Sick Burn / These Bastards Burn These Sick Bastards split EP
One of the most obvious and superficial bummers about the COVID era is a lack of punk shows. Hardcore records are cool—I love em—but this was music meant to be experienced in the sweaty, smelly flesh, and few local bands exemplified that more than Sacramento’s SICK BURN and San Francisco’s THESE BASTARDS. This split was in the works before shit shut down, and now I can spin the grooves and get even more amped for my future as a live-show-goer, annoyed with that one dude acting a fool in the pit (because you know that dude is gonna be there…he’s been waiting). Five sub-minute tracks from SICK BURN, more ripping irreverent hardcore injecting Japanese riffs into breakneck USHC. THESE BASTARDS drop three more doses of their bizarre prog-violence on the flip—pure West Bay brutality, intense and dark. I freaking love both of these bands.