Reviews

Pissed Off

Execution South East Asian Tour cassette

Furious distorted hardcore kneeling at the altar of ’80s Italian hardcore, but seemingly incapable of shaking their modern raw fastcore tendencies. The result is completely unhinged in all the best ways imaginable: guitars are chaotic (I mean, the riffs are chaotic, if they even exist at all) and the drums defy description—listening to this is like listening to a good hardcore band fall apart. On purpose. And they do it within the construct of the songs themselves instead of relying on distorting everything just for the sake of chaos. Australia’s EXECUTION create the chaos. A demo from 2017 demo and a 2018 EP, both from Hardcore Victim, all crammed into a plastic shell for EXECUTION’s Asian tour by the folks at Pissed Off Records. This is a beast, please don’t snooze.

Invalid Format Actual Behaviour cassette EP

Irrepressible posi hardcore from a Malaysian four-piece on what appears to be their second tape release. INVALID FORMAT seem like they’re in love with the pre-Out of Step Dischord catalogue above all, and the clean-cut likes of 7 SECONDS those releases inspired, but as well as oompah-oompah rhythms and songs titled things like “Unite Not Fight” and “Stop the Violence”, the guitar has this chiming, ultra-melodic tone which sometimes suggests an early wave Creation Records band playing at twice their normal speed. Nice token bit of wonky surf-rock action on “Dear Little Friend,” too. If you’ve been waiting for something new by MILK from Japan, INVALID FORMAT are both a good stopgap and band in their own right.

Liquid Assets Offshore Accounts cassette

Now we’re talking. A Canadian band of weird hardcore punk Á  la SCHOOL JERKS or BRUTAL KNIGHTS, releasing a cassette on a Malaysian label? Honestly, it checks all my boxes. The strongest part of LIQUID ASSETS is their sound. A vintage, rare garage sound, backed by simple yet effective riffs and a crabbed, unintelligible mumble instead of vocals. The kind of deranged music you freaks would dig, as if it came out of the cell of a psychiatric hospital. The songs are really short and straight to the point (just two of them last more than two minutes). Half of the time you feel like you’re in the basement of a bunch of suburban misfits, improvising over old GERMS records, smoking pot and getting drunk while recording everything you play. In short, this is a great record, really witty to hear, and I suppose, even funnier to have recorded it.

Sonic Warhead Bleed Runner cassette

Demented raw punk stompers from Indonesia. SONIC WARHEAD embody that “everything is about to fucking die!” energy that so many bands try so desperately to conjure. The sound is honest, urgent, powerful, and the tracks are light years beyond sick. Everything sounds weird, sounds off; in other words, it all sounds perfect. This is the second offering from SONIC WARHEAD—guitarist Dovandri sadly passed away after these tracks were recorded, but there are more offerings in the future. Rest (and live on) in Power, and thanks for the riffs.

Urban Void In Denial demo cassette

Stomping, aggressive hardcore that doesn’t overstay its welcome. Straightforward, heavy but not too metallic. The only thing I could ask for would be for it to come across more unhinged. It’s one thing to be pissed off, it’s another to menace. I have trouble figuring out how this came about; it’s billed as a “transatlantic retort,” whatever that means. Who cares? The drums sound killer and the riffs are simple but obnoxious enough to make me wanna kick through my drywall, and I suppose in 2020 that’s what counts.