Woooofffff, this one lands just right. How did ARTIFICIAL JOY inject ’80 Sunset Strip energy into snotty, femme-fronted modern hardcore stomps? I don’t know and it doesn’t make sense (though I did blast RATT for a solid six hours the other day), but ARTIFICIAL JOY makes me feel like that even though they sound like a ripping 2020s DIY punk act. And this, my friends, is wonderful.
Mysterious guy hardcore is back with an absolute vengeance. Five songs of pummeling hardcore punk with a vocalist who seems to have taken a page out of Max Ward’s SCHOLASTIC DETH book. Sounds just like him at times. The similarity pretty much ends with vocal stylings and amount of feedback, though. MODERN MAN isn’t blistering fast, but instead ranges from mid-tempo down to plodding breakdowns. There’s no lyric sheet included, but judging from the band’s internet presence, they have no shortage of things to be pissed about. Not gonna find this on any streaming services other than the Bandcamp site—hard stance against Spotify and pro-Soulseek. Respect.
On their sophomore release, Los Angeles, CA’s MODERN MAN has honed their sound considerably since their first cassette release in the summer of ’23. Seven songs of incredibly pissed hardcore punk. More upbeat and driving, not as slow and plodding as I remember the first tape being. The slowest this gets is a dirge that goes on a bit too long, but has some BLACK FLAG-style noodling guitar leads/solos through it, received with no complaints here. I remember reviewing the first tape and there being a SCHOLASTIC DETH-type feel to the singer’s vocal styling. That is completely gone with this second release, sounding like he’s now singing in FILTH. Here’s hoping that vocal polyps aren’t around the corner, but seeing as how the band has apparently only played a total of four shows, I’m not too worried about that being in the singer’s future. Both the label’s and the band’s Bandcamp pages make a point of explaining that “Psycho Squat” was originally performed by RUDIMENTARY PENI, and while that is undeniably a true statement, a cover of the song was nowhere to be heard on the cassette or either of their corresponding Bandcamp pages. I was already aware of that unrelated factoid, but thanks for the reminder to turn on Death Church, I guess.
Sharp stuff here as REPEAT OFFENDER continues to hone their unique, catchy raging on their second 7”. Bestial vocals and a thumping rhythm section make a fun pairing, and across these six songs they shift seamlessly between menacing hardcore, anthemic street stomping, and a blend of the two. A lot of the Oi! stuff that has come out in recent years has leaned in the direction of post-punk, so I appreciate that this band has opted for a demon singer and a raucous and pointed sound instead.
L.A. bands are so fucking good. There’s something in the smog and sun that consistently spits out the best rage and primal energy. I was awaiting this one eagerly like a hungry animal, as this is last year’s ass-ripper of a cassette put to wax and unlike the usual waste of resources out there, this one deserves it. SYSTEM OF HATE is what those initials stand for, but it could easily be SICK OF HUMANS from the amount of carnage left in this band’s wake. Featuring a member of the excellent PRISION POSTUMO as well as other notable SoCal all-stars, this all-too-short, six-song steamroller is driven by the fiercest vocalist I’ve heard in some time. The COMES, ULTRA VIOLENT, VARUKERS, blah blah…totally stands on its own and shouldn’t be diluted by old man comparisons. Cover art of the year. Don’t be a fool, fool. Pick it up.
Coming from Los Angeles, S.O.H. gives us some raging hardcore crust. This band can write a hardcore crust song while having some melody in their musical structure, and that’s not a bad thing. Their music has a lot of different textures to it, and they can take you up a mountain and then drop you off a cliff. I like it. It reminds me just a bit of some of the crust and hardcore that came out in the 1990s. This band makes their own music their own way and it sounds how they want it to. Now that’s punk!
