ADVOIDS have a throwback sound that reminds me a little of WASTED YOUTH with MINUTEMEN playing rhythm. The bass is driving this EP of boiling and tinny layers, the proof conveyed in the track “Total Confessions.” Hard to track down any identification on these cats…solid offering nonetheless.
Here we have two recording sessions on one LP, one entitled The End of Crow and the other is entitled Apocalypse. Whether the band is called CROW or called APOCALYPSE, the main focus is always going to be on the vocalist who is called CROW. There are quite often, in my mind, some definite similarities to GISM. The record starts off with some psychedelic-sounding screams and continues for what seemed to me to be six or seven minutes, then they break into some fantastic hardcore. My favorite track on the first side is called “Despair and Despair.” It sounds like the CROW that I love, Japanese hardcore punk. Side B, which is a totally different band, starts off similar to Side A, with screams and psychedelic sounds on the guitar, then some music eerily similar to DISCHARGE’s Grave New World with much better vocals—the sticker on the front calls Side B “the beginning of the grave new world.” The guitar is blazing on the next track, what a great song! They switch it up on the following track, where the music is blasting away but the vocals now sound like Grave New World vocals. Lastly, we are treated(?) to what sounds like a sexual release brought about by oneself. Crow is what Crow does. There is a lot to love about this, and a little that I questioned whether it was necessary, that’s not my decision, and Crow has it covered.
This debut from Asheville trash punks doesn’t do much for me. Far be it from me to tell a group not to keep doing what they’re doing, but I found this to be a low-energy affair that suffers from redundancy. Songs are mostly based on one hook, and typically not one that is strong conceptually or melodically. The repetition of a phrase like “ramen noodles,” for example, doesn’t lead me anywhere in particular. There are bands that excel at this sort of thing, namely MOMMY LONG LEGS and SURFBORT, but that’s because they sell what they’ve got with high energy and earworm melodies. Now I can get behind a band doing its own thing, and I applaud the self-recorded, self-released model. I hope they keep at it and keep tweaking the formula. To my ear, the songwriting just isn’t there yet.
Can you imagine if ENTOMBED hadn’t switched gears and gone into a more death’n’roll direction after Clandestine? What if they had kept playing like they did on Left Hand Path? Well, just listen to BASTARD PRIEST from Sweden, and you will get an idea of what could have been. Swedish death metal played in a very punk kind of way, like CARNAGE and AUTOPSY (who influenced a lot of the Swedish sound), with a very rock’n’ roll (not death’n’roll) feeling to it, if you know what I mean. The punk intersection doesn’t end there, as this two-track 7” was released by D-Takt & Rapunk, known to release the best in the game. And it makes all the sense to me. A band that crosses genres in an honest way and will appease death metal maniacs and crusties alike!
Politically conscious and kinetically-charged Epitaph/BAD RELIGION-styled hardcore pop punk. These folks can certainly play their instruments in a way that reminds me of early PROPAGANDHI. I feel like CHANCE TO STEAL, for some, could be gateway punk to deeper scene involvement in the same way that GREEN DAY was. Their lyrics are thoughtful and it’s easy to understand where they stand on cops and other things. Each of the ten songs are three-minutes or longer, which was immediately intimidating to me. The song length had me convinced this was going to be physically draining to sit through. Let’s be honest, three minutes is a long time for a hardcore pop punk song; however, these CHANCE TO STEAL people manage to keep the listener involved sonically as well as reading along with the lyrics, which is what a record should do.
I’m waffling on this one. First of all, I have an aversion to a band named after the lead person in the band. There’s an ego thing in there that kind of annoys me. Four tracks in total, and I thought I kind of liked the first one. Then the second cut comes at me with way too much vocal inflection. It just seems like he’s trying too hard. The third track starts to get back on track, but the damage is done. They finish with a NEW MODEL ARMY cover that’s honestly pretty damn good. Self-described glam punk; this sounds a little too stadium rock for me. I’ve heard Mr. JAMES in other projects that I appreciated more.
I’m no scientist and I can barely change a light bulb, but I suspect building a time machine would cost shitloads. That’d be a bit of a waste of time and money considering most people would probably use it to see dinosaurs and end up being eaten by a giant lizard. I suppose there are worse ways to die and it’ll be viral on TikTok, but it can hardly be said to justify the whole enterprise. If you crave to travel back to the ’90s, don’t bother with silly technologies and just grab a copy of DARK HARVEST COMMANDOS’ EP. Granted, the name is a bit of a mouthful (it refers to a militant Scottish group who pressured the British state into decontaminating an island that had been used for testing anthrax weapons), and I’ll use that as an excuse for this Glasgow hardcore unit completely flying under my usually reliable punk radar until now. The band is made up of ex-members of DISAFFECT and QUARANTINE, which gives you a fair indication about their artistic ambition. Unsurprisingly, they unleash fast, old school political anarcho-thrash with shouted female vocals reminiscent of the aforementioned DISAFFECT, but also SEDITION and the mighty PINK TURDS IN SPACE. Direct and to-the-point, nothing fancy, no wheel being reinvented, just six solid political hardcore punk songs for the masses. Thanks to Sanctus Propaganda for putting this out.
This four-track cassette of songs by DESCRENTE is presented by A World Divided, and it’s everything to me right now. DESCRENTE is from Portugal and plays a breed of raw, dark hardcore punk with additions of atmospheric elements. The culmination of these sounds creates a foreboding but defiant energy, a sort of biome of depressive rage born from oppression and alienation. Overblown vocals rage over propulsive rhythms that shift and mutate rapidly. The guitars mostly grind along but occasionally take off on harmonic flights. This cassette is nearly twenty minutes in length, with the shortest song clocking in just shy of four minutes, so buckle in and get ready for a long noisy ride. If you like things like WET SPECIMENS, PART1, or AXEGRINDER, then rest assured, you’re going to love this.
First off, ten-fukkn-song EP. Not sure what year these Finns think we’re in, but I’m so damn glad they are here with me today. Atonal, ramshackle, harsh, uncompromisingly raw hardcore punk with exactly one cut that kisses the one-minute mark, this record is the living embodiment of sonic brutality. And then “Hallitus Uudistaa” opens, and I feel like I’m listening to a STOOGES outtake before I get blasted by ten seconds of primal shit-fi grind, and I remember that I am most definitely not listing to STOOGES—more like MEDELLIN, or maybe a fidelity-free FEAR OF GOD. Pimeä Nykyaika is an extremely harsh listen…more of this, please.
This is another excellent slab of heart attack hardcore from this group out of Brazil. While the music is played at a blurring pace, it’s nonetheless sharp and clear as the pain from a broken rib. This is played precisely, which is all the more impressive because the sum of its performances creates a sort of maelstrom effect of mad-eyed, howling hardcore that sits handsomely alongside contemporaries like ELECTRIC CHAIR and MURO. The vocals are front and center, which I prefer in my HC, and they are some of the most spittle-dribbling, throat-shredded vocals I’ve heard in a minute. This is bolstered by a massive rhythm section and innovative guitar work, especially on tracks like “Enquanto Descansa, Carrega a Pedra” which features haunted and dissonant, effected clean(-ish) tones in the guitar on top of the otherwise crushing assault. This is some of the most melodically-minded hardcore guitar work I’ve heard in some time, and it plays perfectly with the nimble bass. Every piece is in place, resulting in maximum impact from a band that keeps to a standard of excellence with each release.
On their sophomore release, Los Angeles, CA’s MODERN MAN has honed their sound considerably since their first cassette release in the summer of ’23. Seven songs of incredibly pissed hardcore punk. More upbeat and driving, not as slow and plodding as I remember the first tape being. The slowest this gets is a dirge that goes on a bit too long, but has some BLACK FLAG-style noodling guitar leads/solos through it, received with no complaints here. I remember reviewing the first tape and there being a SCHOLASTIC DETH-type feel to the singer’s vocal styling. That is completely gone with this second release, sounding like he’s now singing in FILTH. Here’s hoping that vocal polyps aren’t around the corner, but seeing as how the band has apparently only played a total of four shows, I’m not too worried about that being in the singer’s future. Both the label’s and the band’s Bandcamp pages make a point of explaining that “Psycho Squat” was originally performed by RUDIMENTARY PENI, and while that is undeniably a true statement, a cover of the song was nowhere to be heard on the cassette or either of their corresponding Bandcamp pages. I was already aware of that unrelated factoid, but thanks for the reminder to turn on Death Church, I guess.
Collected output from this Japanese outfit that changed their name midway through their three-year lifespan from GAKI to NAKED CHARGE. Great stuff here, with a quintessential mid-’90s Japanese hardcore sound. Three of the tracks were featured on the Tottori City Hard Core compilation released by the MCR Company label—prolific purveyors of this exact flavor of speedy, frothing-at-the-mouth punk. Thrashy and bordering on powerviolence, NAKED CHARGE blazes up nine-ish songs with the requisite tempo changes and shouted group vocals one should expect. There are two entries for personal fave “I Don’t Care A Fuck It,” but one is a brief 37-second-long return to the tune’s eponymous refrain. We likewise get two versions of “Fake,” and it shreds both times. What else can I say? They all shred!
These guys are punk as hell. Insanely badass punk/HC band that doesn’t seem to take themselves too seriously, as seen on tracks like “Ack Ack Ack” (URNIALS). In classic punk fashion, they aren’t afraid to call people out in tracks like “Local Rocker” or “Social Networking.” Besides the definite aspect of punk, they’re able to bring elements of sheer noise and chaos, as well as a variety of spoken word apathy and absolute disheveled screams. Because most songs clocked in around the one-minute mark, they pack a lot of good meat into this album; I was never bored. I couldn’t decide if this album made me wanna buy a guitar so I could smash it into pieces or to pick it up and play along. Either way is great.
This is a reissue of their 1991 debut album. Hardcore punk from Poland that has an excellent mix of styles, and they aren’t afraid to show their influence of their native country’s music while playing some fast hardcore with very tuneful vocals. This is an incredible album of political hardcore punk that has something for everyone. I am happy to see this available again. This is amazing and a perfect document of the early ’90s scene.
Third cassette from this hardcore punk outfit from Champaign, Illinois, and it is far and away their best release to date. I reviewed their last cassette at the end of 2023, and while I liked it, these five songs put it to shame. This stomps from start to finish. POWER OF DUSK continues their output of incredibly pissed, politically-driven hardcore punk. There is undeniably a lot to be angry about in this day and age, so we can presumably expect more releases coming from Central Illinois.
A plodding street punk effort here from REO. It never ever really seems to get out of first gear throughout, sadly. I found myself repeatedly waiting for it to fully boot off and for me to get into it, but instead I was left wanting. For a genre that seems to pride itself on edge and realness, there’s an awful lot of it that leans too far into studio sheen that completely sands off any of the real grit and intrigue. A shame!
Absolutely fantastic garage rock/power pop from my Illinois brethren in Rock Island. Featuring former WYONNA RIDERS and current DEAD KENNEDYS singer Skip Greer, this album is chock-full of rock’n’roll diversity. Spans such flavors as dancey horror punk, twangy hardcore, and flowery indie ballads. This slab was obviously carefully crafted and produced. Everything sounds crisp and clear. Greer’s vocal range is beyond impressive, hopping between moody DANZIG-esque melodies and rustic BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN howls. Really great stuff here, and well worth a spin.
British Columbia’s SELF DEFENSE rips it up on the frantic and fuzzy 12 Track EP. This thing sounds straight from the early ’80s down to the production, with similarities drawn to URBAN WASTE and WHITE CROSS. The vocals are stellar and really unhinged, completely holding it down alongside the thrashy guitar work. If my old ass was still trying to make a part for a skate video, I’d use something from this EP as the soundtrack. Highly recommended.
Primal, slow, crushing, and filthy. North Carolina’s SEVEN FOOT SPLEEN was active from ’94 to ’98, but in this short span, they cooked the filthiest sludge around. Sludge is nothing but a slower, doomier version of hardcore (started by My War, Side B), so it ticks a lot of the same boxes, but the most important one is the resignation. For some reason, they slipped through the cracks when it comes to recognition. Like EYEHATEGOD or BUZZ*OVEN, SEVEN FOOT SPLEEN excels at making you feel the weight of the world on your shoulders. It hits hard and never lets up, like a really bad nightmare. Reptilicus is a compilation of all their stuff, originally released in 2010. Standout moments come in the form of RUDIMENTARY PENI and DOOM covers.
Coming in hot! SIKM’s vinyl debut is a heavyweight slab of smoldering punk that suffuses classic UK82 with French-styled Oi! Did the bastard progeny of BLITZ and CAMERA SILENS somehow end up in Atlanta? This EP is hitting the same nerve that RIXE damaged when Coups Et Blessures dropped. Coincidentally (or perhaps not), Now I Must Comply was recorded and produced by RIXE’s Maxime Smadja. Every aspect of this record is pure gold, from the impeccable production to the killer art and design by Jeff “Fetal Brain” Poleon, packaged up and delivered by a label that never misses, Beach Impediment. But even the finest ingredients don’t guarantee delectability. Fortuitously, SIKM proves that’s all gravy for the heaping marbled chuck they’ve plated. From the punchy opener,“Warmonger,” to the earworm sing-along “Saboteur,” we’re treated to top-tier song crafting with flawless execution. With my tolerance for mediocre Oi! at an all time low, SIKM just booted the bar up a fair few notches. Devastating.
Hypnotic gothic post-punk band with a touch of shoegaze. I loved the blend of soft, more harmonic guitar paired with a harsher bass line and enchanting, distant vocals. “Programmed” was one of my favorite tracks, as it managed to feel somehow more dark and gothic. I loved the subtle tempo changes that really just embraced a kind of melodic and gentle gloom. Overall, very comforting gothic/shoegaze.
Providence’s SULLEST, featuring members of WEAK TEETH and GOOD LORD, among others, cranks out a tight, genre-blurring ride on this LP. Released via Armageddon—the same label that brought us the brutality of DROPDEAD, SEEIN’ RED, BASTARD NOISE, and ESCUELA GRIND—this one takes a left turn into radically different territory. The band is pitched as “stoner punk,” but it feels more like punk with a balance of stoner and post-rock elements, featuring heavy riffs, aggressive rhythms, and yelled vocals that bring to mind a more chilled-out, later-era VERSE. Thankfully, with eleven songs in under thirty minutes, there isn’t much time for the aimless noodling that makes so much post-rock a slog. I liked this album, but I liked it most when they were cranking. Strong production and energetic performances make this worth a spin—especially if you don’t mind some chonky grooves and a little atmosphere. Check out: “Contact High.”
There’s a lot to be said for an actual vinyl record, especially those of the 7” variety, and I like this one. I like it a lot. Catchy and straightforward, it’s just good old punk rock. I think I’ve seen the A-side available digitally for those of you who don’t own a turntable. Not sure about the B-side. Great power chords really keep this thing just chugging along. Two songs, and both keep you engaged, focused and bouncing your head. Sure, it’s poppy, but this ain’t pop punk. I want more.
TEXTURE FREQ is a maniacal hardcore punk band from Minneapolis that reminds me a lot of 9 SHOCKS TERROR, but with a better balance through the equalizer. What May Come is a four-song EP, and the second available from TEXTURE FREQ. The opener “Golden Pavilion” is about a minute long and shifts from hardcore blast to Ginn-influenced guitar riff before you’re even comfortable, followed by the nearly epic (almost three minutes) “I Fucked the U.N. (and Lost),” which is a spastic, nearly stream-of-conciousness hardcore assault. “So What? It’s the Future” espouses a sort of positive outlook while exploring the relationship of destruction to creation. The closer “Head Machine” is hardcore at its finest, with an in-your-face attitude and a swaggering breakdown that decays and returns to aggro hardcore. If you dig raw, fast, abrasive hardcore that pulls no punches and doesn’t need any sort of posturing, then you’d better check out TEXTURE FREQ.
This is like the ninth or tenth full-length—one of two they put out in 2024!—from this long-running Tokyo act that at times borders on garage rock cosplay. Looks like it was assembled to support a tour of Australia, but it’s all new music: eleven tracks of straightforward garage rock, played loud as hell. They’re not tossing out any curveballs, so this is more or less interchangeable with all their other releases. But I don’t think they’d have it any other way. Regardless, it’s fun as hell. It’s also wild how good the recording sounds—it’s got that same recorded-inside-a-nuclear-reactor vibe that you get with a TEENGENERATE or GUITAR WOLF record, but also somehow comes across crystal clear. More bands need to get in touch with this sound engineer!
The DCxPC concept is simple: two friends who want to capture what is happening in their tiny spots on the planet, this case Central Florida and Upstate New York, and give back to the fans and bands that trickle through their area. They do limited pressings of live bands, which ensures that everyone who was at the show has the option to take home more than just a memory; they get to have a physical piece of something that they’d helped create. From the DCxPC records I have heard, the quality has always been clear while still maintaining the feeling of being inches from the band. With this volume, the SNORTS kick off Side A and musically fall in line with SIDEKICKS, CARPENTER, or JIMMY EAT WORLD—I think all five songs on here are about being broken up with and being bummed out. They probably have songs about other things too, but these are all about that. At least one of these people needs a hug, and it is a bummer that the band isn’t there to do that for him. On the flip, 2AMATURE blasts out six songs of snotty hardcore not unlike the VINDICTIVES, musically chaotic and landing somewhere unpredictably between LOVE SONGS and BLACK FLAG. This is another delightfully, unsurprising DCxPC Records release. Everyone who was at these shows should grab a copy of this ASAP.
UK-based hardcore that leans into powerviolence blastbeats à la INFEST. Featuring former members of EXTORTION and TIED DOWN, UNIFIED ACTION’s first EP is a heavy listen that has some great moments, like the catchy riffs of “No Heroes” and the slow dirge-y ending of “Gatekeeper.” A really cool debut for fans of D.R.I. and NEGATIVE APPROACH.
This is a special package of what could merely be a time capsule, but instead feels like a look forward and look back—a time capsule of the East Bay punk scene in the ’80s, while also a living document of punk rock lifers still giving a shit about being loud and standing up for what’s right. VIOLENT COERCION, whose members went on to join bands like NEUROSIS and ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT among others, reformed after 35 years to properly record their old material while smartly throwing in some new ones as well. The old and new are shuffled together, and stylistically blend well as bassist and lead vocalist Dave Edwardson’s melodic arpeggio bass lines and seasoned holler lead the charge. This sounds old school, sure, and that’s a good thing. Melodic hardcore for everyone to shout along to, mixing songs about youthful alienation and contemporary political desolation to great effect. There’s the requisite anti-Trump song “Lock Him Up,” that, while musically holding its own, does lyrically feature the tired trope of Trump fellating Putin, which I personally find disappointing even though this band is clearly on the side of LGBTQ+ rights, as evidenced in other cuts. But hey, these dudes are old; they might not get everything “right,” but they can still rip. The rest of the material more than makes up for it, with the band playing like they haven’t missed a beat since 1982. What’s a wonderful surprise, although perhaps depressing given how little societal pressures have changed, is how fresh these songs sit amongst the current zeitgeist. There is no lack of energy and just downright love for punk at large here. And you have to get a physical copy, because it comes with lovely archival photographs of the band and flyers from back in the day featuring all the heavy-hitters like CHRIST ON PARADE and 7 SECONDS at legendary venues like 924 Gilman. Plus, there is a gorgeous print of the family tree of East Bay punk that shows the road map from bands like FANG all the way to SAMIAM. A great addition to a beautiful living document that should be played very loud indeed.
I’m hearing D. Boon and Allan McNaughton in the opening guitar chords, and you better believe that I am paying full attention well before the rest of the band kicks in. And when they do kick in…WAKE IN FRIGHT hits like a shock. Super powerful protest lyrics fronting a collection of timeless working class pub-punk tracks. I gave up trying to identify the elements and the influences long before the brutally honest “Self Storage” started, and by the time that track finished, I was a fan for life. Around Every Corner is a timeless EP, filled with poignant lyrics and musicians who play off of each other with an envious comfort. I’ll spare you the time that I could spend dissecting each song and just say that the time I spent dissecting only made me like this record more. Oh, and the MINUTEMEN and NEUTRALS sounds that I heard in those opening chords are still tracking favorably, so my ears are still functioning properly.
Eggy garage punk from Ukraine that’s not afraid to rock. Recommended for fans of TEE VEE REPAIRMANN and ISMATIC GURU, this tape features lo-fi shouted/sung vocals over catchy riffs and stuttering electronic beats. I wish I had some lyrics to translate, but the music transcends the language difference and will keep your toe tapping until it’s time to rewind and play again. Tracks like “це твій час” and “волчара тупо пес” have cool start/stop rhythms, and “18000” has enough stylistic diversity in its 37 seconds to reveal the level of quality songwriting and arrangement on display. Check it out for eleven solid garage bangers in a row.
