Reviews

For review and radio play consideration:

Please send vinyl (preferred), CD, or cassette releases to MRR, PO Box 3852, Oakland, CA 94609, USA. Maximum Rocknroll wants to review everything that comes out in the world of underground punk rock, hardcore, garage, post-punk, thrash, etc.—no major labels or labels exclusively distributed by major-owned distributors, no reviews of test pressings or promo CDs without final artwork. Please include contact information and let us know where your band is from!

Hatred Surge Demo 2004 cassette

Lifting your band name from a seminal NAPALM DEATH demo is always a good indicator of what you are in for. HATRED SURGE is a now-legendary band that has navigated through several genres, from powerviolence to death metal, always leaning on the extreme, but this review serves to talk about their 2004 demo, where it all began. Despite its limited initial release, Demo 2004 has left an undeniable mark on the world of extreme music. HATRED SURGE’s approach to grinding powerviolence showcases their dedication to pushing the boundaries of sonic extremity. A visceral blend of aggression and precision, characterized by their ability to seamlessly shift from frenetic tempos to crushing breakdowns. The tracks are concise bursts of aggression, rarely extending beyond the 40-second mark, yet packing more intensity into that short span than many bands do in entire albums.

The ID 2004 Demo cassette

Just in case you missed the crazy little demo from Illinois’ the ID the first time around (you did), it’s back. This is some devilishly juvenile punk that sounds like it’s being played and recorded on Fisher Price equipment by mental hospital escapees. It’s three songs of gloriously haggard KBD action, and the increasingly rabid opener “The Kids at School” alone makes it worth a place in your tape collection, if you can find one.

Lethal Lethal’s Hardcore Hit Parade EP

Lethal’s Hardcore Hit Parade is five tracks of noisy, raw, ferocious hardcore punk coming from the underground of NYC filth. Nasty yet aggressive, blistering hardcore, in the vein of the crustier side of UKHC meets the earlier, non-groovy era of NYHC, with urgency and the nihilistic destruction of ’80s Japanese and Swedish HC mentality. Full-blown distorted guitar sounds with pummeling drum beats and explosive breakdowns, along with maniac golem crusher vocals. For fans of VILE GASH, CREEP STARE, the REPOS, etc.

Linda’s Mistake Lumberjack Love LP

I don’t know who Linda is, but my mistake was listening to this turd of an album. Take the worst of the ’90s RAMONES-wannabe bands, strip them of any wit, charisma, or musical prowess, and that will get you in the ballpark of how excruciating and awful this is. Most of the songs revolve around a singular, repeated lyric. “You’re Wearing a Bandana,” for instance, recites the song title followed by the inquiry “What’re you doing?” over and over. Longest 39 seconds of my life. Another song is called “Too Fat for a Belt.” Insert sad trombone noise here. While the attempt at humor is obvious, the lyrics are just too dumb to actually be funny. It is hard to express the unique and supreme discomfort this album elicits, but please don’t take that as an insinuation that it’s somehow worth checking out as a morbid curiosity. With the planet rapidly becoming a hellish inferno, it’s an affront to humanity’s future that precious (or otherwise) resources were expended to bring this loathsome album into existence.

Meteor Police New Type Destroyer LP

METEOR POLICE has a weird, foreboding vibe to their grungy rock. Their guitars and lyrics noodle, rock, and crawl with a simultaneous playfulness and darkness. Two songs open with genuinely haunting riffs. The guitar and bass have a unique dynamic I can’t quite describe. The bass is usually playing a bit of a post-hardcore tune while the guitar sprinkles in these off-kilter, slightly bent lines. Every now and then, we hear a familiar HC/punk chord progression. That gave me just enough to orient myself between being thrown off balance again.

Night Court Humans! LP

Following Nervous Birds! One and Nervous Birds! Too, this is NIGHT COURT’s third full-length release, and first time on vinyl. They are a Vancouver, BC outfit doing some indie-flavored garage punk, with a digital undercurrent as if you’ve got the headphones plugged in halfway. I don’t necessarily mean this is in a bad way—the slightly distorted vocals and synth/guitar phaser play well off one another. A mix of the SHINS and the PIXIES, roughed up with a lo-fi production, might get you close to the NIGHT COURT sound, for whatever the comparison is worth. Only two tracks reach the two-minute mark, so this sixteen-song LP is over pretty fast. Fun, easy, summertime listening.  Should we be on the lookout for Humans! Too?

Ortopedia Técnica Sentencia cassette

A unique fusion of sounds here from ORTOPEDIA TÉCNICA, out of the Spanish province of Castilló. The majority of these songs are a driving post-punk with stomping beats that flirt with an OI!-type feel, but softer moments like the chill “Mirame” and the wistful “Rosas, Cruces, y un Cenicero” (“Roses, Crosses, and an Ashtray”) add depth to the album. Singing in Spanish, the band has a penchant for clean, anthemic head-bobbers aided by spectacular wailing guitar leads, but my favorite track is the infectious closer “Sociedad Industrial,” with its rousing chorus and warbled hook that eventually descends into a digital madness. Everything here is very well done.

Paprika Smoked cassette

This kills. PAPRIKA has the depravity and spookiness combo down to a razor’s edge. This is blistering, crunchy heat throughout each track of the tour tape. What are they drinking? When can I see them? These four songs bring up more similar ponderings. I would get it just for the “You Tear Me Up” cover (the beat that made DISCHARGE?).

Plexi Stad Probation Baby EP

It’s interesting to see bands revisit eras of music that led to the aberrant and still notable explosion of radio rock bands in the early ’00s who decided to tap into icons like TELEVISION and the FEELIES rather than, I don’t know, whatever SOUNDGARDEN was obsessed with. It’s a mine still worth digging in, for sure, and the results are often not radio-ready in the way they once were (it even seems quaint to reference radio in the age of streaming, but here we are). PLEXI STAD, from Antwerp, taps into a compellingly angular strain of punk that echoes the aforementioned bands while still sounding vital and punchy. There is sizzle to this steak and some real grit in the production that hooks you into its world of skronky guitar and mobile bass lines. It’s not breaking ground, but rather retreading it in a way that is worth tuning in.

Repo Man Me Pop Now CD

At 52 minutes, this is a fairly long album—the fourth by REPO MAN, from Bristol—and most of its songs have a lot going on within them, but all things considered it flies by, and is decidedly further into the realms of jazz-lovin’ ’80s post-punk than organ-strokin’ prog noodle. Bojak, the band’s main vocalist, is a bug-eyed ranter on his own trip, and also contributes a healthy portion of sax and clarinet skronk; the guitarists and rhythm section can work with sinewy post-hardcore riffs or tricksier, scratchier arrangements. “Sirhan Sirhan” could be the work of one of those early ’90s Scottish bands like DOG FACED HERMANS, which is a huge plus, while at other times I got the scent of the NIGHTINGALES via the slanted energy, SWEEP THE LEG JOHNNY via the expansive rocking, and ENABLERS via the literary worldbuilding.

Salamirecorder & the Hi-Fi Phonos Goods for Conversation LP

If you’ve been wondering who buys every single variant of every single (and double) record that THEE OH SEES release, well, I found the culprits. They live in Vienna, Austria, and they seem like very nice chaps. Goods for Conversation is an enjoyable enough modern-day garage rock record, but hoooo boy, John Dwyer might have an impending case of copyright infringement on his already crowded docket. Within the opening seconds of this album, the singer lets loose with one of Dwyer’s patented cattle-call whoops (even the FX settings are perfectly dialed in). That vocal tic drapes itself all over this album like a bedbug-ridden blanket. Luckily, international law doesn’t give a hoot about such blatant shenanigans, and maybe you don’t either.

Shizan 死産 10 Minutes of Noise Shock Therapy cassette

You’ve probably heard that type who states punk will be great as a consequence of some oppressive political force obtaining power—I would kick those jerks in the face. Punk is much less relevant than maintaining a living in such shit states. SHIZAN is from Minsk, a place that is fucked up beyond many of our imaginations. If I get it right, they are not new to the game, as ex-members of MASSPOLLUTION are part of this new group. The record title tells it straightforwardly how they sound, although SHIZAN has a unique touch to their hyper-distorted noise sound, and their chaos is interesting and varied enough to differ from most of their contemporaries, mainly due to the guitar playing with fast dumb solos and clever pedal usage. The tempo switches are unique, and they rarely if ever play D-beat (if anything, they are closer to the post-sheer-noisecore, pre-Stupid Life era of CONFUSE). It’s deafeningly distorted, but playful enough to be able to pay attention to all the crazy elements they threw into the mix. I had this fantasy forever about hardcore bands from far away, unknown places among shitty circumstances creating the best, craziest music. SHIZAN proved some dreams might come true. 

Squelch Chamber Eater of Self cassette

I’ve been a big fan of Owlripper Recordings over these last couple of years, but have only been familiar with their compilations featuring sub-minute tracks from harsh noise artists the world over. Imagine my surprise when this album (released digitally via Owlripper and on tape by Bastard Premonition) kicked off with nothing but a simple, clean drumbeat. I was being baited, but at this point I had no choice but to go along with the ride. The moment that blown-out bass kicked in, I knew I was listening to an instant drone metal masterpiece. Noisy as all hell, dirty, slow, and low. Reminiscent of KILSLUG or a much more rustic version of Bullhead-era MELVINS. Worth a spin for any lover of doom or sludge.

Systemik Viølence Negative Mangel Attitude LP

Cathartic maniacal screams and great sound all around from these chaos-bringers and riot-exciters from Lisbon. Thrash mayhem of blackened punk with fast tempos and sick drum cuts that never stop and stomp on you through the whole ten-track course. This is the sixth release from these Portuguese mad people, delivering a fusion between blackened metallic punk and classic USHC cadences in an almost perfect balance. Imagine BAD BRAINS and MERCYFUL FATE entered the blender and got out ready to drink it all in a second—I mean a frenzied, crazy feeling. All tracks are rippers in their own way. Sick artwork on the cover from these sick metal punkers. Good riffage, good blastbeating, and the vocals ain’t a cut-and-paste in any way, with colors very distinguished in-between.

Turquoise Sang, Larmes & Râles LP

Brain-burning, face-melting raw punk madness. From start to finish, TURQUOISE doesn’t let up even for a moment. The semi-clean guitar attack makes the bass and drums feel more pummeling, not unlike Canadian D-beaters BOOTLICKER. The vocals are deep and burly, never relenting or modulating, so they hit like a bomb blast. Following an equally killer debut, Sang, Larmes & Râles is unbridled käng perfection. There is even a hint of motörpunk on some of the tracks, which coupled with the rock’n’roll guitar licks calls to mind another Canadian band, INEPSY. But don’t let all this talk of Canucks confuse you, TURQUOISE are Scandi-core through and through—inspiration from HERÄTYS, INFERNÖH, and TOTALITÄR couldn’t be more clear. In fact, rumor has it that TURQUOISE had originally intended to sing in Swedish, but no one in the band knew the language well enough so they stuck with French, their mother tongue. In any case, this LP is absolutely savage. A+++.

War Effort Path to Glory EP

Some pretty fuming hardcore, with more than a slight nod to Stoke’s favourite scruffbags DISCHARGE. A veritable who’s who of contemporary hardcore with alumni from LOST LEGION, CIDADÃO, and FUERZA BRUTA, which should be enough to whet your whistle. Furious and scuzzy raging against the dying of the light. Good gear.

V/A Heroes of the Night, Vol. 2: Punk, Pop & Wave From the UK Underground ’80–’84 LP

The second chapter of Reminder’s dig through the lost artifacts of femme-fronted ’80s power pop and new wave from the UK, and even more so than with the first installment, most of the twelve tracks here could only really be considered “punk” by proximity—the BLONDIE-esque girl-group beat of SHELLY STEVENS’s “Secret Love” and the WALK’s synth(etic) pop anthem “I Didn’t Catch Your Name” could have easily soundtracked a high school dance scene in some mid-’80s teen coming-of-age flick that couldn’t afford the rights to CYNDI LAUPER, and that isn’t meant as a slight, merely an acknowledgment. The driving post-punk moodiness of AQUILA’s “Fall” (think the AU PAIRS by way of the BANSHEES) is the notable outlier in this bunch and makes it worth smashing the “buy” button on its own, but the sassed-up SHIVVERS-like power pop from L’HOMME DE TERRE (“Get a Grip”), PLEASURE DOME’s sugary, keyboard-swirled twee (“Heaven’s Daughter”), and CHOIRGIRLS’ “I Should Have Kissed Him Then” (crystalline new wave, with the added eccentric twist of a Casio rhythm machine preset clashing with live drums) are all sweet-tooth treats, if you’re not adverse to such things.

Atentado Terrörista Demo Irrits CTM!! cassette

ATENTADO TERRÖRISTA (“Terrorist Attack”) are some energetic punks from Temuca, Chile. This is upbeat, pissed-off pogo with lyrics in Spanish, singing about various injustices, getting drunk, and skateboarding. For best results, play this tape in a boombox with a 40oz somewhere near it and get hyped.

Bladen McLaughlen + the Good Time Boys Good Time Noise CD

The experience of listening to this album is kinda like buying weed as a high-schooler. If you don’t know any better, a bag of schwag may not seem so bad, even if smoking it does leave you with a headache afterwards. If Good Time Noise serves as someone’s introduction to the wild and wacky genre that is punk rock, they could be forgiven for mistaking this as being decent, or even good. For me, it’s all stems and seeds. BLADEN MCLAUGHLEN + THE GOOD TIME BOYS can only be described as “boomer punk.” I have no idea if the band members are in fact boomers—nor do I care—but the songs they have committed to polycarbonate plastic substrate sound more dated than the medium on which they appear. One track begins with a George W. Bush sound clip, which is an odd choice of source material to sample in 2023, but I guess it relates to the song, which is titled “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” Pete Townsend would be rolling in his grave, were he not still alive. By and large, Good Time Noise is riddled with boring, mid-tempo drivel that is simultaneously over and under-produced, somehow. I’d have snoozed right through this one if the hoarse, grating vocals weren’t so darn loud. Most of the lyrics seem well-intentioned, but the title track is excruciatingly dumb, even for a drinking song. And then there’s the ode to Portland, Maine—a majestic place of stunning natural beauty that I now wish to avoid altogether for fear that this release is representative of its current punk scene. Yikes.

B-Side / Holehog To Have and to Hold split LP

Sacramento’s HOLEHOG and Boston’s B-SIDE (GLOBAL THREAT’s Bryan Lothian) have released a white-hot split LP, each playing their own take on UK82 street punk akin to CLIT 45, the VIRUS, and of course GLOBAL THREAT. Both bands really rip; HOLEHOG are a well-oiled machine with crystal clear production, razor-sharp riffs, and an angry and scornful message: the system blows. Check out “By the Throat,” a D-beat-driven blast of energy with a great breakdown and vocals that had to have left a sore throat. Meanwhile, B-SIDE takes a fuzzier and more raw approach, with songs about the trials of living in American society, from our relentless bombing of other nations and our inability to think in terms beyond black and white. On “Waiting To Talk,” Lothian enlists an unhinged guitar lead and demented vocals to great effect; it gives the song a paranoid and eerie vibe that fits the anti-colonialism message well. Overall, a very solid showing from both bands, but I really have to hand it to HOLEHOG here. Their sound is so dialed-in and so clean, it’s a great take on the style and I’ll be looking forward to hearing more.

Collaps Bully the Bully EP

Another co-sign from the veritable hit factory that is Mendeku Diskak—this reissue of the Berlin-based COLLAPS is perhaps not quite their bread and butter, but is an interesting prospect. Comprised of a variety of Berlin scene vets, this is an intoxicating mix of D-beat, hardcore, Oi!, and good old-fashioned P-U-N-K punk. Snotty, cerebral, abrasive, it’s good stuff, baby. Give it a go.

Consolation Repulsive Reflections EP

Third release by this geographically-spread UK hardcore band, although the second was a super limited lathe 7” with two songs which are both among the six on Repulsive Reflections. The first side of this EP mixes up crust-adjacent hammer blows (“Abstain”) and creepy crawl trudging that explodes into wild VOID-like guitar mania (“Theft II”), and to that end makes for a pretty clear bridge back to CONSOLATION’s debut tape from 2019. On B-side numbers “Free” and “Stolen,” I pick up screamo vibes—at least one member of the band has a background in the 2010s UK iteration of that scene—in the guitars and vocals, like an Ebullition Records version of, say, PERSPEX FLESH. Works a charm for me. Speaking of charm, I really like the variety of people named in the lyric sheet’s “inspired by” list, including Kano (the grime MC), Shon Faye, and Bernadette Devlin.

Dragnet The Accession LP

I sound like a broken record, but Australia is exporting some of the best releases in rock’n’roll at the moment. Gritty dance-punk similar to bands like BLOC PARTY and ADAM AND THE ANTS, but much more rustic, raw, and powerful. Drums and bass are massive and everything is just so damn catchy. Love the dueling harmonic guitars as they seemingly compete for attention with the keyboards. Somehow with all of this going on, the vocals still stand out front and center. Even within the chaos of having six members, the music never sounds cluttered or messy. Great stuff.

Empty People Empty People LP

You want to have your face melted? Start fucking with EMPTY PEOPLE. Imagine MAN IS THE BASTARD for past lives, with Frank Marchi (REDACTED, AGENTS OF SATAN, PLUTOCRACY) on bass and Eugene Robinson (WHIPPING BOY, OXBOW) on vocals, while the East Coast offers up Andrew Hernandez (ASRA, TOMBS) on drums. Noise-drenched bass/drum powerviolence mania dredged through ’90s KARP and/or NOMEANSNO…shit is unlike anything you’ve ever heard. Respect.

Frustration Nowadays / Winds of Change 7″

An exciting French post-punk band that describes themselves as “WARSAW meets WIRE meets the FALL,” and that couldn’t be more true of a statement. “Nowadays” opens up the party with an over-the-top energetic performance and a show of top-notch post-punk. The other side of the 7″ is a cover of BRUCE JOYNER AND THE PLANTATIONS’ 1983 song “Winds Of Change”. Weird, unhinged, and unapologetic.

Glittering Insects Glittering Insects LP

This album by Georgia psych-rockers GLITTERING INSECTS starts out with some jazzy guitar noise à la LIGHTNING BOLT, continues into something that sounds like early NIRVANA, and then goes full jazz with the addition of horns. This is all followed up with something that sounds like PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED. Around the midpoint of the album, a pair of driving rock tracks emerge with a heavy DISCHARGE flavor. As if all this wasn’t enough, there are dreamlike, shoegazing psych-rock moments interspersed throughout the album. “Obscure World After Death” is an absolute killer song. In all, this album is an eclectic collection of sounds that have a surprisingly smooth flow which you’ll be hesitant to interrupt.

Grin and Bear It / Musket Hawk / Sidetracked / Ugly split LP

This is a four-way split LP of grindcore punk rock. I don’t mean mincing splatter grind, or trigger-heavy technical grind. Classic thrashing grind, the best kind. I have a few four-way splits and they seemed mostly popular coming from Japan in the ’80s and ’90s. Anyway, this compilation of sorts starts off with MUSKET HAWK (Baltimore)—think GRAVES AT SEA meets POPULATION ZERO. Grinding crust. GRIN AND BEAR IT (Cleveland) plays psychotic grind leaning into powerviolence like DISCORDANCE AXIS meets CHEPANG. SIDETRACKED (Tacoma)—holy shit, this band has extensive releases. I know I was sent their tape Dweller for review. These tracks continue with halting, wild earhole abuse like AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED or CHARLES BRONSON, totally frenzied but denser and tighter than both. UGLY (Prescott) rounds out this day at the beach with echoing gloom-core similar to EYEHATEGOD, DYSTOPIA, or INITIAL STATE, but more to the rhythm of a metropolitan area collapsing. You’re getting a lot of grind/hardcore/PV bang with this well-rounded comp/split. We need more of these, again!

Lazertits Lazertits Are Cancelled 12″

A three-song LP from a four-piece, all-female band from Melbourne, in the spirit of the COATHANGERS and the earlier, rougher version of SLEATER-KINNEY circa Dig Me Out. All the tracks have a tough, self-assured riot grrrl presence, with the masturbation-themed “Self Care” closing with a metal-esque breakdown. I’m not sure how the three songs, clocking in under nine minutes, fill out 12” of vinyl, but I love any non-traditional formatting of music. It’s like a teaser sampling to check out the rest of their catalog, especially the full-length Not Punk, Per Se.

Old Old LP

It’s pretty funny for the guys from OG Toronto hardcore outfit YOUTH YOUTH YOUTH to do this “reunion”-type project and call the band OLD. A few decades after dropping their Sin EP in 1983, Rick and Brian from YYY are back to bashing out some straightforward, tightly-wound hardcore. The eighteen songs here continue the classic YYY tradition of calling out bullshit from various sources, but there’s a sense of humor present that they didn’t display back in the day, most pronounced in the name of the band and the song “Old,” in which they bemoan the timeless punk curse of physically aging when you still feel young. For completists, this will go nicely alongside the reissued Sin (and extras) LP that Blue Fog also put out recently.

Pandemix Love is Obliteration LP

For me, the all-angle, multi-vocal barrage is what keeps me listening to the latest release by PANDEMIX. With punk-as-fuck lyrics coming from every direction while the band smashes forward, it’s difficult to quit. “Pigs At the Trough” and “Scorched Earth Policy” are absolute bomb blasts of hardcore punk that’ll get you head-bobbing in swift order. A little more refined than previous releases, both in production and musicianship, Love is Obliteration still retains a healthy amount of hiss and noise.

Pilau Pressure EP

Pretty standard hardcore affair, but man, is this heavy as hell. Grindy and doomy with a little bit of black metal thrown in as well. Very nuanced, which is important when you’re writing a hardcore record in 2023. Has a little bit of a Southern groove to it, which is unique for a band from D.C. Recommended for all raucous pit-goers.

Primer Regimen Ultimo Testamento LP reissue

This is a 2023 repressing of PRIMER REGIMEN’s debut LP, originally released in 2018 on cassette by Discos MMM in the US and on vinyl by Byllepest Distro in Europe—now the great Discos Enfermos has taken care of them, probably for their European tour. Think about the things you did five years ago and wonder whether or not you would put them out now. This is basically what PRIMER REGIMEN did, and it tells you that they must be satisfied with the material. Why wouldn’t they be? It’s a well-recorded, tight, UK82-inspired record, balancing between crude melodies and straightforward hardcore rush. Nothing is complicated on this record, everything is set in order, yet there is a tension that fills the gaps and elevates this LP from the randomness of Oi!-influenced hardcore. It’s great, partly because it makes you wonder how these songs would sound live. Sadly, I missed them when they played here. but their records make up for it.

Red Mass Volume 4. Love & Magik cassette

Here’s the thing—Volume 4. Love & Magik is a cool, sultry garage/psych slog that sets a mood and sticks with it, the kind of release your (grand?)parents would have listened to in the woods (if they had record players in the woods), and it would have felt dangerous. But here’s the real thing…it’s not as cool as it should be. This should be a transformative journey into darkness, but instead it’s a lurching garage/post-punk jammer that’s like, you know, pretty cool. “Black Mass” is the only real burner on the tape and it’s shit-hot, but shouldn’t that one be creepy as fuck? Sometimes you should be able to admit when you want…more.

Repulsion Switch Repulsion Switch cassette

Egg-punk fries on, are you sick of it yet? Me neither! Especially when done well, as it is with this project from Spanish musician Gabriel Dolce. The drums are preprogrammed and buried way the hell down in the mix, in fact everything here becomes a bit soupy, giving it a blurry, psychedelic glow. This doesn’t sound so much from the bedroom as from a dungeon. It’s a merciless take on some folks’ favorite mutant offshoot genre that doesn’t let up, with crunching digital snare rolls and fuzzed-out-everything replete with a snot-nosed attitude to fill in the necessary cracks. So dig in, punk!

Shimmer Bed Divine cassette

An eclectic mix of punk, garage, and psych rock that culminates into an album that is rather difficult to pin down. Something about the off-kilter, pseudo-melodic approach reminds me of Hate Your Friends-era LEMONHEADS, but more loose and fuzzy. Curiously, SHIMMER BED shares a member with GREEN JELLŸ, the “comedy rock” band best known for their 1992 fairytale adaptation “Three Little Pigs.” How this informs their sound is not for me to say, but there is a level of proficiency at play that signals that these guys have been at this music thing for a while. Divine was recorded live in the studio, and that lends the album an energetic quality that suits the general delivery. A bit raw, a bit sloppy, but intentionally so from what I can tell. Stylistically, this seems rooted in a bygone era, blurring the line between punk and alternative rock. If in description that sounds utterly terrible, in practice it’s not so bad…but also not so good. SHIMMER BED is based in Los Angeles, and that makes more sense to me than anything else about this band. Inoffensive, milquetoast L.A. rock, featuring someone that made a name for themselves in the ’90s. Guess I pinned it down after all.

Six Cents Sacramento County LP

I find this record pretty interesting, while not being something I’d listen to again. They play ska-tinged pop punk and dirge-like mid-tempo hardcore—FANG and CRIMPSHRINE is what I’m speaking of. They formed in ’94, losing a main member along the way, and picked it back up to get us to today. The ’90s thing shows big time, as I can’t imagine the kids picking up on this style these days, especially with rap metal moments such as on “Skab.” I could see them on The Thing That Ate Floyd comp or even a Party or Go Home part four. I wonder if they were aware of bands such as SEWER TROUT existing in a similar sphere and in the same city. Maybe they played together? Who knows, but luckily you get some live songs to envision such things. Check it out. It’s much better than SUBLIME.

Stuck Freak Frequency LP

I imagine a lot of folks will like this record. The second LP from this Chicago act is eleven tracks of intricate (almost proggy) polyrhythmic post-punk that acts like URANIUM CLUB or VINTAGE CROP have made popular over the past few years. The music is smart, polished, catchy at times, tastefully noisy at others, with lyrics that take aim at contemporary ills while avoiding being too abstract or preachy. There isn’t much here that will rub you the wrong way. But it’s this lack of friction that I have a problem with. To me, this record sounds immaculate to the point of being antiseptic, impressively engineered but soulless. It’s pretty much the same complaint that I’ve lodged against another beloved contemporary art-punk act that I have to imagine is serving as a bit of inspiration here: PARQUET COURTS. Just imagine that band trading their affinity for dance punk and slacker rock for a love of TALKING HEADS and more overt DEVO worship. Again, it’s hard to point to any one thing and go, “That! That’s the thing that’s bad.” It’s more…well, I’ll just say this—every time I try to visualize what a fan of this music looks like, the image that keeps popping in my head is MSNBC’s Chris Hayes in casual wear. Does that make sense? Probably not.

Vejamen Aquel Que Creían Muerto cassette

This is the third tape from the German label Iniquity Records that I was given to review, and I must say that it is by far my favourite. More than this, I actually find it really good for what it is. I am aware the label is a small DIY unit dedicated to releasing rough, distorted, raw hardcore punk tapes for fans of rough, distorted, raw hardcore punk who want to listen to a tape of rough, distorted, raw hardcore punk to confirm the validity of their passion (I would argue that it is healthier than collecting Warhammer figurines, but I might biased on the issue). Joking aside, VEJAMEN deserves a bigger run. The band comes from Lima, Peru, and unsurprisingly delivers rough, distorted, raw hardcore punk with a Japanese crasher crust touch and, at times, a rabioso tupa-tupa Latino punk influence. I have to warn you that the sound here is rougher than a badger’s arse (and believe it, that’s already pretty rough) and that VEJAMEN do not mess about—this is real primitive, angry hardcore. Imagine a blend of early DISCARD, MUERTE EN LA INDUSTRIA, and demo-era GLOOM, then soak it in Atropello!!-era Peruvian hardcore punk à la AUTOPSIA, glaze it with some noizecrust distortion, eat the thing, regurgitate it, and make twenty copies of it. Et voilà! My one reservation is the almost systematic use of samples between the songs, which somewhat impairs the overall dynamic. I suppose you already know whether you are going to find it absolutely disgusting or thoroughly enjoyable?

Wasted Modern Lie LP

Formed in 1996 in Joensuu, Finland, WASTED re-records some of their earliest work here on Modern Lie. This ain’t no skin-and-bones punk, this is full muscle and gristle: “wrench tossed in the political machine” lyrics, bass bright and up front in the mix, with a combative rhythm. The band might sound like a darker version of NAKED RAYGUN, or something of the like, if it wasn’t for the clever, post-punk guitar riffs layered throughout, in addition to the poignant lyrics, like on the opener “Break You” where they sing “I bet they taught you about global wealth / But did they teach you about mental health.” “True Colors” has my favorite bass and drum groove on the album, while “Trenches” sounds like a call-to-arms anthem, not to be missed. Brothers Ville and Antti Rönkkö have written the band through six other LPs over their 25-plus years as WASTED, and they aren’t here to fuck around. If you need the last veil to be lifted on the first-world illusion of prosperity, tune in to Modern Lie.

Young Harts All I Got LP

Like most people in their mid-thirties, I’m a ’90s nostalgist through and through. This full-length really should be my bag, with its sound that sits somewhere between SHUDDER TO THINK and the early albums of SUPERDRAG. On paper that sounds awesome, and there are moments of brightness from track to track. Ultimately, it falls a little short for me, largely due to some real clunkers in the lyric department—”No need for lyrics / I’m an OGG” seems to sum it up on the otherwise snappy “Up in Flames.” There’s also the production, which sounds overly digital. On that same song, there’s what sounds like software reverb throughout, which takes me right out of the experience. The song structures are solidly built and the vocal melodies are generally the centerpiece, but executed in a way that shines a bit too over-affected. The overall sound strikes me as a band that probably would have made a competent tour opener two decades ago, but I’d probably go stand in the drink line during their set now. And lastly, the more plodding ballads have got to go, such as the acoustic “Still Shining” and album closer “Shun It Down.”

The Arson Project God Bless LP

Despite being established in 2005, the ARSON PROJECT broke the grindcore trend of releasing tons of splits and demos so they could solely focus on solid material, as this is only their second full-length. With the absence of modern bands like TRAP THEM that fused modern grindcore with other genres and created a demolishing sound complete with HM-2, the ARSON PROJECT fills that void greatly. A band that I would consider grindcore 2.0, as they take the blueprint of NASUM and make it their own. A solid album for the lovers of fast-grinding (anti-)music!

Béton Armé Second Souffle EP

Don’t think it is an exaggeration to say that this is one of my favourite bands still going, up there with MESS, FUERZA BRUTA and CASTILLO; they are the real deal. It seems a little reductive making the comparison merely owing to their shared Francophile nature, but this really does feel like a spiritual cousin to a RIXE EP—earworm choruses, buzzsaw guitars, and gang vox designed to be yelled while covered in lager. Extremely worth a spin.

Current Affairs Off the Tongue LP

Day-glo new wave sheen meets darkly shrouded goth gloom—blacklight post-punk? CURRENT AFFAIRS’ 2017 demo cassette primarily lurked in SIOUXSIE-shaped shadows, followed by a pair of 7” singles that leaned a little harder into jangly, tambourine-bashing C86 pop energy for a big-hair-and-eyeliner vibe that was closer to WE’VE GOT A FUZZBOX AND WE’RE GONNA USE IT than anything else. Off the Tongue is the Glasgow-centered group’s first proper long-player, and the deliberately-paced drama of these ten tracks mirrors the considerable length of time (a relative eon in punk years) that it took for this record to materialize. Joan Sweeney’s vocals are still belted out with a hyper-expressive urgency, but with songs like “No Fuss” and “Get Wrecked” running at over four minutes each, CURRENT AFFAIRS give themselves space to take more wandering, circuitous paths from point A to point B than what was afforded by the band’s earlier jumpy, wired-up anthems. “Right Time” is drenched in chorus pedal shimmer so thick that you can almost feel the fog machine kick in, while the stern, asymmetrical rhythms of “Cahoots” cut through any lingering haze like a fishnet-clad PYLON—I’d happily take a whole album of the latter over the former, but then again, I’ve never owned a can of hairspray in my life.

Dogma Disarm or Die 10″

I was supposed to put on a gig for DOGMA in June 2020, but COVID happened and they had to cancel their European tour. A real shame, since I see this Ottawa-based band as one of the best in contemporary anarcho-punk. In our day and age when being “insta-famous” is actually a thing, DOGMA sounds fresh, genuine, and humble. This is not to say that they are reinventing the anarcho wheel. Indeed, they would be serious contestants in a dove logo challenge, and I assume the title of this brand new 10’’ nods lovingly to POLITICAL ASYLUM. However, while too many bands used the classic anarcho-punk imagery and references as mere gimmicks, not signifying much else than themselves, I feel DOGMA’s overt tribute works. If it was a drink, DOGMA’s music would be a delicious smoothie called “ANOK Bonanza,’’ and their lyrics, while relying on traditional lexical fields, remain relevant and tackle modern topics. I am a massive fan of their first album—its upbeat yet moody dynamics convinced me instantly, and it has been on constant rotation at home. As a result, expectations were high, hopes were up, and anticipation was tense as I awaited the new record like you wait for a pizza at a restaurant: feverishly. Disarm or Die is different from the first album, though. It doesn’t look different (it is bordering on the self-referential, maybe not the best call), but it sounds different, just enough. The guitar sound has grown into something darker and more elaborate, and with the reverb effect on the bass, there are post-punk undertones. But stylistically, DOGMA remains first and foremost a British-inspired traditional punk rock band—thankfully, as the world does not need yet another generic goth-punk band. The songs are as delightfully catchy yet significantly longer and a bit slower, which allows for more space to work on the songwriting and the atmosphere. I love the hypnotic vibe of the very discernible, powerful, and almost spoken vocals, and how danceable and tune-oriented, and yet a little wistful, Disarm or Die sounds. DOGMA reminds me of many old anarcho bands (duh), especially with the very forward female vocals and that seemingly effortless catchiness and hooks. Blend ICON AD’s infectious tunefulness, A-HEADS’ passionate energy, NAKED’s songwriting flair, and INDIAN DREAM’s moody catchiness, and you’d be pretty close. Did I mention DOGMA covers ‘Witch Hunt’’ from the MOB? Don’t miss this jewel.

The Domestics East Anglian Hardcore LP

The DOMESTICS put a brand stamp on their specific style of hardcore with this release, like putting the best elements of old and new school hardcore in a blender: fast, raw, and brutal. Guitar solos are often stripped to just a quick pick slide before the vocal attack returns. “Purchases” and “Falling Apart” are both killer songs with interesting structures and tidy musicianship. If you like hardcore, then I guarantee you’ll like this.

Extasy Ira Total cassette

Said it here before, but I’m going to repeat it, because seriously, tape labels are the true source of today’s great hardcore punk—I’m tipping my hat to all maniacs who dare to release music, and these smaller tape labels who put out local bands are grabbing the essence of radical underground music. Previous Corona RX tapes made me excited to check out EXTASY, who turned out to be great, too. Pissed-off, rudimentary hardcore with a lot of mid-tempo, tension-raising flow. The songs are pretty simple, but they become lively when each element blends together. The lyrics are about a suffocating frustration, and paired with the raspy, shouting vocals, this aimless aggression fits well with the simple but bouncy riffs and tight beats. They remind me of radical hardcore bands such as CISMA. Tapes like this are the best—maybe the music will not spin your head with its novelty, but everything about this release just demonstrates why this is the best subculture.