Nightfeeder

Reviews

Nightfeeder Disgust​ö​r EP

NIGHTFEEDER’s music is a raw, intense blend of punk and metal influences that some would call crust. The fact is that their members helped shape the genre with such important bands as DISRUPT and CONSUME. So, with a resume like that, you should open your ears to this three-track EP! Side A is an anthemic mid-tempo banger with a big chorus hook that almost flows like a VENOM song, and Side B expands on their more straightforward crust past with guitar-driven hardcore expertise. The band’s DIY ethos and commitment to their underground roots add authenticity to their sound. NIGHTFEEDER’s music is a fierce statement that captures the spirit of crust punk, and the artwork creates an interesting immersive MISFITS-like vibe.

Nightfeeder Cut All of Your Face Off LP

It took me a while to sit down with this one and write about it, yet I listened to it most of last year. It is one of the best records of 2022. NIGHTFEEDER was introduced to me in demo form by a friend and I was blown away. Then came an excellent EP, and this debut LP is the pinnacle of their sound. Song subjects cover such punk life issues as psychological torment, the existential, and being irreverently maligned by the system. What NIGHTFEEDER does best is rip with the feeling of blood, sweat, anguish, and angst. I’m not sure it’s really a formal term, but this is American crust as a style of hardcore punk that was sincerely invented by the members of this band (DEATHRAID, CONSUME, SHITLIST, STATE OF FEAR, DISRUPT…) and the regions where they started playing punk. NIGHTFEEDER plays with US thrash and hardcore influences and European/Scandi-crust dynamics, while delivering a classic hard rock’n’roll sound when they feel like it, because they fuckin’ feel like it. That is the attitude of this band and record in a nutshell. An amalgamation of MOTÖRHEAD, POISON IDEA, CRUCIFIX, INEPSY, DISFEAR, and DISCARD comes to mind. I’m even finding some RUDIMENTARY PENI chords here. Cut All of Your Face Off is a must if you’re looking for a gut-punch that is not any form of DIY trend and is like the quintessential hardcore punk and crust records from the last several decades. If you haven’t heard it in person, you’ll put the needle down on Side One and go “holy shit…”—that’s pretty much the reaction I get from others every time. And on Side Two, they turn the burners up all the way. The drumming on “Amoral Minority”…ugh. The LP is dismal, charred punk rock goodness (grief) from start to finish.

Nightfeeder Exploited Partisans EP

Just yesterday, I messaged my pal Grant while I was listening to DEATHRAID to let him know how underrated I thought the band was, and he replied, ”you should hear their new band NIGHTFEEDER.” Well, I’m hearing them now—a band made up of four motherfuckers who were in DEATHRAID (and CONSUME and countless other Seattle/PNW bands) and seem determined to deliver whirlwind hardcore punk rock at any cost, and Grant wasn’t wrong to suggest adding NIGHTFEEDER to my “must listen” catalog. Dirty-ass rock’n’roll influence is shameless, modern hardcore punk of the highest caliber. Moral? Always listen to your pal Grant.

Nightfeeder Rotten Demo cassette

Heavy crust punk from Seattle. They’ve definitely done their homework with this band. The songs all sound like you’ve heard them before, which either means that they wrote some catchy riffs or that their songwriting is damn good at aping the bands that have inspired them. I definitely hear some AUS ROTTEN-type hooks coming through with a few of them. Eight tracks in total, ending with covers of MISSBRUKARNA and the VICTIMS (Australia). The covers might be my favorite part as they not only do the songs justice, but it also seems to force the band to break out of the pretty standard crust sound of their originals. They play the different genres of punk surprisingly well.