Kidnapped Collected Works 2017—2019 LP

I don’t know an awful lot about the New England region of the United States, but from what I can gather from this record, it’s fucked. Miserable and bleak. I say this with all the speculation a punk way down on the other side of the planet can; my interpretation of KIDNAPPED’s home state is made purely based on this record. What a fuckin’ ride it is. Furious, pummelling HC, more so in the vein of bands that tackled that slightly stranger side of 2010’s powerviolence (holy shit, remember WATER TORTURE and ROBOCOP?). I say slightly stranger, but there’s no element of pretension here, just a hell of a lot of anger and speed, followed by some truly crippling breakdowns. There’s a bleakness to this kind of HC that I really fucking like, it eschews poeticisms and goes straight for the throat. Despite appearing to be a compilation, this thing whips by like an LP, highly recommended. (PS: The DOOM riff cutting into that pinging snare on “Shit Tier Kinda Guy” is the chef’s kiss on this record.)

• Reviewer Benny Mathews
• Label Redscroll
• Issue MRR #452 • January 2021