Reviews

Brain Slash

Disable …Slamming in the Depths of Hell EP

Damn—a solid decade of disbeat noise from Atlanta’s DISABLE? I welcome it just like I welcome these six bursts of manic distortion into my life. It would be easy to keep cranking out amped-up, mindless D-beat distortion (and I wouldn’t mind), but DISABLE pays attention to the little things: the bit of weird chaotic melody before the stop in the title track, the start/stop that opens “False Flag,” turning “Death’s Head” into slow-motion robotic repetition instead of making it the mandatory mid-tempo stomp that every D-beat record seems to have. The closer, “Whistling Death,” is interrupted by noise, but it sounds like it was actually interrupted instead of some calculated electronics-not-music exercise to prove they aren’t just a run of the mill D-beat band. All of this is to say that DISABLE are, in fact, another D-beat band, but that they’ve used their ten years (and counting) in the game to create something different (and dare I say “interesting”) within the confines of the genre. Killer slab.

Grawlixes Demonstration 2022 cassette

Blistering, lo-fi raw punk the likes of which upstate NY has not seen since NO FUCKER or their subsequent (and my preferred) band HERPES. That isn’t to say they are cut from the exact same cloth or anything. GRAWLIXES isn’t a by-the-numbers recreation of classic D-beat bands. It’s nasty, it’s driving, it’s also quite familiar. Hmm. Oh, perhaps that is because the same six songs were released on a cassette last year, entitled Demonstration 2021. Re-recorded versions of the same songs make up this second demo. No complaints here, as it is truly ripping. Word has it that a 7” is coming out very soon. Will it be the same six songs recorded a third time around? Even if it is, you can bet your life I’m getting a copy as soon as it is available.

Mystery Girl Heartbreaker / Salted Slug 7″

For me, this one’s a sort of tale of two sides. The A cut is fine: a nice little power pop number, but it doesn’t grab me. The B-side cut takes it to a new level. Mixing in punk, power pop, glam and rock’n’roll, this one induces head bouncing. The lyrics are also pretty damn funny, and while I’m not sure what it means to be someone’s salted slug, it seems like a real commitment. Worth it just for the B-side, and as I said, the A-side works just fine.

Mononegatives / Mystery Girl split EP

I gotta say, I’d seen this record in distros and always assumed based on the cover that it was some synthy Factory Records-worship by a lone band—MONONEGATIVES. Turns out this record does feature a synth…that’s maybe wielded in a less new wave-y manner than I was imagining, but also there’s a whole other band on here! MYSTERY GIRL is not the name of the record. Instead, they’re a punky power pop band out of Albany, NY, who kick things off with a couple tracks. “Loveline” starts as a somewhat ripping garage pop track that crashes into an odd cooing power pop chorus with really off-kilter harmonies. It caught me way off guard at first, but I came to appreciate its strangeness by the track’s end. For their other song, they slow down the BOYS’ “Tumble With Me” and turn it into some NEW YORK DOLLS-esque swagger rock. It’s a cool cover! London, Ontario’s MONONEGATIVES close things out with three tracks of synth-drenched, garage-y post-punk. A track like “Time Warp” even justifies my inkling about what this record would sound like—the bass line could have been plucked from an early NEW ORDER track. But overall these guys’ vibe is way heavier, and they come off sounding like a less gimmicky and more overtly post-punk SERVOTRON…or maybe a weedier A FRAMES. Either way, I’m into it!

Grawlixes / Unknown Liberty Chaos NY split EP

If you love CONFUSE, you will adore GRAWLIXES precisely because, just like you, they also love CONFUSE, and therefore loving GRAWLIXES is like loving the love for CONFUSE, if you know what I mean. The band is from Albany and some of its members played in NEUTRON RATS, if that rings a bell. There are four songs on their side, very well executed given the template: it’s fuzzy, loud, distorted, fun, a bit silly and delightfully pogoable. Proper punk music. Ten or fifteen years ago, there were a lot of bands doing the Japanese noisepunk thing (like the WANKYS or SAD BOYS, for instance), and I reckon GRAWLIXES do it with gusto. On the other side, we have UNKNOWN LIBERTY, who are mostly unknown I guess, from nearby Kingston—a band that I had noticed with their rather good Chain of Madness demo tape last year. They also have a Japanese hardcore punk influence, but they don’t rely as much on the Kyushu tradition as GRAWLIXES, although there certainly is a noisy distortedness about them and they do love some feedback in their punk. On that level, I am reminded of CFDL and crasher hardcore bands like (Osaka’s) ICONOCLAST or DECEIVING SOCIETY, but UNKNOWN LIBERTY also has a more versatile side and they do add some nice dissonant guitar leads, not unlike some Italian greats maybe. The vocals are harsh and insane-sounding, and as the crude dove logo suggests, they obey the peacecrust doctrine. This is a split that I would love to own.

Wet Specimens Haunted Flesh EP

This might as well be the official Halloween punk EP of 2019: it’s got these hella CHRISTIAN DEATH-y guitar licks, slasher-film lyrics, witchy artwork and the reverb is laid on so heavy it might as well be a ghost on the mic. It’s kind of got an evil, noisy ’80’s Japanese hardcore sound, similar to the SEXUAL. More contemporary bands ODIO (RIP), early DEVIL MASTER and TARANTULA also come to mind. Every song on the record slaps; the first track, “In Secretion Room,” is my favorite.

Cartridge / Wet Specimens Dawn of the Ice Age split EP

I already have a soft spot for this split, as my first hardcore band in the mid-’90s was called CARTRIDGE. But let’s get to work. Well, CARTRIDGE of Boston is far superior to what we were. This is clobbering GLORIOUS?-style hardcore with some echo added to the vocals, but played with the sheer intensity of BLOODKROW BUTCHER. Non-stop bombing blast such as HUMANT BLOD—there is literally a “bomb fall” effect sample added that is punctuated with a blast on a break. And there are hardly any breaks here. Shit, this side fucking rules! WET SPECIMENS torrentially rain in on the higher register with equally fast hardcore, though they add some twangier post-punk riffs and spaced out solos and surprising late ’80s thrash metal riffs. But really just as subtle accents. This is much catchier, to the intensity of Side A. Great split, now I want to find one. Jeez, you got the name, and this was totally impressive. Send a damn copy next time.

Wet Specimens Over Pale Bodies LP

If you’ve spent any time on social media in the past couple of months, then you’ll know WET SPECIMENS have released this LP. However, if you spend most of your time in a cave or a catacomb, then you may be unfamiliar with this release, so let me give you a brief description. Brutally loud hardcore, complete with screaming guitars and bashing beats, combines with deathrock to form the WET SPECIMENS sound. Like if INTEGRITY decided to fight CHRISTIAN DEATH in a pit and the last standing members shook hands and formed a band. Over Pale Bodies represents several years worth of playing and recording, and is a complete artifact ready for rotation on your turntable.

Wet Specimens Dying in a Dream EP

Excellent release from Albany’s WET SPECIMENS, whose brand of deathrock-tinged hardcore punk never disappoints. Dying in a Dream features four tracks that see the band sounding cohesive and powerful, leaning into goth territory without ever sounding like a novelty act. In particular, the buzzsaw guitars on the opening title track and the doom-and-gloom of “Curtain Call” sound great, but this one’s a banger from start to finish. Highly recommended for fans of other evil punks ZORN and NURSE.