Reviews

Interceptor Editions

Choir Boys 30 Years of Choir Boys cassette

This is just not my thing. Berlin’s CHOIR BOYS are certainly talented at their instruments and what they do, but I just can’t get into it. “Chaotic hardcore” is a bit of a coin-toss genre for this reviewer—I dig DEADGUY, I dig RORSCHACH, but I don’t dig this. It’s not complex enough to grab my attention, and the riffs that are played just do not register. Once it reaches “2000,” the tracks just become second-long blasts of whatever—just makes it feel like nothing more than a mere gimmick. This isn’t to say that you won’t enjoy it; maybe I’m just a philistine, but I am not interested in this.

Lappen The Lappen Supergroup cassette

Mid-tempo punk from Leipzig, Germany. These songs are pretty catchy, but it’s a little difficult to pigeonhole exactly what they sound like. It’s like an Oi!-inspired egg-punk band, or an egg-punk-inspired Oi! band, if you can picture either of those. Nine-song cassette which is over very quick and inspires an immediate second listen.

Spleen Spleen cassette

Noisy, female-fronted hardcore from Leipzig, Germany that absolutely rips. The tape opens with howling feedback and a nasty noise rock riff and just gets better from there. They are in good company with MUTANT STRAIN and LEBENDEN TOTEN in that the songs are 100% exciting and take unexpected turns at every opportunity. The vocals are a high-pitched staccato holler that fits the music perfectly. Just when the band settles into a creepy crawl plod, like on “Routine,” they do a time change into D-beat mayhem. This is all following a filthy, spidery post-punk guitar line that rules. Similarly, “Flower Basket” abruptly changes gears and speeds like a nervous student driver, always keeping you guessing and hanging on for dear life. I also award it for the only non-corny use of wah pedal in a hardcore song. Every song kills—seven tracks of furious, crazed splendor. If you like noisy, frenetic hardcore, check this out right now.