. This record is nothing if not sincere, and every musical excursion is obviously a path taken by true fans that have become masters at their craft. Brilliant vocal trade-offs dominate many songs, with Nico’s vocals taking a confident lead, and the occasional (but dominant) ska parts are accented by subtly sparse and brilliant keys and horns. If you want cred, then check out this (partial) list of band members and contributors: DEGENERICS, ERGS, NEUROSIS, the COUP, GR’UPS, CONQUEST FOR DEATH, DYSTOPIA, DEADFALL, SOVIETTES…you still need more? Well, then no list would win you over anyway. This is excellent… you might not like it, that decision is purely yours. But awesomeness is a fact. (Fat Wreck Chords)

DEATHCAGE – Plague of the Rats LP
Hot damn, hooked from the first song. I very much enjoyed the DEATHCAGE EPs, and this is more of the same incredibly epic, fist-pumping Japanese hardcore-meets-epic metal a la the almighty DEATH SIDE. Every fucking song on this platter, even the lesser ones, has a part that cries out for the horns or a bit of air guitar. Sure it’s derivative — so fucking what? The more important point is that it’s fucking great! Got a metal friend who thinks punk is all untalented noise? Put this bastard on and laugh right in his fucking face. Everything on here, from the phenomenal leads to the brutal just-this-side-of-metal drumming to the massive gang choruses is so fucking on point it’s ridiculous. By all rights this should be appearing on a number of “best of the year” lists. Flat out fucking awesome. (Agipunk)

—Andrew Underwood

DEPHOSPHORUS – Axiom LP
I absolutely love when I get a record to review, have never heard of the band yet within seconds of dropping the needle I’m floored and headbanging. DEPHOSPHORUS are onto something here. DEPHOSPHORUS is a three piece from Greece. Their sound is unique in that it is somewhat a mix of the older German metalcore sound and grindcore but with some electronics added. Every track sounds huge. It’s hard to believe this is just three people. “Collimator” could be a heavier BURIAL YEAR. “Continuum” has a slight metal leaning. “Dephosphorus” has more melodic guitars, has slower moments and more obvious electronics. The album has a cosmic or space and time theme throughout the lyrics. Wow. (7DegreesRecords)

—Mike Howes

Reviews taken from the November issue of MRR — available HERE.

BIG EYES falls somewhere between the MUFFS and the REPLACEMENTS, with really cool, tough girl vocals and of course there’s an invocation of the RAMONES. The sound on this LP is incredible, almost too perfect; it sounds like what you want the cool girl band to sound like in ’80s subculture movies, but they always end up with some shitty synth puffpastries. This is tough punk rock. City street rock, the sound of trash strewn sidewalks, dogs tied up to chain link fences, feathered hair with leather jackets, a packet of Lucky Strikes and beat up Chucks. It’s totally the more rock end of punk, and it’s so easy to go into really gross territory when you are in those waters — you know, shitty rawkin’ Sunset Strip bar rock cheese chowder. This is somehow badass though. The band is so tight and the songs are so cohesive and tough sounding, hooks in all the right places, melancholy and mean rather than posturing and limp. So catchy it’s relentless! I feel so cheesy writing this review, but it’s the band you wish the girl from Freaks and Geeks had formed after watching that terrible CREAM cover band her friends were in. Kate’s voice is sick, somewhere between Joan Jett, Kim Shattuck and Paula Pierce… She invokes Joey Ramone and that’s just dreamy. Anyway, I was not expecting to like this record at all, but I am convinced! (Don Giovanni Records)

So stoked to see a full length from this Peruvian punk band, who I first noticed on the BRUTALES MATANZAS compilation also on the Cintas Pepe label. The first track reminds me of my favorite song by SORELLA MALDESTRA with the robotic effect filtered vocals at the beginning. This the sound of really early punk with some slightly fuzzed out basic guitar leads and mid tempo drumming and a bass that follows the drums building a solid rhythm section. The songs are reminiscent of a lot of REVOLUCION X, specifically in the vocals and in the sentiment of “I’m Making My Future With the Border Patrol,” but not in speed or the “tuca-tuca” drums of the aforementioned band. This band argues that good punk is really good rock’n’roll, and any track on here could be on the Solo Para Punks comp from Mexico on Cobra discos — I mean in quality, sound, lyrics, song structure… In other words, this sounds like old punk, more informed by los SAICOS than LEUSEMIA as far as Peruvian comparisons, yet still very original. The lyrics are snotty, pissed and political, in a funny “fuck you” and rudimentary way. MORBO is obnoxious and fresh while still being able to harness the spirit of creativity, regardless of skill, that old punk is so amazing for. So fucking good, pretty crazy, and totally fucking punk. Primordial punk… If you don’t get it, you are a chump. (Cintas Pepe)

MRR HQ is located in San Francisco a few blocks from where the Saint John Coltrane African Orthodox Church used to be located—a church that was centered around an explosion of spirituality and free jazz. While John Coltrane’s avantgarde cutting edge has dulled with the recognition of his more traditional material as breakthrough classics of the genre, leading to mainstream acceptance, his experimental free jazz period is something that still remains challenging. It’s as much about Coltrane’s movement through the experimentation as a listening experience, it seems to never necessarily arrive at its destination, which is kind of the point. Chilean hardcore band CONTRA TODOS MIS MIEDOS (“Against All My Fears”) features a cropped close up of Coltrane’s image from the Blue Train LP on the cover, and while the music is stellar QUICKSAND/ REFUSED styled hardcore—and worthy of checking out alone if those points of reference prick your ears—it solidly delivers a relatively stable set of ideas. The relation to the core of ideas of Coltrane that warrants appropriating his image for the cover isn’t really evident. The title of the EP translates to rage, and while Coltrane’s music was moody, anger was never really the core of its impact in the same way you think of anger being a central focus of punk music. Coltrane died in 1967, nine or ten years before the punk explosion of the ’70s, and at the nascent steps of Michigan ’60s punk like the STOOGES and MC5, that at their most experimental were taking influence from the expansion of music simultaneously being forwarded by free jazz. The relation to hardcore might simply that this type of posi-hardcore that’s reaching for a broader meaning is also reaching to find that deeper, spiritual core beyond just existing as a pure musical experience. I can only infer that with no translations in English for the band’s lyrics or to the lengthy notes on the sleeve aside from a footnote to Karl Marx (!)—the one diatribe in English in the recording is near nonsensical. This EP is however, an impressive marked jump in delivery, playing and recording values from their 2008 XXVII LP. The guitars are free to jump around, crush and solo wildly on the flange, while segmented, crunching, lumbering break downs and harsh shouted vocals give the EP an intensity like the best of the ’90s bands of this style. Weighed on one scale it’s a quite experimental deviation from the one-two-three punk rock, but in tacking itself to one of the creative geniuses of modern music, I kept waiting for it jump off the deep end like Ascension or Om… Go for it you wild Chileans!!!! Bring out the harp, chimes and alto sax and combine that with QUICKSAND and FARSIDE!!! Overall good EP, limited to 560 copies. (Amendment Records)

Review by Ken Sanderson, taken from the latest issue of MRR — available HERE.