Reviews

MRR #472 • September 2022

3ª Guerra Mundial Violencia EP

This is a really special piece of Spanish punk. This group from Madrid, formed by members of the legendary band PANADERÍA BOLLERÍA NUESTRA SEÑORA DEL KARMEN, recorded these three tracks back in 1987, which you can listen to now for the first time on this archival release by Beat Generation. These songs have a very English sound, totally focused on the UK82 style, but with the humor and very spiteful vocal delivery of the best Spanish punk. It’s a quick listen and makes you want to repeat the experience, so do it.

400PPM Spirtu Pront LP

This is a Maltese band released by a label exclusively putting out music from Malta. Their band name is a reference to the CO2 levels in our atmosphere. They play socially conscious, bouncy Oi!-inspired punk. They actively fight against global warming and their lyrics champion environmental causes. While it’s totally not my style of music, you can’t help but get behind them and shout along to “One of the One Percent”, or simply marvel at the uniqueness of the Maltese language. Give it a whirl. Bomba!

Abuso De Poder Vago Muerto EP

All-caps street punk. Thick and low guitars playing simple-as-nail-type riffs over which the singer gets gruff about the hostile side of life. The atmosphere is pissed-off, violent, and a running-against-the-wall feeling of unsolvable frustration. If you feel let down by the injustice of everyday life and seek sing-along, mid-tempo hardcore as your coping mechanism, then you’ve found your companion. Overly streamlined, the band only leaves the locked-in beat and linear song structure for a few solos. Packed with three-note riffs, each song has the potential to be a fist-pumper hit to people who would happily kick each other in the head, although I have to focus to realize them, since they’re all blended into a mix that sounds good but lacks any exaggeration, thus holding back the in-your-face effect. This is what I struggle with: theoretically this is great stuff, yet it lacks something that might have gotten lost while polishing everything to perfection.

Abyecta Enemigos De La Razón EP

“Enemigos! Enemigos! Enemigos!” So shouts ABYECTA’s singer as this four-track EP begins. A metallic punk onslaught of thrashy riffs and D-beats ensues. They owe as much to Japanese hardcore as they do to speed metal bands like RAZOR or EXCITER. This duo recently relocated to Chile and has been touring the US non-stop, and seems to be on the right track to making their name known. An excellent EP that will satisfy metalheads and punks alike!

Altar De Fey And May Love Conquer All LP

The latest release from this cult band from San Francisco is exquisite deathrock, written with the confidence that comes from years, experience, and a full knowledge of the dark underbelly. You have your tribal drumming, your simple but powerful bass lines holding everything together, the deep and dramatic vocals, and an expressionistic guitar that elevates the songs to the quality of personal anthems. The closing track, “Division,” is absolutely addictive.

Antinomia Trilha Sonora Para um Jantar de Família Pós-Apocalíptico cassette

From the booming punk scene of Oporto, ANTINOMIA is one of the bands to keep an eye out for. These young fellows are old school hardcore afficionados and know what the hell is going on with the style that they do. They pay homage to the oldies like RIPCORD, VOID, HERESY, and ELECTRO HIPPIES, so basically every good fastcore band on the planet, plus some of the weird anti-hardcore riffage of NO TREND. There is an urban element that can’t be denied in the vibe of the band that goes beyond hardcore, turning it into a more visceral and palpable piece of music. Excellent artwork by the gruesome Legfarmer, once again able to put disgusting sonic putridity into visual form, and let’s not forget the added bonus that is a MISFITS cover of “Earth A.D.” Play fast or don’t, they will still be faster than you!

Artificial Peace Live at the Wilson Center: June 25, 1982 LP

Hell yeah. Here is an archival live record from one of my favourite hardcore bands, ARTIFICIAL PEACE. This 1982 set at the Wilson Center in Washington, DC was recorded and mixed by GOVERNMENT ISSUE’s Tom Lyle and, while the audio fidelity is quite far from pristine, it does the exact job it was meant to do—capture the atmosphere and experience of that particular magical night. This fourteen-song set hits you right across the face with HC fury and does not let up. All the classic ARTIFICIAL PEACE tunes get played here: “Outside Looking In,” “Suburban Wasteland,” “Against the Grain,” etc. This mighty performance is a must-listen for any fans of this criminally underrated band.

Asylum Is This the Price? EP

ASYLUM was an English punk band of short existence. Hailing from the harsh industrial environment of the Midlands, they played a few gigs, recorded a demo tape, and some of their tracks were released on compilations.  Now, you can hear for the first time on vinyl that semi-legendary demo, originally released in 1982 by Retaliation Records. What do we have here?  Six devastating tracks. Basically, it’s the blueprint of the sound of worldwide noisecore (especially Japanese) and extreme music in general: a magmatic mix of ultra-distorted guitars, fuzz-drowned bass, chaotic drums, and desperate, disembodied screams focused on personal and political lyrics. It’s beautiful. Mandatory listening.

Badhabit Detroit 1980–1981 LP

Music-obsessed teenagers from the suburbs of Detroit dream of being in a band, and BADHABIT is formed before anyone knows how to play an instrument. A few years later they are playing Detroit clubs and ultimately take off to New York to record some songs. Those songs are included here, along with one song recorded live in Cincinnati. Their sound is a combination of heavy Motor City proto-punk and poppy punk, with an occasional English accent popping up on a couple of songs. Fantastically naïve and overconfident. I bet “Political Men” was their crowd-pleaser. “The only good politician is a dead politician / Oh yeah.” The songs are really good, but the recording needs a little oomph. Even still, it’s great to hear.

Belmondo Du Är Död EP

Du Är Död, the latest release by Gothenberg’s BELMONDO, consists of seven mid-paced hardcore punk tracks. Sweden has a reputation for DISCHARGE-inspired kängpunk, but this one is snotty punk that might sit right in between the KBD/Bloodstains and Really Fast compilations. Not hardcore or punk enough. With song titles like “Bathroom Floor” and “Drinking the Day Away,” BELMONDO certainly has a different approach to expressing anger than ANTI-CIMEX. They probably don’t give a fuck.

Billy & the Bad Peach Juiced cassette

These guys do a nice post-punk, slightly noisy thing that at its best reminds me of the CUNTZ or even KILSLUG. They’re from Philly and have been around for a minute. Having the luxury of being able to watch YouTube videos of this band, I can see that they might be able to pull it off live, which is crucial with this kind of druggy dirge. No idea what the unfortunate band name is about, but they coulda been on AmRep way back when in the golden ’90s. Carry on.

Black Dog Black Dog demo cassette

Another demo recorded in a bucket. BLACK DOG plays almost-D-beat, sloppy hardcore that reminds me of DISCHARGE, or how WHY could sounded after the twelfth tape dubbing played on a boombox that has been thrown into a lake. It’s obvious that bands can play this type of music; what is becoming incredibly hard is to put their own authenticity into it. The overdrive on an already pitching recording does its part and satisfies the noise lovers. It is a fun listen, but not really much more than a bunch of people into this type of punk making a record over a weekend. It is great they did that, it is great they shared it with us, and no one should feel restrained to do the same. This demo is as good as it is effortless, which could be an inspiration too, for all the anxious people who worry how they will sound. Do not overthink and overproduce your stuff, just create what you would love to listen to. Not completely sure, but the cover suggests that a skeleton is taking its dog (on a chain leash) to walk while riding a horse. This is silly.

Blemish Blemish 12″

Originally a 2021 cassette on A World Divided Tapes, Not For the Weak has picked up Montreal’s BLEMISH on this vinyl release. Well-informed post-punk, the instrumentation of which reminds me of the WIPERS’ Youth of America with a faster tempo, while the lyrics are a little more playful and UK snarl-y. Not to be confused with the Birmingham group of the same name (nor the death metal band from Jersey, nor the electro-pop duo from Los Angeles), this BLEMISH participated in the 2020 Demo Fest, with all three of those songs ending up on this 12”—their only physical release. Other than that, not much to be found on the band, or if they’re even still active. Here’s to hoping. Check out “Industrial Bodies” for a good taste of what’s inside.

Brux One for You EP

Coming across like a slightly rougher, hairier-arsed SYNDROME 81, the Badalona Boot Boys of BRUX firmly take up shop in between the first and second BLITZ albums for this, their first release proper. Frontman Juanma uses his vocals less like an instrument and more like a siege weapon, and the post-punk meets Oi! (pOi!st-punk?) stylings add a sense of creeping dread to accompany the aggro. Owners of the tape can probably skip this one, but highly recommended nonetheless.

Catastrophic Dance Ensemble Vol. 1 cassette

Dial Club brings us more drum machine bedroom weirdness with this Ohio duo. But at this point, is it even that weird? This is in that same pocket we’ve been in for a while with bands like FREAK GENES and even some of ALIEN NOSEJOB’s oeuvre. There is, however, a little more of an unhinged feel to this. Bedroom, blown-out howled vocals and space siren guitars bring character to a subgenre of a subgenre I’d otherwise assume I knew everything about. So when a track like “Pay Me” really locks me in, manically bobbing my head at my desk like a true on-the-clock rocker, I take notice. It’s hard to do something the same but different, to innovate on a formula no matter how niche it is, but these two have done just that. By the closing track, “Again, Again,” I don’t know what to expect. Especially not the dissonant dystopian street anthem that devolves into echoey madness that hits a wall and goes dark prematurely. Kept me wanting more, for sure.

Chalk Neophobia LP

For listeners with experimental tastes and open minds, there is something for everyone from this Houston solo project. Sounding like a perfect mixtape of obscured beauty, warm found sounds, music concrète, knotty indie rock, and imploding disco karaoke beats, CHALK gently strolls across genre lines in a way that makes you question genre distinctions in the first place. The album opens with gorgeous gamelan rhythms played over sound collages that sound like SUN CITY GIRLS or Aaron Dilloway at their most introspective. “What is Tot Cannot” features meditative guitar, chiptunes, and tape decay that seamlessly flows into “Sambe Death Now,” a goth exploration with sampled (I think?) operatic vocals. “Slackjaw” and “Root by Root” are twisty, swirling indie rock jams that evoke UNWOUND. Often unironically beautiful, occasionally confounding (“Pig Song” is an odd children’s rhyme sung over junk electronics), accept this as an expert mix of sounds from carefully curated influences.

Cosmic Halitosis How Can I Help You? cassette

Ten-song cassette of slow-to-mid-tempo indie rock/’90s alt-rock worship. Noodly guitar leads and catchy sing-songy vocals over driving, repetitive riffs. Seems like the kinda project that people super into things like DINOSAUR JR. would be hyped on. It’s not bad by any means, but I am particularly confused by the band and the label each billing this as being “punk,” “hardcore,” and even “punk as fuck.” I find the usage of “punk” as a descriptive musical term as a catch-all for any guitar-driven band to be pretty obnoxious. It just makes the use of the term completely meaningless. I wouldn’t even refer to this music as being punk-adjacent. Guitar-driven jangly alt-rock. I guess there’s one song on the B-side entitled “Soggy Hotdog” that is in the modern pop punk realm, but it comes across as a bit of a novelty, as if it’s alt-rock kids being like “ooh, we gotta make a fast punk song.” Pet peeve ramble over, there’s some catchy and pretty songs on here, but even with the warbly, badly dubbed tape, I just don’t hear anything “punk” about it.

Crime San Francisco’s Doomed LP reissue

I hold CRIME on high as one of the platonic ideals of late ’70s punk who, on top of being the first on the West Coast with a record, also seemed to come out fully formed, conceptually and aesthetically superior from the jump. Dressed up alternately like slick, sleazy gangsters or crooked beat cops, CRIME sounded like the distillation of everything crude, delinquent, stupid, and degenerant-ly fun about rock’n’roll—from the gnarled amphetamine twang of rockabilly to the primitive, pimple-faced stomp of garage rock—cooked down dirty and shot up with the amplifiers on ten. The music roars out lean, mean, and loud, with a white-hot attack of volume and attitude. The guitars sound like a souped-up muscle car revving its engine, with unhinged and untuned leads, while the rhythm section runs you down, swerving and careening, ending every song like a flipped-out ten-car pile-up. Following the mindblowing record-and-DVD live set San Francisco’s First and Only Rock n’ Roll Band: Live 1978, this is Superior Viaduct’s reissue of the original LP of then-unreleased recordings put out in the ’90s by UK label Solar Lodge. This was also subsequently reissued by Swami in the 2000s as San Francisco’s Still Doomed, which is where I first heard it. While I haven’t been nearly nerdy enough to A/B it side by side, this Superior Viaduct version seems to sound just slightly more cleaned up compared to the Swami one. But there isn’t much you can do to really clean up CRIME, and these recordings remain a perfectly raw and high energy document of the band at their best.

Crime of Passing Crime of Passing LP

A quick internet search will show that these Cincinnatian’s debut LP has garnished a lot of attention, from the likes of the ad-laden music blog site Stereogum, whose home page has a T-SWIFT post this week, to the more obscure minded Post-Trash site, to the questionable composure of myself here at MRR. Why, then? Because, simply, it is very, very good. With a moodiness and cadence like FEHLFARBEN and the energy of SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES, this band has a lot of bases covered: coldwave icy and reverbed-out drums, sculptured post-punk guitar riffs atop driving, high-octave bass, with the disdain of darkwave synth and vocals cast over everything in trailing slow motion. With Dylan McCartney and Dakota Carlyle of fellow Ohio DIY outfits the SERFS and the DRIN, this project is led by frontwoman Andie Luman who, gathering the full force of the band, lulls us into a state of hypnosis and reverie. Although this came out in the spring of 2022, this album is meant for the gray days of fall, the soundtrack of a thunderstorm and cracked brown leaves whipping through the sky.

Cur Ínugamì cassette

Short, no-bullshit, demented hardcore punk from Philadelphia. Imagine the darker ’80s Japanese heavyweights, but ultra-primitive and with throaty USHC vocals. The tape is good, but the vision mostly makes me anxious to hear what they’re going to do next.

Curleys Curleys cassette

Are you folks here to fuck around? Because CURLEYS sure as hell ain’t! These Gainesville cretins only have one setting—full fucking on—so, once this record gets going, it’s not stopping until your stupid head is crushed completely flat. The eleven tunes on here find the band sounding like a methed-up TEENGENERATE ripping through a set of MODERN WARFARE covers inside a giant novelty plasma globe, and the vocals are quacky as hell but still retain just the slightest bit of tunefulness, kinda like the singer of the CARBONAS doing an impression of fellow Total Punkers the SLEAZE. Everything about this record feels hectic and out-of-control, but it’s actually being delivered with blinding, pinpoint accuracy—it’s the aural equivalent of stepping in the ring with Sugar Ray Leonard in his prime. Highest of recommendations!

Cyberplasm Mutilated Systems cassette

Oh my…many of you surely heard The Psychic Hologram full-length that Iron Lung released a few years back, but this dose of insanity is something else altogether. These Olympia freaks keep pushing harder with ferocious noise punk delivered as ’90s industrial juggernaut—I figured it was going to be good but…damn. Imagine The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste-era MINISTRY doing a set of DISFEAR and MEANWHILE covers and then closing with a LORDS OF ACID number. Don’t snooze.

D. Sablu Odds & Ends cassette

D. SABLU is on a streak lately, recording wild, weird one-man-and-drum-machine tunes at home before taking it to the stage and fronting a shit-hot live band, playing the most economical but explosive sweat-stained garage punk. I’ve yet to see him live, but I can feel the perspiration already. But when, oh when, will we get a proper D. SABLU record? These short tape releases are just not enough! Taken By Sleep, the first release under the D. SABLU name, was a sleeper hit in the chaotic year of 2020, and has been followed up by two more cassette releases of demos and live sets. This one follows the same path, with two at-home demos of David and a drum machine, along with a recent live set, with the band tearing into a cover of RUDIMENTARY PENI’s “A Blissful Myth.” Now which one of you cowards is gonna put out a record for them?!

Democracy Western Relaxation cassette

Five minutes of filthy hardcore rumbling from Milwaukee. It’s a smoker. Nasty, ripping punk that’s been vomited on by manic, monstrous vocals. I suppose you could obtain this tape from the esteemed Unlawful Assembly label via traditional mail order, but I believe it would be distributed more appropriately if copies were left to be found half-buried in the dirt in random spots around the country.

Distancia Distancia cassette

Nine short, fast songs from this Spanish duo. Recorded with a warm, cavernous sound, the drums are front and center in the mix with pounding D-beats and rolls, while the guitar is curiously cleanly strummed most of the time. Consider it the least raw D-beat possible, with surprisingly melodic vocals that channel Pete Shelley more than Kawakami. I don’t have the lyrics, but the translated tape description mentions a mix of anti-consumerist, anti-prison, anarchist slogans. The melodies here are catchy enough for sing-along choruses (especially the track “Distancia”) and have just a touch of that Fat Records melodic hardcore sound while still retaining enough DIY grit to sound authentic and vital. Cool tape.

Dräumar D’Krig EP

Norway’s DRÄUMAR put forth a slab of pure punk fury in the form of D’Krig. Jam-packed with vicious riffs and ferocious vocals, this record is an incredibly hard-hitting punch of super pissed-off, mid-tempo(ish), noisy(ish) hardcore. There’s also some fantastic, more ominous guitar lines here sprinkled on to great effect. Awesome work from these Oslo Obliterators. Recommended! Stoked to hear more from DRÄUMAR.

Eater Ant CD

According to the promo for Ant, the recording was lost and the band released The Album instead. Think about that…one of the greatest UK glam punk LPs ever wasn’t even the band’s first choice. They wanted to release this recording instead, because they thought it was better. It’s hard for me to agree, if only because I’ve drilled that record into my skull more times than I could possibly count, but holy shit is this a score. Burning, flawless, hi-energy ’77 punk in line with SLAUGHTER and EDDIE & THE HOT RODS, with BOWIE, VELVETS, and T. REX covers that fit in perfectly with perfect Blade classics like “Public Toys.” I’m gobsmacked that something this good remained unearthed for so long.

Erupt Left To Rot EP

Love it when punks play metal! Featuring members of SHEER MAG, GELD, and many more, ERUPT knows their metal well. This Aussie bunch dug up the classic extreme metal albums and did their own take on the genre. One can hear SODOM, SLAYER, and BATHORY, providing a thrashing sonic eruption that almost goes into black thrash metal territory. Horns up for the punks!

Extreme Decay Antiviral EP

This two-track EP hits hard and fast, and then it’s over, just like good grindcore should. Expect blistering riffs and hardcore stomping in fewer than five minutes. Like other Indonesian grindcore stalwarts like AK47 and BERSIMBAH DARAH, EXTREME DECAY mixes up tempos, guitar attacks, and vocal styles to stand apart from the stereotypical wall of breakneck noise a lot of powerviolence and grindcore bands fall into.

Eyes and Flys Manic AM cassette

This is the kind of gloriously “all over the place’” sound that comes along a little less frequently in a world where every band seems determined to emulate a specific sound (or worse, a specific band). From a foundation of jangly pop, EYES AND FLYS conjure a series of decidedly weird and undeniably unique tracks. Occasional OH SEES vibes, and I can’t help but think that this might be a Matty Luv side project in an alternate universe, and there’s an underlying REV (MERCURY) and/or FANCLUB (TEENAGE) sonic sensibility, with tunes that range from reverb-drenched bombastic sonic slammers to quiet and ever-so-slightly twisted quiet missives. Most notably, Manic AM held me tight from start to finish—I actively wanted to know what they were going to do next—and in a society filled with unnecessary stimuli, that might be the most powerful endorsement of all. “Go to bed high / Wake up in the dirt.” Excellent.

F.E.I.D.L. Wödmusik LP

Definitely not your typical punk record! F.E.I.D.L., a trio out of Vienna, follows up their 2020 7” with their debut LP—eleven tracks of oddball punk miscellanea. The record starts off with some barnyard animal noises then launches into a jaunty little intro that’s part BRIAN SETZER ORCHESTRA, part circus screamer. Maybe not exactly what I’m looking for in a punk record, but it’s an interesting detour and things seem to settle down quickly enough. The next two tracks are pretty straightforward, reverb-heavy garage punk numbers—they sound like an amalgam of Males-era INTELLIGENCE, TY SEGALL, and the stuff VISION 3D is putting out. It’s pretty good stuff! “Gusch” starts off in the same vein for maybe one of the most ripping tracks on the record, but then takes a hard left turn into, like, warped Balkan folk music. Subsequent tracks touch on anything from  MAN OR ASTRO-MAN?-styled ragers to numbers that wouldn’t sound out of place on a post-Swordfishtrombones TOM WAITS album. This strikes me as something that would really appeal to folks who worship at the altar of Mike Patton. For the rest of us, when it’s good, it’s good. When it’s bad, it sounds like GOGOL BORDELLO.

Fastidio Fastidio cassette

Dreamy, drum-machine-powered post-punk from Argentina. I imagine a lot of JESUS AND MARY CHAIN and SUICIDE worship with this duo. The synth has moments of “Cheree” and “Dream Baby Dream,” and the “Just Like Honey” drum sound gets a go-round, but I prefer when the band programs a more danceable beat like on “La Antena,” or something harder and more synthetic like on “Tifus.” They win points with a SERGE GAINSBOURG cover, and if you’re in the mood for the gloomy, swoony, and reverb-drenched, FASTIDIO may fulfill your needs.

Flexï Nothing cassette

Seven solid songs from this New York band that form a heady brew made from RUDIMENTARY PENI-style propulsive bass and drums, the exasperated vocals of METZ, and guitars that go from punk to atonal sheets of noise like early SONIC YOUTH. These ingredients work together well, and this tape sounds great with fat drums, tinny shards of guitar that stab and slash, and vocals set back in the mix for some slight noise rock distance. The drummer-boy roll of “Nothing” is attention-grabbing, as is the shattered strumming under the refrain “Is this even ethical?” on “Ethical.” I would gladly listen to a full-length from these folks.

Fogueo Sesion Ao vivo en Le Studio cassette

FOGUEO, oh FOGUEO, wherefore art thou, FOGUEO? “Argentina!,” they replied between violent bursts of rockin’ hardcore. The band dabbles in various styles, with the vocals being particularly schizophrenic. They start off with shouted battle cries on the opening track before switching to a sinister, crusty growl on “Armas,” interspersed noisy whispers on “Figuritas,” and clean, plain singing on some of the songs. It sounds like they had fun making this.

G.A.Z.E. Living the Life EP

G.A.Z.E. from Finland are a band with a pretty unorthodox approach to ripping hardcore, which is always welcome. They have the blistering speeds and riffs of bands like CRUDE SS and TOTALITÄR, but also have quite a few melodic guitar noodlings and some pretty “out there” vocal stylings at times. Living the Life is certainly some pretty crazy stuff, and it may not necessarily be to everybody’s tastes, but I sure as hell dig it! Very intrigued to hear what these guys do in future.

Gehenna Negative Hardcore LP

GEHENNA is negative hardcore and negative hardcore is GEHENNA. Having the title of “the infamous” before their band name is just one of those details that makes the legend of GEHENNA a bit more frightening—famous (or infamous) for their “take no prisoners” approach to live shows, filled with violence and disgust, and a big “fuck you” to the metal and hardcore scene. They don’t follow the rules, they make the rules. Starting out in 1993 and adding the steps that INTEGRITY built, they created a monster of blackened metallic hardcore that would open the doors to the likes of ROT IN HELL or BLIND TO FAITH. After some years in silence, the excellent Negative Hardcore finally came out, the third album in thirty years, and it is everything one can expect from this band. You can hear SEPTIC DEATH, BOLT THROWER, and of course INTEGRITY with the black cloud of black metal hovering over every track and the hateful delivery of the end-of-the-world premonitions of Mike Cheese signaling the apocalypse. A class-A record for the Holy Terrorists out there.

Government Clean-Up Plan Reality Confusion EP

On this seven-song 7” GOVERNMENT CLEAN-UP PLAN plays speedy and stormy thrashcore with earnest and straightforward vocals. These are essentially protest songs aimed at the usual targets: cops, work, the powers that be, and the conformists that condone it all. You may have never heard this, but you likely know the drill. It’s a strong modern delivery of ’80s mentality.

Herida Profunda Power to the People LP

Latest release by HERIDA PROFUNDA from Poland. This sort of stuff probably would’ve been considered just “thrashy” or “crusty,” reminiscent of the pre-internet era of DIY punk when people didn’t have enough info to pigeonhole bands. Somewhere in the context of being in squats, social media track sharing, tagging, and dollar bin punk records, Power to the People must have been created. The world may need this unclassifiable aggressive music that just simply is an output of intuitive pure aggression.

Hogar Todos Contra Todos LP

It’s just like me to wait until the end of summer is in sight for the perfect record for the season to fall in my lap. This tight ten-tracker is bright, fast, and sharp, with more hooks per capita than I can keep track of. Firstly, the bassist is a mad scientist. So many bass players forget how much melody they can pack their toolbox with. Not so with mononymously-credited Javato. I’m spending a lot of ink (or RAM, I guess) to focus on this because he’s so goddamn good. The bouncy tunefulness of early GREEN DAY in the least corny way possible, and it anchors the whole three-piece’s sound, which is chameleonic in how it can slip from hazy, golden hour heavy pop to necksnappers from track to track. Highest marks, though, go to a song the repeat button was made for, “Intruso.” It’s that riff we all love, you’ll know when you hear it. But it goes places with it you don’t expect, and with the whole band backing up the vocals you can’t help but shout along. This is a joyous blast of punk with the faintest whisper of garage—if this were a martini, the garage would be the vermouth and have just rinsed the glass, but I’m damn glad it’s there. Celebrate the end times of summer with this stunner from Spain.

Instruct Death Instructions cassette

Great, chugging, old school hardcore in the vein of YOUTH OF TODAY but crustier and more distorted, Seattle’s INSTRUCT delivers a wall of distorted guitars, crashing cymbals, and howling, growling vocals. The third track of four on this tape, “No Option,” stood out as the rager to get your pulse racing, but there are no duds here. Each track bleeds into the next with guitar feedback similar to “Earth A.D.” by the MISFITS, as if all four tracks were recorded at once in one continuous take.

Isolationsgemeinschaft Der Tanz Geht Weiter! LP

This is wonderful and kinda hilarious all at the same time. It totally makes me think of that old Saturday Night Live sketch, “Sprockets” (YouTube that shit). It’s so German that it’s almost a parody. Really well-done synth punk, dance, post-punk…whatever. I guess it could be called coldwave these days, but unlike those poseurs, these guys are really German. For fans of COLD CAVE, KRAFTWERK, NERVOUS GENDER, etc. Now we dance.

It Thing Syrup LP

First release from IT THING, hailing from the far reaches of Tasmania. Post-punk styling with poppier vocals, full of sass and heart. The laid-back, too-cool-for-you (please, don’t be fooled by “Uncool”) energy is not to be missed here, birthed from the malaise of modern life, exemplified in the line “Please change the channel on the tube” from my favorite track “Pet Snakes.” This is on the level of some Aussie contemporaries, like MINI SKIRT, yet stands firmly on its own feet. Syrup was released in November of 2021, and the first pressing is already sold out! Looking forward to more from these folks…

Lasso Amuo EP

LASSO came from out of nowhere and immediately grabbed the punk world by the balls. This may be a new outfit, but all of the members had previously played in ROSA IDIOTA. Following the Brazilian hardcore tradition and adding a bit of deathrock à la RUDIMENTARY PENI here and there, this debut is all one can ask for. An eight-song EP that will be stuck on your player for a long time.

Lollygagger Total Party Kill LP

A righteous, sex-fueled party is crammed into the grooves of the debut LP from Chicago’s LOLLYGAGGER. Serious QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE vibes, especially on the opener, but this act is fronted by a snot-nosed punk who hates boss, hates system, hates cops, loves screaming, loves exposing hypocrisy. Total punk attitude, total stoner metal groove.

Malflora Mama I’m Bad cassette

Drone zone NOLA now wave descending upon your mind. Each song rides a pulsing wave of repetition, the guitar slicing through humid hallucinations, while the bass and drums roll over you like millstones, grinding you to a fine dust. In an alternate dimension, I’m holding the director’s cut of this as a double-LP, as I want each song to grow three times their size, transforming the album into a blackhole that will engulf you with brain-searing sonics. I want this, especially on “Emergent,” where the vocals urge us to “Imagine the possibilities / Redefine the barriers.” It’s psychedelic but wasn’t made for you to bliss out on, and it’s heavy without pummeling you into submission. It’s music made to firmly meditate on a powerful upward revolution and an outward future for Black and Brown people.

Man Dead Set Too Early to Be Late LP

The cover art is what really struck me here. At first glance, it resembles an old ROLLINS BAND cover. It would definitely pique my interest if I found this in a bin at any record store. On to the album itself: what we have here are ten relatively short, fast hardcore punk songs that are over before they become stale. Most stay under the two-minute mark, which is good, although there are two that go over that mark and while I personally prefer my hardcore songs to stay under one minute, it’s not unbearable, and is hardly noticeable when listening as the songs flow nicely. If you’re like me and constantly looking for something to pull you away from the old faithfuls, give this a spin.

Melt Citizen Dullard II cassette

Up-tempo guitar riffs with a crushing drum and bass back-end that complements the witty, snarly vocals for this El Paso band’s latest. Too fast and hook-filled to be stoner rock and too punk/grunge heavy to be shoegaze. The older kids will think of post-Land Speed Record HÜSKER DÜ and the young ones will compare it to DRUG CHURCH. Both great compliments.

Napalm Death is Dead Hou-Kai-Kei CD

Shit-fi noisecore is back, kids. Three tracks of bass/drum/noise in(s)anity that makes GODSTOMPER sound like RUSH. Three “songs” will violently remove twenty minutes from your life. Shit-fi is back, but NAPALM DEATH IS DEAD has been at this for almost two decades, with no signs of quitting and no desire to make anything but noise. Respect.

Narcotic Void Narcotic Void demo cassette

Heavy Xerox aesthetics on the cover art, and the record is just as lo-fi, as if it were sent through a worn-out photocopy machine. I wonder how meta this is to create such noise in 2022 when our pencils can make a studio-perfect recording, yet we replicate the sound of a decades-old era which operated with barely functioning equipment. But this is what we like right, so who cares really? Buried under the fuzz, NARCOTIC VOID plays snotty, catchy, nihilistic hardcore that is closer to punk rock than to thrasing blast. They ride a beat that makes you nod and motivates you to jump around in a crowd with a beer in your hands among a lot of punks, although it is no pogo-punk—rather, each song has the potential to be a title track of a two-song 45 which evokes elevated feelings in the listener and could be your original soundtrack for glue sniffing. The guitar blends into the buzzing white noise of the recording environment and equipment (an asteroid should hit us if this is only an effect, switched on by pushing one single button on a computer), the singer has a great “fuck you” voice that varies between evil melodic and evil vocal-speech while the bass basically keeps it all together and directs where the music goes, to which barely identifiable drums give a rhythmic knocking. If you hate music, you will love this.

Eyes and Flys / Nervous Tick and the Zipper Lips The Covid Collaborations: Vol. IV cassette

NERVOUS TICK AND THE ZIPPER LIPS is a solo recording project of MRR cassette reviewer extraordinaire Eric “Biff” Bafaro, and this is the fourth and final volume of his COVID Collaborations series. The deal with said series is that Mr. TICK invites another musician (generally a fellow Rust Belter) to join him in providing an original song, a cover of one of the other artist’s tracks, and vocals (and maybe lyrics) for a song written by the other artist. Here the collaborator is Buffalo musician (now out of Long Beach) EYES AND FLYS. The ZIPPER LIPS original is a jaunty garage-pop/lite-hardcore number with some sci-fi new wave touches—sounds like a Red Snerts track mashed up with Another Wasted Night-era GANG GREEN. I’m into it! The EYES AND FLYS original “Drive Slow,” not unlike the KANYE WEST track of the same name, is built atop a tight little sample of an obscure-ish classic—in this case, the INTELLIGENCE’s “Garbage in Garbage Out”—and ends up being a woozy lo-fi dirge. Also cool! I’m not familiar enough with either original these covers are based on, but the end results are fine enough. The two true collaborations are probably the most interesting tracks on the release (which isn’t to say they’re the best!). “I Need Time,” a ZIPPER LIPS track with EYES AND FLYS on vocals, is a druggy downer punk number that reminds me of LIFE STINKS. It’s maybe my favorite track on here. Then there’s “I Believe in Science Fiction.” EYES AND FLYS lays down a jangly psych track—complete with a harsh raygun organ outro!—and Lou Koller…I mean NERVOUS TICK croaks on about Captain Kirk and wanting to be blasted out into space or whatever. It’s certainly something! Anyway, both the concept and execution here are fun, and I wish more artists did stuff like this.

Nightbreed Plague Dogs cassette

I love stuff like this. Lo-fi, gruesome, death-beat blackened punk. NIGHTBREED plays squealing, hypnotically rhythmic riff blasphemy with whisper-like chanted vocals. Clear comparisons to TRANQUILIZER, KURO, BEHERIT, GHOUL (Japan), and ZOUO— NIGHTBREED shines in a dark, eerie chamber of punk madness. Psychedelic metal punk D-beat that is grim, cosmic, and enrapturing. I guess there are only 22 copies of this tape available, so if any of this appeals to you, I recommend you go after it now. These four tracks are kvlt as fuck. NIGHTBREED? Plague Dogs? So unassumingly creepy and weird. Sonically, this sort of creeps me out, but I also kind of want to listen to it over and over for hours, seesawing between feeling insane and feeling relaxed.

No Dead Monsters Line Up / D Hall 7″

Punk, no chaser. The vocals are mixed louder than the guitars, usually a bad sound. Did we learn nothing from the first CLASH LP? The choruses are memorable and stuck in my ears after the finish. There’s only two songs here, the perfect length for a punk record.

No-Heads Concrete & Steel / New Normal 7″

A new release from Richmond’s NO-HEADS coming four years after their first, and perhaps you could have waited another four years, lads, because this isn’t for me. By-the-numbers, plodding UK82 worship with none of the grit that makes it endearing. Gruff vocals veer dangerously into RANCID territory and deliver absolutely nothing of substance. NO-HEADS? No tunes, more like.

Ohyda Pan Bóg Spełni Wszystkie Pragnienia Lewaków… I Dojdzie Do Katastrofy! 12″

This is the third record from the Polish hardcore band OHYDA and it fits the soundscape of their previous releases: modern-sounding hardcore punk, with the taseful distribution of heavy/slow and stomping/fast parts, echo/delay on the vocals, some metallic guitars here and there, but way less metal than G.I.S.M. (although I hear the influence of them and DESTINO FINAL). Despite the songs not being that long, the band is able to create a space with borders much wider than only what the instruments play, at a pace that allows everyone to perform with intensity instead of with urgency, but that intensity bonds the whole record together and creates a great atmosphere that characterizes the band. Poland and Hungary (where I live) have a historically good relationship, meanwhile I guess both nations’ citizens try to convince themselves the other country is in deeper dictatorial shit and bigot paranoia. This record gives a pretty good insight of what is going on within these power factories fueled by EU money and inland hatred reasoned with religious or xenophobic bullshit, but the music rather translates that everyday experience instead of academically discussing its sociology; we are punx after all. Yet this record is not only regional: it fits into the modern era of international hardcore, since sadly the rage of OHYDA is easily translateable. 

ÖPNV Deutsch Funk Revolte LP

It’s really all there in the album title. This Berlin band delivers a solid collection of cold post-punk songs with early industrial elements, and it’s pretty great. Several tracks have spoken word intros, and most all begin with heavy, distorted bass grooves and electronic drums. The vocals and production sound like EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBAUTEN with some THROBBING GRISTLE at their most “Hot on the Heels of Love,” and several tracks feature a dying no wave trumpet twisted in the swirling synths. “Einzeltäter” dips into Euro techno but never loses its cool, perfect for a Berlin dorm room or a dancefloor. “Blockiert” is the closest to traditional punk, via the SUICIDE synth-and-drums route. Its crackling three-note riff and pounding kick drums combo is as economical as it is heavy. A simple and effective stomper to end a strong album. Sehr gut!

Pembroke All the Brightest Pictures LP

PEMBROKE ties a bunch of different HC/punk genres together, which could sound dynamic or awkward depending on the listener. The writing and execution of any single riff or song is just fine, but the change between post HC riffs, breakdowns, crooning, and even reggae sounded forced to me. The production is nice and clean, like a ’90s Epitaph or Fat Wreck release.

Personal Style False Memories / Heartbeat 7″

Three-piece from Buffalo, NY with what seems like their second release? Although I didn’t find much on the band, I get a very jam-econo/MINUTEMEN thing from “False Memories,” with sparsity and intention throughout. The live take from Duende at Silo City, on YouTube, is rough and full of feeling—I wish they’d gone for that sound on this recording. “Heartbeat Memorial” caught me by surprise based on the A-side, starting with a wall of distortion and a faster tempo that doesn’t see any rests, along with a more melodic structure. All that said, I thought I was headed for a synth-wave band based on the cover art, so color me confused.

Phantasia Ghost Stories LP

NYC’s PHANTASIA drops a very well-rounded debut LP. Riddled with sentimentality (“Falling Falling”), darkwave bliss (“Out of Spite”), and poppy interludes (“All the Flowers”), this album is a culmination of noted influences like BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN and PYLON, to name a couple. Mixed with an original styling, I find a debut that captures this band at its rawest, and most close to the heart. The closer “Leftover You” reminds me of the REPLACEMENTS’ “Answering Machine,” or any of their B-side reveries, for that matter. The vocalist warbles through elongated notes of heartache, sounding like she’s hanging on to the microphone for dear life. This is worth your time.

Poison Ruïn Not Today, Not Tomorrow EP

Dungeon punk? Medieval post-punk? Anarcho-goth? Chainmail-core? POISON RUÏN is a super hard band to define as they have so much going on in terms of influences. At the core, they are a post-punk band, and that is very well-defined, but they lean towards Oi!, sometimes deathrock, and even dungeon synth at other times. Like medieval AMEBIX playing WIPERS songs after a few pints of mead. It started out as a solo project of Mac Kennedy, but since then has become a full-band venture. “Not Today, Not Tomorrow” starts out with dungeon synth and it ends with thunder over an epic punk riff. Shall I say more? The highlight is the closer “Edifice,” a bleak, mid-tempo post-punk anthem filled with dread. Throw on your chainmail, and get your dice ready.

Private Hell Private Hell cassette

If you like your crossover with the thrash and hardcore elements equally dialed up to eleven, this cassette is for you. One marching, anthemic track follows another, reminiscent of CRIPPLED FOX, early D.R.I., or S.O.D. but stripped of those bands’ silly streaks. The anguished lyrics more closely resemble SUICIDAL TENDENCIES in tone, with themes of depression and inner pain, and are very well-written. “Total Massacre” differs from the other tracks by being less a skate park rumble from start to finish and creeping toward mosh time with more than two minutes of a slow, metallic, instrumental build-up. Clever, smart stuff.

Prize Hog Sweat Farm cassette

PRIZE HOG is a four-piece out of Cleveland who play a sludgy mix of noise rock, grunge, and punk. It’s certainly ’90s-influenced and undoubtedly a product of Ohio. Also, there’s a theremin. Just as the opening track gets going, a ’50s sci-fi ray gun sound effect kicks in. You think it’s just a fun opening salvo to establish the tone of the album, but it just keeps going…throughout the entire cassette. It’s kinda playing the same role as the electric jug on 13TH FLOOR ELEVATOR tracks, but it’s way more prevalent in the mix. Over the course of the nine songs on here, I went from thinking the theremin was interesting to annoying to fine to back to annoying again. Point is, I devoted a lot more time thinking about that theremin than I did the songs it was featured on. Which is a shame, really, because they were pretty good! Had it played more of an accompanying role or had it been buried more in the mix, I think I would have been really into it. In any case, an interesting release—give it a listen!

Proud Parents Live at Union Pool cassette

Eleven tracks of jangly sing-along jams from Wisconsin’s PROUD PARENTS, recorded live in Brooklyn (at a pool party, apparently). At times it (almost) sounds like Gordon Gano dropped in on some indie band’s basement rehearsal just to make it weird, but really, this is just smooth-ass garage-lite. Be careful though, it sticks.

Public Opinion Modern Convenience LP

The record begins with a stomping, almost hair rock riff and keeps that spirit throughout. This is a punk interpretation of rock, or maybe rock poured through a punk filter. The rhythm is steady, not raging, and there’s cowbells kissing the honky tonk breaks. The power chords are crisp and the singer is ready to “break down the door” ‘cuz they “were right all along.”

Puffer Live and Die in the City Demo 2022 cassette

Montreal’s PUFFER lands here with a slab of lumpen punk’n’roll which offers a little more nuance and intrigue than your usual troglodyte Oi!-tinged hardcore. Vocals are reminiscent of NO TIME, and sound not too dissimilar to what I’d imagine it’d be like if a rottweiler learned to sing. Interestingly, there’s a bit of groove here with the tambourine flourishes and guitar solos, a bit like if MC5 cut their hair and had a wash. Good stuff(er) from PUFFER.

Emboscada / Pus split cassette

A raw, blistering onslaught of Argentinian/Peruvian metal punk and grindcore, in the late ’80s-to-’90s sense. EMBOSCADA reminds me of HERPES—Medellin calamity meets a bit of G.I.S.M., while P.U.S. plays a gothier blend of blackened post-punk crust. And they cover LEUSEMIA, plus NIRVANA’s “Negative Creep” (in Spanish!). Both bands are inherently sinister-sounding. Half this tape is flesh-melting grind punk, the other is bone-pogoing death punk. None of it is pretty, and if both bands were on a bill live, I think I’d need some fresh air afterwards. There are similarities, but these two bands go great together on a split tape as complements.

Ohjus / Raamattu Raaka Mysteeri… split EP

Here’s a split EP composed of two ripping Finnish bands, OHJUS and RAAMATTU. Both bands play a very old school style of hardcore punk and it rules. OHJUS play fist-pumping fastcore as well as TOTALITÄR-style D-beat at blinding speeds that are bound to leave your head spinning. More fist-pumping madness is on the table on the flip side with RAAMATTU, with bits that sound a lot like HEADCLEANERS or Finland’s very own RATTUS while also keeping the velocity of the previous side. This platter is great! Highly recommended for fans of classic Scandinavian hardcore.

Rashōmon Nin-Gen 12″

RASHŌMON is Japanese for “dispute.” And there is no “dispute” that this record is a grade-A banger. Of course, we are dealing with Japanese-influenced hardcore right here. A well-oiled, chaotic machine of vicious melodious hardcore à la BASTARD but with the crudeness of a Dischord band (they are from Washington DC). They don’t sound like a rip-off band as much as putting their own twist on the genre, and it sounds more abstract than your average Japanese-influenced band. An excellent innovation in the genre and it will not disappoint. Or maybe they were named after the Akira Kurosawa flick?

Repeat Offender Summary Execution EP

Sharp stuff here as REPEAT OFFENDER continues to hone their unique, catchy raging on their second 7”. Bestial vocals and a thumping rhythm section make a fun pairing, and across these six songs they shift seamlessly between menacing hardcore, anthemic street stomping, and a blend of the two. A lot of the Oi! stuff that has come out in recent years has leaned in the direction of post-punk, so I appreciate that this band has opted for a demon singer and a raucous and pointed sound instead.

Bang Bang Babies / Reptilians From Andromeda split EP

This is a nice little international garage punk treat. REPTILIANS hail from Turkey and play some inspired axe-shred garage with distorted vox, reminding me a little of the long-gone TYRADES. They get two tracks here, of which “Occult Chemistry” is the rocker. You can’t help but be filled with visions of how much fun a garage punk show in Turkey must be. BANG BANG BABIES from Brazil only get one track to shine, but damn if they don’t pull it off well with a nice CRAMPS, LINK WRAY, and SUBSONICS-inspired track. It’s all a big blurry party. Enjoy and don’t think too much.

Roughed Up King and Council EP

Clandestine, channel-straddling Oi! outfit ROUGHED UP announce themselves with a cracker of a release here. Terrace-friendly chants waging class war, all delivered in an accent that in another life would have been selling two pounds of pears in a brown paper bag at Bethnal Green market. Plenty of joyful guitar-led choruses replete with a little glammy flourish, not dissimilar to the CHISEL at their most anthemic, too. One to keep an eye on.

Rudimentary Peni Media Person EP reissue

I love witnessing the early flashes of bands as transgressive and iconoclastic as RUDIMENTARY PENI. This is the reissue of their stunning debut EP, originally recorded in 1981 and released on their own Outer Himalayan label. Twelve songs in twelve minutes,  absolute glory remastered from the original tapes. Obviously this 7″ is a sample of a searching period of Nick Blinko’s project, where lines are thrown into dark areas of the psyche that the band would later explore in their sound, but where influences and youthful impetus are also noted, manifested for example in an unabashed love of speed.  The songs are short outbursts full of creativity and precision—you can already see the intention to create a private universe, a mental map, so to speak, that can be expressed through an assault on sounds. “Teenage Time Killer” and “Media Person” already point to the Death Church sound, while the rest inhabit a place where an abrasive, dark Pink Flag exists. This is a cultural artifact that deserves to be in our collection.

S.O.H. Life on Edge EP

L.A. bands are so fucking good. There’s something in the smog and sun that consistently spits out the best rage and primal energy. I was awaiting this one eagerly like a hungry animal, as this is last year’s ass-ripper of a cassette put to wax and unlike the usual waste of resources out there, this one deserves it. SYSTEM OF HATE is what those initials stand for, but it could easily be SICK OF HUMANS from the amount of carnage left in this band’s wake. Featuring a member of the excellent PRISION POSTUMO as well as other notable SoCal all-stars, this all-too-short, six-song steamroller is driven by the fiercest vocalist I’ve heard in some time. The COMES, ULTRA VIOLENT, VARUKERS, blah blah…totally stands on its own and shouldn’t be diluted by old man comparisons. Cover art of the year. Don’t be a fool, fool. Pick it up.

Sado-Nation Disruptive Pattern LP reissue

For some reason SADO NATION has never gotten the same cult caché as fellow Portland first-wavers the WIPERS, the RATS, or the NEO BOYS. Hell, even avant noiseniks SMEGMA have more of a worldwide following for their demented mutant freewave than SADO NATION has received for their catchy, energetic punk rock. This is the band that kicked off the legendary 10-29-79 compilation, but people seem to talk more about the sole recordings by the even more unknown LO TEK than SADO’s ripping “Johnny Paranoid” that opens the album. But it seems the tide is changing on this, as their triple-digit Killed By Death collector wrecker records have been slowly seeing legit reissues. Disruptive Patterns is interesting, as it is an unreleased 1981 album that has now been issued twice by two different labels with two different covers in the last ten years. This version is by Puke n Vomit, and contains the original nine-song LP as well as three unreleased demo tracks from 1983, along with liner notes by members Leesa Nation (vocals), David Corboy (guitar/vocals), as well as Portland punk notables Jerry A. and Mark Sten. Musically, it’s high-powered punk of the time, fast and straightahead rockers, not dissimilar from anything in the West Coast first wave before hardcore reared its shaved head. The guitar fires off amped-up CHUCK BERRY riffage while the drums crash and tumble in full 4/4 force. Leesa and David trade off vocals from song to song, with Leesa more spit and sneer desperation and David’s voice a more melodic rock’n’roll shout. While not as much of a stone Portland punk classic as Is This Real?, Pick Your King, or In a Desperate Red, it’s still a document of the early Portland scene for any regional completists.

Satan’s Rats What a Bunch of Rodents LP

Of the skadillion bands that emerged in the wake of the first wave of British punk, few got out more than a single, usually on a small regional label or on their own dime (er, quid?). I have quite a few of my favorites, but there’s still always more of them to hear. Put out by Overground (to whom I will always be grateful for reissuing a large chunk of the CRAVATS catalog), this compiles all the recordings SATAN’S RATS put together in their short lifetime, with most of it gone unreleased at the time. Notably the band got an opening slot for the SEX PISTOLS, got shit on by Bob Geldof in his review of their first single (“Exceptional only for its mediocrity,” Sir Bob writ, presumably miffed at another band with a RATS band name), and then the second and third singles promptly went nowhere. The singer quit, and the rest of the band went new wave as the PHOTOS and got a hit album from it. Them’s the breaks, as they say. But was it fair? The songs on here are rockin’ and melodic, definitely showing the influence of GENERATION X or BUZZCOCKS. But I wouldn’t say any of these have the big pop hooks or catchy choruses of a “Ready Steady Go” or “What Do I Get?”—if you’re a ’77 Brit punk fanatic, this could be for you, but I don’t think this is anywhere near an unearthed trove of classics.

Scatterbrainiac Anti-Lethargic LP

From Porto, Portugal, SCATTERBRAINIAC plays heavy punk by numbers, replete with shouted gang vocals and simple song structures as outlined in the Official USHC Instruction Manual™. It sounds as if someone took a demo tape from 1984 and reproduced it cleanly through modern mixing methods.

Schizos Banned! From the Hi Tone cassette

I want to make my own “If you don’t like SCHIZOS, fuck you” shirt. They’re such a refreshing band in that you know immediately if you’re in their corner or not. And if you’re not, friend, you should sip your beer elsewhere. This is beautifully unhinged and sounds shit-hot (I mean, recorded by Erik Nervous and mastered by Will Killingsworth, so no surprises there). There are very few groups that I’d rather hear a live recording of (I’m reminded of OBN III’s Live in San Francisco for the extra jolt of energy and the combative stage presence) and now I have another. And then there’s just the biggest dick-kicking cover of “Born 2 Be Wild” that actually manages to make me finally get that song. What this tape really gets across is that while the narrative is that this is totally unhinged, chaotic rock‘n’roll, this band is tighter than Rambo’s bowstring. Where I expected a sloppy, glorious blaze of glory, I got a band that knows exactly who they are and exactly how to blow up a stage. Heavy as hell. Wish I were there. Doubt I’d remember if I were.

Socoträ Born to Chaos cassette

Indonesia’s SOCOTRÄ brings us a stench-laden, damaged crust assault on their sophomore release, and it’s one of my most listened-to albums of the year thus far. It’s nine songs with no weak spots, just killer D-beat hardcore with all the spikes and patches. Covered in desperate, raw-throated vocals, these tracks have a ton of character and nuance, even tastefully delving into black-metalry a bit on “Disgust,” and “Toxic” is just an absolute crusher and one of the best songs of this style I’ve heard in a minute. The tape comes in a box set package along with a t-shirt, stickers, buttons, and a booklet with lyrics, etc. Fuck yeah.

Space Danish & the Sewer Diamonds Six Dungeons cassette

This slime punk from Michigan is definitely not for everyone, but if you want something truly fucking weird and gross, you’re in for a rancid treat. These six tracks are built around three-to-four-note detuned synth lines, programmed drums, and bluesy barf vocals ranting about germs and grease. I can imagine a rat climbing out of a sewer and singing these songs. Or maybe the ROCK-A-FIRE EXPLOSION on bad drugs. While this tape sounds like a mix between WESLEY WILLIS and an 8-bit BRAINBOMBS (for the repetitive dum-dum riffs, not the misogyny), I have never heard anything quite like it, and once I got over the discomfort of the first few songs, I got into it. Recommended for the real outsider greasy grimies.

Spooky Visions Spooky Visions cassette

Debut release from this mysterious recording project that’s maybe out of Buffalo. SPOOKY VISIONS plays downer-y synth punk, and their sound can be pegged somewhere among the broody/funky analog squiggle of early-aughts TRANS AM, the antisocial bile-spiting of GIORGIO MURDERER, and, like, the soundtrack to Doom (1993). Nothing mind-blowing going on here, for sure, but I found myself really digging this. Sometimes some meat-and-potatoes tunes by a lone weirdo yelling at you about digital slime or whatever just really hit the spot.

Squelch Chamber Much Drugs cassette

If this weren’t a cassette, I would have checked the RPMs after a rumbling noise intro gave way to a four-note dread missive. Instead, I reached for the volume and felt the rumble take over while I struggled to make out anything not in the lower frequencies. I thought I was prepared after that opening cut…I was wrong. This one’s weird. Noise-drenched dirges, the BODY + crunked MITB + KILLDOZER…and then they fade into the background just long enough to make you think you can relax. Don’t let them fool you.

Suffering Mind Lifeless LP

Latest LP from Poland’s SUFFERING MIND. Pure anti-facist grindcore in the vein of ASSUCK and BRUTAL TRUTH to Peel Sessions-era NAPALM DEATH and CARCASS—yes, the ones punks listen to. Non-stop blastbeats, nothing but short, fast, and loud, driven by the rage and aggression from an oppressive system we live in rather than a technical talent show for metalheads.

 

Team Spirit O.C. Life EP

It’s hard to describe (or review) this record without mentioning how much I know 1997-me would have loved it. 2022-me also loves it, but in more of a nostalgic way (of course). For the uninitiated—TEAM SPIRIT was a positive Norwegian straight edge band, and this is their five-song demo from 1997. Fast and infectious with a heavy USHC influence. One tune is a total clunker, but I can listen to “Outside” and the title track every fukkn day.

Telesatan Behave! cassette

Behave!, the latest cassette release from Leipzig’s TELESATAN, consists of eight tracks of fuzzed-out, noisy garage punk, at times reminiscent of FLIPPER or even something along the lines of FYP or the Recess Records catalog. Fun, mid-paced, driven punk rock with a tinge of post-punk elements.

The Adamseed Dancing With Urban Folk Devils CD

This album starts out with some weird noise intro, then launches into some fairly bland rock music. For some reason, I’m compelled to compare this to something akin to SHELTER ditching hardcore in favor of becoming a generic alterna-rock band. Not my particular cup of tea, but I would offer one piece of advice to the folks in ADAMSEED: the internet can be your friend. Use it to your advantage. When searching for any info on this band, it turns out they have zero internet presence, at least as far as I could tell.

The Flatliners New Ruin CD

OK. Full disclosure, I spent years actively avoiding this band. Like I’m talking about not listening to any of their records, hanging out at the bar or outside smoking if they were playing a show I was at, etc., all under the assumption that somewhere I had heard they were a ska punk band. Ha ha ha. What an asshole. Guess I learned my lesson, because that couldn’t be any further from the truth, on this offering at least. Instead, what we have is something similar to singer Chris Crestwell’s other band, HOT WATER MUSIC, at least in some of the ways the backups are presented and some of the melodies. I have been listening to this like every other day. It’s really good, surprisingly so. The one thing that did take a bit of getting used to for me right off the bat though was Crestwell’s vocals. Upon the first few listens, I couldn’t shake the idea that they sounded like a mixture of Chris Wollard, Geddy Lee, and the dude from MATCHBOX 20. It bugged me for a bit, but I actually dig his voice. I find myself enjoying this more and more upon each listen. Maybe next time they’re in town I’ll actually make a point of watching them!

The Grabowskis DOXA LP

German punk with an early Fat Wreck vibe. Mostly sung in German with a few songs sung in English, including a song called “Dinosaur” that may be about an old fool or an actual dinosaur. Another song that is sung in English is “The Knight of the Night,” which has definite nods to IRON MAIDEN. All in all, a solid album and definitely worth a spin or two.

Grave Return / The Hamiltons DCxPC Presents, Volume 6 EP

Two songs each recorded live at The Danger Room in Orlando, FL. The concept of this series is very similar to the V.M.L. live series that was seemingly endless in the mid-to-late ’90s. In theory this is a cool concept, but as someone who doesn’t particularly enjoy live recordings, I’m not sure I’d pick this up unless I was a massive fan of the bands featured. As a collector’s piece though, this is limited to 150 copies and a nice document of a certain scene at a certain time and place, so that wins extra points with me for sure. The bands? GRAVE RETURN has a darker pop punk’n’roll sound; the HAMILTONS are “RAMONES-core.”

The Monsters Du Hesch Cläss, Ig Bi Träsch LP

Listen to this shit. It was records like this that steered Tim Yo away from hardcore (and emo) in the ’90s and damn near turned MRR into a fucking garage rock fanzine. You know why? Listen to this shit. This is punk, you punk! Switzerland’s the MONSTERS have been a band since I was still getting ink on my fingers once a month, and they’re still dropping steaming piles of shit-hot fire on your turntable like they don’t give a shit where they shit. Because these motherfuckers are punk. Their suits are punk. Their two-riff songs are punk. Their blown-out solos are punk. Apparently there’s a version in English, but I’m gonna be so shitfaced before the first side is over that I won’t be able to speak (in any language). Volume is the international language of punk though, so crank the mindfuck titled “Mitfahr Glägeheit” and see god, you punk. If you can’t get down with cranked-out, fuzz-storm garage mania, then what are you even doing with your life?

The Out-Sect Out-Sect Theme EP

Sunglasses, leather jackets, Vox guitars, fuzz, use of the word “sect”—yup, we’re dealing with some genuine garage turkeys here! After a handful of digital-only singles, this Philadelphia outfit is dropping their debut 7”, featuring three originals and a cover of “Go Away” by ’60s garage punk unknowns the PLAGUE. I don’t know that the contemporary punk landscape has anything like a predominant sound, but this has to be the opposite of whatever that would be. I haven’t heard too many folks clamoring for a turn-of-the-millennium garage rock revival revival. But maybe we’re due! This thing rips. It’s a great pastiche of that mid-’60s sound with just enough modern punk thrown in to prevent it from seeming like total cosplay. Plus, it sounds real cool! Sims Hardin (MESH, TOE RING, SOCIETY) recorded and mixed this thing, and he’s given the record a really thin and buzzy production that nevertheless packs a wallop—it comes off sounding like someone wrapped the SONICS in wax paper. Give this one a go!

The Soviettes LP LP reissue

A reissue of the SOVIETTES’ first LP from 2003. For those unfamiliar, the SOVIETTES were a band from Minneapolis that played what could be described as pop punk with tons of harmonies, and everybody sang. I like to think of them as something similar to the BANGLES-meets-DILLINGER FOUR. They released two albums on Adeline (this one and LP II) and one on Fat before calling it a day. I was a big fan, and was able to catch them once while they were still active and once during their reunion run, and I am beyond excited that this record was finally reissued on vinyl. The fine folks at Dead Broke and Rad Girlfriend have done a stellar job with this reissue. It looks and sounds great!!!!

These Roving Years These Roving Years CD

Mid-tempo punk with positive lyrics about not giving up and standing up for each other and such. It’s catchy enough for me to have found myself bobbing my head a bit, and if this was on in the background while doing something else my foot would be tapping for sure. The thing here for me was the lyrical content. While I enjoy positive, uplifting lyrics, this came off like a punk rock version of motivational speaking to me, and that kinda turned me off a bit. Like I’m not sure if it was the singer or the simplistic lyrical style, but it just kinda seemed hokey. I suppose there are worse things than having a positive outlook on life, though…I guess.

Trancefusion Incredible But True! LP

TRANCEFUSION was a first wave Italian punk band that would have been lost to the ages if Federico Guglielmi didn’t save that cassette of recordings the band made in 1978. They marked it “incredible but true!” Twelve of the fourteen tracks from that cassette are here, plus four live songs, of which two are the songs from the cassette that couldn’t be included because they deteriorated. The music is rough, trashy, and urgent. The singing is gruff and spit at you. They probably could have put out a 45 or two from these back then. This collection is an interesting look at Italian punk history.

Tuff Bluff Poppies flexi EP

Three-song release from this young Denver band, released as a flexi disc. Punk with enough heavy, rough edges to balance the smatterings of pop that lead vocalist and guitarist Sara Fischer sprinkles in. The distinct meandering bass lines tie it all together, almost like a second vocalist. The right mix of Kait Eldridge’s songwriting in BIG EYES and the energy of the SOVIETTES.

T​.​L​.​B​.​M. & the Joy Toys T​.​L​.​B​.​M. & the Joy Toys cassette

Incredibly catchy lo-fi punk rock with an emphasis on the rock. Seemingly recorded in a closet with the microphone underneath a pillow, this cassette contains four tracks of RAMONES-y, three-chord sweetness. I wish I could learn more about this band. The lyrics are unintelligible, but the spirit is wild, carefree, and infectious. You’ll be bopping your head but to what? Who knows.

Male Patterns / Under Attack split EP

This is a split 7″ containing two pretty different sounding bands, but both sides of this slab of wax are worth the price of admission. The first three tunes come courtesy of Albany, New York-based MALE PATTERNS. This rips! Killer early ’80s East Coast-style hardcore like the ABUSED or (excuse the more contemporary comparisons) AGGRESSION PACT and CHAIN RANK, with the gravely, pissed vocals to match. It absolutely kicks butt. The flip side is also killer, with three tunes from Richmond, Virginia’s UNDER ATTACK, who deliver some righteous, crusty and fast hardcore. Powerful stuff on both sides! Even though the MALE PATTERNS side does win over this reviewer’s heart more, the UNDER ATTACK side is also a bona-fide burner.

V/A Radio Dood LP

An LP reissue of a long out-of-print 1986 compilation tape of Dutch hardcore, used to raise money for the all-punk, by punks, and for punks radio station Radio Dood. Notably, this tape contained the final recordings of LÄRM before those eventually found their way on the band’s discography CD. This sounds like a tape from 1986 pressed to vinyl, so unless you are a Dutch HC completist and you love tape hiss and blown-out low end, I’d say this release works better as a historical document than as a home audio experience.

V/A Chaos in Basque Country LP

Another dip into the thriving Euskaran punk ‘n’ Oi! scene, taking inspiration from the classic Chaos En France series this time. Those who are already familiar with bona fide Basque hit factory Mendeku Diskak will know luminaries like the mighty STA. CRUZ, IRMO, and REVERTT who are all stand-outs, but the rousing gang vocal choruses of TAXTERS (like REICH ORGASM in their pomp) and the feral stylings of ATTURRI are also a treat. Not much to discover if you’ve already heard the excellent Kaosa Euskal Herrian LP from a while back, but a great intro to one of the more interesting scenes going at the minute.

V/A Nuestra América Hardcore Punk Vol. III cassette

A very interesting diagnosis and snapshot of the state of the South American punk and underground music scenes, with bands from Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Brazil. As with any compilation, there are tracks that you connect with better than others, but I dare to highly recommend the hardcore metallic tinge of Argentina’s ASESINATO EN MASA, the brutality of DL50, the raw crust of Brazilian veterans TERROR REVOLUCIONARIO, and the honest and politically charged funk-metal of Bolivia’s AMUKINA NUNCA MÁS.

V/A Sharptone Records Presents LP

It’s confusing why this is called a compilation when it is actually the band BLUE ECHO backing a few different singers, some of whom are also in BLUE ECHO. But hey, everyone is entitled to refer to their record whatever they want. Side A is the better of the two, featuring songs from CLAY SMITH (two songs), JAMES GARCIA, MANSFIELD SHARP, and NIK SEDAN. The songs are power pop with a heavy ’80s style. SMITH has more of a bluesy country twinge to his songs. Side B has another song from SMITH and GARCIA, plus one each from BLUE ECHO and DAN GARCIA. This side sounds more hippie-ish with that rambling country rock style that immediately brings to mind the GRATEFUL DEAD, except for BLUE ECHO’s track which is appropriately an instrumental surf song. Everyone involved has been playing music for decades, but there is nothing too exciting here.

Vacancy Shadows 12″

Four tight and well-constructed gems from this Californian post-punk band that navigates the turbulent waters of life in 2022 with songs full of emotion, imagination, and even a bit of drama. Hard to single out one song when they all constitute their own beautiful territory, but I can recommend the glorious opener “Burning” and the very intense closer “Withered.” There’s an LP coming soon to look forward to, so keep VACANCY in the loop.

Venosa Decapitado de Nacimiento cassette

There isn’t much you can get from an internet search for these guys and sometimes that is a great feeling because you can fill in the gaps yourself, like back in the day when you didn’t have any info other than what was found on the records or in zines. The only thing I could find was that VENOSA comes from Argentina. They play a furious brand of thrashy hardcore, fast and vicious, not quite thrashcore but almost there. I would dare to say that they almost sound a bit like Italian hardcore due to their chaotic nature. Decapitado de Nacimiento offers fifteen tracks that ooze aggression and discontent.

State Drugs / Zephr split 7″

A feel-good track each from Denver’s own STATE DRUGS and ZEPHR. “Mr. Untitled” (STATE DRUGS) is soft, and almost a little sappy, yet earnest. A minor scale lead walks up and down over a jangly rhythm guitar while the vocalist croons out “Are we OK? / The world’s scaring the shit out of me / There’s no escape / No point to stay / No where to leave,” the fatalism of which hits home for, I imagine, too many. “Landline (J’ai Une Âme Solitare)” (ZEPHR) is a little more playful and noisier, with classic ambient shouts from backing vocals under “Hanging on a landline / Feeling low / Can’t get myself outside.” These songs could fit in any of the early-aughts Warped Tour compilations, but are obviously covered in the makeup of our present. All in all, they make a cohesive split—have a rainy day listen.