Freaked-out and fuzzy hardcore punk from Rochester. This tape from LEAKING HEAD is unhinged and wild, featuring eight tracks that make for a chaotically cohesive listen. Citing inspiration from Cleveland legends H100s and GORDON SOLIE MOTHERFUCKERS, this is similar in spirit but far murkier and mutated, which is a good thing as far as I’m concerned. No single track recommendations here; listen to the whole thing to best experience LEAKING HEAD.
Rochester’s LEAKING HEAD follows up their strong 2021 demo tape with a nice slab of wax. Bashing out six snotty rippers in about nine minutes, these guys put a no-bullshit ferocity into their bouncy and brutal modern hardcore. Check some of their live footage on YouTube to get a further taste of what these heads are drippin’.
This Rochester band has been playing around in some form or another for a minute. Slapping the odd rectangular piece of plastic into the appropriate device, I was hit in the face with the best dirty, mean, spoiled brat-led hardcore I’ve heard in a least a day or so. Constantly teetering on the line between a sludgy metallic beatdown and a fast-as-fuck snotty thrashfest, they remind me of the SCHOOL JERKS and SHEER TERROR, or JUDGE and REAGAN YOUTH, the latter which is covered with an atypically refreshing choice of song. The other cover is the STOOGES, and I know you’re thinking “how can I ever hear another cover of TV Eye’ ever again” but, I shit you not, they do a damn interesting job of it. Mastered by the master of mastering, Will Killingsworth; you know it’s going to be a big, beefy-sounding, plastic-spooled joyride. Hoo-ha!
