Reviews - MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL

Deef 脳 (Nou) LP

DEEF existed for a short period in Sapporo at the beginning of the ’80s. They played fast-paced, primitive but bouncy hardcore punk that was more guitar-centric with radical rock’n’roll elements than focusing solely on ear-torturing noise, which is present in their sound but probably unintentional due to limited recording tools. Imagine a wilder style of rocking-era STALIN; it’s slashing, wild teenage angst rock played pretty tight, but with enough filth that is equally raw and has a secret society sort of bedroom raging vibe. Not the screaming into your pillows, but “setting up a rehearsal in your room” type of noise, behind locked door vibes. But most likely, everyone who loves this sort of punk already knows them, and we are now happy their music can be listened to outside of the dubbed-to-digital punk tape realm. Knowing the dedication of the General Speech fanzine and label, the members have been involved in the creation of this reissue, so I guess it’s good feedback that people still want the music that you made while you were young and find it relevant, even if hardcore is great because it’s about the present. But DEEF is great because the urgency and the wild admiration of speed is in every second of their record. Their youth angst has been recorded and speared, and now it takes a new form. Also, it is another great example of how the deeper you dig in hardcore, the more interesting records you find. The unfiltered and underproduced charm makes me excited, and I simultaneously try to theorize what their actual influences could have been while they capture my attention—I feel as if they are the only band that exists while the record spins. An accompanying info sheet briefly concludes the band’s story, but it also mentions how slow records/influences traveled back then, and how isolated DEEF was from the rest of the scene. This record collects their tape, a comp, a few unreleased songs, and a couple live tracks in chronological order, so as we move along, things get wilder. This is a great record, but most likely it’s not a surprise for most of its listeners and future owners. But for these fans, its release is a labor of love for sure.

Fen Fen National Threat LP

In a move similar to acts like INSANE URGE or the SCHIZOS, Detroit’s FEN FEN have decided to scrub most of the garage punk gunk out of their sound, opting instead to play their hardcore straight. And it was absolutely the right move—this record rips! They’re not doing anything here that you haven’t heard before; this is essentially Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables/Adolescents/Wild in the Streets worship with some beefier guitar timbres, but it’s extremely well-played and the production is just so crisp and immediate. I think what really sells this one for me is the vocal performance. My dude’s really going for it! It ends up sounding like Jello Biafra dialed back to non-cartoony levels mixed with—and I’m sure I’m going to lose everybody on this point of comparison—NAPOLEON XIV (the teetering-on-the-brink-ness of it all and the quickening cadence really gives me “They’re Coming to Take Me Away” vibes). I love it. Also, as residents of the Motor City, they’re apparently required to NUGE it up every so often—listen out for the excellently out-of-character hard rock guitar solo that wraps up “Nothing to Say.” My one complaint is that this LP has about five more songs on it than I (and I imagine most punks in the 2020s) have the attention span for. But otherwise, yeah, killer shit!

Graveyard of the Pacific Sorcerer LP

The spacey orange and purple cover art tells me this is headed into the land of psychedelia. And the first cut confirms this. But wait, as I look more closely, I see words like “Moog” and “synthesizer” and, god forbid, “various software instruments.” This isn’t psychedelia at all; it’s new wave. And not just any kind of new wave, it’s that first-wave stuff like BAUHAUS, or ULTRAVOX or ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN. It’s mid-tempo and moody and I am really digging it.

Lion’s Law Si Le Ciel Vient à Tomber LP

Pulling together all of their French-language tracks from the span of nearly a decade, Si Le Ciel Vient à Tomber could act as a thesis for Oi! stalwarts LION’S LAW. A friend once told me they think of Oi! as power pop for skinheads. Let’s call this Exhibit A. Packed to the gills with hooks, walking bass lines, big sing-along choruses—the songs in this collection are as catchy as they are tough. Overall the production is big, beefy, and crystal clear. A lot of bands lean on saturation from behind the board to impart grit and aggression, but LION’S LAW let their tunes do the dirty work. The level of raw talent on display here is remarkable. Ferocious, biting guitar work is underpinned by some of the most devastating bass playing you’re likely to encounter. Queue up “Destin Criminel,” and prepare to retrieve your slackened jaw from the floor. Simply put, LION’S LAW delivers world-class street rock on a level unrivaled by most of their contemporaries. If you have even a passing interest in Oi!, then this is mandatory listening.

Marvelous Bareno!!! cassette

Raw, tight, and flawlessly fast fastcore like in the old days from Ashikaga, Japan, with serious connections to positive attitude and anti-nuclear hardcore punk from the late ’80s and early ’90s, and some forms of skate punk for sure with their anthemic and melodic impasses. The vocals are effusive with frantic, energetic, powerful attitude, while the drums organically blast and create excellent sections. In this particular style, it has been some time since I’ve heard something that triggers that happy violence feeling. Greatly surprised.

Pardoner Paranoid in Hell EP

New EP from San Francisco’s prolific PARDONER. This is their fourth EP, with just as many LPs since their first release in 2015. With noted influences of POLVO and YO LA TENGO, I also hear ARCHERS OF LOAF and LUNGFISH to round out the slacker-rock sound that PARDONER puts their own spin on, with sections that fade into a slow fantasy, only to be pummeled to death by hardcore and even D-beat moments of brutality, seen more on previous albums but still on display here on “Distant Star.” “Over the Moon” is the most experimental of the four songs, and features a flute (maybe?) and steel drums, producing a nostalgia-tinged anthem that feels longer and more spacious than the 1:57 play time. Overall, a really great EP, and glad to see Max, River, Colin, and Trey are still making this fine brand of punk.

Pisse Jammertal / Vetschau 7″

Synth-laced indie jams out of Germany. Really dreamy and crisp, yet rustic and raw. Rhythm section tightly drives each track while the guitar layers an ethereal atmosphere throughout. The A-side kicks things off with a theremin solo, which in itself is impressive as most people don’t have a clue how to use those things. Reminds me of all those twee bands from the early ’00s like the SHOUT OUT LOUDS and CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH. Nothing really groundbreaking here, but it’s a pleasant couple of songs if you dig this type of thing.

Refuse Very Best of Hero CD

REFUSE was a noisy Japanese punk trio from the Fukushima prefecture, formed in the early ’00s and consisting of members from EFFECT and DISCOMFORT, to name a few. Their sound (or rather noise!) follows the same line as Kyusu punk bands like SWANKYS, GAI, and CONFUSE, who in turn were highly influenced by CHAOS U.K. and DISORDER. The guitars are a wall of noise, the only perceptive melodies come from the wonky bass, primitive yet effective drumming leads the way, and a distorted voice utters all kinds of profanities. Love it! Very Best of Hero is a compilation of tracks taken from all their releases, so essentially, this has their full body of work .I highly recommend the tracks from the Punk Save the World??? EP, which is a really fun, pogo-inducing noisy hardcore gem, complete with covers of GAI and the SWANKYS. For noise addicts!

Silicone Values How to Survive When People Don’t Like You and You Don’t Like Them LP

Hook-laden synth punk that doesn’t shy away from embracing a melody and juxtaposing the sweetness with some seriously bleak lyrical content. Appropriately lo-fi, How to Survive When People Don’t Like You and You Don’t Like Them compiles a series of disparate online releases and commits them to vinyl, courtesy of Parisian label SDZ. SILICONE VALUES pull off the rare feat of making their songs feel monumental and understated all at once. Harkening back to the seminal acts of first-gen post-punk, the Bristol collective shakes out fifteen cuts that would make STEVE TREATMENT blush. Like a more restrained SWELL MAPS or a more agitated TELEVISION PERSONALITIES? Yeah, SILICONE VALUES paint from the same palette, but the rendering is stark and defoliated. Despite the references this collection doesn’t sound dated. More the product of timeless influences piped through the damage of a depressingly modern world, executed with incisive wit and off-the-cuff charm. The limited pressing of 200 copies worldwide may make this hard to come by, but easily worth the effort to track down.

Sooks Moral Decay LP

From Perth, Australia comes SOOKS. Their first full-length Moral Decay is fourteen tracks of hardcore punk that explore a variety of contemporary issues. Vocalist Ange delivers a vast range that highlights various emotions in the lyrics. Occasionally, the guitar work reminds me of early Stig Miller. SOOKS throw a lot of variety into this album, with each song having a fresh presentation and multiple shifts within a song. Hands down, Moral Decay by SOOKS is worth owning.

Svaveldioxid Världselände LP

Världselände was quite probably my favourite käng album of 2023, and I am very happy to be attributed this monster of a record for review. I have been a massive fan of SVAVELDIOXID since they started in 2015, and this latest production has to be their strongest, most powerful effort yet (and the band is actually prolific). We all know that the TOTALITÄR style of Swedish hardcore has become more popular in recent years, but this band takes a different, more primitive, darker, harder-hitting but still old school approach, one that has the delicate subtlety of an angry charging mammoth on speed. You can tell that the members are experienced, that they have been involved with the genre for a long time and therefore know how things have to be done in order to convey that sense of galloping relentlessness and gruff anger that defines this very busy genre. What makes Världselände stand out is the perfect production— the balance between raw aggression, hardcore heaviness, and punk energy is ideal. I love how the instruments blend with one another, the pummeling drums, the mean vocals in Swedish, the thick riffing, the density of the guitar sound, as it confers onto the LP a genuine organic feel, a natural thickness. You can hear the scorching power of vintage SKITSYSTEM, the brutality of WOLFPACK, the primitive hardcore fury of BOMBANFALL, ANTI-CIMEX or ASOCIAL—there are also a couple of moments where a creeping death metal influence shows its head—not unlike a Scandicore synthesis. SVAVELDIOXID’s roots can be found as much in the ’80s as in the ’90s, and this new LP exemplifies how epic and ferocious käng can sound when done with such virtuosity. The only criticism I have is that the cover may look more fitting for a REPULSION-type band, I suppose. A very minor issue. This was released on Blown Out Media, a label with a pretty flawless discography so far.

Toxitolerant Extremophile cassette

A toxitolerant, by definition, is an organism able to withstand high levels of damaging elements; an extremophile that thrives under “extreme” conditions. There is a theme here that permeates the second release from this Richmond, Virginia punk hardcore band, and it is being hardened by extreme conditions of living. In this second effort, the band leveled up their sound, considering that the first demo was recorded with two iPhones. With each distortion-drenched chord and the vocalist’s venomous screams, TOXITOLERANT unleashes a sonic catharsis that resonates with listeners craving an outlet for their own disillusionment.

Whippets Whippets LP

WHIPPETS have a very distinctive-sounding singer—he reminds me of a combination of the singer from ALICE DONUT, Doc Dart from CRUCIFUCKS, and maybe a little Jello Biafra. I think he sounds great. The music is mostly a dark-sounding combination of post-punk, goth, and hardcore punk, with some modern hardcore at the end of the record. Moody and moving. They’d fit well with bands like WET SPECIMENS and KILLING JOKE. Good stuff.

Ye.Stem Ye.Stem LP

From Warsaw, YE.STEM is here with their monster sixteen-track debut LP. This follows a 2021 EP which was also self-titled, and all four of those songs made the cut here. As a listener not native to Poland, the lyrics are lost on me—but that’s OK, I enjoy hearing the energy and anger without context. I couldn’t find much on the band or its members, but I imagine there were other projects that preceded this given their seasoned stage performance from the few videos I found. Lots of whole-gang sing-alongs, snaking guitar riffs, gut-busting bass, and ceaseless drumming, keeping the energy high the whole album through. They do slow down a bit on parts of “Tatiana” and “Szela,” the latter being my favorite track, even though they trade in their fast-driving mold for melancholic reflection (sonically, anyhow, if not in lyrical content). While it’s a lot to bite off, this album does have its gems.

V/A Dot Dash Mixtape, Volume Two cassette

A follow-up to last year’s sampling of this NYC niche label. If I were told these tracks came off a ’70s French coldwave comp, I wouldn’t bat an eyelash. But for something so specific, there’s still considerable breadth here. The TRENDEES and C.A.D. AND THE PEACETIME CONSUMERS offer some fun garage-esque bops. NAPE NECK’s atonal funk is a hoot, reminiscent of DELTA 5. There are also some left turns like WEEGEE’s gothy waltz. The whole collection is a nice mix of the fast, the fun, and the froide.

Ambulanz II cassette

AMBULANZ belts out seven tracks of messy art-punk oscillating between moments of angular, kraut-y experimentalism and catchy, sing-along fun. The dual-vocal delivery of Boni and Saskia plays off a swirling synth and bouncing bass, keeping things right at the edge of disintegration. I’m reminded of KNICKERS, who were coincidentally (or not coincidentally?) from Leipzig, Germany as well. Could be something in the sausages! In any case, AMBULANZ straddles the line between accessible oddity and art-haus freakout without ever tipping too far to either side. While that approach could easily mire a band in mediocrity, that is not the case here, thanks to an undeniable, pulsing vibrancy beneath the hood.

Body Farm / Dry Socket Body//Socket split LP

Cool split here. BODY FARM kicks things off with a powerviolence/youth crew hybrid. Reminds me of BETTER THAN A THOUSAND mixed with SPAZZ. Really love the vocals— more like a yelp than your typical grind-screaming. Feels fresh and unique. My only complaint here is that the drums are way too loud. At first I thought that maybe the drummer was playing out of the pocket way too often, but in reality, they’re just drowning everything else out, which is a real bummer because there are some great guitar parts that are lost in the mix. DRY SOCKET brings everything up to another level. Serious mosh anthems with a singer who screams like a banshee. I’m truly amazed listening to them. Screeching this loud for this long is a superpower. Everything else is tight and groovy; brutal and intense. Real solid outing here form both bands.

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!

Casket Wretch / Lord Papus split EP

Split release by CASKET WRETCH and LORD PAPUS from the NY area. The CASKET WRETCH side consists of a noise-drenched, nasty two-beat black metal punk attack, reminiscent of Japanese metalcore legends G.I.S.M. and their later followers meets the Oi!-influenced black metal of ILDJARN. Almost out-of-control-sounding maniac vocals with repetitive yet hypnotic-sounding guitar riffs. LORD PAPUS’s side has a similar approach but much more of Randy Uchida’s rocking NWOBHM influence and vocals that sound straight-up like…a nerd who is buried underneath some rare metal vinyl collection at their parents house. I will listen to this again. Recommended release.

The Celebrities Redd Karpet LP

Joe Sussman (NANCY, DANGUS TARKUS, and MUFF DIVERS) teams up with Kel Mason (GEE TEE) for an overseas email project—apparently a holdover from the days of COVID lockdowns. Looks like it’s Kel on drums and Joe on “everything else.” I’m not positive how the songwriting credits shake out, but I would assume it’s mainly a Joe joint, which had me a little worried going in because his projects have never really done it for me (while Kel’s frequently have). But this thing smokes! Seven tracks whip by in about a dozen minutes, covering a mix of unabashed Born Innocent-era RED CROSS worship, RAMONES-y punk pop, the QUICK’s proggy power pop, and HUBBLE BUBBLE’s nuclear bubblegum punk. Check out album highlight “Crackin’ Under Pressure”, which also feature Ishaka from SATANIC TOGAS and TEE VEE REPAIRMAN. Great track—great record!

DFC 666 CD

Legendary Brazilian band that merges hardcore and thrash, delivering fastcore and crossover mayhem all around. Active since 1993, they have the energy and blasting fury of skate punk from the early ’90s but with a fiercer grip on the hardcore side, in addition to being political and compromised with Brazil’s reality. There’s carioca breakdowns mixed with speedy fastcore. Recommended as a reference example of this wave of hardcore punk that took over Latin America like 30 years prior, full of energy and relentless tupa-tupa to pogo ‘til you drop. Favorite track: “Respeito É Bom E Conservas Os Dentes” (that translates to “Respect is Good and You Get to Keep Your Teeth”). Bom pra caralho.

Exedo The Body Remembers LP

Debut LP from Chicago-based EXEDO, comprised of Milo Mendoza on bass, Vince Miller on drums, Christine Wolf on vocals/keys/guitar, and David Wolf on guitar. The Wolfs put out quite a few records as DAYLIGHT ROBBERY, but have reformed here with a slightly more synth-forward version of their soaring female-vocal post-punk. The Body Remembers features icy, reverb-heavy guitar lines on top of chunky, palm-muted verses with a synth flowing lithely in the undercurrent. None of the songs are under two minutes, most averaging around the three-and-a-half-minute mark, leaving plenty of time for lyrically questioning the “exedo” (Latin for eat up, devour, consume, etc.) of mankind with songs like “Victims of Convenience,” reflecting with hollow wails and shouts over bass-and-drums turbulence. While the mood is dark and sweeping, the beat is uptempo and just poppy enough to give balance to the melancholic vocals. All four songs from their 2020 demo made the cut here, and it’s good as always to see a band that made it through the pandemic years! Great debut, would highly recommend it for fans of SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES.

Goblin Smut Flea Market of Love EP

This gang of goblin-loving punkers are helping to keep Columbus weird. It seems that GOBLIN SMUT have been smoking plenty of the devil’s lettuce during D&D sessions and in between practicing the demented hardcore ruckus that’s demonstrated across these six songs. Recommended for fans of bands like MUTATED VOID and the Evil Bong movie series.

Highway Patrol On a Sensual Ride LP

Just looking at the cover art and hearing the first few chords, I am almost certain there are going to be things I like about this record and things I really don’t like. The intro to the first song is taking too long, bordering on self-indulgence. Not a fan of that. On the other hand, I kind of like the soft female vocals. And now it’s starting to go sideways for me. It’s a little too bluesy and a little too 1973. The second cut sounds like a variation of the first cut. I feel like I should be sarcastically snapping my fingers and swaying my head from side to side. There are a couple of tracks that work for me, those with a more rocking or more country feel. Overall, it’s just not cutting it for me.

Krash Nothing is Sacred LP

Oh hell yeah! Saskatoon D-beat that goes real fucking hard. Plenty of riffs to keep the shredheads fed, with a kind of BEHIND ENEMY LINES structure to songs, so hardcore, and with just enough Motörpunk to keep things raw and noisy. KRASH absolutely has a unique sound, and on this LP, the band creates an album that rocks from start to the finish while exploring a wider sonic environment than most in the subgenre. In all, Nothing is Sacred represents a refining of hardcore D-beat into an album that suits punks and metalheads equally.

The Marilyns I’m Glad I’m Not a Man / I’m on Acid 7″

A very belated first vinyl appearance for the MARILYNS, a group of Memphis women (and eventually, a male drummer) who, in defiance to the plastic artifice of the mid-to-late ’80s, kicked out a joyous mix of early rock’n’roll grit, ’60s garage stomp, and primitive punk. The tremolo-twanging Girls in the Garage shimmy-shake of “I’m Glad I’m Not a Man,” recorded in 1988 with an expanded six-piece MARILYNS lineup, has a skeletal, sneering spark that’s like Patti Paladin and Judy Nylon of SNATCH if they’d come up in the Paisley Underground alongside the PANDORAS, and even doubles as a CYNDI LAUPER diss track (“Cyndi Lauper / She’s so stupid / Says girls just want some fun,” amazing). B-side “I’m on Acid,” from the the MARILYNS’ quartet incarnation in 1984, is even more raw than the flipside—a ramshackle pop jam balanced on a tangle of post-VELVETS guitar strum, collapsing drums, and budget synth effects, sounding very much like it should have been sandwiched between the CANNANES and BEAT HAPPENING on an early K Records cassette comp, Let’s Kiss/Let’s Together-style. The fact that there’s only two tracks here is such a tease; I demand more MARILYNS now.

Middleman John Dillinger Died for You cassette

MIDDLEMAN keeps the music loose and dulcet, though not without some sharper edges. “Falls Apart” begins with a jangle and then a memorable chorus, but could just have easily proceeded into sonically harsher territory. The guitars have a particularly light, haphazard quality I associate with bands emerging from or in the orbit of the ’80s UK punk scene. It should please both genre aficionados and newcomers alike. The breezy presentation of often morose tunes gives this tape a weirdly whimsical feel.

Pollute EP. cassette

I’ve been following POLLUTE since the band before their current band. From the Durham area of North Carolina, POLLUTE is only a few states from me. POLLUTE plays D-beat punk, but they have two things going for them that a lot of bands in the field do not. The first thing being the vocals: they’re killer. Powerful, well-enunciated, full-throated screams that could lead any metal band, but still sound punk with their ragged edges. Secondly, the drumming is so tight that there’s time for cymbal play without ever dropping a beat on the bass pedal. See “Nuclear Cage” for creative use of cymbals, the song is perfect with the line “we’re all living in a nuclear cage.”

Prisão EP 2 EP

PRISÃO’s 2020 debut EP was one of my favorite debuts from a modern hardcore band in the last couple of years. It has everything I love about hardcore: intense, raw, stompy, and with direct lyrics. With this second EP, PRISÃO managed to raise the bar even higher and has made another modern classic. They have a strong Swedish hardcore influence, as the members also play in killer Swedish bands VIDRO, AXE RASH, NITAD, and WARCHILD, but the singer Lucas, of Brazilian origin, lays down the vocals in Portuguese, so it has a lot of qualities found in Brazilian hardcore classics like OLHO SECO or CÓLERA. The lyrics are straightforward; no beating around the bush and no metaphors, just straight facts in the form of one-liners, much like DISCHARGE in their golden era. Also, visually, they are a very well-put-together band that ticks all the boxes for me. It doesn’t rely on the tiresome tropes that plague the modern scene, and it has its own vibe. This one will make it to my best of the year for sure!

Secret Agent Headcheese Escapes From Alcatraz cassette

One-man UK operation that is as eggy as cyberpunk with traces of sci-fi could be, offering five tracks filled with monotone videogame synth drums and characteristically pinchy vocals with that “submarine telephone” effect that egg-punk people crave. Coming from Barnsley but jailed in Alcatraz for a brief moment, this cassette is meant to be some sort of pardon, or at least an argument to be offered a chance to escape. It seems that this secret agent may be dangerous, avoid if approached by this creature. Favorite track: “Elektrik Chair.”

Reviewer Gonza Perez
Label Idiotapes / Painters Tapes / Richter Scale
Issue MRR #494 • July 2024

Suppression Spiritual Sepsis LP

Loud, fast, and tight as hell. Fantastic bass-driven powerviolence/grind that also has a tinge of ’80s thrash. The vocalist has a super impressive range, spanning deep growls, high-pitched screeches, and a vicious bark that lands directly in the middle of it all, almost like the three bears of hardcore vocalists. Or maybe I’m an idiot and there are several singers on this thing—no idea, they don’t have the personnel listed. Drums are absolutely insane and need to be heard to be believed. In a time when most grindcore bands sound the same, I love hearing something refreshingly unique. Well worth a spin if you dig this kind of stuff.

Taünt Blood Feud cassette

This is music to raise the dead. They will not wake from their eternal slumber to walk around eating people and looking cool—no, they will just rise from the grave to tell you, in no uncertain terms, to stop that bloody racket immediately. Probably works with the living, too. TAÜNT is from New Mexico, and they are a self-proclaimed noisy bunch indeed. Blood Feud is a lo-fi, primitive-sounding, distortion-drenched demo of what could be best described as “crasher noisecrust chaos” (I copyrighted this one). It can be a bit of a tough listen if you are not quite ready or just have a passing interest in freaks abiding by the “noise for noise’s sake” philosophy. I love the manic, emphatic Japanese-styled drum rolls, the speed, the demented intensity, and of course, the gratuitous screams. The sound is raw, undoubtedly, if not harsh, but you can still understand what the band is trying to create (or destroy) and which tools they brought with them. Not unlike a blend of DEATH DUST EXTRACTOR, ZYANOSE, and ATROCIOUS MADNESS. Good stuff if you are a sonic masochist like myself. Distort New Mexico.

Wowii Wowii LP

Apparently WOWII was a thing back in the late ’70s and early ’80’s, like they had a legit contract. I was a kid back then, but I can’t say they ever hit my radar. Too bad for me. This is some top-notch pop/power pop music. It’s just super catchy and easy to like. Really great harmonies, which sounds kind of wrong in connection with an MRR review. Seems like classic pop music that was maybe just a little ahead of its time.

Yambag Mindfuck Ultra LP

YAMBAG is from Cleveland, Ohio, and they play a style that I would compare to a mix of NEOS and DROPDEAD. Mindfuck Ultra is fast and tough; YAMBAG even gives us great musicality in their songs. I genuinely love this record, whether they’re playing at 100 mph or 200 mph or giving us psychedelic merry-go-round music. This is top-notch stuff and I could go on and on about it, but instead I am just going to advise you to at least check it out online.

Zooparty No Matter What You Say LP

Succinctly, they’re from Sweden, they fucking rock, and I’m certain they have a higher high-kick than me. I am, in fact, late to the party with this band. Fortunately, they’re still raging. They’re as fast as LEATHERFACE, as sweet as MARTHA, and as high-octane as LONE WOLF. I fucking love it. They’re really similar to ’90s Lookout! bands, but as if they captured that lightning in a bottle and aged it. I certainly can’t go on record about how many of their songs are about failed relationships, drinking, and skateboarding, but I’m really not hearing those subjects on this record. I don’t know what else to say to convert the uninitiated. This has the sound of the immature shit we used to listen to in the ’90s and early ’00s, but, like, for grown-ups. Like if problematic pop punk wasn’t problematic. Yay, I love this. Hats off. Oh, and that song “Elephants” reminds me of the first time I heard the SEX PISTOLS, but goddamned way better.

Adrestia / Collapsed Antitheism split LP

Split release by two crusty death metal bands, ADRESTIA from Sweden and COLLAPSED from Canada. ADRESTIA’s side is Boss HM2 distortion pedal-infused, ENTOMBED-style old school death metal-influenced hardcore punk played by punks (less hardcore/modern production style). Despite many recent bands simply sounding either more death metal or like ANTI-CIMEX, their approach of doing something in between without being polished is unique. COLLAPSED from Montreal has a similar approach to the ’90s era of Swedish crusty death metal, but leaning more towards the guttural death metal side of things.

Bad Breeding Contempt LP

The UK’s BAD BREEDING certainly needs no introduction; their fantastic 2022 LP Human Capital became a regular fixture on year-end lists everywhere with its brutal critiques of modern empire, carrying on in the proud anti-capitalist tradition of the entire Crass Records roster. It’s a loud, abrasive, and thought-provoking record that anyone would say is hard to top. So where does a band go from there? In BAD BREEDING’s case, they crank everything up to (pardon the cliche) eleven and blow the whole thing out. Their latest LP Contempt is best described as an immersive experience, like going to see a film or exploring an exhibit in a museum gallery. Featuring album artwork by the legendary Peter Kennard and an accompanying zine featuring writings by ASHENSPIRE’s Alasdair Dunn and environmental journalist Aidan Frere-Smith amongst others, when given your undivided attention, this record fully surrounds you for its 37-minute runtime. While pulling inspiration from the aforementioned Crass Records, BAD BREEDING often goes beyond the usual hardcore punk touchstones and lands somewhere far more desolate and industrial. One of the album’s heaviest songs and one that truly feels like its centerpiece is “Gilded Age/Sanctuary,” a five-and-a-half minute epic that starts off as a full-blown hardcore blast before screeching into an extended intermission, featuring haunting field recordings the band picked up during stints at work sites and walking through town squares for lunch. Disembodied voices and a dark atmosphere break away once halfway through and again in its last minute, returning to a fuzzed-out hardcore dirge that hits like a ton of bricks. This is just one example of BAD BREEDING’s masterful ability to create a mood sonically that matches the mood contextually. When the lyrical content of your music explores the horrors of capitalism, poverty, Western exceptionalism, exploitation, propaganda, imperialism, and corruption this deeply, you’d better have the musical chops to match. Fortunately, this is an area where BAD BREEDING excels. Yet again, expect to see BAD BREEDING on those year end-lists this year, and rightly so; these guys are the real deal and deserve your attention.

Blistering Noise The 2023 Demo: Stop Gaza Genocide cassette

This is not a scam—BLISTERING NOISE, just like EXTREME NOISE TERROR, accurately describes their sound with their band name. Hailing from Japan with members of many prominent bands (ZODIAK, UNARM, DROPEND, KAFKA, KRIEGSHÖG), they play crasher crust. It is energetic yet less chaotic. The guitar and bass notes are recognizable despite their distortion, so naive melodies are pumping under the wall of noise. The songwriting mixes well with the pace changes and stops and bridges. If you are a big fan of the style, then this will be a good monthly dose. Although I miss the uncontrolled nature of crasher crust, everything is in place for a blast, but the burning match is not thrown on the gas-soaked floor. They use a lot of mid-tempo parts and everything sounds well-thought-out and polished—I mean, compared to one BPM from falling apart speed race, rolling, collapsing song structures, and maddened screaming vocals, it is more adjusted. As this is a demo, it’s really promising, so I hope they continue and don’t mind losing their shit on the records.

Chuck Jones / Sentido Común DCxPC Live and Punk Rock Mag Presents, Vol. 17: Live in Valle Guarco, Cartago, Costa Rica, 11/19/2022 split LP

This seems to be a split record between two bands from Costa Rica. Not just that, but bands who are connected by a bilingual punk zine out of Costa Rica called Punk Rock Mag. From there, the bands both did a session with DCxPC Live and put it out as an homage to live records—the recording quality is great for a DIY live recording. SENTIDO COMUN has eight songs, whereas CHUCK JONES only has five. My favorite song from the A-side is SENTIDO COMUN’s “El Dia Que Muera” (“The Day I Die”). It’s strong and sung with a lot of passion, almost as much as in their song “Sk8 or Die.” People take skateboarding so seriously! Por que andar en patineta es genial! While I did say the live recording is decent quality, it would sound a whole lot better if there was a live crowd. A lot of the background “whoa-oh”s are sung off-key, and the main vocals tend to get buried in the mix. However, the CHUCK JONES side is solid AF. The recording is a lot punchier and clearer than SENTIDO COMUN’s. For both bands, all songs are sung in Spanish, though the insert is in Spanish and English. While the recording on the B-side sounds a lot better, I think it’s really that CHUCK JONES is more experienced? I don’t know anything about either band, but the B-side is a lot stronger than the A-side. Cool project, great idea, awesome band exposure. I do think it sounds weird being so clean without a live audience.

Crom Early Shit 1994–2004 cassette

Collection of compilation tracks, demos, and outtakes by ’90s Pessimiser Records/L.A. grindcore legends CROM. You get to hear everything in one place so you don’t have to pull out a bunch of physical releases. For fans of ’90s PCP stories, couch-lifting grindcore/powerviolence, push-moshers getting kicked out of the gig vibes.

D. Sablu No True Silence LP

In that cursed year 2020, CASUAL BURN’s David Sabludowsky put out a cool tape on which he played nearly everything. Taken By Static dipped its beak into a gamut of styles, ranging from in-the-red garage to new wave-y romantic swooners to sassy cheap-synth punk. There’s even a couple of sensitive ballads. It was almost a throwback, like a mixtape from when Terminal Boredom was a going concern. It showed promise, but was too scattered to leave a lasting impression. Well, it’s four years later, and D. SABLU’s got a band now. Coming correct outta New Orleans, No True Silence cranks the amps and goes for broke, recalling local legends like KAJUN SS. Although the music brings the aforementioned swamp-dwellers to mind, and even POISON IDEA on “Scandalous,” the general outlook doesn’t revel in the nihilism inherent in those bands. Sabludowsky acquits himself well on the mic, especially on the faster tunes, where he lets loose a scratchy wail. The album hits a peak during the five-song run where all the titles start with the letter “S.” “Spiral Out” pushes faster and faster, building up a head full of steam in search of a release that never comes. “Smut Date” could be a LIVEFASTDIE song, which is all I really need in life. You too, whether you know it or not. Stack these guys up to any of the new crop of Aussie rockers and crawfish country ain’t doin’ half-bad.

E Living Waters LP

Couple of real stalwarts of clang within E’s three-person lineup: Thalia Zedek has held it down in Boston and its outskirts for over 40 years, with UZI, LIVE SKULL and COME all revered among those who know (and like their wrist-slitting noise blues). Jason Sanford founded NEPTUNE, a band who played discordant post-hardcore on self-built, spine-bendingly heavy scrap metal instruments in the mid-’90s, and drummer Ernie Kim used to play with a band called HARRY AND THE POTTERS (but pretend I didn’t bring that up). Anyway, this is the fifth “proper” E album by my reckoning, and it’s a big, burly fucker, equally enervating and energising. Recorded semi-remotely, with Zedek and Kim in Boston and Sanford in Boulder, every riff and drum hit is captured perfectly and cuts to the bone: sometimes I find myself thinking I have no use for this sort of “grown-up” noise rock any longer, but when it’s engineered this beautifully and the songs land so hard, I’m sold. Arguable highlight is “Postperfect Conditional,” where Kim takes lead vocal duties and—partly as a result of his slightly high pitch, partly via the song’s uptempo meld of riffs and scrabble—the band ends up akin to the later-career sound of the EX.

Head Cut Corazón Negro LP

Out of Ventura, California, HEAD CUT plays punk rock—straight up. However, the surf guitar that finds its home everywhere and the range of vocals that are delivered here take Corazón Negro beyond just being a good album. The bass is forward in the production and seems to drive the rhythm with a clean rumble that stalks beneath the lead. HEAD CUT reminds me of WHITE LUNG or maybe even BE YOUR OWN PET, but all comparisons would only be very loose as HEAD CUT is too unique. Maybe needless to say, the Corazón Negro LP by HEAD CUT is my current listening favorite.

Invertebrates Sick to Survive LP

INVERTEBRATES are from Richmond, Virginia and include a couple of members of PUBLIC ACID. Speedy hardcore reminiscent of JERRY’S KIDS at their best—’80s-style hardcore done right, with speed, ferocity, and a little bit of melody. This record makes me want to dance and jump around the room; I can’t wait to see them live. My advice is to get this album before it’s gone, it’s great!

Junk Guts Get Trashin’ cassette

High-energy punk. I originally thought the drums were programmed, but I think there’s a person behind that kit? Someone smarter than me is gonna need to wise me up here. If it’s the latter, then this drummer is one of the tightest I’ve ever heard. The singer does a ton of heavy lifting here; their energy is what carries this album throughout. Otherwise it’s pretty typical cut-and-dry punk rock. Twelve tracks seemed daunting at first, but the album really picks up midway through and ends strong. I’m starting to question whether the drums are real or not again. To quote JUNK GUTS, “sometimes I think my brain is broke.”

Küken Küken LP reissue

Twin Brothers Christian and Phillip Paul (the latter of whom also goes by “Beat-it” for reasons that elude me) have been fixtures of the German punk scene since the late ’90s, playing in power-pop-tinged garage punk acts like the HIGHSCHOOL ROCKERS and the KIDNAPPERS. They formed KÜKEN in the early 2010s and have issued a steady stream of EPs and LPs via the usual Euro garage channels, like Alien Snatch and Bachelor. What we have here is Alien Snatch reissuing their second LP, 2017’s self-titled album initially on Drunken Sailor, and adding a couple of bonus tracks. With this coming out hot on the heels of last year’s self-titled (so-called III) LP, it’s hard not to compare the two releases. And I think this is the stronger record. Both are full of the type of snotty but power pop-y downstroke punk that probably had its heyday back in the mid-to-late ’00s, when acts like the CARBONAS, BEAT BEAT BEAT, or the MARKED MEN were in full swing. But the fourteen tracks on this LP, which fly by in a brisk twenty-one minutes, don’t sound as thin as the stuff on III, and they strike a cooler, more consistent tone. Imagine some amalgam of the aforementioned acts crossed with a little of the bleak nihilism of, say, PREDATOR. It’s way more up my alley than schlockier strut rock moments on the new LP. Both records are worth your time, for sure. But if you missed this one for some reason, now’s your time to dig in—it’s great!

Marcel Wave Something Looming LP

MARCEL WAVE is the new musical venture from two former members of SAUNA YOUTH/MONOTONY, two former members of COLD PUMAS, and writer-turned-vocalist Maike Hale-Jones, putting a distinctly British spin on the sort of chipper-sounding (but often conceptually dead serious) twee-adjacent post-punk that their Upset the Rhythm labelmates TERRY have honed into a fine art over the last decade. Keyboards bubble alongside casually rattling tambourine, with Hale-Jones’s delivery criss-crossing from the talky deadpan style that’s de rigueur in contemporary UK DIY circles (the stop/start standout “Mudlarks” takes a joyride right through HYGIENE’s lane) to sweetly soaring harmonies à la DOLLY MIXTURE or GIRLS AT OUR BEST! (“Bent Out of Shape”), frequently within the same song (“Barrow Boys,” the especially TERRY-esque duo of “Peg” and “Elsie”), with sharp, narrative lyrical musings examining the likes of stratified social class in the UK, unchecked urban development, the double-edged sword of fame, and the monotony of routine capitalist labor. There’s also some obvious callbacks to Brix-era FALL, especially in the ramshackle gang-shout chorus punctuating the jittery, organ-blaring “Ides of March,” which is packed with more sly hooks and off-kilter melody than a song that’s not even a minute-and-a-half should be able to contain—like the rest of Something Looming, it’s a welcome instance of history repeating.

Norms 100% Hazaárulás LP

When I sat down to construct this review I started by listing out some words and phrases that came to mind. Urgent, frantic, sinewy…this slab has been on repeat for two solid weeks now, but I’ve struggled to find a coherent way to talk about it. Noise, speed (or the impression thereof), total saturation—I’ve tried to describe it to friends but everything I’ve come up with sounds fragmented and nonsensical when 100% Hazaárulás is wound desperately tight. Off-kilter, mind-warping destruction, a novel use of cowbell…it’s like this album has shredded my skull into shards. NORMS have been honing their craft for over a decade, and I have to believe this record represents their finest form. Like their previous releases, 100% Hazaárulás is dense and chaotic, deserving—nay demanding—a studied listen. Underpinning the screeching feedback and cacophonous percussive blasts, you’ll find some of the most devastating and innovative riffs to be etched into wax. I can’t get enough. Absolute hardcore lunacy for deranged punk freaks.

Perdidos Dormir Para Siempre EP

Cavernous Dallas post-punk project sung in Spanish. Reverberating vocals that evoke nostalgic, dreamlike thoughts almost as loud cries in the dark, and the string section is on-point with a very good selection of notes and riffage. Drums are tight, but a little distant in the mix compared with the ball of sound that is created here. Favorite track: “Dormir Para Siempre,” as it’s the most energized track of all, while the other songs are mid-paced all the way, which may be a bit repetitive. Recommended for adherents of early and current sounds of Latino punk such as GENERACION SUICIDA and TOZCOS. Interesting project, very well-oriented.

Pleasure Cube Cube cassette

This is the third release from Minneapolis, MN art-punk trio PLEASURE CUBE, but it’s also maybe viewed as their first release? I’m not entirely sure how to categorize it. There are two previous recordings, which could certainly be viewed as demos as they are a little bit rougher-sounding—Cube has a majority of the same songs from those recordings, but it’s more cohesive and recorded a bit better. However you decide to decipher all of that, PLEASURE CUBE plays some amalgamation of art-punk, post-punk, noise rock, and surely some other subgenres, too. There’s some almost FLIPPER-esque parts which jumped out at me, noticeable both in the plodding, repetitive song parts as well as moments in the vocal delivery. There’s definitely parts of this tape I think are really cool, but the length of the individual songs (as well as the overall length of the cassette) feels a bit overwhelming to me.