Reviews

Conviction

Diall Four Song Promo cassette

More sustenance for fans of short-run, short-length tapes, fuzzily photocopied monochrome artwork, and Old English typefaces. Two songs from this so-called “promo” tape are slated to appear on DIALL’s debut 7”, one you’ll only find here as far as I can tell, and the other one is a cover of “Psycho Mafia” by the FALL. Neither this song nor DIALL in general sound much like the FALL, although this treatment of it goes some way to drawing an equivalence between the young Mark E. Smith’s world and their own lumpen hardcore oddness. Elsewhere, slow, sinister intros rise to mid-pace so the first sacrificial lamb can get moshed into a wall, a vocalist (who, pictorial evidence tells me, has been known to don a balaclava for live performance) has his demoncy blown-out and reverb-soaked, and guitars are larded with feedback.

Unified Action This is a War EP

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.