Demon Demonstration cassette
Going into a Roachleg release, I was expecting some raw (like, cold hamburger in a red pool) hardcore-adjacent music. I was pretty right on with the sound quality—seriously, avoid if you’re not into the noisier side of punk. The recording is more akin to ’90s black metal demos than your average hardcore demo. Rather than using that sonic palette to bring you something fast and ferocious though, there is some groove to this. Somewhat more plodding but no less heavy than some of the best of NY’s best contemporary punk, the band also features some moaning, nearly psychedelic guitar leads to go with its mid-tempo assault of damaged fuzzed-out punk. The vocals are engaging, while unintelligible, but while these types of recordings can sometimes feel like they come from some sort of “we’re too cool to sound good” bullshit mentality, this just feels true to what the band is trying to convey. Cramped, noisy, and fucked-up hardcore.