Reviews - MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL

Andresa One Man Band Nothing But R’N’R cassette

Solo budget rock out of Bandung, Indonesia, ANDRESA ONE MAN BAND pretty much says it all in its name. This is the side project of Andresa Nugraha, who you may know from the Indonesian garage punk band the BATTLEBEATS. Wait a minute, I had thought that the BATTLEBEATS was also a solo recording project, one that played live with a full backing band. Surely this can’t be the same guy doing another solo project in a similar style, can it? Well, as it turns out…the differentiation between these two projects is admittedly pretty minimal and difficult to distinguish based solely on their recorded output. The BATTLEBEATS have been cranking out nasty, driving garage punk for the better part of a decade now, and ANDRESA ONE MAN BAND does not stray too far from that formula. If I had to speculate, I assume the main difference is that while the BATTLEBEATS play shows as a full band, ANDRESA seems to do gigs similar to the way Mark Sultan does, sitting in front of a kick drum and using different foot pedals to trigger various drums while accompanying himself on guitar and vocals. If nasty, riff-heavy garage punk is your thing, there is plenty to like here. It may sound cheesy, but in my opinion, there are not enough rock’n’roll songs that are simply about loving rock’n’roll. It’s a proven formula that never gets old, and ANDRESA has a few more of those for you on the five-song debut of this project. And if you somehow haven’t already come across the BATTLEBEATS, you now have two projects of this ilk to dive into.

Bastard Comfort / Doctor Gong 7″

Now this is the kind of music obsessive, crate-digging, lifer stuff that can only feel like a fever dream once unearthed! Over fifty years in hiding, these two tracks from the short-lived project of future DAMNED guitarist Brian James and future ELTON MOTELLO frontperson Alan Ward have been unleashed on the masses. “Doctor Gong” is exactly what you would hope for, given the era and the pedigree: a rollicking, sleazy, four-minute affair crammed with riffs and attitude. The B-side opts for a bit more fretboard exploration, taking on an almost heavy psych feeling that wouldn’t be too out of place on a Brown Acid compilation if they expanded to sounds across the pond. Absolutely essential listening for the curious, the completist, and the casual.

Big Kiss Great Grief 12″

Six quick, blistering, angular tracks that have that sinister ominousness of the single DEAD LOW TIDE release along with glass-chugging vocals reminiscent of Chuck Ragan of HOT WATER MUSIC. The secret sauce is the momentous bass lines that keep the pace at almost too much (but just the right amount) of an anxious rush. It’s an awesome balance of a more pissed-off WIRE and MY DAD IS DEAD.

Caving Grounds Become Soil cassette

Marquette, Michigan’s CAVING GROUNDS bring together four slow and heavy hardcore tracks for their new release Become Soil. With their grim, tremolo-picking riffs reminiscent of old school death metal and slow-to-mid-tempo pacing getting into sludge territory, the band finds a nice middle ground on which to settle their sound. The lyricism and overall compositional choices of this release remind me of DYSTOPIA. So, no complaints at all.

Cell Deth Death Seller EP

A skull-bludgeoning follow up to their 2024 EP Catholic Guilt, CELL DETH is back with ten tracks of raging hardcore punk. Cues have been taken from classic USHC sources, like JERRY’S KIDS and the F.U.’S, but there is something else in their DNA that isn’t as obvious. While I wouldn’t call them fastcore, they certainly do play fast as fuck, and have tapped into the uncanny GAUZE-like ability to impart a sense of speed and velocity into their songs even when the actual tempo isn’t so elevated. This innate sense of urgency is the band’s superpower, and when folded in with some tasty riffs, seething vocals, and a chainsaw raw recording quality, the resulting EP is a standout record in a year jam-packed with noteworthy hardcore records. Ten songs on seven inches, with the longest cut landing at one minute, thirteen seconds. Fuck yeah!

Dorothy Fuzz Run Devil Run! cassette

Two-piece recording project from out in La La Land, Los Angeles, California. Across seven tracks, DOROTHY FUZZ delivers lo-fi garage punk with a heavy reliance on toy synthesizers. Does that make it synthwave? I’m skeptical, but I don’t think I really care either way. What becomes impossible to ignore is the lack of rhythmic variation on this cassette. Every song uses the standard basic rock beat, programmed into a drum machine and left to run without a single fill, break, or change. In fact, the beat often keeps going even after the rest of the instruments have dropped out, continuing until someone finally switches the machine off. The most interesting moment comes with “Is That All There Is?,” which trades the grunge-inspired barked singing for spoken word storytelling over that same unchanging beat and a simple bass groove. However, at more than six minutes in length, that novelty starts to wear thin. Oddly enough, the track “Running, Running” somehow feels even longer with how grating and repetitive it is. Two-and-a-half minutes has never felt so long. After all the questions posed on “Is That All There Is?” and once the tape had finished, I was left with a question of my own: is that all there is to making music? Is that really all there is to being a band?

Fret Rattles As the World Falls Apart LP

Minneapolis sons FRET RATTLES’ third full-length runs thirteen songs in thirty-six minutes of the loud, fists-up action rock revival style that was pretty exciting a couple decades ago, and it’s played with total commitment and zero risk. The music they’re inspired by (MC5, STOOGES, HELLACOPTERS) was made by people who were a bit of a public safety problem. This album kind of sounds like the average of everything recorded in their wake. It includes gassed-up runs at the DEAD BOYS’ “What Love Is” and the BOYS’ “Living in the City,” the former featuring the late Rob Tossava, a fixture of the Minneapolis scene, on guitar. In a bar, this would be a great time. On record, it’s a toe-tapper that might not fully capture your attention. LP is on 180g black or colored vinyl.

Gudon Devil of Mediocrity EP

Hiroshima’s legendary GUDON played a major role in the storied history of Japanese hardcore punk, bridging the gap between early ’80s bands like the COMES and the EXECUTE and later acts like BASTARD and JUDGEMENT (both of whom are projects of former GUDON guitarist Zigyaku) with their fast and thrashy sound. After originally splitting in 1990, the band reformed in 2023 with a new lineup but the same intense style, laying down a new EP, Devil of Mediocrity, one year later. Featuring two new tracks and two re-recorded classics, GUDON hasn’t missed a beat and sounds as tight as ever, completely retaining the speed and ferocity of their older material. Non-stop blazing guitars and a breakneck rhythm section speed along as former bassist Guy fully delivers on vocal duties. A crucial and impressive slab from this legendary group.

Hiatus Realm of Nightmares 12″

Damn, this is a difficult one to review. I have loved HIATUS since I first heard them in the early ’00s (a time when they were inactive), and as a result, looking at this new album objectively and critically is no easy task, a bit like when an old mate asks if you like his new haircut. Tricky, indeed. This is also the first HIATUS record without Wills who sadly passed away in 2024, so it cannot have been easy for the band to keep going and writing new songs without their charismatic singer. I have to confess that I could not get into their 2023 LP Out of Hand, which I felt a little bad, if not guilty, about, and when I got assigned their new record for review, I felt almost nervous. Well, I think it really holds its own. The sound is powerful, the songs are solid, and it definitely packs a good crusty punch. If you were to draw comparisons with the band’s older body of work, Realm of Nightmare would sit well between El Sueño and The Brain (basically, the mid-’90s). You will get some all-out crustcore attacks, but also mid-paced, heavy hardcore punk numbers with the trademark HIATUS style: inventive, thrashing riffs and clever songwriting to hook the listener without giving up on the intensity and the energy. I mean, the band basically invented Eurocrust, so they know what they are doing (and drinking). I can hear hints of CELTIC FROST in the vocals, now handled by guitar player Azill and bass player Paskk. The one criticism that I have is that the album is quite short and I would have enjoyed two or three more songs, but one cannot have everything. By the way, if HIATUS ever plays in your town, do yourself a favour and go—they are one of the best live bands I have ever seen.

Ile de Garde Rage Blossom 12″

Taking their name from the Benedictine abbess and polymath Hildegard of Bingen, ILE DE GARDE presents their debut 12”, Rage Blossom. Consisting of three women on keys, drums, and vocals, this trio performs driving, melodic, and dark synthwave-adjacent songs. Evident in the album title, elements of anger and bitterness inform these six tracks, with lyrics like “Heard you said I’m such a slut / I don’t think I give a fuck” from “Birthday Girl.” From the album artwork to the shadowy synth lines to the lyrical tension, the whole thing feels like it’s cloaked in Hildegard’s medieval mysticism—perhaps not in practice, but in symbolism. Calling this “spooky” is too cheap, and doesn’t do it justice. It’s angry and urgent and evocative and it might just make your night.

Jeffy & the Sunken Heads Get Sunk! LP

I don’t pretend to know anything about the spirit world or what comes after we leave this mortal plane. However, the song “Ham Ghost” has me terrified. Some time ago, BORIS THE SPRINKLER, the LIZARDS, the VINDICTIVES, and SUPERNOVA gathered at the brown rim of the Mighty Mississippi River and poked their eggs into the murk where, some years later, crawling from those historic river banks, came JEFFY & THE SUNKEN HEADS. Twenty-five well-crafted songs spanning topics such as outer space, horrible fonts, and times when marijuana was scarce in 1986. Jeffy, Gerry, Rex, and McBob aren’t afraid to confront their demons and the troubling parts of friendship, as evidenced in the song “McBob is a Left Lane Cruiser.” These songs were thought about, thoroughly researched for accuracy with pen to paper, practiced, and distilled down, and range in length from twelve seconds to two minutes, thirty seconds. JEFFY & THE SUNKEN HEADS fascinate and frighten me with their sci-fi tune “Barf Cars From Mars,” but bring it back home and calm my nerves with “Breastfeeder.” I know you think that JEFFY & THE SUNKEN HEADS are a one-trick pony, but I can assure you that these ponies have a lot of tricks. Look, if you aren’t sold on the music or similarities they have with the above-mentioned bands, then you should feel comforted in their promise that they “won’t fart on you.” I mean, sometimes that’s all you need to start a new friendship.

Kinetic Orbital Strike The Terrifying Power of Bombardment LP

If DISCHARGE taught the world how to turn the guitar into an air-raid siren, Philadelphia’s KINETIC ORBITAL STRIKE has figured out how to make a whole recording sound like a city after the bombs have landed. Across thirteen tracks, the band delivers a barrage of fuzzed-out riffs, relentless D-beats, and scorched-earth vocals that channel the spirit of DOOM and DISCLOSE without sounding like a tribute act. The production is dense and suffocating, giving every song the weight of a collapsing building. Highlights such as “Nuclear Confrontation,” “Ceaseless Genocide,” and “Essential Aid Denied” prove there’s more here than sheer aggression. Beneath the distortion are memorable riffs, smart pacing, and enough dynamic shifts to keep the bombardment of sound from becoming monotonous. The Terrifying Power of Bombardment is the kind of record that demands repeat listens, and feels destined to appear on plenty of 2026 year-end punk lists.

Liquid Cross Hateful cassette

Eugene, OR trio LIQUID CROSS follows 2025’s Don’t Think with their new tape Hateful—four songs plus one hidden track, and there is no open space anywhere. Reverb fills every gap, nothing in the mix sits closer to you than anything else, and somehow it never turns to mud. It’s thick but it never drags, and the pop bones stay legible throughout. The WIPERS are a frequently cited influence, but my brain went to the ’80s by another route: the cavernous murk of ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN’s Heaven Up Here crossed with the everything-at-once mix of HÜSKER DÜ’s New Day Rising. I had “This World” pegged as my favorite, a one-minute bop that gets in and gets out. Then the bass that opens “So Shut Down” came out of nowhere and took the tape over. Then I braced for the five-minute double song, “The New One”/”Low Lesson,” to lose me, and it ended up being the first thing I had to play again. This is good shit, and proceeds go to a Eugene youth advocacy charity. More, please.

Los Mentirosos Grandes Éxitos Vol. 1 LP

Fun, bluesy Spanish-language punk. The holy quadrant of the unadulterated summer jam, pure party punk at its finest. What else can I say about this record? It’s a good time! This slab was released only about a month ago and they’re already sold out of their vinyl copies. This band rules; throw this into your late summer playlist and watch the sun sink into the horizon.

Merienda 1243 cassette

After practicing just a handful of times over the course of the spring of 2024, three Berliners got together for a single loose recording session. The result is this four-song cassette of shouty but melodic Spanish-language punk. Three of the four tracks are mid-tempo numbers that remind me of late ’70s/early ’80s West Coast punk—maybe something in between the AVENGERS and RIKK AGNEW—and the other is more of a monophonic dirge. You can tell these folks are having a good time, and the tunes’ tossed-off nature makes for a compelling listen. Probably not essential, but still worth your while.

Neo Boys Neo Boys LP

As far as I’m concerned, NEO BOYS are the single most important band in the history of Portland punk—shirts bearing their name should honestly be just as ubiquitous (if not more so!) as those of the WIPERS or DEAD MOON or POISON IDEA. Until nature has fully healed in that regard, this lovingly remastered collection of the band’s two proper releases (a three-song 1980 EP and 1982’s Crumbling Myths 12”) pays some major respects, complete with a massive, LP-sized booklet that presents an oral history with the band and some incredible reproductions of flyers and photos from the archives. Stated comparisons to the RAINCOATS and KLEENEX aren’t inaccurate, representing just a few of the links in a much longer psychic chain connecting women in disparate corners of the world, many of whom were self-taught and learning as they went along, who carved out similar spaces for themselves in punk (and soon post-punk) in the late ’70s and early ’80s, from SPORTEN ÄR DÖD in Gothenburg to the DISHRAGS in Vancouver, from the NIXE in Utrecht to CHALK CIRCLE in Washington, DC. The tracks from NEO BOYS’ debut EP, released after the band had already been playing together for two years, have the sort of honesty and immediacy that comes from shared intuition and trust, where any technical “limitations” are an asset rather than a hindrance—the fewer walls that are put up, the more freedom there is. Kim Kincaid’s matter-of-fact vocals are the perfect vehicle for lyrics at the intersection of personal, political, and poetic (“Results are clear in front of my feet / I can make a decision / Make a conclusion”), backed by the revved-up jangle of Jennifer LoBianco’s guitar, Pat Baum’s steadily crashing beats, and KT Kincaid’s sneaky, melodic bass lines positioned as the beating heart at the center of it all. By Crumbling Myths, the NEO BOYS sound was more refined and of a piece with femme-centered post-punk of the era while remaining singularly their own, from new guitarist Meg Hentges’s pointillist lines in the haunting, all-timer “Time Keeps Time” to the sparse and contemplative art-punk gallop of “Cheap Labor.” What an unassailable epitaph for a band that started out as teenage amateurs; one can only imagine where things might have led had they continued on into the mid-’80s. Essential history, and a roadmap for future dreamers.

Odor Eater But For Who? LP

Olympia/Portland-based ODOR EATER released their first long-format album last month. The eleven-song But For Who? LP is a synth-driven voyage that brings elements of classic new wave to support lyrics that poetically criticize our current authoritarian world. Using the time-tested artistic method of disarming oppressive forces through abstract whimsy, ODOR EATER has created an album that is as much fun and sweetness as it is aggressive denunciation. While it’s easy to pick out DEVO, the B-52’S, the MOTELS, DEPECHE MODE, and the like in ODOR EATER’s sound, I’m more frequently reminded of 2005’s Stop the Future by the EPOXIES. Either way, ODOR EATER creates synth punk that is easily digestible and endlessly danceable.

Poise Iron Foot EP

Politically-minded hardcore punk with smoking hot riffs from the Pacific Northwest? What more could you ask for? POISE’s second offering Iron Foot is thrillingly savage, mostly thanks to its maniac vocals and wildly over-the-top guitar work. Listing POISON IDEA, LOS CRUDOS, and ANNIHILATION TIME as main influences is a hefty order, but POISE pulls it off, with each of those bands’ respective threads of DNA being heard here. Even with a brief nine-minute runtime, the band keeps it interesting by breaking up the tracks with a moody little instrumental halfway through, a small touch that goes a long way in elevating an EP from “good” to “fucking great.” Check out “Snake Oil.”

Restraining Order First Four Years Odds & Sods LP

A ripping collection of demos, compilation tracks, outtakes, and covers that captures RESTRAINING ORDER perfectly. Punishing, hook-heavy hardcore with equal parts youth crew and early Boston rage. Every track is stripped to the essentials of hardcore: sharp riffage, stomping breakdowns, and sing-along choruses without a wasted second. Fans of bands with classic ’80s hardcore DNA like VIOLENT REACTION and CAREER SUICIDE will appreciate this honest offering. This collection catches the West Springfield crew at their rawest and most explosive. Old school hardcore without simply reproducing it.

Smog Marines Scheme EP

Pressed in tandem with the band’s previously unreleased Opus LP, the three tracks here were hewed from the same 1980 recording session which has been unearthed by the good folks at Obsolete Universe. Deranged L.A. punk that fits right in with pre-hardcore greats of the era like the PLUGZ, the SCREAMERS, and BLACK RANDY AND THE METRO SQUAD. The opening track “Scheme” is a bona fide earworm that essentially demands repeated listens. The two other tracks are driven more by novelty and shock value, as evidenced by the song titles “Suffocation Plastic Bag,” and “Amazonian Throb.” In case you couldn’t tell, this all equates to KBD gold. Steer clear if you have no taste for the tasteless. Otherwise, this is a no-brainer in more ways than one.

Southpaw Longitude CD

SOUTHPAW is doing everything right when it comes to what they are doing, perhaps. If you are into more of later-period SAMIAM, and what I think FARSIDE and SENSE FIELD prolly sound like, then you most likely will like this record a lot. SOUTHPAW’s songs are tight with personal and introspective lyrics that I am certain get the fists pumping and the crowd singing along. Musically, it sometimes reminds me of maybe AUTOGRAPH or early/mid-period DOKKEN on a couple songs, while still having that “foot on the monitor and singing out over the crowd” quality. I have no doubt a young person will discover this Longitude CD, or have SOUTHPAW be their first show, and SOUTHPAW will become their new favorite band, and Longitude will become their way to break into the punk underground. Be sure to check them out if they are playing near you.

Svaveldioxid Misär O.D. LP

Is SVAVELDIOXID one of the most prolific hardcore bands of our time? For all I know, there could be powerviolence bands out there proving to be even more generous in terms of releases, but SVAVELDIOXID is definitely the most fertile act when it comes to the D-takt käng realm, with seven LPs and eight EPs in about ten years—even though a significant number of these records are splits, it remains fairly impressive. They are no AGATHOCLES, but they are having a right go. These Swedish masters of the craft do not disappoint with this latest album Misär O.D., and their brand of heavy, dark, and beefy käng always hits the mark. Think WOLFPACK, BOMBRAID, and early SKITSYSTEM having an orgy, basically. There are hints of death metal in some riffs, which works on the whole and is not overwhelming. If you haven’t enjoyed SVAVELDIOXID’s earlier material, this LP is pretty similar, so you’d better stay away from it, but if you have, well, I think you already have it, right?

Them Wranch My Friend / You’re Too Much 7″

Here’s two tracks of bastard blues, courtesy of long-defunct Columbus unit THEM WRANCH. Recorded in 1999, the A-side, “My Friend,” is a raw, early version of a song that would go on to appear on the band’s first album, Big Noise From East Maynard, which is a bountiful trove of garage punk twang. The second song, “You’re Too Much,” is a live cover of a 1966 tune by British freakbeat troupe the EYES. And there ain’t nothin’ wrong with this groovy little 45 at all, even if its sole function is to introduce you to this cool-ass, lesser-known group.

Ultra Lights Pleasure’s All Yours LP

PAVEMENT was the first thing that came to mind when I put this one on. The second song sounds like the STROKES. That’s basically this record in a nutshell; a ’90’s indie rock amalgamation without a modicum of originality. The band plays well, and the production is great, but I can’t get past how safe and unoriginal it comes across. I won’t be coming back to this one.

Zero Bars Fear of Future, Future of Fear 12″

ZERO BARS coming in hot with some particularly sharp and addictive hardcore punk out of Toronto. Wet your beak on the brief yet ripping “Goon,” or check out the menacing riff on “Nervous Wire” for some immediate proof. Collecting the band’s 2023 demo and last year’s Life and Hell cassette EP, this fat 12” spins at 45 rpm to bring you up to speed. Full disclosure: they cover “Mountain Song” by the CRUCIFUCKS, which made me like them automatically before I even listened to the rest of the record. But sure enough, these dudes rule.

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.

Fabrik Der Freundschaft Wow! What a Show! cassette

Hectic, raw, and straightforward hardcore punk from Nuremberg. It makes you want to smash a bottle over your own head and stab some guy at a musty dive bar. Not much else you need to know. Just hit play and stay away from those bottles, you punk.

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.