Reviews

King of the Monsters

Dropdead Live AS220 11/3/20 cassette

Lots of comedians, podcasters, and rock and/or roll musicians did live streams during the height of the pandemic, but this is the closest to feeling like a steamy hardcore show that came out of the suddenly inflated genre of live audience-less performances. In this case, if you didn’t know, you’d probably never guess this wasn’t in front of a crowd. The energy is there. The aggression is there. DROPDEAD is doing what they do best: fast, angry hardcore with a liberal sprinkling of animal rights. The first half of the set is made up of almost half of their newest album from 2020, Dropdead 2020. The rest of the set is made of a mix from the rest of their previous 30 years of existence. If you’re a newcomer, this is a perfect introduction. If you’re an old fan from way back, then you already know that you need to check this out. It’s easily in the running for best “live” release of 2021. “The Cost of an Animal,” one of their longer songs by clocking in at one minute and twelve seconds, is one of the standouts of the set. You can feel Bob Otis strangling the microphone while the rest of the band takes their instruments to their physical limits.

Body Farm / Dry Socket Body//Socket split LP

Cool split here. BODY FARM kicks things off with a powerviolence/youth crew hybrid. Reminds me of BETTER THAN A THOUSAND mixed with SPAZZ. Really love the vocals— more like a yelp than your typical grind-screaming. Feels fresh and unique. My only complaint here is that the drums are way too loud. At first I thought that maybe the drummer was playing out of the pocket way too often, but in reality, they’re just drowning everything else out, which is a real bummer because there are some great guitar parts that are lost in the mix. DRY SOCKET brings everything up to another level. Serious mosh anthems with a singer who screams like a banshee. I’m truly amazed listening to them. Screeching this loud for this long is a superpower. Everything else is tight and groovy; brutal and intense. Real solid outing here form both bands.

Pig City Terminal Decline LP

Take DYSTOPIA’s misery dirges, mix with some of HIS HERO IS GONE’s pitch-black crust and throw in a bunch of TERRORIZER blasting and you’ll get the idea of what this Arizonian band is trying to tell you—that everything’s fucked and we’re all going to die in a grave that we dug. I don’t know about you but that’s a message I can get behind. If you’re a fan of dark crust from the mid to late ’90s then check this out.