Reviews

Stage Dive

Capitol Punishment Two-Party System EP

CAPITOL PUNISHMENT finally raised enough money to put out an EP, and it’s well worth the wait. Musically, there’s three strong thrashers and one slow, measured mood piece (“Jody Is My Bloody Love”), all distinguished by Ralph’s amazingly raspy singing; the lyrics alternate between personal introspection (“Wrong Direction”) and the kind of straightforward political critiques that invariably drive the apolitical wimps into a frenzy. Hooray!

Capitol Punishment When “Putsch” Comes to Shove 12″

More intense thrash from CAPITOL PUNISHMENT. They’ve been a unit for a long time, and it shows in the ultra-tight instrumental attack displayed here. The vocals are exceptionally gruff, lyrics are well-taken, and there are even glimpses of quasi-psychedelic elements (in “Elephant Man’) and Euro-thrash (the guitar riff in “Broken Home”). Check it out.

V/A Hardcore 84 Fresno Compilation cassette

From that blast furnace they call the “Central Valley” comes this collection of bands on CAPITOL PUNISHMENT’s label. Besides them, the bands that appear here are THINK TANK, the PROBLEM FISH, PRIMER GREY, the PTL CLUB, HARSH REALITY, the SUBTRACTIONS, BURNIN’ BOB, DEATH CAMP, the MERE MORTALS, ASSAULT, KAOS, NO LABEL, the DIRT HEADS, and the WAWONA BOYS CHOIR. It mainly features modern hardcore sounds, but also includes some unusual stuff.