Reviews

Static Shock

Assistert Sj​ø​lmord Klimabombe EP

Their name translates to “assisted suicide” in English, and this is their debut 7″ (and a great one at that). The music is hardcore punk, and I stress the punk park of that description. This is modern hardcore punk of the highest order, no frills and a ton of energy. This band doesn’t exactly sound like these bands but they would fit right in with RAT CAGE, SCARECROW, VAASKA, DESTRUCT, and more. If you like those bands, then I think you will like this. It has been a little while since I have really taken notice of a Norwegian band, but this band really brings the punk.

Ataque Zero Ataque Zero 12″

Unrelenting five-track debut from Bogota, Columbia’s ATAQUE ZERO. Bass lines build to ride cymbal-clattering choruses, with Luis’ shouted vocals barely taking a rest throughout the entire EP. This project is part of the autonomous cultural center, Rat Trap, in Bogota, that features DIY artists and musicians. Limited copies going quick!

Ataque Zero Ciudades 12″

Raw and riveting, ATAQUE ZERO delivers high-energy punk anthems! ATAQUE ZERO’s latest EP Ciudades showcases the band’s diverse influences and solidifies their unique sound. Hailing from different countries and with connections to renowned bands in the scene like MURO or EXILIO, plus being tied to the cultural hub Rat Trap, they bring a fresh perspective to their music that is reminiscent of classic punk and hardcore bands like HÜSKER DÜ and LEATHERFACE, or even STIFF LITTLE FINGERS. Their background in punk adds another layer to their dynamic sound, setting them apart in the punk scene.

Bootlicker Lick the Boot, Lose Your Teeth: The EPs LP

The first BOOTLICKER material I heard was their fourth EP, 2020’s How to Love Life. As soon as the opening track “It’s Beautiful” started I knew one thing for sure: this was some of the gnarliest drumming I’d heard in a minute. Crunchy, brutal, and unrelenting, like a machine gun ripping through clips of ammunition. That’s all I needed to become a believer. BOOTLICKER is putting out some of the best D-beat hardcore punk at the moment, and this collection of their first four EPs (from 2017–2020) showcases the band’s ascent from their first 6 Track EP towards the aforementioned How to Love Life. To get the full scope of the band’s output, listen to all 37(!) minutes, but as I mentioned, I highly recommend the track “It’s Beautiful” to hear the band at full power. 

Bootlicker Bootlicker LP

Playing hard and bouncy punk with a melting pot of influences, Vancouver’s BOOTLICKER is sharper than ever on this explosive full-length outing. Weaving classic hardcore and D-beat elements into their UK82-style songs, these guys come off as a bit more original that some of the more stringent ’80s-flavored bands that have been springing up as of late. This record from the CHAIN WHIP labelmates is loaded with catchy tunes (“Herd the Sheep”’ will get stuck in yer head) delivered with conviction through obliterated speakers. Taste the rubber, baby.

Bootlicker 1000 Yard Stare LP

The “thousand-yard stare” is a phrase often used to describe the blank, unfocused gaze of people experiencing dissociation due to acute stress or traumatic events. A fitting title for BOOTLICKERS’s latest release that perfectly captures the psychotic brutality of our current world, as it delves into some themes of war, corruption, police, elites, and the way we experience them making us more and more terrified and detached. On their third full-length, BOOTLICKER stays true to their signature sound mixture of MISSBRUKARNA-styled hardcore with some DISCHARGE D-beats over a USHC-like song structure. The songwriting and catchiness of the songs always keep improving from release to release, and this one is a delight for the ears. Brace yourself for some relentless D-beat energy, so crank the volume up to the max!

Boss Cash Em In / Red Signal 7″

The second single by glam-punk hooligans BOSS arrives three years after the first, with under five minutes of music to show for it, but that’s no bovver cause this 45rpm, two-song, thank-you-and-goodnight format is the canonical vehicle for this sound. Also, most or all of the members have been busy here and there: Jonah Falco’s recorded a stack of bands and played on releases like the sick new GAME 12″, Maxime Smadja has, well, also recorded a stack of bands, even if there’s no sign of a new RIXE record (are they still going?). “Cash Em In” is the pick of the pair here, with a spoken intro by Callum of the CHISEL before a riot of muscled-up boogie and wicked guitar phasing; B-side “Red Signal” is heads-down junkshop glam with great, impetuous “whoo-oo!” backing vocal interjections.

Chubby and the Gang All Along the Uxbridge Road / Mockba 7″

Supremely adept sounds from some CROWN COURT affiliates. The gist of this is a bit on the classic rechanneling side, complete with design that cops Chiswick Records, an indicator of this lot’s passions if ever there was one. Think DISGUISE from the ancient era, or something like QUANGO from more modern times. Speedy UK punk—timeless stuff—cropped, catchy and very tough. All aboard.

Chubby and the Gang Speed Kills LP

The impressive cover from this London band’s debut full-length album has already totally caught my attention. Sound like exactly everything I have heard all my life—it is energizing, fun, aggressive with a few breaks for melodies and melancholy, like COCK SPARRER. As if SLADE had met MOTÖRHEAD in a perfect space-time.

Churchgoers Churchgoers demo cassette

In the UKHC scene, it is more than common to be at any show and hear an exchange between a 19-year-old and 23-year-old saying “we should start a band that sounds like UNDERDOG meets…SHEER TERROR”. However, it is practically almost never when a group of kids get together wanting to start, and I quote drummer Bobby Cole, “a NEOS-worship band”…until now. To say this demon absolutely floored me would be an understatement—I was nothing less than bewildered, in fact astounded, by the sheer musicianship and originality projected from this demo. While Bobby (the ANNIHILATED, ANTAGONIZM, MOTIVE) writes almost all the songs, each member of the band contributes equally in their own way to creating this absolute Magnum opus, sounding as if HERESY or RIPCORD had been listening to nothing but Hassibah Gets the Martian Brain Squeeze and YOUTH KORPS’ Demo ‘82 rather than SS DECONTROL. Mark McCutchan’s vocals here provide a fiery adolescence completing the general vibe of this band, just four angry, pissed kids, with Ben Hills (LAST AFFRONT, VILE SPIRIT) playing the riffs phenomenally at a raucous speed, while bassist Xav (NEGATIVE FRAME) keeps it steady throughout. This is probably my favourite release of the year, so please, do go and give it a listen.

Clock of Time Pestilent Planet LP

Simmering, post-punk with steady guitars, Pestilent Planet sounds locked-in from the get-go. Of the past bands that make up their members’ pedigree, VEXX, USELESS EATERS, and DIÄT, this sounds most like the latter. The drums keep a sense of unease by making heavy use of toms, rather than a standard kick-snare punk beat, while the vocals sound like they’re delivering some seriously bad news over an intercom in a retro-dystopian sci-fi nightmare, and on top of that, the sustained, overlapping guitar bits add to the urgency. It sounds sick. The third track, “Companion,” is right on the money and reminds me of what I like best in SIEKIERA or more contemporary post-punkers like CONSTANT MONGREL. If you’re still left jonesing after the sonic perfection that was DIÄT’s Positive Disintegration, this will very much scratch that same itch. They don’t deviate from the format, but they don’t make any mistakes, either. Should you—like me—find yourself masked up in line at a grocery store, nodding to this in your headphones, in a too-hot black parka, queued up three-quarters of the way around the place on the eve of a holiday thinking “this is bleak, this is a bummer”…turn it up and ride out the pestilence.

Cold Meat Hot and Flustered LP

Perth’s COLD MEAT were practically perfect from their first utterance, the Sweet Treats tape released nigh on five years back. I say “practically” to acknowledge that their atonal KBD clang, personal-political feminist lyrics and ever-changing pseudonyms stuck fast to a template established by GOOD THROB a few years prior. Hot and Flustered, COLD MEAT’s debut album, eclipses that minor issue majorly—this sounds like no individual entity so much as the latest raging entry in a half-century continuum of fucked-off snarky DIY punk. There are hooks on here visible from space, highlighted by a spot-on production, and lyrical earworms in waiting. Ashley Ack, as she goes by this time, is imperious here, one of punk’s current vocal powerhouses for sure, and at certain points (the closing section of “Women’s Work,” notably) seems to channel the spirit of Vi Subversa, the POISON GIRLS absolutely being part of that continuum I mentioned. A blazing band that keeps getting even better.

Erupt Left To Rot EP

Love it when punks play metal! Featuring members of SHEER MAG, GELD, and many more, ERUPT knows their metal well. This Aussie bunch dug up the classic extreme metal albums and did their own take on the genre. One can hear SODOM, SLAYER, and BATHORY, providing a thrashing sonic eruption that almost goes into black thrash metal territory. Horns up for the punks!

Geld Beyond the Floor LP

’Twas the prehistoric epoch of 2018 when GELD’s Perfect Texture LP kicked my ass through the top of my head via its solid gold meld of Scando-Japano HC abandon and psychedelic guitar excursions. Beyond the Floor dials down the psych tropes—little on this twelve-tracker zongs out quite like, say, “Parasitic Fucker” off the debut; maybe the gothy scrawling on “Forces at Work” approaches that level—but is every bit as deranged and dangerous. Written and recorded on “pills, meth, booze, weed [and] DMT,” so says the sales spiel: if this is the case, this Melbourne foursome are the opposite of sloppy drunks, cabbaged stoners or too-gone tweakers, rather a destructive forward line dosed on black market medicine by a shadowy team doctor. That is to say: fully sick in-the-red guitar tone, basslines that are sinister but groovy in the same way, say, Kira’s were in BLACK FLAG, foaming provoked-animal vox from Al Smith, maybe some bestial black metal influence in there but it’s such a barrage yer just guessing really… plus the lyric “Pubs open in my mind” and, if you were quick enough (which you weren’t, should you be reading this as a buyers’ guide), a really neat Jack Chick-parody comic packaged with the browny-gold vinyl. GELD are god’s-honest dons.

Glaas Qualm LP

Berlin, Germany’s GLAAS comes out with Qualm, their first LP after last years’ self-titled EP. Think post-punk with wild synths and jacked-up effects of a diseased hardcore. This ten-track album is fun and rowdy—the kind of thing that exemplifies the chaos and distress of the genre to the non-believer, yet is the exact thing that sounds to-the-point and refreshing to the enthusiast. With members from DAS DAS (Cosey Mueller), LACQUER (Raquel Torre), and CLOCK OF TIME (Seth Sutton), to name a few, this group comes well-informed and polished only in their form, leaving plenty of splinters to pierce through the speakers, hopefully blowing out into a lousy basement haunt. Copies are going fast!

Glaas Glaas cassette

GLAAS effortlessly blends equal parts punk and darkened post-punk to create an energetic sound while maintaining an ambiance of melancholic dismay. Vocals sound like they’re screaming from the bottom of a pit while the guitars and drums want to continually attempt to bury them. The punk influence seemingly draws from a 1977-style revival sound like the HATEPINKS, but it’s all filtered through the post-punk of JOY DIVISION. A sort of beautified noise annoys approach that pairs well with a pint or a molotov.

Glaas Cruel Heart, Cold Summer EP

“Cruel Heart, Cold Summer”—could there be a better banger (or name of a banger) of a summer anthem? The track has layers and layers of snot-ridden vitriol bellowing out of brass instruments, and a band shoveling out noise on a reverb loop. It has a little FLIPPER and a little CHROME and makes everything around it on the record kind of fall to the side. Not that the rest of the EP is bad; there is an artful combustion within each song and it carries on throughout. “Crossfire” is proof! And GLAAS is now a new favorite.

Golpe Assuefazione Quotidiana EP

D-beat à la Milano. This is classic bass-and-drums crushing punk. Great EP with a strong track list that will give your veins the fix it needs without taking you for an unexpected turn. Must we give comparative band names? You know this story well. The drummer steals the show and is a standout throughout. Don’t believe me? Start with “Teoria en Practica” and work your way back. Lots of merch from these capitalist-hating punkers…buy a shirt from these dudes.

Hygiene 15 Minute City EP

HYGIENE and Static Shock have each been at it for fifteen years now (time flying, etc.), and this new EP serves as a three-part candle on their shared birthday cake. “15 Minute City” returns to a frequent font of HYGIENE lyrical inspiration (the mundanities of city life and labor under late-stage capitalism) by appropriating recent conspiracy theorist critiques of sustainable urban planning with tongues planted firmly in cheek, riding on a fixed-stare, Chairs Missing WIRE-like rhythm before unfolding into an undeniably melodic and slightly askew gang chorus, while “L.T.N.” is a short, sharp stop/start shock like the URINALS gone UK DIY, and the shambolic punk jangler “Petrol” takes on peak oil with customary peak sarcasm (“Man on the news said not to worry / There’s lots and lots to go around”). Ace sounds for navigating the labyrinthine despair of the daily grind.

Idiota Civilizzato Civiltà Idiota EP

The vocalist seems to be channeling INDIGESTI on this latest offering, and I’m therefore charmed. IDIOTA CIVILIZZATO is a Berlin-based band featuring punx from Spain, Australia, and Italy—the Italian vocalist does well to catch the ear of any discenring ’80s Italian hardcore fan. After a demo, EP, and LP, they impressively keep the quality high and awesomely idiotic! Four more excellent tunes for thrashing, accompanied by consistently amateurish cover drawing.

Idiota Civilizzato Sporchi Senza Fine LP

Holy shit, how did I sleep on this 12″ from Berlin’s IDIOTA CIVILIZZATO? It’s easily one of the best hardcore records from 2018. The band conveys the outta control wildness of early manic punks such as NEGAZIONE and CHEETAH CHROME MOTHERFUCKERS. The production amplifies the chaotic feeling a lot—everything is sorta clear, but sounds like it’s just a smudge near being in the red. It results in a similar feeling as watching this sorta shit in a house show where there’s too many people and everybody is knocking everything else over—the PA is on the floor, the band members slammed against their amps, the drummer losing entire pieces of their kit to the mania. A must have!

L.O.T.I.O.N. W​.​A​.​R. in the Digital Realm LP

The Valhalla of my sweetest dreams looks something like a dust-filled warehouse in which survivors of the apocalypse mutually exchange their wares, spoils, scavenges, and excesses. At the center of these festivities is a massive circle pit. Spiraling layers of punks, ravers, goths, heshers, and other survivors each dancing their own individual dance. The bass-heavy music filling this sacred hall is L.O.T.I.O.N. MULTINATIONAL CORPORTION’s W.A.R. in the Digital Realm on repeat, ad infinitum. Sure, there are a million reasons to hate this album, from having too many capitalized letters and periods, thereby making it a real bastard to type when searching online, or the insidiously infectious pop dance drivel of “Cybernetic Super Lover,” but somehow I keep coming back to this album again and again, Pavlovian-style. If you have no idea what I’m on about, imagine a talented  Sakevi Yokoyama impersonator singing over a perfectly orchestrated mashup of WHITE ZOMBIE, MINISTRY, DISCHARGE, and ’90s rave music. The good news: this album makes for a great entry point into the world of L.O.T.I.O.N. The bad news: you’ll find out when you play this.

Lasso Amuo EP

LASSO came from out of nowhere and immediately grabbed the punk world by the balls. This may be a new outfit, but all of the members had previously played in ROSA IDIOTA. Following the Brazilian hardcore tradition and adding a bit of deathrock à la RUDIMENTARY PENI here and there, this debut is all one can ask for. An eight-song EP that will be stuck on your player for a long time.

Lucta Eterna Lotta LP

Italian punks LUCTA recently released Eterna Lotta, which is a boiling cauldron of hardcore that mutates and evolves in chugs and thrashing. The opening song starts with what sounds like an organ, but then guitars merge with it, soon a bootstomper starts to assemble, and then the tempo doubles into lightspeed. I really get into the song “Il Peso Di leri,” or “The Weight of Yesterday,” which is a plodding song that ends with discordance and decaying sounds. I’m reminded of EMPTY VESSELS from Connecticut with the type of hardcore LUCTA plays, but obviously LUCTA sings in Italian. The type of playful hardcore that pushes the limits of the genre and explores atmospheric sounds and abstract rhythms all while being punk as fuck. Having been a band for a while now, LUCTA has only issued a few recordings, so Eterna Lotta is definitely worth checking out.

Minima Minima LP

For those always anticipating more great Barcelona acts: welcome MINIMA, featuring the singer from BARCELONA, Guillem from DESTINO FINAL/UNA BESTIA INCONTROLLABLE, and folks from UK’s NO and Malmö’s SNOR. Credentials aside, MINIMA’s basic two-riff approach to punk, accentuated by a teeth/fist-clenching vocal scowl, should appeal to any discerning punk. Throughout thirteen tracks there’s somehow so much variety in the way of hooks in the songwriting, despite such a basic approach. It’s all in the execution. Some crazy combination of urgency, rage and coolness. Recommended pickup for fans of unpretentious, non-flashy punk and hardcore, and record covers featuring crotches.

Mundo Primitivo Paisaje Interior cassette

Sydney’s MUNDO PRIMITIVO is a band formed just last year with Melissa from Colombia’s ABUSO and members of MORTE LENTA, ILL BRIGADE, PHOTOGENIC, and MUM. This six-song tape is sung in Spanish, but you can get the lyrics in English on their Bandcamp. I urge you to do that, just to get the full message of the band: the personal is political, but if the personal is imploding while the world burns, what are we supposed to do? To resist is the answer. There is a hallucinatory edge to the images painted by the lyrics, the urgency of action is so strong it takes the form of expressionist and vitalist imagery. Sonically, we’re talking about some intense and gripping hardcore with catchy riffs and energetic performances; it reminded me of early ’80s Southern Californian bands like the GERMS or T.S.O.L. Anyway, this is one of the best punk releases of the year. You can feel and smell the sweat dripping from each song.  I particularly loved “Medium” with its very deathrock-y slow intro, noisy guitar feedback, and slightly pysch hardcore finale. You can get the single-sided tape, with beautiful original artwork printed by Melissa, on Static Shock Records. Also important, all proceeds from this release are donated directly to all the people resisting fascist state violence in Colombia.

Nasti People Problem LP

This is a real bad vibes only record, building on the excellent Life is Nasti LP and doubling down on misery. While a lot of hardcore wants to keep jacking up the tempo, I have a soft spot for mid-paced punk like this that invites you to crawl on the floor alongside it. There’s something about keeping things at slower BPM that gives you the impression a band doesn’t feel the need to impress you with anything other than its reverb-drenched riffs and vocals that snarl through a permanent frown. This is a direct descendent, though more dialed-in and exact, of NO TREND’s noisy brand of DGAF hardcore, and that’s a lineage always worth paying attention to. With songs like the aptly-named “Snarling,” the band pulls you into its muck effectively and doesn’t let you go. The stylistic outlier, closer “White Fences II,” even goes full industrial for an outro that eventually excises everything but feedback from the band’s sound leaving you awash in something formless and nihilistic. A fitting end to a toothsome blast of bent hardcore.

Negative Gears Negative Gears 12″

This is the debut vinyl aural blast from Sydney’s NEGATIVE GEARS. Six demented screeds bifurcated by one ’80s synth interlude—the whole thing goes by so quickly, that you can listen to the record on your tea break. There’s a melancholic undercurrent here (a bit WIPERS, a bit ICEAGE) that is tempered by an Aussie snarl not unlike GEARS’ peers like LOW LIFE and TOTAL CONTROL. I’ve listened to it a few times now, and I keep hearing new things to appreciate: a little guitar riff here, a synth line there, the lyrics that smack of disappointment in how life has turned out. The darkness that lurks in the shadows where the sun shines brightest. The beach punks drinking under the pier, the desert rat frying in a trailer.

Neutrals Bus Stop Nights EP

If 2020’s Personal Computing 7” was NEUTRALS wearing their Ed Ball/TELEVISION PERSONALITIES influence on their sleeves, this four-song EP has them erecting a full-blown shrine. The title track kicks off the record, and from the jump you’re not only getting a riff borrowed from “World of Pauline Lewis,” but also a very similar guitar tone—it’s cleaner, brighter, and more sustained than what we’ve heard from these folks in the past. The production is maybe a little slick (which is true of the whole record) and the tune is a little poppier than you’d get from Dan Treacy and co., but the songwriting is still fantastic. It reminds me of a less ramshackle version of the stuff SO COW was putting out in the late aughts. Now, the following track, “Geoffrey Ingram”…I mean, “Gary Borthwick Says,” is a real hit! It’s a super catchy number recounting the exploits of a truth-stretching scamp that seems to combine everything great about …And Don’t the Kids Just Love It into one song. It alone is worth the price of admission! “Pressures of Life” is a good reminder that UK DIY and indie pop have more in common with Oi! than you’d generally think—just listen to that chorus kick in and tell me you can’t hear it as COCKNEY REJECTS-ish shout-along. The record closes with “New Town Dream,” which mixes in some of the post-punk brutishness you got on their fantastic Rent/Your House EP. I kinda wish there was a little more of that throughout the release, but I understand why there isn’t. Anyway, great record—definitely worth your time!

Neutrals New Town Dream LP

NEUTRALS follow up their awesome 2022 EP Bus Stop Nights with their second full-length, New Town Dream. Picking up right where that EP left off, we’re treated to thirteen tracks filled to the brim with wonderful pop tunes in the lineage of TELEVISION PERSONALITIES, classic-era Sarah Records, and early Creation Records. All that is to say, an absolute no-brainer for the mighty Slumberland Records to have put out in the US. Throughout the record, there is plenty of variety to keep your ears tuned in and the volume set high. Tracks like “Travel Agent’s Windows” and “Substitute Teacher” detail the humdrum lives of these new town inhabitants so clearly that the mundane transcends to humor—“He was a triumph in the Scottish play / He’s only here for a day.” These details throughout the album make for a truly satisfying listen that will have you returning to check in on the new town’s population again and again.

Powerplant Grass EP

Dark, melodic post-punk out of London. Has a similar feel to the dozens of other drum-machine-laden bands that are everywhere these days, but POWERPLANT comes off more nuanced than their electronic peers. Less DEVO, and more SMITHS meets ALIEN SEX FIEND. I might catch some flak for this, but they also remind me of a rustic THOMAS DOLBY. That’s supposed to be a compliment, but I understand if it’s not taken as such! I need to give POWERPLANT their due for using sleigh bells throughout “Walk Around (Hang My Head).” You don’t hear enough of those in punk these days. No fooling!

Powerplant A Spine / Evidence EP

Demento synth noise from the creepy depths of a dank basement. The first song has an art-prog vibe, PUNISHMENT OF LUXURY meets DEVO with a BRYAN FERRY on ’ludes drawl. The remaining tracks are more direct in their delivery: post-punk but skewed and warped like a carnival mirror. The closing track, “Hurtwood,” sounds like the MISFITS channeling MAGAZINE—now that’s magic, folks!

Sarcasm Creeping Life 12″

The SARCASM tape—already half-a-decade old, I’m alarmed to read—and 2017 EP were glorious artefacts of their type, bare-brick rhythm-first punk that was somehow both punishingly direct and gnomically elusive. You didn’t expect or want this band to “progress,” whatever that means, and they haven’t exactly done that on Creeping Life (one of its six songs, “Digital Colony,” also appeared on the demo), but I just don’t see how their sound could get more platonically ideal than this. It’s not DESPERATE BICYCLES UK DIY or BAUHAUS goth or FLUX anarcho or GANG OF FOUR post-punk or even INSTITUTE updates on any combo of those things, but trace elements of each float around like the algal scum Luke McGuire sings about. His lyrics are neither reductive slogans or indulgent poetry, but use repetition really smartly and deploy imagery that haunts. I’m only half-sure what “Blinding scream, locked-in gaze / Creeping, breaking, a furious haze” is about (nuclear paranoia?), but damn if it doesn’t sound like deep shit when he intones it. All that, and bassist Alexandra Graves is still probably SARCASM’s M.V.P., in that their songs sound like they build from the basslines up.

Prison Affair / Snooper split EP

If you’ve never heard of either of these bands, the good news is you have two great discographies to worm through some of the verviest, vibiest bedroom punk put to tape in the last decade. This split exemplifies what each act does at their best—lo-fi hard bops to tickle your brain and move your ass. “On Line” is one of my favorite tracks to date from Nashville’s SNOOPER, with its furious pace and a bass line that never ends (until it does, abruptly). Barcelona’s PRISON AFFAIR likewise keeps it filthy with overcooked lo-fi gems careening into your innerspace. Squawking, drum-machine-fueled masterpieces like “Algo Huele Mal” put you through your paces and set the tone for two more tracks of bug-eyed manic marvelousness. It’s faster than hardcore and catchy as pox. Two of the best at their best, what more do you want?

Stigmatism Ignorance in Power LP

Latest LP by NYC/Toronto’s STIGMATISM. Ignorance in Power is Victim in Pain-style straight-ahead, fast hardcore punk with absolutely no bullshit. Straight b2b bangers—recording is on the drier side with no shitty metal parts, no echo on the vocals, and none of the modern pro-core sound. Reminiscent of early ’80s NYHC or Boston HC, yet without any of the reactionary patriotic boomer hardcore dad vibes, reminding the listener to recognize what hardcore was all about. A non-stop, tight energetic outburst of fast, ferocious hardcore punk intensity.

Strong Boys Homo EP

Gay hardcore punk heroes STRONG BOYS from Dublin are back after a six-year hiatus with their just-over-five-minute-long EP Homo on the always wonderful Static Shock label. There is a heavy influence from John Brannon and an early NEGATIVE APPROACH vibe, with barking tough guy vocals and lean/mean guitar and rhythm section. Lyrically, you can hear what STRONG BOYS have to say loud and clear: they are not here to take your shit. Not yours, not the church’s (“Pink Death”), not society’s (“UB2FU,” “Bad Blood”), and most definitely not some creepy shitstain trying to cop a feel at the bar (“Bad Bear”). Great hardcore that isn’t fucking around.

The Flex Chewing Gum for the Ears LP

Well good goddamn, would you look at that. Seven years after the release of their last record, Leeds’ own superstars the FLEX are back with a brand new album. As they say; if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and the Burley Boys understand this mantra all too well. The sound on Chewing Gum For the Ears is nothing short of classic FLEX—fast, old school Boston-style hardcore with plenty of mosh parts included (of course). This new LP includes some of their most blistering compositions yet, including “War Boy,” “Voight-Kampff,” and the mind-blowing closing title track (my favourite song on the album). It’s been a while, but the lads still have it down to a T. This has been possibly my most anticipated release of the past four years and it truly delivered on all fronts, and, at the end of the day, was well worth the wait. The New Wave of British Hardcore may be dead, but the FLEX lives on—ten years strong and hopefully many more to come. Cannot recommend this slab enough.

The Hazmats Empty Rooms / Today 7″

The HAZMATS are a new project featuring members of CHUBBY & THE GANG, GAME, and BIG CHEESE. But instead of being inspired by classic Oi! and hardcore, the two songs here sound as if they were plucked directly from that late ’80s-early ’90s period of UK indie pop. “Empty Rooms” is evocative of the STONE ROSES or TEENAGE FANCLUB, all lush, shimmering guitars and sweet melodies, while “Today” could be easily be a secret C86 compilation track, existing somewhere between the SOUP DRAGONS (in their earlier, scruffier incarnation) and the WEDDING PRESENT. Derivative, maybe, but I love this shit, and these are good songs. More punx should indulge their wimpy pop instincts.

The Times Red With Purple Flashes / Biff! Bang! Pow! 7″ reissue

The 1981 debut 7″ from Ed Ball’s TELEVISION PERSONALITIES side project the TIMES, conveniently reissued for budget-minded parka fiends in 2020. Both groups shared an unabashed fixation on all things ’60s, with the preoccupations of the TIMES clearly evidenced by the Warhol-derived soup cans on the cover of this single and the fact that each of the tracks overtly reference the works of UK freakbeat legends the CREATION, whom the TVPs would in turn cover not once but twice on 1982’s They Could Have Been Bigger Than the Beatles LP. “Red with Purple Flashes” is a deliriously catchy mod-punk belter that beats the JAM at their own game, with the B-side “Biff! Bang! Pow!” playing up more of a quintessentially English swinging garage stomp that begat any number of Pebbles deep cuts, few of which were this perfectly crafted. Shamelessly derivative and all the better for it; guaranteed to fire up the scooter in your heart.

Ultra-Violent Crime…For…Revenge EP reissue

Perhaps the definitive UK82 release, a final effort before disbanding and setting off on their merry (separate) ways; this is three tracks of buzzsaw guitar ferocity, larynx-shredding vocals from Ade Bailey, and drums that sound like an air raid. Tight, furious and no pissing about. Get your boots and your bally on, it’s a classic for a reason.

Uranium Club Infants Under the Bulb LP

This is going to sound like a contrarian take, but I really wasn’t looking forward to more URANIUM CLUB. Don’t get me wrong—I love this band. 2015’s Human Exploration is easily one of the best records of the past decade. It still blows me away every time I put it on. But with each subsequent release, the band seemed to be leaning away from the wiry but dense, concrete-slicing panic punk that drew me to them in the first place, in favor of the more DISMEMBERMENT PLAN-y, smart-guy rock aspects of their sound. That’s not to say I disliked those later records, but by the time their 2019 LP rolled around, it really started to feel like I was listening to the album out of an obligation to some former enthusiasm. That was five very long years ago at this point. How many subpar soundalikes have we been bombarded with in the interim? So, yeah, that’s why I wasn’t super keen to dive into this one. I obviously wasn’t going to not listen to the album, though, so I was pleasantly surprised when “Small Grey Man” kicked things off and didn’t quite sound like more of the same. It was a little gentler and more thoughtful than their previous stuff—they’ve even woven some subtle horns into the mix—yet there was enough angularity and anxiety to clearly signal this was a URANIUM CLUB track. I really liked it! But as the record wore on, that novelty wore off, and I started to realize that the band has continued to evolve away from what I’m looking for. They’ve clearly grown as songwriters—the compositions are among their densest, and they’ve even pushed things in an AOR direction with the aforementioned horns and a handful of conceptual interludes that are a mix of Just So Stories and Discreet Music. I’d even go so far as to say it sounds like a great record, one they should be proud of and that I’m sure lots of folks will love. Maybe I just don’t know what I want from the band at this point, but I’m pretty sure it’s not this.

Warthog Four Walls EP

At this point, everyone knows or has heard of WARTHOG. They’re one of those bands that with everything they release, be it records, merch, or other publicity stunts (billboard!?!?), will get major attention. To get this sort of attention nowadays with bands spawning left and right is admirable, so there must be an “it” factor to them. With that being said, the sons of Larry are back with their third self-titled EP in a row. Yes! They are delving more and more into metal-oriented territory with recognizable influences of proto-bands like VENOM or CELTIC FROST, but still go fast on the POISON IDEA-styled hardcore. WARTHOG is at the top of the game and has been a major influence on American hardcore, and they are quickly spreading that influence to Europe as well. But you have to see them live to witness the full force of the WARTHOG attack! Highly recommended!