Reviews - MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL

Porok Demo 2020 cassette

Ten songs of fast, driving hardcore punk from Finland. POROK is fast, pissed, and keeps their songs from all sounding too similar with well done guitar leads popping in sporadically. While clearly being very influenced by classic Finnish hardcore, my major gripe with this release is how clean and slick the recording sounds. If this was recorded and mixed a bit nastier, I think this would sound a lot more like the bands that have inspired them, and be more of an entertaining listen.

The Primate Five / The Traditional Fools split EP reissue

A reissue of a classic West Coast garage rock record. This split 7″ will get you nostalgic for mid-2000s garage rock. An ultra-lo-fi mix of surf rock and punk, heavily influenced by predecessors like THEE HEADCOATS, the MUMMIES, and the SONICS. The PRIMATE FIVE bring the punk and the TRADITIONAL FOOLS, featuring a young Ty Segall, bring the surf. It’s scuzzy and fuzzy and noisy and totally fucked-up, all in the best ways possible.

Reality Complex Failure demo cassette

Bitter and vicious vocals abound on this raw, distorted hardcore demo from Denver. REALITY COMPLEX plays with heaps of bash-attack breakdowns and mid-tempo cruelty. Part VIOLENT SOCIETY, part CRO-MAGS, and toward the end, the barf-tastic disgust of DARKSIDE NYC. The blast attack is fast and fueled with aggression. I do not have lyrics handy, but REALITY COMPLEX seems to me not very concerned with self-care or your friendship. This seems like the kind of reality checking Colorado needs more of, or the entire US for that matter. Four original tracks, one VOORHEES cover—this is how you do a solid demo for sure. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but up the clarity of production a bit next go around, and REALITY COMPLEX will be breaking down walls.

Red Devil Ryders Pour Me Another One LP

It’s going to take me some time to digest this one. It’s an interesting sort of combination of late ’60s/’70s blues, folk, glam (a tad), and even what some people might call “hard rock.” (I can’t believe I actually wrote that.) I find the production a bit fuzzed-out, which required some adjustment. As I read this, it’s like I must totally hate it. I don’t. I will say that I think it’s a bit of a stretch that it’s finding itself being reviewed in MRR. I do find I tend to like the zippier numbers just a little better. If you’re at all intrigued by the description, you should make the effort to give it a listen.

Scary Hours Margins CD

Singer/songerwriter and all-around multi-instrumentalist Ryan Struck has travelled from punk and hardcore, to emo and folk, and now back again. With a vengeance. Eight blistering tracks of hardcore, from the melodic to the raging, and most in-between. Songs about capitalism, post-colonialism, and Marx’s theory of alienation, jostle for space with the “emo” end of missing one’s cousins and quitting drinking. And a cover of the BAD BRAINS’ “How Low Can a Punk Get,” which seems, ah, a little misplaced, given Ryan’s commitment to the LGBTQ community referenced in the title track.

Shitload / XBrackishX Da Parish X Westbank Unity split cassette

Uncompromising noisecore from two New Orleans powerhouses. XBRACKISHX is truly, and by design, all over the map—samples, interludes, shit-fi grind, Casio pop, hardline vegan black metal guitars driving a one-person drum machine assault. SHITLOAD opens up with a damaged bass blasting “Metal Health (Bang Your Head)” while a who’s-who of New Orleans notables rep The West Bank for 68 seconds before the sonic shit-machine blasts through eight doses of noisecore, brutalizing mainstream heavy metal melodies as an interlude between blasts (HALEN, MAIDEN, LICA all get the business). This is the kind of tape where you exhale after each side…and you take a deep careful breath before you hit play.

Slant 1집 LP

After a demo and a 7″, Seoul’s SLANT is back with a ten-track LP on Iron Lung Records, a vicious slab of modern HC with its influences firmly rooted in the classics of ’80s American hardcore. While this is a snotty, stomping blast from start to finish, I find it’s the lighter touches on this record, like the squealing, STOOGES-esque guitar solos that tail-end a lot of the choruses, that really do it for me. This is a significantly more polished endeavour than their prior two releases, but I’d argue if anything, they stepped up the aggression for this LP. While this isn’t hardcore that’s reinventing the wheel, it’s a fucking good ride; SLANT is clearly an act that is just itching to get back to touring and playing live, I have no doubt they could tear a venue to shreds.

Tupperware American Underbelly cassette

Hardcore in a hallway. Phased-out vocals are sung into a microphone covered with a sock over some claustrophobic clatter. Three minutes of fast-paced, frenetic, free-spirited weirdness.

Urin Incydent EP

Gathered around the gutters of Berlin, URIN is an international punk collaboration with members of ROCK, PISS, CUNTROACHES, and G.L.O.S.S. After their 2018 demo, they are back with Incydent, their ripping four-song EP of raw, lo-fi punk that would make SHITLICKERS proud. Heavily delayed vocals sung angrily in Polish, the guitars and bass form a barrage of noise, and the drums are sharp and waste no time messing around. An exciting standout EP from a band that simply has no time for bullshit. Just straight-in-your-face punk!

Zig Zag It Gets Worse EP

ZIG ZAG is South Florida’s answer to the GERMS and SUICIDAL TENDENCIES. A pummeling wall of noise and the ever-present snarl of the front man are the defining features of this EP. The opening track begins with a sample of PINK FLOYD before moving into CAPTAIN BEEFHEART’s “Zig Zag Wanderer,” and I have to say I really dig the intro. Lo-fi, noisy, catchy riffs, and harrowing vocals. This is an EP I can get behind.

V/A Cat Cerebrations cassette

Serious statement: I don’t know if you can take it. Eleven bands delivering some of the most distorted, blown-out, freaked-out punk jams in recent memory. I’m talking “jams” as in a bag of weed and your singer is late to practice “jams.” And I’m talking blown-out like everything sounds like it’s breaking down the wall of the studio next door and you can’t even hear yourself think. Cuts from SIBERIAN ASS TORTURE, BASTARD NOIDS, RACCOON COMPLEX CONTAGION, CLANDESTINE BRONTOSAURUS, TLCWATERFALLS, CRUST KAPPA RAMPAGE….jams from NO COMADRE!, DIABLO CON CARNE, OXYGEN DESTROYER, and GEORGE CRUSTANZA that all cram themselves into one shell to morph into smoke and vibrations and volume like PHARAOH OVERLORD and KALMEX having a session. If noise punks could jam, then….well, Cat Cerebrations says they can. Now: can you take it?

Antifaces Como Moscas LP

ANTIFACES is a three-piece band from Miami. Their language is Spanish and their weapon of choice is direct and sincere melodic hardcore punk. Six years of career, and several demos and LPs later, they have come up with a forceful sound: the angriest and sweatiest of melodic punk from Argentina and Spain with some sinister touches here and there. This is ANTIFACES’ bet: to unleash a storm of noise and create urgent songs dedicated to survivors of the system; men and women who live on the edge, who fight and resist the terror of modern life, violence, and corruption of the soul. Rather than wait to be devoured by the nothingness of it all, these songs demand us to spit, kick back, and dance in a mental pogo of catharsis. As they say, “I don’t want to die in the arms of a policeman.” It doesn’t matter if it’s Latin America or the First World, there is a system in place that seeks our death, ANTIFACES sings to life. Choose life.

Anxiety Spree A Party for the Garden Rats cassette

Well, this is a real game of two halves, or rather four alternating quarters perhaps? Tracks one and three are delicious slices of off-kilter pop; drum-machine-propelled chiming melody that recalls the MONOCHROME SET or WIRE in their dreamier moments. The other two songs trade a sliver of the previous pop sensibilities for a more experimental, staccato approach; lurching rhythms and Albini-esque guitars tempered by trombone on “Squared Moon” but pushed to full on SHELLAC noise pummeling on the brief but feisty “This Brush.” All in all, a great little EP and well worth your attention. I keep going back to opener “It’s Fine”… a real hit.

The Archaeas Archaeas LP

A non-stop auditory assault that hits all sensory levels. I think I could taste blood. Violet Archaea storms the three-piece Louisville band through their debut album on Goner Records. The glam garage of THUNDERS, TEENGENERATE swagger, and that Goner-esque sound akin to EX-CULT are here. The liner notes reference the important influence of GUITAR WOLF—particularly the epic movie Wild Zero in which the band battles aliens trying to take over the earth. And it’s here, as the album plays like a soundtrack to guitar sword battles, exploding heads, fake blood, and broken hearts. Trivia: the first album Goner ever released was GUITAR WOLF’s debut, so it’s a fitting base to launch ARCHAEAS.

Beige Banquet Beta cassette

BEIGE BANQUET is the London-based home-recording project of one person named Tom Brierley who returned to the UK recently after a spell living in Melbourne, but even without the benefit of that knowledge, it’s pretty clear that there’s a strong psychic pull between Beta and the contemporary musical output of a certain Australian city. Twelve tracks of motorik, electro-spiked post-punk in the TOTAL CONTROL/CONSTANT MONGREL mold—clean and exacting, rhythm-forward, propelled by cycling Möbius strip bass lines and the steady, ominous click of programmed drums, with quick cuts of needling guitar, a disorienting synth haze, and expressionless vocals narrating all sorts of paranoid internal monologues. It’s the sound of staring into the abyss, but there’s still little moments like the hits of tambourine punctuating the unrelenting mechanical pulse of “Wired/Weird,” or the droning Krautrock keys in “Completely Signified,” that offer some fleeting human warmth as the abyss stares back.

Boozewa First Contact cassette

Howling grunge/punk with a healthy serving of grit. I hear similarities to early ’90s mid-paced psych basement punk…before stoner rock was a thing and when the DIY bands who played grunge were still “punk” bands. Clean, powerful vocals contrast the raw four-track production, and readers of these pages who still dig on bands like WEEDEATER and ACID KING will want to look to Coatesville, Pennsylvania for some new sludge.

Bullet Proof Backpack Total Lockdown cassette

Youthful hardcore from Newport, RI. So many aspects of this feel instantly familiar even upon a first listen. The songs feel as though I’ve heard them many times before. I’m not sure if that means they’re particularly good, or just really well re-written punk songs. Six originals and a NEGATIVE APPROACH cover.

The Completers End / Parallel Lines 7″

Brazil is well-known for its vibrant colourful culture and is never associated with dark, gloomy music. Well, unless you know the COMPLETERS. This band is really unique in the post-punk scene, making an incredibly unique, uplifting-yet-dark post-punk that uses the CURE as a blueprint with a SMITHS-esque vocal delivery. “End” is a dark, vibrant show of post-punk while “Parallel Lines” is a more atmospheric and ethereal pop-driven song. Overall the COMPLETERS do amazing work in making a refreshing take on a genre that is so distinct and intricate in its own way.

Conquest for Death A Maelstrom of Resentment and Remorse LP

Full transparency, I was not that familiar with CONQUEST FOR DEATH’s music, but except by name and band connection proper enough for, and prior to, reviewing this. Those lack of credentials alone had me feeling a bit nervous and a bit queasy, to be honest. Sick from hardcore? And maybe that’s the point and best way to go into this. I also like to use maelstrom a lot in reviews, so I immediately connected with a band I felt I should already know much better. I had only seen a few of the bands associated with CONQUEST FOR DEATH: WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?, ARTIMUS PYLE, FUCKFACE, and NO STATIK often when I moved out West, and I bet had they made it over East (and they probably did), holy crap, I must have missed out! Anyway, this beautifully designed LP, their return recording since 2013, kicks off with what I can only describe as if SHOCKING BLUE or BABE RUTH played hardcore and FINAL CONFLICT ripped forth with gruesome guttural crust vocals. The timbre of BRUTAL TRUTH rears back and forth throughout, as does the lost rasp of BLACK FLAG. That being said—an excellent combination on the mic. Weird and wild thrash moments are fused within Á la VOIVOD with the all-go abomination of REPULSION, adding grit. The lyrics are deep, existential, somewhat scientific at times(!) and real. “Philosophy, rock climbing, liquor, and weed!” Real words, which I loved, but in all seriousness, the songs cover a lot of topics, through storytelling and reflection. Now let’s talk about this artwork. This gorgeous cover by Alex Nino, a glossy black ink and grey wash warrior, rides a battle elephant, covered in bladed armor, which was used several times throughout history, but my nerdy imagination immediately went to Return of the King. An enormous full-color poster is also included; another elephant battler, on what seems like the body of Mazinger Z, by Glenno Smith. Add a vinyl sticker, and a gatefold panoramic photo (AND a second poster of this gatefold photo is included!) of the band captured in frozen energy, surrounded by a sea of their closest conquesters, a sight sorely missed this day and age. Overall the packaging is top-notch, and the tunes are an adventure in, yes, resentment and remorse, anger and injustice, but they also have a party feel and are kind of a psychedelic journey, and return trip if you will, into modern hardcore while retaining the styles of the past. To sum up, do I have any other CONQUEST FOR DEATH records, no. Am I thrilled to have this magnificent love-FOR DEATH effort, will I put the sticker on my BMX? Fuck yeah, I am. Fucking awesome!

Cosme D# demo cassette

Four injections of ultra-simple punk from Mexico. A serious MISFITS hair up their ass, thrift store synths polluting the damn joint, and gruff bedroom vocals half singing/half barking…my knuckles are sore and I’m down about 40 brain cells…but I’ll be damned if “G” isn’t a top song.

Death Sentence Death and Pure Destruction EP reissue

Not a life-altering reissue of DEATH SENTENCE’s first and only 7″, which was originally released in 1982. Hailing from the UK, sounding a bit Riot City-ish with straightforward hardcore tracks, tireless drumming, and a lot, lot, lot of chorus vocals. I bought this record because I liked the drums, which remind me a bit of VORKRIEGSPHASE, although the rest of the music is generic. The best feature of the drums is the efforts turning into interesting failures. Other instruments do not show such vulnerability, rather performing well as machines. Dry, didactic angst blasts from the vocals and the accidental distortion on the guitars, which makes them barely identifiable, help to remember the rush through each song. This 7″ fits the dictionary definition of hardcore but you have to use your imagination to find anything special about them. Therefore, Death and Pure Destruction is an okay record that’s safe to get and put on, but not something you will keep on your selection.

Ex-White Stalker cassette

EX-WHITE is a garage punk band from Germany. They are steeped in the ’00s style of the genre. Their sound is bratty and gritty. It is messy and trashy, distorted and angsty, but there is also a melodic side.

Freak Genes Power Station LP

Andrew Anderson (HIPSHAKES, PROTO IDIOT) and Charlie Murphy (RED CORDS), a couple of garage punkers turned synth-poppers, bring us their fourth LP as FREAK GENES and their first for Feel It. Anything that gets Mr. Feel It’s seal of approval warrants your attention, so I went into this with an open mind after (unfairly) writing these dudes off due to a string of bad album covers. I really dig this cover, though—great use of foil stamping! Anyway, the tunes! This is a solid collection of budget electro-pop. It’s punker than YAZ and poppier than FRONT 242. A couple of the tracks can get a little goofy/grating, but if you like well-constructed, catchy tunes and can stomach cheesy synths, there’s plenty to like on this LP.

George Crustanza / Oxygen Destroyer split LP

A “Sein Francisco hardcore, SF skate thrash” split, as per the text on the LP spine. GEORGE CRUSTANZA doesn’t take themselves too seriously as you may be able to tell, but song titles like “Social Disconnect” and “Depression” indicate they are not a joke band. They’re doing a familiar and competent thrash-influenced style hardcore, with the drumming and vocals in the forefront. I picture Calvin and Hobbes pitting with flipped-up-bill ball caps. OXYGEN DESTROYER takes a grungier, destructive punk approach reminding me of BAD POSTURE mixed with BUTT TRUMPET. Both bands dabble in some digital delay on the vocals, but OXYGEN DESTROYER tends to turn the knobs a bit further. These recordings appear to have been previously released on a tape and 7″ respectively. I could see the Thrillhouse basement full of stinking-ass kids going off to this pairing, probably a thing that happened prior to March 2020, and perhaps could resume in 2022?

Glitter Symphony In Green Furs 12″

Six recently unearthed mid-’80s new wave numbers from Southern California’s GLITTER SYMPHONY, who released one exceedingly rare 7″ under the name SIZON in 1984 (both tracks included here) before totally falling off the radar. Susan Hyatt’s powerful, crystalline vocals have just enough of a raw edge to tether GLITTER SYMPHONY to the sort of femme-centered, sugary but still tough punk-adjacent new wave and power pop coming out of L.A. at the time (think early GO-GO’S, JOSIE COTTON, and any number of Rodney Bingenheimer’s KROQ staples), with big anthemic choruses and super-slick keyboards upfront in each song betraying some serious mainstream ambitions even as the band dwelled in the underground. “Room of Flowers” could have easily been a mega-hit/future I Love the ’80s shoo-in on par with KIM WILDE’s “Kids in America,” while the stop/start, bass-driven “Imagination” skews in a much punkier direction not too far off the mark from the ALLEY CATS’ post-Dangerhouse offerings. There’s even a glossy cover of JOHNNY THUNDERS’ “I’m a Boy / I’m a Girl” included, a perfect encapsulation of a band caught between leather jackets and legwarmers but pulling it off nonetheless.

Haldol Negation LP

If I had to offer reasons why you should listen to HALDOL instead of a laundry list of other bands who come from DIY punk culture but play super-styled 1980s gothic rock—and I know I don’t actually have to offer those reasons—one would be their apparent dedication to perfecting their take on the archetype. A lot of contemporary acts like this retain a pretty evident hardcore background, or anarcho fandom, but Negation sounds like a straight-up “released on Red Rhino Records circa 1984″ goth opus. Aaron Muchanic brings in a KILLING JOKE-ish vibe by battering heck out of his toms on “Triangle” and “Bull’s Blood” (the intros to which sound almost identical to one another); Geoff Smith drops some cute CURE guitars into “Amuse-Bouches” among other songs and adds some big-venue reverb to plump up his vox for the likes of “The Garden.” The necessity of this type of carry-on is for the individual to decide, ultimately, but HALDOL does ’80s goth about as well as anyone you’ll find in the ’20s.

The Insults The Insults LP

All INSULTS records should come prepackaged with a snot-rag. You will rue the day you cut the sleeves off your shirt after taking a couple spins around the block with the INSULTS. Apparently these are their final recordings from 1980 (a.k.a. the beginning of the end of the American empire). While nothing here supplants the immortal “Population Zero,” you couldn’t ask for a better guide to being a no-count during the late ’70s. “I Hate…” is like a punk 101 course that can be completed in under two minutes. But then the charming “Are You Lonely?”—a sweet/sour tug-of-war like a proto-REPLACEMENTS—proves that these dicks have hearts. “Romilar Romeo” could be a SIMPLETONES outtake. “Trans Am” lampoons the red-blooded patriots that swarmed all over conservative suburban California, soon to be running the country (into the ground). Punk has always been the canary in the coal mine, only with better riffs.

ISS Spikes cassette

A lo-fi punk release dripping with the sneer and attitude to rival CRASS. Yes please! North Carolina’s ISS is back again with a short cassette that is really restoring my faith in humanity at the moment. It’s lines like “You need a face mask on / It not only helps stop the spread of communicable viruses and diseases / But it also helps stop the spread of your ugly fucking mug to the rest of us” that really fill my heart with joy. The post-punk-esque vocal delivery and contorted drum machines give me flashes of SUICIDE, while the angular guitars remind me of UNWOUND. This is a must-listen in my opinion.

Kiss Boom Bah Out of Our Tree / Marilyn A-Go-Go 7″

If you’re a fan of catchy garage rock delivered with a healthy dose of organ, start lining up. I don’t think I’ve ever heard the term “out of our tree,” but I’m going to start using it with regularity. I find a lot of garage rock walks this fine line of being a little kitschy, but also really well done. I couldn’t tell you this is an exception. Both cuts are excellent, with the B-side instrumental picking up the pace to a point where you’ll find yourself not crazed, but definitely bouncing off the walls in a state of euphoria. Maybe that means just short of crazed. Fucking excellent.

La Rabbia In the Face of Atrocities LP

This is a good one. Get ready for 24 tracks of raw and in-your-face noise blasts from these London-based anarcho-punks. Formed by members of the GAGGERS, MISCALCULATIONS, and WARREN SCHOENBRIGHT, LA RABBIA (“The Rage”) contains the best bits of England’s punk; as they say in their Bandcamp bio, the classic ’77/’82 sounds. You have it all: hooligan sing-alongs, street punk defiance, classic razor-wired riffs, cool melodic sensibilities, and lyrics decrying the terrible state of the world in both English and Italian. “The Ends Don’t Justify the Means” has some really sick riffs, so vicious, almost atonal. The violent intro of “Professional Arrogance,” well, the whole damn song, gets me immediately into a frenzy. I also really like how they mix Italian and English in the song “In The Face of Atrocities,” they should do that more. Keep an eye on LA RABBIA, they’re delivering the goods.

Mirror Second EP

Home to an incredibly fertile punk scene, Texas has generated countless crushing and innovative punk bands like WICCANS, VAASKA, IMPALERS or CRIATURAS. MIRROR is the junction of the aforementioned bands in a mash of psychedelic and punk, creating a self-described “cosmic punk.” A vocal delivery less reminiscent of the Oi!-infused WICCANS and more Darby Crash on GLUE, frantic riffs, precise drumming, and a layer of synth psychedelia, make the Second EP another great modern punk release from the hotbed of US punk.

Reviewer João Seixas
Label Esos Malditos Punks / Todo Destruido
Issue MRR #454 • March 2021

Necro Heads Necro Demo cassette

Lo-fi, nasty, knuckle-dragging, booger-eating hardcore punk. NECRO HEADS from Pittsburgh, PA sound like they kind of don’t take any prisoners. Six songs blistered through in just over five minutes, which is collectively shorter than the seventh and final dirge of a song on the demo. This is some nasty, no-bullshit, gross hardcore and I want more.

Peace Test Uniform Repression EP

PEACE TEST from Providence, Rhode Island’s newest EP. Stomping, misanthropic non-posicore straightedge hardcore in the vein of IMPACT UNIT, or the STRAIGHT AHEAD side of things that many older powerviolence acts like INFEST or CROSSED OUT had. For fans of the aforementioned bands or HOUNDS OF HATE/CONCEALED BLADE.

Poison Idea Pig’s Last Stand 2xLP

“Ladies and gentlemen! Would you please welcome, for the very last time, ever, the world’s fattest junkies, POISON IDEA!” And so it begins, the last show from the undefeated kings of punk, the mighty POISON IDEA, recorded live at La Luna in Portland, OR on June 6, 1993. A classic setlist of hardcore classics from an essential hardcore band, complete with face-melting covers of G.I.S.M., WIPERS, BAUHAUS, and the RAMONES. Released back in ’96 by Sub Pop as a CD, Pig’s Last Stand now sees its rightful vinyl release with a double-LP in a gatefold jacket with previously unpublished photographs from the show. Each LP includes a poster print of the original show flyer designed by Mike King and a bonus DVD of a four-camera shoot of the “Farewell” gig. The sound is amazing on this one and it shows the unmatched musicianship that made them the kings of punk. Newer bands should take a page or two from this record. R.I.P. Pig Champion.

Public Interest Between 12″

This gave me wicked déjà vu before I dawned on me that I heard these tracks, in this order, on the rather excellent cassette EP of the same name. Oakland’s PUBLIC INTEREST, a.k.a. the solo project of Chris Natividad from MARBLED EYE, leads with lo-fi synths and electronic drums which serve the jaded and half-sung vocals just right. “Design Flaw” breaks a classic JOY DIVISION-style construction down to basics with a dark and nostalgic arpeggio swirling around it, building a proper mania. And like JOY DIVISION, it employs its cold, cold drum machines in a way that still sounds very much alive and not like a sterile scratch demo. A vinyl-worthy project to be sure; hell, get it on both formats, it’s dud-free.

Purple-X Pre-Tense EP

PURPLE-X delivers a unique brand of hardcore, swaying between manic and melodic with traces of deathrock influence on their debut EP. The singer stands out with snotty vocals that are just the right amount belligerent (due in part I’m sure to her Oslo accent delivering English lyrics), and the band displays the breadth of their capabilities over the course of these four surly songs. Dark, divergent sounds from Norway’s capital.

R.M.F.C. Reader / Faux Freaks 7″

End-times late-teen buzz from New South Wales. Rock Music Fan Club, probably the world’s loneliest fan club, still manages some decent flash on this 45, though. “Reader” and “Faux Freaks” both sorta reek of JAY REATARD influence, a pure and well-executed outgrowth of that style and sound. Neither tune is terribly neg-vibe reliant, but there is certainly a bent tunefulness to both that falls in line with many modern punk herk-jerkers. Jury’s still out on if this one has any real legs, but it certainly scratches the itch for now.

Robotrip Live cassette

Completely off-the-rails Midwest hardcore punk—an eight-minute live set from 2020 on one side and the studio demo (which honestly isn’t much more cohesive) from 2018 on the flip. Remember last decade when Indiana bands like OOZE and BIG ZIT took the world by storm? This is like that, but way more of a mess. Good luck finding a copy.

Sex Cuts Cop Bait cassette

SEX CUTS is a four-piece out of Gothenburg, Sweden who refer to themselves as “anti-genre.” More accurately, though, they play po-faced, political post-hardcore. Cop Bait is their debut cassette…and it gets off to a rough start. Opener “Designer Thoughts” is an anti-“cancel culture” song, with lyrics that read like talking points for an appearance on Tucker Carlson’s show. I’m pretty sure this isn’t their intention—they otherwise stick to pretty typical political punk grievances—but the chorus of a song maybe isn’t the right avenue to float a nuanced take on what is quickly becoming a core principle of the Republican platform. Anyway, this soured me on the rest of the cassette, which consists of five more tracks that sound like murky variations of “Polish” by FUGAZI sans any of the melodic elements.

Shaka S is for Shaka cassette

Grimy hardcore punk from Oklahoma City. This is the second demo released by SHAKA. Stripped-down, gross punk devoid of any memorable choruses or catchy riffs. This is just nasty. My hopes are that none of the aforementioned descriptions are coming off as negatives because I mean them all as nothing but positives. I imagine the standard crowd reaction for SHAKA is just shaking with rage or twitching uncontrollably, and I hope to one day be among those ranks and see this for myself.

Skunks Mad Song / Persian Radio 7″

I confess to being a tad perplexed at this 7″. Australia’s SKUNKS released a four-song 7″ EP in 1982 called Scratch N’ Sniff. I imagine the opening song, “Dance With The Fuhrer,” raised a few eyebrows in their native Adelaide. Did the average punter grok the sarcasm of its stiff-armed salute outro? At first, I thought maybe the reason that only half the original songs appeared on this small-run reissue was that the band wanted to avoid any appearance of aligning—justified or not—with such reprehensible ideas. But then I saw that there was a faithful four-song repro released in Australia concurrently with this particular edition. Preserved On Plastic is based in South Korea, so perhaps there is a licensing issue at work? Regardless, on this version, we skip the two-step with Hitler plus a re-christened Xmas tune (“Violent Night”). What remains is “Mad Song” and “Persian Radio,” both of which slot nicely with contemporaries like JUST URBAIN and THOUGHT CRIMINALS.

The Sweatys Stretch demo cassette

Philly poppy punks (not pop punks, mind you) follow up their first demo with another excellent batch of tracks. For a demo, the recording is excellent—with the right amount of grit to amplify the strong songwriting on display. These songs whip back and forth, echoing a classic ’80s Midwest sound with enough contemporary flair to keep things fresh. The band even dips a toe into cowpunk—a genre that’s so often executed poorly—with closer “Hoosegow.” The SWEATYS pull it off, rolling snare and slacker sliding guitar lines and all. Overall a top-notch demo from a band that keeps pumping ’em out.

TMA What’s For Dinner? / Beach Party 2000 / Just Desserts Super Deluxe Edition 2xLP+7″ reissue

“Who are these guys?” That’s not me talking, but our beloved creator Tim Yo in his 1984 review, and I wholeheartedly agree. Maybe the best 1980s New Jersey hardcore band you’ve never heard of? I’ve been really nose diving into the toxic cesspool of Jersey punk recently, reading the No Slam Dancing No Stage Diving No Spikes book as well as the excellent Hard Times zine anthology but still there’s nary a mention of these goombahs anywhere. TMA stands for Tom Mike Al, the names of the original trio that expanded with a singer and later returned to form on their second platter. Too Many Assholes is the other name chosen, which is just as Jersey as the hilarious photos of these guys. New Jersey always seemed to be the Orange County of the East without the credit, providing solid melodic hardcore with RAMONES sensibilities. The Just Desserts EP and What’s for Dinner? LP are definitely my faves here, with a harder sound almost like a less offensive CHRONIC SICK with the humor and speed of ADRENALIN OD. They cover the Mary Tyler Moore theme; legend has them opening for HÜSKER DÜ, who mysteriously adopted the tune at a later date. “Beach Party 2000″ has the band maturing(?) and honing their songwriting into an almost BAD RELIGION or SOCIAL DISTORTION polished melodic-ness but still being able to slam it out on songs like “Slack.” If Epitaph Records had been in New Jersey, you punkers might be wearing their backpatches right now, but sadly with no fame or credit, TMA faded into the Jersey wasteland. Luckily we now have this lavish reissue all packaged in a spiffy slipcase on colored vinyl with extra inserts and new Charles Burns-like comic artwork. Truly a labor of love and with it being limited to 100 copies, you better jump on it, chump.

True Sons of Thunder Age Old Effrontery EP

With a diverse roster of seasoned players from bands like the OBLIVIANS, MANATEEES, RAT TRAPS, and more, TRUE SONS OF THUNDER are a supergroup of divine debauched pedigree, serving up scummy lo-fi indulgence with the weight of heady hardcore. The opening “Shake Rag” is a depraved freight train of STOOGES-style swagger that contains a shout-out to two-thirds of EMERSON, LAKE, AND PALMER. “Plastic Bat Attack” includes a refrain that sounds like the attack itself and provides instructions for creating your very own plastic weapon. “Toob Sock” ends things off somewhat abruptly with an urgent cadence that would not be out of place on a HOMOSTUPIDS record. These guys stir up quite a din, check out their Total Punk LP for further proof.

Used Damaged Asshole Here Comes the Chaos Again CD

Here’s a short, sharp thrasher out of Chiba, Japan that takes grimy ’80s UK glue-core and plays it at neck-snapping speed. Think DISORDER meets bandana thrash and you get the idea. No lyric sheet, but with song titles like “Smash” and “I Don’t Need,” I’m guessing that they do not give a fuck. Cover art features a Rocky Horror Picture Show motif that seems a little out of place, but whatever, that movie’s kind of punk, I guess. No Bandcamp for this one, so dust off that Discman and get ready to shred.

Video Prick Two Tracks flexi 7″

This is one of those teasers that is completely unfair. It’s almost cruel to be given something so rad with the promise of more to come but want it so badly right then and there. This is powerviolence-tinged hardcore with an almost imperceptible pinch of heavy metal guitar noodling. The two (as of yet unnamed) tracks are compelling all the way through and constantly morphing in a way that never lets you get complacent. The last ten seconds of track one are a true thrill. These two songs also display a massive improvement, especially in the vocals, from the demo that was released a little over a year ago. The upcoming LP will most assuredly be one to not miss.

Virus Pathogens 10″

A record from 2019 with an album cover and title that feel strangely prophetic. Instrumentally, I want to say this record sounds like if FUGAZI took a wild foray into hair metal and then hired the guitarist from LEFTÖVER CRACK. Needless to say, it’s a hard record to pinpoint and I still don’t know where I stand on it. Part of me wants to love it and part of me wants to hate it. Give it a listen, all I can say is it probably won’t bore you.

V/A A Country Fit for Heroes, Volume 2 LP reissue

Another musical dose of twelve-hole Doc Martens shoe leather up the hoop for those of us who never stopped fighting Maggie Thatcher. The follow-up to the much-beloved first volume in the series is actually an improvement, should you dare to believe it. The untouchable CRIMINAL DAMAGE’s “Criminal Crew” is a perfect slice of rowdy bovver, ON PAROLE offers some choppy Hiberian aggro, and Cwmbran legends IMPACT’s “Storm Trooper Tactics” is a taut and frantic polemic against the follies of joining the army. Really does not come highly recommended enough, save up your pocket money for this one.

V/A American Idylls 2xLP

When I was a kid, a good compilation record was like a ticket to another world. In the pre-internet universe, these were often a crucial gateway to discovering new bands, and in this far-away and oft-forgotten dimension, finding a monster double-LP collection like American Idylls would be nothing less than a fucking miracle. Packing 49(!) songs from the cream of the current North Carolina punk crop, the musical styles represented here range from spastic DIY (FITNESS WOMXN), to punishing thrash (PUBLIC ACID), and lots in between, making it a real “something for everyone” affair. It’s mind-blowing that this eclectic variety of great bands exists at once on the planet, let alone all in the NC area. With the party crushers of DRUGCHARGE, the steely post-hardcore of SILICA, the dystopian dirges of NATURAL CAUSES, the strong and snotty rockers from MIND DWELLER, and much more, the majority of this stuff pushes boundaries and challenges categorization, as good music should. Adding to the orgasm, the vinyl package comes with a 32-page booklet documenting the scene. I hope there’s at least a couple young’n’s out there who somehow find this record between TikTok sessions and truly get their shit rocked forever.

A Culture of Killing A Culture of Killing LP

This ain’t how you usually expect anarcho-punk to sound. This band from Italy goes epic: they take the icy guitars, melodic basslines, and baritone from early ’80s post-punk and mix it with anarcho themes and sensibilities. Think of short-haired the CURE, SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES, the CHURCH, and the MOB, the latter whom they cover (go straight to “Mirror Breaks”) on this LP. I couldn’t find that much information about these guys but it doesn’t matter, this record is full of hits. A CULTURE OF KILLING’s songwriting takes you places. Overall they sound dark but not bleak, dynamic yet really melodic, almost thrilling. “War” and “We Can Never Go Back” are two beautiful gems, a pair of chart hits from an alternative timeline in the ’80s. Perhaps what I’ve said so far might make you think these guys are fixated on the past, but they do have their own style and their lyrics are completely focused on the tribulations of these times. These eight songs were originally released on tape and now as vinyl. I hate to tell ya, though, the record is so good it actually sold out. Hope there’s a new edition we can get our hands on very soon.