Reviews

Loner Cult

Azijnpisser Cold Cuts LP

A relentless barrage of unapologetic hardcore punk straight from the Netherlands. The album is a whirlwind of raw and aggressive energy, perfectly capturing the essence of the genre. From opener “Mental Disorder” to closer “Shit On Your Parade,” AZINPISSER maintains a frenetic pace that rarely lets up. What sets Cold Cuts apart is its unfiltered authenticity. In a world where the lines between subgenres can blur, AZIJNPISSER stands as a testament to the spirit of hardcore punk. A powerful punch to the gut that’s impossible to ignore.

Burning Kross Burning Kross LP

Six-track LP from these Belgian hardcore punks, filled with anger and versing on anti-fascist and anti-racist ideals. From Oostakker near Ghantes, BURNING KROSS delivers violent and fast-paced hardcore punk with crust and D-beat references and deep bass vocals ready to fight. Extra points for the album cover art featuring a KKK scumbag receiving a burning cross right in their torso.

Crippled Fox In the Name of Thrash LP

It’s always respectable when something is accurately labeled or identified. If you see a red MAGA hat, you can make some safe assumptions about the person wearing it. With the album title In the Name of Thrash, you can expect unrelenting speed and melt-your-face riffs. Straight out of Budapest comes 23 tracks of mosh-pit power-ups in the vein of early DRI, NUCLEAR ASSAULT, and STORMTROOPERS OF DEATH. Every song is devastatingly fast and tight with an attitude of fun and unity throughout. This band does not hide what it’s about under layers of nuance or lyrical gloss. Take the track “High on Thrash,” which asserts “Thrashing is my drug / I’m wasted with my riffs / Bashing myself / With a killer song that rips.” After nearly two dozen thrashcore classics, the album closes with a hilarious send up of power metal pretension and bombast, “P.M.A. (Power Metal Attitude.)” It’s all big hair, knights with swords, and soaring falsettos that had me grinning ear to ear.

Crippled Fox Attack of the Thrash Wrist EP

Everything to be said about CRIPPLED FOX is in the lyrics of “United Mosh Pit,” the fifth track of eight on this EP. “Long-haired thrashers / And skatecore punks / Hardcore kids / Blasting the show as one.” That is the entire text of the song and could be the band’s manifesto. Occasionally punctuated with out-of-nowhere samples from DE LA SOUL, the TV show Married With Children, and others, this album shreds with fun, blistering, thrash-soaked hardcore. DRI’s Dirty Rotten LP is an obvious comparison to make. Close your eyes and you see nothing but kids in flannel shirts and bandanas zooming up and down half-pipes. The choice to record live in a rehearsal space was inspired. The resulting spontaneity and energy makes these good songs great. CRIPPLED FOX puts out some amazing crossover thrash and are now 95% of the reason I want to visit Budapest.

Days of Desolation Circles LP

Titan riffs coming through from Belgium’s DAYS OF DESOLATION. DAYS OF DESOLATION play hyper-blast grinding crust as a three-piece, with morose chords beneath the fury. Cacophonous synth subtleties are dispersed within the tracks and sound squeamishly off-putting with ominous dread. This is quite technical with all the grit of classic crust. Thinking NASUM, GADGET, SNIFTER, early INSISION, or more recently, SAYYADINA, D.E.R., P.L.F., or GRUELING SENTENCE. A fine mix of prog ambiance and pulverizing grindcore with nodes of death metal and crust. DAYS OF DESOLATION tether between exhausting blasts and well-composed passages that grab you by the throat. I admit I sort of lost touch with this style of crust-grind, but DAYS OF DESOLATION have my eyes bulging out with attention. With songs titles such as “King of Pikes,” “Autumn,” “Your Prerogative,” and “Hypersleep,” I feel like I will grow to give this one a much deeper connective listen over the coming months. A definite for manic grind blasters that like their crust extra heavy and their death extra fast. I also have learned DAYS OF DESOLATION are on the CAPITALIST CASUALTIES tribute album, so that rules. Circles is their first LP after an EP, and it slays.

DSM-5 Skärblacka D-Beat LP

I am not familiar with DSM-5. As a band name, it reminds me of MC5, M:40, SPACEMEN 3…but here I see they are from Sweden, and their album is titled in such a manner. First impressions are of a more hardcore attitude, thinking of TOXIC NARCOTIC, ANNIHILATION TIME, S.H.I.T, MIND ERASER, or RAT CAGE, with some call-and-response compositions. Most songs come in around two minutes, so there is ample time for some interesting changes. A song titled “Sick of It All” continues to remind me of hardcore when it was fast and punk. This is an accomplished hardcore punk album with intense musicianship and palpably pissed-off messages. DSM-5 is ugly and angry, and the entire play sinks into more dismal tones around the halfway point. “Empathy” is a true depressor with uneasy industrial effects. Seriously, once Skärblacka D-Beat hits its stride, you’re going to want to hold on. I could imagine this band obliterating a live set. “Word” brings some absolutely scorching vocals that seem to be from the addition of a guest vocalist—think DISRUPT’s “A Life’s a Life.” A relentless LP with both impact and melody that took me a moment to catch up with.

Endform Menace LP

Neocrust fizzled out in recent years, with only a few of the classic bands being active in the scene. The genre reached a peak around the ’00s when bands turned to post-metal or black metal influences, evolving into something new altogether. Menace, the newest offering from the Montreal-based ENDFORM, showcases the band’s evolution while remaining true to their roots. It opens with the track “Psychic Numbing,” a haunting instrumental piece that sets an ominous tone for the album. Some Word as Law-era NEUROSIS comes to mind, just before it erupts into an early FALL OF EFRAFA/TRAGEDY combo of modern-meets-classic neocrust, complete with dual vocals. Throughout the album, ENDFORM expands on delivering a blend of melodious aggression, one of the main tropes of the genre. An urgent manifesto of the times we live in, dark music that reflects darker times.

Alteri / Gr​ä​nslandet split LP

Issued in October 2022 by Phobia Records, a label based in the Czech Republic, this split presents bands from Germany and Sweden. ALTERI from Cologne, Germany offers a synthesis of blackened crust closer to death metal, with deep and low but also high gutturals, sludgy bass lines, and guitars that sometimes resemble math rock sounds, cutting with precision. The songs are filled with tempo changes and parts achieving complexity. Suggested track: “Verlorene Staedte.” On the Sweden side, we have GRÄNSLANDET from Kristinehamn, delivering their D-beat with deep, sludgy strings and fast cadences, good riffy guitar solos, and controlled yet strong screams plus great drums. Good work with the doom feel that gives a trance-like feeling at moments. Suggested track: “Historiens Mantra.” Appropriate selection for a split, with the bands having things in common. Recommended for blackened crust and metal enthusiasts.

Gummo A Fresh Breath on the Neck LP

Hailing from Lille, France, GUMMO sets the brutality at eleven with their latest LP. Featuring eighteen throat-punching tracks, this three-piece focuses their ire at cops, internet trolls, people ruining the scene, and capitalists, to name a few, and leaves no doubt about where they stand on social justice issues. The title track refers to the guillotine, and implies it might be time to bring it back. The first track, a pandemic manifesto called “Where Was Gondor,” features some interesting, almost melodic bass and drum work that makes GUMMO stand out from most of the powerviolence and grindcore bands these days. “You’ll Pay the Bill to the Styx” almost veers toward New York-style hardcore terroritory (SICK OF IT ALL, GORILLA BISCUITS) with chugging guitars and chanting, anthemic vocals.

Hetze Until I Snap LP

HETZE delivers a furious punk violence ass-whooping, truly living up to their social media description. With members hailing from the Belgian punk and death metal underground scene, their music is characterized by its frenetic energy, aggression, and an oddly captivating quality. To date, HETZE has released an LP titled Bedbugs in 2018, as well as two splits with DISMALFUCKER and TRAPPIST in 2019 and 2021, respectively. Until I Snap is their best outing, in my opinion, and it’s worth the listen.

Jodie Faster Blame Yourself LP

Seventeen songs here, with the longest clocking in at 1:29. Short, fast, hardcore songs that strangely don’t use distortion on the guitars. I don’t particularly know how I feel about this. The songs are good, but the lack of distortion is off-putting to say the least. I wanna like this, and I think I do, but the sound of the guitar is fucking with my brain. Like it’s seriously giving me a borderline panic attack. Hahaha.

Corrupt Vision / Jodie Faster split EP

Split release between Orange County’s CORRUPT VISION and France’s JODIE FASTER. CORRUPT VISION plays thrashing, in-your-face fastcore with some ska breakdowns; not necessarily resorting to the crack rocksteady model, but heavier on the fastcore end. JODIE FASTER plays fastcore with clean guitars reminiscent of ’80s Italian band PEGGIO PUNX. Personal preferences aside, this is a great split release where both bands sound different enough while still having a similar quality that doesn’t resort to dark noisiness or heavy sounds. Raging anti-authoritarian speedcore intensity.

Genital Juggling / Jodie Faster split LP

Don’t judge a book by its cover, lesson one: this fukkn record. The stupid cartoon claymation cover would turn most punks off before they even saw the band names, and I confess that I never would have given this slab a second thought if it were not my punk duty to do so. And holy shit did I eat my thoughts as soon as JODIE FASTER started cranking through five absolute rippers that sound like nothing at all except (apparently) JODIE FASTER. A raw drum attack that reminds me of RUDIMENTS, a penchant for don’t-give-a-fuck combined with serious chops à la SCHLONG, open chord clean guitars like JASPER THREAD, and an overall purity in their ferocity that I haven’t heard since I saw ROLEX last year. I didn’t want to turn the record over. But I did. And GENITAL JUGGLING delivered the same energy on the flip—just as much irreverence in their song construction, but with a SoCal hardcore tinge, and aggression replacing the quirk on the A-side. Listen to all of the records, punks—even the ones you think aren’t up to whatever your bullshit “standards” are—because chances are good that you are wrong. This record is definitely right.

Night Vision The After LP

The musical “Intro” of this release sounds like the opening credits for the cheesiest ’80s slasher film, and then the thrash starts. This French band clearly loves the ’80s, because of the occasional samples and weird synth interludes between tracks. They vacillate between hardcore and thrash effortlessly. “Shower,” in particular, is reminiscent of early SUICIDAL TENDENCIES. Other tracks feel more like D.R.I. and fellow Europeans CRIPPLED FOX. Lots of great thrash coming out of Europe lately. Every track is tight, fast, and  clocks in under two minutes, perfect to skate or slam to.

RAN Atrabil​ä​r LP

Fast, crusty hardcore/PV from this Lyon, France band. First off, this record sounds amazing. Recorded and mixed by the band, these fourteen songs sound so nasty, so heavy and distorted, that you’ll immediately know if this is for you. RAN’s sound is so good: syncopated drums that frequently lurch into breathless blastbeats, super heavy bass tones, thick guitars that skew dissonant, and screams. While this is a punk record, there is enough chugging and chaos here to appeal to mathcore and death metal fans, too. Every song rips hard, and I especially like “Why Don’t You Stick Your Head Up Your Ass…See If It Fits” for its ridiculous title, and “Funky Crusty Rambling” for the classic ’50s-style rock’n’roll riff that starts it off. Actually, I recommend you just press play and then repeat it as soon as it ends. Highly recommended.

Raw Peace No Hope LP

With such a strong record, I can imagine a lot of people will get into RAW PEACE. I had seen the name before but never listened to this Belgian powerhouse, and with such a moniker, I was expecting unabated shitlicking DISCLOSE worship with too much reverb on the vocals. RAW PEACE is clearly a band of their time, as they play a blend of beefy American hardcore (the singer also growls in the long-running band REPROACH) infused with D-beat hardcore. It is an objectively mean-sounding album with a thick production, and it sounds about as ferocious and subtle as a charging boar—listening to the band reminds me of that one time when I was chased by a massive goose on a school trip in 1989. As powerful and effective as No Hope (the band’s second album) is, I don’t love the thing. I enjoy it, and its hardcore intensity and relentlessness makes it quite compelling, but I cannot really love it. RAW PEACE sounds like US hardcore vets trying to play heavy Swedish D-beat. Even if a lot of D-beat tricks are indeed present and executed well enough, it still does not have a proper dis-feel songwriting-wise. And to be honest, this is probably the sound these guys are going for, an American hardcore perspective on dis things and as I said, this will definitely appeal to a wider audience than your average DISCHARGE clone would. This is still very solid and packs a serious punch. If they were actually American (the country where gods are made), I am sure they would be more widely-known.

Recedent Somnia Incoming Nightmare LP

Mid-paced metallic hardcore with melodic tweaks and crusty vocals from Rennes, France. Filled with the sounds of classic 2010s melodic hardcore with soft touches of crust. On their second work included here (the Incoming Death EP released in 2021), they cling to even more melodic sources and even slower cadences, resulting in redundant and similar songs in-between. The anthemic choruses kind of in the middle of some of the songs just haven’t worked out for me. Suggested tracks: “Our Destiny” for slightly faster tempos, and “Inside Madness” for some sludgy tunes.