Reviews

Judgement

everyone is alone sometimes everyone is alone sometimes cassette

The lack of capital letters got me real worried I got assigned some Midwest emo-worship, but instead we have a one-dude hardcore project. Overall, I’d say it is very much my kind of hardcore—weird, exploding, rampaging, and riffy, with more twists, turns, and time changes than their song lengths would suggest. The drums are either blasting at full speed or piling on the hyperactive fills, and no in-between. The blown-out recording style makes every song sound like it’s bursting at the seams. Until cloning can ensure this maniac plays each part live himself, I’d love to hear this fully realized with an actual band. I’m intrigued by the koan aspects in the title “i am a field of beans,” and I respect mentioning D. Boon’s death day as the recording date.

Tetanus II cassette

I’m glad to see that TETANUS wasn’t just passing the time between sanitizing things and donning facemasks with their first cassette that was released amid the uncertainty of the height of the pandemic. They’re back with a new venom-drenched tape full of ripping hardcore that’s got more wreck and less effects than their previous cassette. With cool songs like the succinct and cutting narrative of “Winner” and the classically-foreboding stomp of “Borderline,” this second shot of TETANUS makes it clear that the band is gaining momentum.