Reviews

For review and radio play consideration:

Please send one copy of vinyl (preferred), CD, or cassette releases to MRR, PO Box 3852, Oakland, CA 94609, USA.

Maximum Rocknroll wants to review everything that comes out in the world of underground punk rock, hardcore, garage, post-punk, thrash, etc. No major labels or labels exclusively distributed by major-owned distributors, no reviews of test pressings or promo CDs without final artwork. We reserve the right to reject releases on the basis of content. Music without vocals or drums will not be considered. All music submitted for review must have been released (or reissued) within the last two years. Please include contact information and let us know where your band is from!

Adult Magic Are You Even Happy Now? LP

It’s been over seven years since their pre-pandemic debut album, and ADULT MAGIC is back with the same heart-on-sleeve ethos but tighter, more focused, and more earnest. The mid-tempo heavy guitars have that sound that might have originated somewhere before SEAWEED, matured through FUTURE VIRGINS (R.I.P. SEXY), and currently landing with DEAD BARS. Lyrically, they have the insistent honesty and authenticity of CAVES and RVIVR. Songs like “Burned Out” and “Sore Eyes” cautiously and nostalgically lament past and current times. “A Little Light” is an early ’00s burner, and “Drift and Drive” could have come from Paul Westerberg’s canon. All members contribute vocally and lyrically, and have quite the past and present pedigree in IRON CHIC, BROADCASTER, CROW BAIT, SISTER KISSER, RADAR, and GET BENT. Hopefully we don’t have to wait another seven years for the next one.

Birds on a Kill Brace for Impact LP

Classic post-hardcore affair, like a poppier FUGAZI. Very polished recording—really loved the reverb on the drums, it gives them that nostalgic ’80s feel akin to latter-era HÜSKER DÜ and REPLACEMENTS. What really stands out the most to me are the vocals completely clashing with guitar work. Sounds like a complaint, but it’s an awesome combination. While the guitars are melodic and oftentimes airy and flowery, the singer is brash and comes with a bite. There are tracks where the music mirrors the energy of the front man—”Pinion” and “Desert Mind,” for example, have much doomier energy—but a large chunk of this slab is twisted pop/rock anthems. Great stuff.

Chisme Fuck What You Heard demo cassette

Six cuts of pissed-off hardcore that will put you in the zone for a warehouse fight. CHISME is locked in a constant flow of anger, avoiding metalcore excess in favor of street-level aggression. Fans of NECROS and NEGATIVE APPROACH will find plenty to chew on. A proper demo that sounds made to start pile-ons and not be featured in polished playlists. Confrontational and with a very rough aesthetic, like a flyer that was stapled to a telephone pole five minutes before the show.

Clusterfux / Conflict Resolution split EP

An excellent pairing, which is always a good first step for a split, with two bands on the ever-growing spectrum of thrashcore. CLUSTERFUX has been around for almost three decades at this point, and has spent time drawing from crust, thrash, hardcore, and crossover to varying degrees (and varying degrees of success). Here, they lean into the thrashcore idea somewhere between D.R.I. and TEAR IT UP. Punker but with the flourishes of thrash metal, they hit great and politically on the right side here (“Chinga la migra, fuck ICE” chants always win). They have a few six-to-seven-song releases, and the four tracks on here are a very sweet spot in length for this kind of stuff. I was not familiar with CONFLICT RESOLUTION, but it was a pleasant surprise to find them here. It’s still thrashcore, but you hear more LEEWAY/SUICIDAL TENDENCIES touches, paired with a production/riffing style in line with ’00s hardcore like CARRY ON. Some people will be put off by them dipping harder into bouncy, almost rap crossover moments that can call to NYHC, but to me, they use those moments insanely effectively. Big fan of both sides of this split; kind of a bummer we don’t get lyrics for the CONFLICT RESOLUTION side, but oh well. A great record for thrashcore fans, fans of old school crossover, and USHC that dips its toes in the pools of thrash metal.

Corgi Waverider / The Demolitions Surfin’ My Garage!!! Vol. 1 split cassette

Split cassette between two bands from Tacoma, WA. The DEMOLITIONS are an instrumental surf rock band, with a name I recognized from a review I wrote a while back of RITCHIE MAGNUM & THE DEMOLITIONS. I’m not sure if they dropped RITCHIE or simply shortened the name, but their four tracks on this split are even better than the RITCHIE MAGNUM cassette. Very cool, timeless, reverb-drenched instrumental surf tunes. Their side includes a mix of covers, reworked surf tunes, and one full original. Whatever their sources, the DEMOLITIONS clearly know the sound they are chasing, and they nail it. Onto the B-side and CORGI WAVERIDER—I knew nothing about them going into this cassette. From the three songs on their side of the tape, there are definitely surf influences, but they lean more toward vocal garage rock. Mid-tempo, nasty, but still pretty catchy. A modern take on any number of Back From the Grave-style garage-rock bands. A fun background listen, but ultimately not the most memorable thing.

De Stijl Sleeping Tigers / To Be Your King 7″ reissue

Years after the 1978 formation (and subsequent disbandment) of DEMOB, Terry Elcock had a short-lived project in 1985 by the name of DE STIJL, who released (I believe) this single 7”. Now, over 40 years in the future, Dead Wax has kindly pressed a reissue. The A-side “Sleeping Tigers” starts off with a lonely guitar riff and a distant scream that sets the table for the coldwave/post-punk masterpiece that follows. The verses chug along, moody and melancholic, while the chorus opens up bright and bold with big sweeping chords and soaring vocals. The second half of the chorus trades that open sound for jittery hi-hat hits and a synth-led crescendo, only to drop us back in the rut of the verse. This formula feels familiar not only in post-punk and new wave, but in alternative and indie rock over the decades and especially into the early 2000s. “To Be Your King” may follow a similar formula, building and falling, and it may be B-side material compared to “Sleeping Tigers”—but that’s a high bar. Still a very catchy track that leaves me wanting more. Speaking of which, this reissue comes on the heels of Dead Wax’s compilation reissue of KISS THE BLADE, Elcock’s project that followed DE STIJL, with the same haunting vocals, but a different instrumental lineup.

End State Blessing in Disguise flexi EP

This is a hard-hitting hardcore record. If the band END STATE was a wrestler, they would belong to the brawling category like Fit Finlay, Jon Moxley, or indeed the infamous Brooklyn Brawler—a rather fitting comparison since they are from New York City, clearly “the place to be” these days. END STATE can be said to be of their time, by which I mean that they blend several schools of hardcore with a raw punk mixer. In the present case, the main ingredients are beefy New York hardcore and cavemen käng hardcore, although I would bet that they grew up with the former rather than the latter. I don’t know or care much for American hardcore, to be quite honest, so some breakdowns and the second song “Nosedive” are totally lost on me. However, when END STATE gets to work on the primitive D-takt sound of SVART PARAD, AGONI, and also even HIATUS or SAUNA at times, they do get the fist pumping. The vocalist does a remarkable job at sounding gruff as hell and he reminds me of DOOM and early crust bands, although it might not be intentional (perhaps more NYHC-influenced?). Only four songs and about five minutes of music on this single-sided flexi, so it does a good job at bollocking the listener anyway, and it is a solid first record.

Haverá Futuro? A Ilusão Do Progresso cassette

Relentless TOTALITÄR-worship from the minds that brought you DISHUMAN and SISTEMA OBSOLETO, HAVERÁ FUTURO?’s debut cassette is a total crusher that takes beefy Swedish käng and infuses it with Brazilian hardcore aesthetics without getting too flashy (ANTI-CIMEX said it best: “just evil, plain DISCHARGE-type hardcore, just the way it was meant to be”). Muscular guitars and raging drums accompany vocalist Marina Castro’s vicious delivery, with lyrical content informed by the current political climate and personal experiences of the band members themselves. Excellent stuff and highly recommended; for fans of NISEMONO and DELETÄR.

Ignorantes No Hemos Inventado Nada Ni Nos Interesa Hacerlo 12″

IGNORANTES aren’t here to reinvent punk, but they are here to prove nobody ever needed to. Primitive pogo violence stripped down to the bone, with the kind of frantic, catchy chaos that links early UK punk, South American street punk, and Japanese noise-worship. Like the title states, no innovation, no progress, no evolution. Every song is loaded with nihilistic contempt, with that irresistible tupa-tupa rhythm that turns any gig to a pogo fest. They channel the spirit of CHAOS UK, DISORDER, and GAI, plus the classic Chilean punk attack of  ANARKIA, with a killer BBS PARANOICOS cover for good measure. The problems stay the same, the system changes its clothes, and punk keeps crawling back from the grave to spit in its face.

The Jaggernauts / The Known Unknowns Meet Skeleduck / Intel 101 split EP

Ah yes, my greatest nemesis: bands releasing a split album and then parsing the whole thing between two separate Bandcamp accounts, defeating the purpose of doing a split in the first place. This kind of thing gets under my skin so much that I was hoping I’d hate this slab, but I am disappointed to report that I actually kind of like it. The JAGGERNAUTS have two songs on their side: “Skeleduck,” a track that brings to mind a much more light-hearted ANTISEEN, and the punk epic that is “I Won’t Go Back,” chock-full of scorching guitar solos and soaring gang vocals. The KNOWN UNKNOWNS’ side only features one track, “Intel 101,” and it reminds me of a more sinister DEVO mixed with POOPY NECROPONDE. Yeah, damn. This thing rules. Wisconsin is full of hidden punk gems.

Longfriend Timefriend If Me Dies, Me Dies LP

Melody-driven, jangle-conscious punk songs budding and popping to life all over this South Philly band’s If Me Dies, Me Dies LP. LONGFRIEND TIMEFRIEND fits in perfectly with JEFF ROSENSTOCK, NANA GRIZOL, RADIATOR HOSPITAL, and such. There are several songs on this record that people should hear if only because dealing with parents and bullies that extend into adulthood is a real and valid thing that all too often seems to get shuttered away as obstacles only faced in adolescence. Somewhere since the emo explosion of the ’90s, vague dream journal lyrics became hyper-specific points in time that are identifiable while congruently unknown, eliciting more of an empathy for the moment contrary to appreciating the prose; does that even make sense? Moving on, these seem like songs that would be hard to sing along with live, but I bet it happens due to the raw undercurrent that lets this flow effortlessly from one song to the next. Look, you already know if you’re gonna grab this. Look, also, I have to be honest, I don’t know if this is good or not good, but it feels authentic, thoughtful, and reformative. Now you try.

Mem//brane Mem//brane LP

Having an affinity for metal in my formative years and then entering punk through CRUCIFIX and AUS-ROTTEN really set me up to be a stenchcore enjoyer, and MEM//BRANE never disappoints. This LP has already been surpassed by fresh material from the band, but as this particular full-length is only a little over six months old, it means two things. First, MEM//BRANE churns out crust punk epics, and second, I’ve had time to thoroughly digest the album. Harnessing a monolithic wall of instrumentation that includes ample, downtuned, pentatonic riffing, burly drum smashing, and dirty bass rumble to back a deep, full vocal delivery that is truly rage-fueled, MEM//BRANE lays out eight songs which crescendo with crusty, metallic breakdowns and rabid social criticism. Personally, this album is quickly gaining a status in my collection that finds itself alongside NUX VOMICA’s Embrace the Cycles EP, UNARMED’s World of Shit, and AGE OF COLLAPSE’s Burden of Beast LP. In other words, it’s gnarly as fuck in all the best ways.

NightFreak Midwest Rattlesnakes 12″

A good kick in the ass here out of Chicago, courtesy of the gnarly, screaming rock’n’roll racket of NIGHTFREAK. Cloaked in black leather, bullet belts, and bandanas, these guys serve up a style of hessian hardcore that reeks of early HOOKERS and impending hangovers. Fast and heavy with spidery guitar leads and serrated edges, this 12” gives you six nasty cuts that leave you wanting more.

Omtzigt Kommando KGB EP

“There must be something in the water” is a pretty tired cliche, but whatever, I’m going to use it here. What is in the water in Haarlem? The hardcore scene there is really coming up, as evidenced by ripping slabs from the likes of TRAUMATIZER and INSIDE JOB coming across my review pile in the past few weeks. Next up is OMTZIGT KOMMANDO, a total unit of a band influenced by equal parts ’10s USHC and ’80s Swedish hardcore (as evidenced by the gnarly SHITLICKERS cover at the end of this EP). I was expecting some Oi! based on the cover, but this ain’t that. Fast and reckless with burly vocals mixed right in the middle of the chaos, this shit slaps. Highly recommended, and further evidence that you should be keeping an eye on the Haarlem punk scene.

Plague Thirteen Eroded 12″

I have regularly seen the name PLAGUE THIRTEEN on gig posters in Europe, and hailing from Belgium (or Hellgium as proper punks call it), they are fairly local to me, but I have never been arsed to actually checking them out. It seems like laziness is just like DISCHARGE’s final bloodbath: just around the corner. I am not going to beat around the bush, and unfortunately, I did not enjoy this LP. It is described as a cross between TRAGEDY and NEUROSIS, which is really ambitious indeed, but PLAGUE THIRTEEN is more at home with ’00s so-called neocrust and all the bands that have been trying to infuse dark Scandicrust with even darker. heavy post-hardcore and guitar melodies. The band included the singer and guitar player of LINK, who were undeniably a reference in the genre in the late ’00s up until the late ’10s, and this newer take on the subgenre does objectively sound solid and ticks the boxes it is meant to—like a blend between early CULT OF LUNA, FALL OF EFRAFA, and some unstoppable Swedish band like WOLFBRIGADE or something. They certainly are honest and passionate, but it’s not punk enough for me and just not my subjective cuppa.

Scarboro Hate Season LP

Hate Season starts off making you think that you’re about to venture down a path of basic meat-and-potatoes punk and hardcore. However, by track three (”Sin Futuro”), you quickly realize this is something unique, a wave that is powerful, devastating, and disinfecting. The songs rocket through and blend perfectly, almost as if the entire record were a laid-out rock opera, or perhaps a Greek tragedy. Sharp, fast bursts are crafted around starts and stops, and out of nowhere, weird little instruments pop in and out so fast that you question whether you even heard them. As the fifteen songs carry on, they start to lose a bit of the unhinged quality and adopt a more direct and melodic hardcore and punk design, without giving up the vibrant and compelling parts that work to make Hate Season so terrific.

Scud Dirt cassette

Quirky punk with an unexpected biology motif, featuring songs about dirt, pesticides, snakes, worms, and more. This isn’t some nerdy science shit, though—more like utilizing the thematic content to analogize existential dread in a fun and slightly disturbed way. The description may read as goofy, but the execution is sharp and captivating. The songs themselves are well-constructed jammers that remind me of the fantastic EPs of PRIMETIME crossed with NEGATIVE SCANNER. The lazy comparison is to fellow Aussies AMY AND THE SNIFFERS, though I find SCUD to have more depth and dimensionality, both lyrically and sonically. See the one-minute ripper “Pest” to substantiate this claim. They round out the release with a country song about the life of a weed slayer. I now need to check out their other releases, as this latest one sets the bar pretty dang high.

Sex Prisoner Cautionary Tale CD

It’s always a blessing to wake up to new SEX PRISONER material. TL;DR for this review: if you are already a fan of the band, expect everything you love about them but cranked up to eleven. If you’re new, oh boy, just buckle up and get ready for the sonic annihilation you’re about to witness. They cover (and stress) the whole spectrum of human hearing with their thick, grinding guitar riffs following the chainsaw tradition, sizzling bass that sounds like a chemical warehouse on fire, cutthroat vocals that are almost as pissed-off as my neighbours when I’m blasting this album at maximum volume, and supercharged drumming that could be a testimony to the durability of whatever drumheads they use. Occasional blasts of tastefully abrasive noise and feedback definitely help set the noise floor of the chaos that you are experiencing. I’ve always thought of this band as the epitome of the modern grindcore/powerviolence sound, as they always sound armed to the teeth and lethally dangerous. I’m happy to hear that they still are, and I have nothing but high praise for this album.

Wealth Gap Debt Before Dishonor cassette

Melodic hardcore from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Eleven songs of toe-tapping, catchy, driving hardcore. My big question is about the band’s self-proclamation of being “groove punk.” What in the fuck is groove punk? If you mentioned that term to me, I would assume you were talking about bands like MENTAL or RIGHTEOUS JAMS, who I frankly couldn’t stand in the first place. That style always just sounded like some clean-cut jock hardcore that had no business even claiming to be punk. So, if WEALTH GAP is a “groove punk” band, would that make RIGHTEOUS JAMS a proto-groove punk band? Or if we’re retroactively making up genre terms for bands from the past, can we take punk away from their genres, leaving them with groove hardcore, or perhaps groove-core? Holy hell, these sound awful. There are a lot of aspects I like about WEALTH GAP. They might make some decisions in their songwriting that I wouldn’t make, but there are undeniably some very cool moments in their recording, like the spooky beginning of “Imperial Cereal,” or that wildly catchy guitar lick in “Makes Me Sick.” I don’t think we need new genre names to describe the tried-and-true styles we all play. We just need to stop letting people get away with co-opting the already established terms and allowing words like “punk” and “hardcore” to be so indiscriminately applied to any kind of guitar music. I, for one, will be calling it like I see it: WEALTH GAP is a pretty cool small-town hardcore band.

Zooparty XX LP

ZOOPARTY has been cranking out the hits since 2006, and XX doesn’t miss. Mid-to-fast-tempo songs with melodies and propulsive guitar hooks reinforce the idea that you only need to look to Sweden (or Canada) for this perfect blend of ripened punk/pop mod rock. Thirteen songs that go by way too quickly, all with equal parts of social commentary, sorrow, longing, hope, and gobs of detailed introspection. “I Miss Me” and “Power Play” emerge as heavy favorites on this LP, but only by the width of an atom, given ZOOPARTY’s unwavering attention to making every song great. It’s going to be a while before I take this off my turntable.

V/A Left Without Much Fuss LP

Disguised as an unassuming compilation LP, closer inspection reveals Left Without Much Fuss to be an elaborate love letter from Ugly Pop Records founder Simon Harvey to the music and culture that has driven him for decades. Tapping his colorful roster of Canadian punk buddies in groups like CULT CRIME, the ICHI-BONS, and the VAPIDS, Simon has assembled a fun collection of cover tunes spanning a range of favorites and lesser-known bangers from the RAMONES, MOTÖRHEAD, FANG, JAWBREAKER, and many more. This diverse lineup is chock-full of solid renditions that make for a rewarding listen, but the thick booklet that comes with it is what really makes it a unique package. Filled with an essay, band bios, collages of classic cover art, and even a list of 500 killer songs to expand your horizons, this shiny insert provides plenty o’ tasty grist for the ever-churning mill of punk obsession. One could spend hours just poring over the hundreds of EP sleeves depicted and updating their Discogs want list. It’s a noisy and sincere celebration of the good stuff, brought to you by a trusted source of chaos for over 27 years.

Bad Motivator The Album LP

If you’ve ever turned up early and caught the local openers before a SUPERSUCKERS show and walked away pleasantly surprised, that’s roughly the territory that BAD MOTIVATOR is working in, and there’s real charm to it. The five-piece out of Los Angeles shares a singer and guitarist with the early ’00s band the TAKEDOWNS, and this record doesn’t stray far from that lineage. Their sound pulls from garage rock, new wave, punk, and a bit of ’70s rock’n’roll, with keyboards worked in tastefully rather than laid on thick. This is their first proper full-length, following an earlier singles collection, and the players clearly have some miles on them, but they move through these songs with plenty of piss and vinegar. Most of the ten tracks land right around the two-minute mark, so nothing overstays its welcome. “Troubled Chances” and “Information Overload” are the standouts for me, and “I Don’t Think I Want To V2” brought the LOAD LEVELERS to mind, maybe because of the vocal twang. This isn’t a masterpiece, but it’s a solid, likable record. Next time I would nudge the guitar just a little higher in the mix.

Belmont Beach Weirdos Beach Hard With… LP

Here’s a game: look at the band name. Now look at the album title. Now look at the cover art. You have two guesses to tell me what this record sounds like. If you said Gen-X DICK DALE worship mixed with BOBBY “BORIS” PICKETT and a much more grounded MAN… OR ASTROMAN?, then you never needed a second guess at all.

City Slang CS1 demo cassette

Recording project from East Dallas, Texas. On this recording, one person handles all the instrumentation and programs the drum machine, while the other is on vocal duty. Uptempo repetitive riffs with gritty, gravelly, gruff vocals. The songs are catchy enough, everything is played well, and the recording is done very professionally. “For the Boys” feels like the latest installment of a modern band trying to write an Oi! classic. Seven songs in total, six originals and a COCKSPARRER cover which doesn’t feel particularly necessary, more like padding to make the release just a little longer. The best song, in my opinion, is the rock’n’roll-inspired “OKMF,” purely for the piano part. I think this recording project has turned into a full live band since the release of this cassette.

Cross Human Spirit 12″

A collision between the bleakness of DIE KREUZEN, the paranoia of DEEP WOUND, and the crushing intensity of HERESY. There’s a metallic edge, but the foundation is pure hardcore anxiety. Fast, dark, and completely unforgiving, Human Spirit sounds like a nervous system overloaded by a world built on lies, isolation, and collapse. Lurching between chaotic violence and cold precision, CROSS perfected a fast hardcore sound, while the vocals cut through like a transmission from someone trapped inside the machine. The artwork carries that same hostile energy: stark and stripped of anything decorative, like a warning label. No positive vibes, no fake redemption arc, only survival instinct turned into sound. Human Spirit is hardcore as a pressure valve.

Double Bubble DCxPC Live & Dead, Vol. 8: Redemption LP

I’ve been impressed with the quality of the live recordings in the DCxPC series, and this is no exception. This all-female four-piece is right up my alley. Mid-tempo and super catchy pop and punk music is kinda my thing. And no song over four minutes, though one does approach that. Five of the thirteen cuts are studio tracks, with some duplication with the live tracks. Nicely done. The last song, “Don’t Talk to Me,” is a standout for me.

Driák Klid Před Bouří CD

Dang, duder! Czechia has been putting out some wonderful and interesting sing-along punk rock lately. These eight tunes sit solidly in the mid-tempo punk vein, lending the CD to a perfectly consistent fist-in-the-air, head-bobbing energy. The gruff vocals work very well, but it’s the accordion that really elevates this entire album. From start to finish, Klid Před Bouří is a great listen. Go grab one, please.

Eclectic Blend Live at My Apartment cassette

A debut cassette release out of Rochester, NY. ECLECTIC BLEND is the side project of Jake Razor from LEAKING HEAD, with Jake sharing writing duties, playing guitar, and handling all vocals. Those who go back a little farther with that group of punks might also remember Jake as the vocalist of the criminally underrated western New York crossover band DEATH CAMP.  A first release can really set the tone for what a band hopes to accomplish. With this debut being a live cassette, complete with fake crowd sounds between tracks, one might assume this is a novelty throwaway. Well, one would be wrong. The songwriting here is undeniable, with songs like “Anything But Human” sounding like a long-lost punk classic, now unearthed for the first time. To be this intrigued by a band based solely on a live cassette debut release seems a little crazy, but I am dying to hear the studio demo that has allegedly been in the works for years. In modern punk, there is a current trend of bands glomming onto the Oi! tagline and aesthetic, even when a band’s music sounds nothing like classic bands of that genre. With vocals as gruff as Jake’s, ECLECTIC BLEND could easily lean into that, but they don’t. Jake and company simply make the kind of punk they want to make, without attaching an easy and trendy label to their band.

Faucheuse Comme Un Poignard LP

FAUCHEUSE out of Bordeaux, France plays killer street punk, and on their latest release Comme Un Poignard, they rip through ten tracks without mercy. Wild guitar leads and full-tilt rhythms create the instrumental environment for howling French vocals. Rock’n’roll, D-beat, and classic French punk sounds collide in perfectly controlled chaos, indicating the adept musicianship FAUCHEUSE draws upon. If you like high-octane punk rock that packs each track with complexities, then you’ve got to check out FAUCHEUSE.

Garbanzo Garbanzo cassette

After a handful of cassette EPs and a split tape, GARBANZO delivers their first full-length recording. Fifteen tracks of drum-machine-driven, dingy, garage-y egg-punk from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. A solo recording project that has been turning some heads for a few years now, GARBANZO has always left the listener wanting more. Now we have fourteen original tracks as well as a GEE TEE cover to digest in a single sitting. If you like warbly guitars playing repetitive, flanged-out riffs with snotty, juvenile lyrics lackadaisically droned on top, then you’re going to love this. I know I do.

Dave Masud Three Quarter Life Crisis CD

Three Quarter Life Crisis is a fine-to-good CD done entirely by DAVE MASUD. I see where DAVE is trying to go with this, but I feel like a full band, or at least calling in some pals to help develop the songwriting, might have made these songs stronger. There are ten fine songs that seem a bit uninspired. The lyrical topics fall across the board from basic life contemplation and how you fit in given that everything dies, to battling family dynamics and self-imposed cultural divisions. I have absolutely no doubt that DAVE MASUD has a lot to say and should be heard, but I do think he should grab a bunch of pals and front a band himself and maybe his songs would feel more organic.

Morde Morde 12″

Damn, this is an epic one, or rather an epic ride through time, back to the ’00s when skinny black jeans were a compulsory item to get into gigs. MORDE is a new band from Czechia formed by members of BAESTIEN, a rather well-respected neo-crusty post-hardcore act. However, where BAESTIEN relied on atmospheric parts to create their soundscapes, MORDE gets straight to the point with a heavy Scandi D-beat crust basis without giving up on the epic, and sometimes overwhelming, melodic leads. So yeah, basically metallic neo-crust. Fans of ACURSED, the DAGDA, EKKAIA, or early FALL OF EFRAFA will rejoice, and so will lovers of early WOLFBRIGADE. There is no doubt that it is a well-executed effort with a dark and heavy sound and a Swedish-styled production (were it not for the Czech language, I would have thought that they were from Scandinavia), but I can’t really get into this one, as I usually don’t open the boxes MORDE are bent on ticking on this first LP. Just too much of an ’00s vibe, I guess?

Plot Food Chain LP

PLOT is a three-piece from Philadelphia that has been at this for a while now, and their new album leans into a dark, uneasy mood which should be familiar to fans of their previous releases. Jake Rhoda’s keyboards sit right up front, and his vocals come drenched in reverb, often to the point where the words are hard to make out. On the peppier songs, the bass and drums do a lot of the work, pushing everything forward with a low, dirty churn. You can hear the music reflecting influences from industrial to post-punk to noise rock, and few tracks even edge toward dance punk, though they never fully cross over into something you’d call fun. I could see PLOT sharing a bill with USA NAILS or early POP. 1280. For me it works best on the noisier, rockier songs, and “The Convenience of Meat” is the high point, a dark, grinding standout. They also stretch out in places: “Infiltrator/Party World” is a slower, layered, six-minute drone that could be an ordeal for some, or a good track to zone out to during a study session. I found my attention wandering during a few of the less aggressive stretches, but when PLOT leans into the grit, it really connects.

Spy Two Things at Once CD

Two doses of SPY for the price of one, Two Things at Once includes both of SPY’s first and arguably strongest releases, Service Weapon and Habitual Offender. For those who don’t know, SPY formed in 2020 and they play pretty straightforward and nasty hardcore, in line with bands like GAG, GULCH, BIB, etc. I love their earlier sound; the dirty, punky, mid-tempo churn of these songs really packs a punch that their debut LP didn’t fully deliver on. I’m no hater, but this material scratches an itch the later stuff doesn’t.

The Strange Chords The Strange Demo cassette

Oh, they’re introducing some “mood” very early on here. And then it develops into a super twangy western thing, like it could be a Clint Eastwood spaghetti western soundtrack, only on acid. Don’t let the cassette format kid you, this is some serious shit. The first couple of songs almost sound like they’ll be instrumentals, but then the vocals kick in. Great job setting a kind of eerie mood. Garage and mood and punk? Yeah, bring it.

Subtle Turnhips Septentinoriel LP

First record in seven years from France’s SUBTLE TURNHIPS—they’ve actually been at it since 1992(!), with the project going fairly quiet until a string of records in the mid-’00s to early ’10s that crested the wave of what could probably best be described as Terminal Boredom-core. Much like fellow lifers TYVEK, SUBTLE TURNHIPS reconstituted their art-punk garage/art-garage punk from the most primitive and trebly Messthetics entries, a FALL/Mark E. Smith-informed approach to both repetition and agitation, and shambling DIY (UK or otherwise) pop amateurism, and it’s thankfully still just as much of a gleefully chaotic jumble now as it ever was. “Laughing (Total Control)” détournés everyone’s favorite post-millennial Aussie post-punks and completely reflects the concept of laughing at the system in the process (if the system is tuning, timing, and the incorporation of more than three chords), “Tweedle Dum” and “Easy” scratch and collapse in an especially SWELL MAPS-damaged sort of way, and “Hitch Hike” (not a KLEENEX cover, as much as I would love to hear that) punctuates its stripped-down quasi-jangle with skronky meltdown noise blasts as if the TELEVISION PERSONALITIES had been more concerned with where Jad Fair lives. Fifteen fabulously fractured freak dispatches, total top-shelf shit.

Thirsty Giants Escape the Junkyard LP

Three power chords, fast drums, palm-mutes, and snotty vocals. Honestly, it’s amateur hour here, but I would have loved this shit at twelve years old. Fuck the haters. These dudes keep ripping and keep putting out records, and that’s what it’s all about. The vocals have improved and are much more prominent in the mix than on their previous efforts. My favorite part of the record is the phlegm-producing sound at the end of the second track, “This Thing Called Junk.” It’s snotty and confrontational and the exact kind of shit you throw in your Walkman while trying to ollie that three-stair over at the local middle school.

Worst Worry Piece of My Art / Nice Gone 7″

Sparse solo downer punk from Lisa Lynn Wallace, formerly of nouvelle vague garage gang BLACK TIME (where she went by the nom de punk Janie Too Bad) and the noisy/bratty post-Slampt duo SEXAPHONE. Neither of these two songs are worlds away from the less raucous side of BLACK TIME—the Janie-sung “I’m Gonna Haunt You When I’m Gone” from 2008’s Double Negative LP is a solid point of departure; the overall vibe here is definitely more BLACK TAMBOURINE than Black Monk Time. Wallace’s sung/spoken delivery lands somewhat out of phase with the drum machine drone, tambourine rattle, and minimal slashes of post-punk guitar in “Piece of My Art,” not unlike a disoriented and even drowsier version of the twee-psych beat of early SLUMBER PARTY, as “Nice Gone” juxtaposes Wallace’s way-up-front, double-tracked, and increasingly tension-edged vocals against comparatively charged guitar strum and off-kilter cymbal crashes, bringing to mind some hypothetical band that would have played with MECCA NORMAL at a bookstore circa 1992 (not a diss).

Zanjeer Seher-e-Maqhoor سحرِ مقھور LP

Since their inception, the now-Berlin-based ZANJEER has proven themselves to be a band uniquely gifted at capturing the raw anger and frustration of the moment with both a powerful message and powerful sound. On their latest LP, they reach new heights of intensity, taking musical cues from legacy bands like RAW POWER and RATOS DE PORÃO and speaking on the ongoing genocide in Palestine, religious extremism, and exploitation happening the world over. Across its ten tracks, Seher-e-Maqhoor سحرِ مقھور (Dawn of the Oppressed) is well-produced and has a big sound, with heavy riffs and pounding drums accompanying lyrics sung in Urdu, a lingua franca that bridges the gap between Pakistan and India and their respective diaspora. A totally essential and powerful record that shows solidarity in its righteous indignation. Recommended.

168 By Myself & Damaged Again cassette

168 is a solo project out of Houston, Texas, with Ryan Preble-Gaitz handling absolutely every aspect: writing, performing, recording, mixing, and mastering. That’s an incredibly impressive undertaking, especially considering the sheer scope of this release. This cassette clocks in at roughly 90 minutes long, consisting of two very long LP-length recordings, one on each side of the tape. It’s an enormous amount of music to throw at a listener, especially when it spends so much time hopping between genres. But before I start complaining, there is a lot here worth celebrating. The coolest thing about 168 is how genuine it feels. There isn’t an ounce of posturing here. It feels like someone making exactly the kind of music they want to make, simply because they love punk, not because they’re trying to impress anyone. When 168 sticks to its strengths, it is legitimately good. The ’80s USHC-worship is convincing without feeling like a carbon copy. The guitar tone on the instrumental surf tracks is perfect, making the songs feel pretty damn timeless. Even some of the novelty street punk songs, mostly centered around aging and laughing at yourself, are entertaining, funny, and surprisingly memorable. Across this tape, I counted fourteen songs that I would call anywhere from solid to genuinely great. Sounds like a glowing review, right? Well, there are 47 songs on this cassette. Yes, I understand it’s technically two full-length albums bundled together, but that doesn’t make it feel any less exhausting. Whatever happened to leaving people wanting more? Even if you think your songs are all incredible, do you really believe each of these albums needed to run more than twice the length of The Crew by 7 SECONDS? My biggest problem isn’t even with the runtime, it’s the constant detours. Pop punk, screamo, acoustic songs, mandolin-driven folk-punk, atmospheric noise, novelty sea shanties…it’s as if the project refused to leave a single musical impulse unexplored. The frustrating part is that the great material is buried under so much of the merely okay and outright forgettable. When all is said and done, 168 is an impressive project whose output is mostly simply not for me. The high points are high enough that I’m probably going to make myself a new tape with just the songs I enjoyed and see how they flow on their own.

Altar of Eden The Grotto Screams II LP

In 2020, ALTAR OF EDEN (assembled from members of …AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD, NOSFERATU, CREAMERS, and more) released The Grotto Screams full-length. Returning in 2026 with The Grotto Screams II, ALTAR OF EDEN has once again created a deathrock soundscape that heralds the apocalyptic descent of our world. Ten songs full of thick bass, screaming jangles of guitar work, and jazzy but primal drumming that support a lyrical delivery that is spot-on for Rozz Williams. In all, The Grotto Screams II is a creeping, dark journey that occasionally lets ALTAR OF EDEN loose to create immersive, danceable, macabre rock. Absolutely check this out if you’re into CHRISTIAN DEATH.

Billy Batts & the Made Men DCxPC Presents Live, Vol. 41 LP

Here we have Atlanta’s BILLY BATS & THE MADE MEN ripping through 21 tracks of scrappy dual-vocal punk reminiscent of GUTTERMOUTH or even the QUEERS, but not as good. The double vocals keep things interesting; without them, I’m not sure I would have gotten as far as I did. You get what you expect with songs like “Long John Silver’s Feud in Augusta,” “My Job Sucks,” and covers of BLACK FLAG, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, and…BILLY IDOL. Their drummer Nub Nub rips behind the kit and helps keep it all together, but it does nothing to minimize the juvenile nature of some of the songs. At the end of the day, it’s refreshing to see a young band touring their asses off and giving it their all. While the music isn’t my favorite flavor, you can hear that these dudes rip live and are absolutely doing their part to keep punk young. The more of these DCxPC records that I hear, the more I love them.

Cánidos Dis-cografía (2017–2025) LP

Although this Tijuana-based three-piece has apparently been going for eight years, I had never heard of CÁNIDOS prior to this review, which is a bit of a shame since the band evolved in the dense, busy, brutal D-beat crust galaxy, a place inhabited by studded punks with a questionable sense of hygiene who I feel close to. This record is a discography—or rather Dis-cografía—with twenty songs, so it might be a bit much to take in one sitting (not for me though, I am no poseur). The remastered version of “Canis Latrans” opening the LP stands as especially convincing. Stylistically, CÁNIDOS knows what they are doing and displays solid dispositions for the genre. I am reminded of bands like CONSUME, local crust mafia heroes COACCION, or indeed COP ON FIRE, who they wisely choose to cover. I like the expressive gruff vocals and the galloping D-beat crust style they go for, with that typical cymbal play that gets the fist pumping. I have no idea whether or not these perros were involved in other bands before, but I’d love to know. It’s a yes for me.

Clayface Nichts Ist In Ordnung LP

Nürnberg’s CLAYFACE cranks out thirteen tunes of politically-wired hardcore punk as their second release. These songs hit with the urgency of classic German punk while keeping one foot planted in modern crust-leaning punk. The lyrics tear into militarism, reactionary politics, social media brain-rot, and middle-class complacency without sounding like a lecture. As for the music, they keep everything moving with sharp riffs and just enough rock’n’roll swagger to appease non-hardcore listeners. Furious punk that sounds like it actually has something to say.

Dead Finks New Plastik Abyss cassette

Let’s get this out of the way. “Anodyne” is the best song of the year so far, and I don’t think it’s particularly close. That track is the reason this review is like a month late; I simply could not get past it. The student loans of amazing post-punk. There is tension, there is release, there is a catchy-as-hell chorus and urgent guitars. With that being just the second track, it was almost impossible for the rest of the album to live up to what came before it. But that said, the rest of the album is indeed great. The energy and desperation in the vocal performances are consistently brilliant, the guitars continue to feel urgent, and the battle between tension and release rolls along from track to track. A behemoth of a record that may peak early, but I think you need the last seven tracks just to come down from the heights you reach early on anyway.

Faulty Cognitions Demo 12″

Although they’re from San Antonio TX, FAULTY COGNITIONS have a ’90s(-ish) NorCal pop punk sound and a today(-ish) SoCal pop punk sound blended together—I guess into a Central Texas pop punk sound. Look, I dunno. At its core, this re-released demo tape, now on vinyl, has some memorable, humble, simple, “best pals hanging out in a basement” pop-punk-influenced songs. Undeniably catchy while both silly and heartfelt. And my golly if the final track, “Let the Kids Have the Scene,” doesn’t just hit me between the eyes. This 12” has sensation laced throughout the lyrics, quilting a perfect feeling that isn’t sorrowful or cathartic; maybe wisdom is the word I’m looking for. I could also be full of shit and it’s just a good record. You be the judge.

Gutbugs S/T cassette

Four-song debut cassette from this kooky egg-punk project out of Toulouse, France. The tracks are surprisingly long given the usual frantic, short attention span nature of the genre GUTBUGS has chosen, with each song averaging almost three-and-a-half minutes. Quirky, spastic, sound-effect-heavy songs all with driving drum machine beats, short halted barked vocals, and more warbles than a broken Speak & Spell. I make a point to only write reviews from listening to physical cassettes, which feels important to me. You get to experience the release as it was meant to be, analyzing the cover art, inspecting the lyrics when included (none here), and taking in the release as a complete package. With GUTBUGS, however, I had to review the songs through their Bandcamp page because the tape I received is completely blank on both sides. Limited to 25 copies; I have no idea how many of them actually contain the recording.

It’s a Setup Bleeding Out at Recess EP

Spokane, Washington’s IT’S A SETUP played their first show in 2024, which makes the confidence on this EP genuinely impressive. Eight chaotic hardcore songs in ten minutes, screamo vocals pitched high enough to read as almost androgynous, and a low end heavy enough that the speed never comes at the expense of the weight. They’ve got both, and they swing between the two with the kind of powerviolence tempo shifts that keep you off balance. You can hear a little IN/HUMANITY in the DNA, that same fast and furious streak, but IT’S A SETUP keeps things blunt and right in your face. It’s not the heaviest record ever made, or the fastest, or the screamiest, but it sits in a really good spot that’s fucking infectious, and the production is dialed in exactly right for these songs. The politics are just as sharp: fuck the NRA, fuck the arms trade, fuck religion in government, fuck the tough-guy posturing, fuck the elites, and fuck the borders that trick people into forgetting we’re all the same tribe. These kids have their heads screwed on straight, and it gives me some hope for the future.

Les Feüílles Mörtes Las Ruinas de Bizancio LP

Spain’s LES FEÜÍLLES MÖRTES deliver some darkwave and post-punk-infused electro-punk that gets your body moving. With its mood swings between gloomy to energetic, it’s not hard to find something you like. I personally wasn’t really moved by it, but I’m sure more devoted fans of the genre would appreciate it more than I did.