High-energy, lo-fi garage punk from the Netherlands that sounds a lot like the SPITS. That’s not a bad thing—the five rockers here (plus one sound collage interlude) have a familiar “crunchy guitar with synth lead” formula, and the songs bounce with infectious melodies and personality. Recommended for switched-on garage freaks.
While the cassette would have one believing this is self-titled, the internet seems to refer to this solely as Dmo III. This is the third demo from the Netherlands-based wacky, revved-up synth punks ACHTERLICHT. Five songs of high-intensity, energetic punk with spooky Halloween synth parts often following the riffs note-for-note. All songs feel like they are absolutely racing to their end as fast as they possibly can. ACHTERLICHT rips, it’s as simple as that. I saw this tape referred to on the band’s Bandcamp as the “last EP of Haarlem punk band ACHTERLICHT,” and I truly hope it meant the most recent EP, not final. It would be an absolute shame if ACHTERLICHT has come to an end right as I’m becoming aware of their existence. Tape released in the States on Knuckles on Stun, meaning there’s a limited run of 25 copies, so act fast, you won’t be disappointed.
Garage punk with good whiny shouting to hop around to. There were a couple of tracks where I felt my mind wandering as I wasn’t particularly captivated, but then the track would change and I’d be alerted back to the present with something new. Every song had a good hook to start with (usually either feedback or unique riffs), but a couple of the tracks started to lose that in the rest of the song. That being said, I loved “Forever,” with heavy ghost notes and noise with intense screaming. There were other elements too that kept luring me back in, like different tempo changes with “I’m Into It,” or the witty lyricism in “Stab a Speaker.”
