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Hectic drums, powerful bass, and a sloppy, provocative voice with the violent urge of a televangelist on speed. It seems like the drummer is trying not to repeat the same beat twice, and the result is an atmosphere of anxiety and muffled howling, like a chemical hangover the morning after a party that got out of hand. Hardcore punk in the vein of the Lumpy Records catalog, but more aggro.
Bleed City was released as a promo tape before the LP Buyer’s Remorse comes out on Iron Lung Records. With a label like that releasing the band, you can already get a sense of where this is going. Harsh, bleak, and unfiltered aggression of hardcore as it was back in the day, with bands like INFEST or NEGATIVE APPROACH as a template. “No feel-good anthems here, just the downward spiral of a dark and bleak trip,” as stated on their Bandcamp. A couple of surprises on Side B in the form of a RUDIMENTARY PENI cover and a remix by Andrew Nolan from ENDLESS BLOCKADE, COLUMN OF HEAVEN, and INTENSIVE CARE fame. Excited for the LP to come out.
The guitars on this tape are sloppy pop punk with just a touch of reverb and an occasional bum note. The drums sound like a collection of cardboard boxes, pots, and pans. This is a sound I always associate with early ’00s bands like SHOTWELL or ADD/C. The whole thing sounds like an overdub of a bootleg, but SCROUNGER has great hooks and a sense of timing which makes them sound carefree rather than careless. At the Edge of Our Abilities is an easy, breezy ride on top of a punk rock freight car.
Croatian punks SENATA FOX started in the late ’90s and lasted through the ’00s, and this tape collects the entire recorded works they left in their wake—47 songs on the gnarlier side of the spectrum, with relentless pounding drums and dual screaming/monster vocals. With a thrashy and rabid attack, the band plays a type of hardcore that toes the lines of neo-crust, powerviolence, and grind. In this career-spanning collection, you can hear the band evolve from more of a straightforward fastcore style into the sarcastic, blastbeating beast they had become by the time they recorded “Death Metal Diet.” Kudos to Doomtown Records for preserving the carnage.
Equation-core complexity meets feedback-riddled, no wave drone jazz on this eleven-song release. Imagine the bewildering instrumentation of BOTCH or DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN (without the tough guy affect) accompanied by CONTORTIONS-style sax riffing. That sounds like a mess, but it’s cool. The vocals are strained and desperate, buried just deep enough in the mix that, although unintelligible, they occasionally offer melody if you mine deep enough. “Dead Beach Boy” is head-bobbing, stop/start dirge-punk that propels forward into noisy chaos. “Blab Eye Chops” has a repetitive bass groove that creates a rhythmic backbone to atonal guitar and sax squall that sounds like NAKED CITY playing on a falling elevator. Eclectic and innovative, punk at its core, SPECK experiments with the form to our benefit.
While this is reminiscent of the EXPLODING HEARTS, it’s decidedly softer. Still, the melodies are as catchy as the guitar riffs. It’s mid-tempo power pop with a jangly guitar thing that’s not quite as infectious as everyone’s favorite power pop/punk combo. At times, this has a certain PARTRIDGE FAMILY quality to it. If you think even for one second that that is anything other than high praise, you are mistaken. They’ve even got their ELVIS COSTELLO AND THE ATTRACTIONS moments. This is worth looking for.
I don’t have an inkling of how to speak the Finnish language, so I had no idea what to expect with this record. The cover art reminded me a lot of the mid-to-late ’00s indie rock scene, and to be honest, because of that, I wasn’t expecting much here. However, this album completely blew me away. Very sentimental, rustic dream-rock. I can’t understand what they’re singing about, but I can feel it with the hooks and melodies. For all I know, they could be singing about something absolutely brutal. Still, the songs ooze with tenderness and nostalgia. “Mun Sydän On” is the standout track, the one that caused this album to sink its teeth into me. For fans of SUGAR STEMS and GOOD LUCK. Wonderful stuff.
Poppy, noisy, synth-driven punk about ghosts, cryptids, conspiracy theories, and horror movies is a rapid summary of what Tommy Ratz of TOILET RATS does on this cassette. I would also describe this album as a romp through various levels of layered-up electronic fun. The instrumental delivery occasionally reaches epic levels, while the vocals croon and snarl in familiar ways. The song “Drug Bird” reminds me of a post-RAMONES Dee Dee side project or something generated by the SPITS. Then “Oskar & Eli” hits in a way that early 2000s pop punk does, finished out with “Walk the Earth,” a zombie-themed, darkwave toe-tapper—yes, please. Give me more.
The final entry in a massive three LP endeavor, Na Zawsze Punk 3 is Poland’s ULICZNY OPRYSZEK doing covers from old and obscure Polish punk bands spanning 1978–1998. Throughout the three albums, they deliver a whopping 79 songs, most of which were never recorded to any acceptable degree or previously released in any format. Instead, the band relied on tape recordings from the Jarocin festivals they grew up going to as source material. Jarocin was basically an annual Polish punk version of Woodstock that lasted throughout the ’80s and into the early ’90s and was a vital part of the genre’s existence in the Warsaw Pact nations during that era. They’re essentially resurrecting and documenting an entire forgotten timeline here for posterity, which is a wildly admirable effort. The music itself is a jungle of punk rock that leans into the various styles of the legion of bands who originally played it. There are some grimy old-school punk tunes, moments that wouldn’t be too out of place on a Fat release, Oi!, tinges of ’80s metal, and even a dub-style jam—it’s all over the place, as to be expected. As an added touch of class, each of the twenty songs on this record features a snippet of the original live recording of it before it, presenting it with a direct nod to its authors. The record comes with a dense booklet with info on the bands as well (presumably in Polish), completing the package. Nice little chunk of history.
On the second outing from Tampa, Florida’s WHAT ME WORRY?, they offer up two originals and a PAVEMENT cover. The cover is cool, but where the band shines is its other two offerings. “I Wanna Party With Bob?” is a friendly jab at the drummer of TILTWHEEL, who also hosts his own podcast called I Wanna Party With Bob. “Eckeled!” is the story of a houseguest overstaying their welcome. Fans of TOO MANY DAVES will find this very similar as the two bands share members, although I’d consider this more toned-down and less full-on party than the DAVES.
It’s been a long time since I’ve been asked to review an objectively awful release here, the kind of recording that you cannot find one nice thing to say about. Thankfully, my drought has ended with this shiny plastic turd from self-described “dissident punk” band AMERICAN THOUGHT CRIMINAL. Poorly played, poorly written, and poorly recorded melodic “punk” with slower parts that will make you wish you were listening to a fourth-rate, third wave suburban ska punk band’s practice tape. And the lyrics…hoooo boy, there’s a lot to unpack here, folks. The world where antiestablishmentarians and reactionary libertarian-fueled conspiracy whack jobs meet is a scary place, but the drivel voiced in songs like “The Enemy of Truth” and “Written on Our Face” is just a pathetic regurgitation of trite MAGA talking points (at best), the kind of nonsense that gives anarchists a bad name—ill-informed and misguided faux rage directed at invisible bogeymen and false flag pedophiles…it’s exhausting and annoying. The biggest crime here is that the music sucks so fucking bad that most listeners will never get to know how much the lyrics suck.
Ten seconds in and I’m thinking to myself that this sounds like some kids that want to sound like a glam band from the mid-’70s, or maybe they fancy themselves the next ROLLING STONES. Turns out this was originally released in 1975, so I was onto something. It’s fine, but it’s not knocking my socks off. The sound is a little thin for me and I find myself wanting them to pick up the pace. It’s just a little too deliberate. I feel like it was a good start to a good single, but they never quite finished the job.
The pissed-off punk clatter of Canada’s CELL DETH is pretty damn sharp. It’s old-school hardcore with an urgent and authentic feel, and the raw sound on this demo, with the intense vocals competing to be heard over the music, complements the style. My favorite moments here are the off-kilter stomp and cartoonish riffage of “Disposable Culture,” the blastbeat-laden “Climate Crisis,” and the furious closer, but the whole thing just rips on by and leaves a good taste.
Not exactly sure what can be (or even needs to be) said about a record that MRR released in 1987, which served as thousands of Western punks’ first exposure to DEZERTER and the larger Soviet Bloc punk underground. As a starting point, it’s still a near-perfect introduction— the four tracks from the Ku Przyszłości EP are absolutely timeless, and the live recordings from Jarocin (the first Polish festival to showcase punk bands) truly capture the band’s live mania (“Nie Ma Zagrożenia,” anyone?). Thirty-five years after its initial release, Underground Out of Poland is still mandatory listening for new punks and gets reissued every few years (as it should), but this one from Pasażer includes a massive booklet with photos and ephemera, so even the well-versed stodgy fucks who have the original will want to pay attention.
Hooked on the first play. After releasing a four-track demo as DISLI in 2021, this Valencian quartet has evolved so much on their debut LP Ausencia Ganadora, on which they revise their demo and add several new tracks. Pure Spanish punk with nods here and there to post-punk, but with an overall sensibility towards well-crafted and catchy songs. With members of FUTURO TERROR, MAUSOLEO, and MORENAS, DISCIPLINA LIMITAR gathers the essentials for a great band. Bangers from start to finish.
This is only the third release in seven years by ES from London, but in under an hour’s worth of music (to date), they’ve hit that sweet spot where a band establishes a singular and identifiable sound, but switches it up enough from record to record so things are retread-free. That sound, in short, stacks up spartan, rickety, vaguely creepy keyboards, doomsaying vocals, and a punchy post-punk rhythm section with no guitars in sight. It was a smash on 2016’s Object Relations and 2020’s Less of Everything, and so it is on the four-song Fantasy, but on the whole it’s a bit less goth and a bit more synth pop (“Too Late” especially), even if ES provides pretty screwed versions of both. The bass/drums-led “Swallowed Whole” runs at an almost anarcho-ish canter, too, which is what I mean about nice surprises each time.
Seattle-based record and book shop Hex Enduction reissues this band’s 1986 debut, originally an eight-song cassette put out by Green Monkey Records. It’s expanded here with two previously unreleased tracks, pressed to vinyl for the first time. Similar to the grunge scene taking shape around them, the FALL-OUTS pulled a lot of their inspiration from 1960s garage rock acts and 1970s punk. But if these dudes had copies of My War or Master of Reality in their record collections alongside their SHADOWS OF KNIGHT or UNDERTONES records, it ain’t coming through in their music. They lack any of the dourness you would typically associate with the Seattle rockers of that time, choosing instead to play their pop-punky garage rock very earnestly. It reminds me a bit of Tim-era REPLACEMENTS, but it’s also not a million miles away from what Lookout! Records would put out just a few years later (like, CRIMPSHRINE or early MR. T EXPERIENCE). I had a really good time with this, but I can also see folks cringing through a lot of the moments that I found super charming.
These Sydney darlings of neo-garage/egg, who began as a one-man bedroom project and got regurgitated repeatedly until spewed out as an unhinged live force to give the SPITS a slow jog for reigning synth punk deviant kingship, are back. They’ve made the big time (as in Goner Records) and will probably be played on repeat in every cafe and kratom-slinging vape shop in middle America real soon. Very deserving are they though, as this might be their best. It’s big car driving music, and no two places have long distances like Australia and the US of A to cruise and enjoy hits like “I Hate (Drivin’ in the City),” “Heart Throb,” and “40K,” as well as the engine-revving title track. I feel like I’ve said enough here, and you could have written this a million times yourself from your prime seat on the bandwagon. Just nod hello and keep your cool.
Six tracks of gross hardcore in the MEATMEN vein from this Perth, Australia band. The track list is probably the best litmus test for whether you will be into this or not; if you think songs like “Bomb the Hospitals” or “Small Hands Make the Best Clothes” are funny, you will like this. Their Bandcamp promises that “proceeds of sales will be donated to the ‘Second Chance Foundation’ to help re-home ugly children.” I’m sure the band finds all this hilarious. The music itself is thick, heavy hardcore with pounded floor tom beats, power-strummed chords, and slimy raw vocals, all interspersed with odd sound collages of crackling VHS tapes, patriotic songs decaying into noise, and self-help financial seminars. Standout tracks are “Drunk Fuck,” with the catchiest part of the tape in the refrain, “He only sucks when he’s drunk,” and the heavy bass groove that moves “Over the Hill” from mid-tempo chug to speedy D-beat. If well-produced, transgressively humorous punk is your thing, you could definitely do worse than GUTTER OIL.
Now this is a bit of an odd one. Or maybe not that much, as it cannot be denied that there is currently a trend in punk that sees the music go back to very minimalistic and primitive forms like those that could be found in the ’80s, when punks could not play and were unintentionally crude musicians. This band can be thought of in this light. Still, they’re a bit weird, but in a good way. HAMBRE comes from Mollet del Vallès in Catalonia and they are, quite aptly, rather mysterious. There is no bass guitar on this single-sided EP made up of four short songs of, supposedly, taoist hardcore (!), with lyrics dealing with foundational concepts from the Tao Te Ching (“Libre es el que no desea nada” for instance, which means “Free is the one who desires nothing”). Not exactly topics you see everyday on the punktube, but it confers a sense of originality and paradox to the band’s concept (the Tao Te Ching can hardly be said to have been a massive influence on punk or glue-sniffing). Is it just a silly pose? Well, I don’t think so, as HAMBRE plays minimalistic, fast tupa-tupa punk rock music, maybe not unlike some old Mexican bands, with vocals typical of old-school Spanish punk. Think REVOLUCION X and HEREJIA with a clearer punk rock sound and an obsession with simplicity. The demented artwork reminiscent of Asian horror is as bizarre as the band’s creative stance, and emphasizes the contrast between the taoist notion of harmonious selflessness and the utter madness of our psyche. Or something. I’m not sure the EP is good, but at least it is bizarre enough to be fresh.
Melodic hardcore punk that kinda runs the gamut of sounds. There’s elements of a little bit of everything here. The singer sounds like a mash-up of SICK OF IT ALL’s Lou Koller and RANCID’s Matt Freeman. This isn’t bad, and there’s definitely an audience for this kinda stuff for sure. That said, it’s not something I could see myself reaching to put on more than once or twice. Probably could have done without the OPERATION IVY cover…but that’s just me.
Three-track demo from LAST BIAS, a Tampa Bay, Florida four-piece. Tagged as a post-hardcore group, I can hear similarities to/influences from bands like UNWOUND or the JESUS LIZARD, but with a really gruff vocalist, more in line with traditional hardcore. I think the last song “Not The Same” shines the brightest of the three with its structure and riffs. Polish this up and let’s see what’s next!
First-time redux of the the MODEL CITIZENS’ one-off 1979 EP (originally released on John Cale’s Spy Records label), now fleshed out as a proper long-player with an additional eight live tracks recorded at the Hurrah and Max’s Kansas City in 1978/1979. The MODEL CITIZENS were part of the constellation of New York weirdos crafting dissonant, danceable, and gleefully asymmetrical sounds in the city’s late ’70s downtown squalor, approaching the music-making process as a conceptual extension of their artistic practices. The four studio cuts all wiggle around the sort of anxious, off-kilter rhythms favored by the best art-school-spawned American post-punk outfits of the era (DEVO, PINK SECTION, etc.)—the delirious, near-wordless shrieks and squeals from vocalists Eugenie Diserio and Gloria Richards that punctuate “Animal Instincts” make them sound like the big city evil twins of Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson of the B-52’S, backed by some perfectly trashy organ stabs that only reinforce that parallel, and the tightly-wound, violin and marimba-accented minimalist groove and neurotically yelped vocals from one of their male counterparts on “I Am Honest” bests early TALKING HEADS at their own schtick. Some of the unreleased live cuts are especially great (the Eugenie/Gloria new wave from hell call-and-response of “Do It Like It Matters,” or the serpentine, bass-led mutant funk groove of “Foreign Tongue”), foreshadowing what was to come from the projects that the MODEL CITIZENS ultimately splintered into at the end of their brief run (major label new wavers POLYROCK, downtown funk-punk combo the DANCE, the backing band for preteen post-punk queen CHANDRA). Yes art, let’s dance.
Three evil crushers from NEGATIVE PRAYER, for fans of GENOCIDE PACT, NECROT, and DISFEAR. “Morbid” is the standout for me here; a flurry of growling D-beat that pumps the brakes a minute-and-a-half in, detouring into a thrash-y chug before grabbing you by the throat and throwing you back into the pits (of Hell). Lyrically, NEGATIVE PRAYER isn’t exactly a ray of sunshine, but who wants that from their crusty death metal anyway?
Well, here’s a rip-roaring blast from the past. If you weren’t lucky enough to catch them within the brief window of their existence from 2006–2008, treat yourself to this absolutely blistering collection of raging USHC from NIGHTSTICK JUSTICE. Goddamn, this one really holds up. Twenty-four tracks compiled from three EPs and one long-player; the frantic hardcore on this cassette is up there with some of the era’s best like DIRECT CONTROL, STREET TRASH, and TEAR IT UP. Straight-ahead, no-frills, angry fucking punk. Stellar drumming, rabid shouted vocals, fuzzed-out bass, and riffs on top of riffs, on top of riffs! Listen to songs like “Control” or “Desensitized” and try not to smash anything. My only gripe is that they didn’t make more than 50 of these tapes. Grip one if you can!
Brooklyn, NY-based hardcore punkers released this solid eight-track EP in February 2023, aided by Roachleg Records. Filled with classic ’80s USHC nods and all its raw energy, giving us powerful, distorted guitars and good soloing, sharp, spot-on bass lines, and on-point drums with fast cadences, directly entangled with visceral vocals guided by the sharp drum cuts. A great surprise of ’80s-infused songs combining the most classic skate punk from all over, a hint of charged punk rock, and a fresh pinch of no wave in there. Put early AGENT ORANGE, DEAD BOYS, NECROS, and POISON IDEA in a blender and there you go. Suggested tracks: “Patriotic & Brain Dead” and “S.O.S.”
High-octane is the name of the game. South Korean fast hardcore infused with blastbeats and occasional D-beats. Highly energetic music with a very, very pissed-off vocal delivery. Sometimes it reminds me of a slower and less spazzy RAINBOWS OF DEATH. The shifts in style and beats only bring another dimension to their love of hardcore punk. Amazing debut display of modern hardcore.
This is it. The kids from Pittsburgh always know how to deliver it. This is just my thing: the whole thing oozes aggressiveness, you almost can touch it. Drums are like a horse’s kick in the head or a blacksmith punch, riffs are a blunt and overwhelming repetition topped with some razor-like licks, and the vocals are an invitation to take things outside. I can hear 2000s hardcore punk in here, bands like WASTED TIME, DIRECT CONTROL, or CÜLO, a corrosive way of playing fast and dense punk that you don’t find so often nowadays. With this kind of band, everything’s already said or written, so the best thing to do is try not to overthink it and just let yourself go. Dance, scream, break things, and go berserk. RAT-NIP already did it.
Raw-as-fuck steamroller hardcore attack out of Los(t) Angeles. They’ve been kicking behinds for a long minute now, and this is hopefully just a teaser of more to come, judging from the snappy title. Reminds me a lot of CONCEALED BLADE as well as the usual FIX/POISON IDEA comparisons, the latter whom they do a nice job of covering. Well, it’s 2023 and this shit’s sold out already. Give me more. We’re all waiting.
Sick Italian hardcore here from SILENT DRAMA. On this ten-song tape, the band mixes Japanese and USHC influences into their stripped-down approach, and the whacked-out vocals cement it as a memorable experience. “Ignorance is Blissing” is the stand-out track for me, sounding like a cross between Fuck Heads-era GAUZE and early BAD BRAINS. Snotty as fuck.
There’s a whole lot of noise here, but the most disorienting feature is the rapidly changing drums. Every time I’m ready to settle into a nice raging rhythm, they halt, change speed, or even switch entirely mid-beat. It felt like a student driver riding the brake all down the highway. The vocals arrive via a busted speaker with traces of static. The whole thing is accompanied by a generous (or excessive) use of sound bites.
Two-riff songs that last less than two minutes each, simple but effective guitars, and a voice that kinda speaks to you from behind a megaphone at a rally. I like the canned sound and how the bass takes over in the middle of “The Corner Room.” There are no pretensions here, just old hardcore punk with influences from the classic New York and Boston styles, but with a less solemn approach.
Based between London and Leeds, England is STIFF MEDS, who go in hard and fast on their debut vinyl release. Uber-fast hardcore punk with some powerviolence-esque time-fuckery thrown in for good measure. Exciting Violence drips with rage and aggression on all fronts— the vocals roar over tight-as-a-vice instrumentation (drummer Luke is the absolute best in the game in the UK right now). If you like it as fast as possible, STIFF MEDS is not a band to sleep on.
TÀRREGA 91′ is a band from the small town of Tàrrega in Catalonia. Their speedy, skate-friendly brand of hardcore is played in honor of a 1991 riot in which 86 youths were detained. Blasting like some of the best hardcore punk bands of all-time, TÀRREGA 91′ manages to blister their way through three fast songs, only to close things out with a welcomed mid-paced pummeler that uses all the primordial power hidden in those tom drum fills. Play on repeat and you’ll be stomping in circles, pissed-off and ready to butt heads. This is that authentic anarchist hardcore that primes the synapses for anything and everything.
More wacky, drum-machine-clad, DEVO-infused garage rock from our friends at Goodbye Boozy, this time featuring Australia’s TEE VEE REPAIRMANN. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it a thousand times: the best in punk is currently being exported from the Land Down Under. The rest of the world should collectively thank Strai’yah for their services to rock’n’roll. First half of this slab retains the traditional egg-punk we’ve all come to know and love, reminiscent of SNOOPER, ALIEN NOSEJOB, and CHERRY CHEEKS. The B-side features two slower ballads with a much stronger bedroom pop vibe. Really rounds out the EP as a whole. Great piece here, highly recommended.
An interesting single from VACUM, a pioneering post-punk band from Northern Sweden who were active in the late ’70s. After some digging into the band’s discography, I found a lot to love on their earlier releases. VACUM had a cool style, sort of a quirkier WIRE, or even JOY DIVISION with an additional female vocalist. They were active for a few years and seem to have had a small but powerful impact on the punk scene at the time. Years later in 2019, they re-recorded their track “Pang – Du Är Död!” (“Bang – You Are Dead!”) to celebrate the 40-year anniversary of their label Massproduktion. While still maintaining the general vibe of their earlier work, this updated version unfortunately doesn’t work as well. The production is a little too slick and the blaring saxophones during the intro and chorus reminds of third-wave ska, while the verses jerk back to icy post-punk mode, making for a slightly confusing listen. The B-side is an updated demo from 2014 which starts off well but is a bit bland overall. It’s a shame, because VACUM is a band worth looking into—this just isn’t the right place to start. Check out their debut Rädd För Tystnaden 16 Brottstycken Ur 5 Verkligheter for the good shit.
Scratch ‘N’ Sniff is the sophomore suite of songs from the WHIFFS, whom Dig Records have billed as “Kansas City’s foremost power pop foursome.” From the oft-mimicked Hard Days Night cover art to the above statement, I was not eager to like this, writing it off as parody. After tucking into each syrupy, twelve-string Rickenbacker-layered song, the record quickly became hard to turn off. This album reminds me of a lot of happiness that will soon get stuck in your head. The record seeps with great melodies and tight songwriting that becomes something more relatable and oddly familiar than first perceived. The album’s thirteen tracks each build on each other, without any weak filler. Sounds like the BYRDS covering the REPLACEMENTS, feels like Paul Weller when he rocked a turtleneck. Start with “Wanted” and “Pretender”—there is not a moment wasted, and the tracklist continues on with modern-world glee.
This is a mixed bag of tunes, some of which hit hard while some are actively annoying. NEKRA, a London-based hardcore band with a previous release on the excellent La Vida Es Un Mus label, kicks things off with a ripper of an opener. From there, a more melodic track from the Belgian outfit LAVENDER WITCH keeps things engaging. The rest is fairly forgettable, save for a cut by TIGER SEX, whose song “Food Porn” continually repeats “She got my brownies / She likes the fudge” as its chorus over a rote riot grrrl riff. Yikes. Definitely nothing here makes this an essential comp.
A.M.D. (ANTI MILITARY DEMONSTRATION) was a hardcore punk band based in Budapest, Hungary and was active around the late ’80s. This cassette, initially released in 1989, was recorded live, and while the audio quality certainly isn’t high-definition, it is certainly comprehensible. This tape is great—much like a lot of the bands coming out around this time, the guitarist has clearly been digging a lot of metal records, but this is hardcore punk through and through. Reminds me quite a bit of BGK at times. My only complaint would be that, at 42 minutes, it does go on a bit, but don’t let that dissuade you. Recommended for fans of classic hardcore punk with a slight metal bent (only slight).
Temuco’s anti-new-world-order, post-apocalyptic punks. D-beat merged with classic hardcore punk featuring members of INYECCION, with lyrics touching subjects such as modern society’s surreptitious decay and the macabre system we are in, chemicals in the water poisoning us, submission to heavy technology, and abusive social domination. Ranting guitars, crazy open hi-hat D-beat drums, and a desperate maniac voice trying to warn you about the geopolitical experiments of globalization mixed with violence and chaos nowadays. Really dig the format of the songs as cautions or presages of a real near future, but also depicting stuff from our present. Chileans sure know their hardcore punk, and this themed DIY band is a faithful example. Four-track EP in under six minutes. Go give them a listen and join the forces of ARGH in order to be prepared to fight a more than grim prospect (or perhaps is it too late?).
Sick. The BRATS’ once-obscure ’70s single (since reissued and sold out by Hozac Records) now graces us again thanks to this fine Italian label’s money. In case you’re not an obsessive ’70s proto-glam punk nostalgia nerd, the BRATS were the vehicle of very brief original NEW YORK DOLLS guitarist Rick Rivets. My well-aged peers might know “Be a Man” from the cover done by SF punk favorites the INFECTIONS. It’s definitely the better tune here, but the flip ain’t no slouch either, and the whole thing has a slightly warped sound adding to the whole platform-soled “Quaalude” stagger sound. If you’re like me and missed the boat on ingesting the Roher disco biscuits, this is a suitable, clearer-headed substitute that won’t leave you with the joy of questioning your bedmate’s name in the morning. Good stuff, punker. Pick it up.
Excellent debut LP from this Barcelona band that deftly melds full-throated hardcore with math, metal, and even post-rock influences. The record immediately smacks you in the head with opener “Morir de Asco,” orbiting through the same universe as CONVERGE and BOTCH; serpentine guitar figures piercing through raw hardcore. “Los Creyentes” features multiple time changes that reveal the band’s musical chops while escalating an epic build-up that rivals any heavy post-rock band, tempering beauty with ultimate audio violence. It’s awe-inspiring. “Futuro Final” layers pounding, noise rock kick drums with algebraic guitar that becomes near-catchy despite its intricacy, like a flashing knot of Christmas lights. Final track “Bajo el Mismo Sol” constructs a staggering wall of sound with all elements turned up to maximum volume and intensity that is a staggering end to a great record. Intelligent, consistently experimental, and extremely heavy, this is an exciting introduction to a band worth watching.
Angry and moody melodic hardcore from Seattle, Washington’s CITY OF INDUSTRY. This is the trio’s fourth LP, and according to guitar and vocalist John Caraveo, “Spiritual West is, musically and lyrically, the most honest, raw, and poignant piece of work I’ve ever done.” The lyrics are highly personal, and Caraveo sings and shouts them with an abrupt honesty, like he’s already lost his shit. I expected more songs like “Perruquier,” with dark, meandering synth, heavy mid-tempo drums, and droning guitar, which, past the three-minute mark, feels long compared to so many sub-two-minute tracks that chug at full speed. “Spiritual West” is the most confessional moment of the album, with Caraveo’s voice alone shouting over a hollowed-out synth line that’s repeated throughout the twelve songs. If sad and tragic with a touch of crust is what you’re looking for, check out CITY OF INDUSTRY.
Synth punk is another one of those subgenres that really needs to be dialed in so as not to sound stale, and this French solo project gets it pretty much right on the mark. Despite production that leans slightly toward thin, these songs are nonetheless meaty and efficient, ripping it up in record time with no fat whatsoever. It’s a nice buzzy blast of synth-driven punk, simple as that.
Finland has always been a hub for death metal and black metal, but what about grindcore? Is Finnish grindcore any good? The answer is “fuck yeah!”. Similar to their grinding countrymen ROTTEN SOUND, DEATH TOLL 80K has been relentless at the grindcore game ever since their inception in 2005. Taking cues from the likes of ASSÜCK, PHOBIA, or TERRORIZER, they take the crown as one of the most extreme grindcore acts at the moment in the absence of INSECT WARFARE. Unrelenting grindcore with a death metal feel to it, complete with pummeling drums and moshing grooves. Nine songs in eleven minutes. What more can you ask for?
Two peppy numbers of self-described mod/punk. I get more of the punk than the mod, but feel free to disagree with me. Super catchy, I found myself bouncing my head non-stop. I’d even say more power pop than mod. Super tight, I found myself putting this back on again and again. The sing-along vocals on the second track were particularly good, I thought. I’d go out of my way to find this one.
Would I have called my band DISEASE SS? Probably not. It is, truth be told, rather generic, and I am not a massive fan of having “SS” in a moniker (it makes bands’ shirts pretty much unwearable at dinner parties). But then, the name DISEASE SS definitely gives you a clear preliminary idea of what this Malaysian punk unit from Kedah is all about: the D will be beaten, distortion will be celebrated, and fury revered. The band comes from the same scene that has recently graced us with bands in love with the Swedish and Japanese sound like 13DAS, SYNKKYYS, or PARÖTID, so that when the listener is confronted with a tornado of raw distorted D-beat from that area, surprise is not exactly of the essence. Just another day at the noise-not-music office. Does it matter? Of course not, as DISEASE SS do well what they claim to be doing. If you are in need of a raw and wild take on LIFELOCK or DISCLOSE (whom they cover), significantly infused with the “dislickers” sound of bands like the Swedish DISCONTROL or early APPÄRATUS like Malaysian punks are renowned for, then this will be your thing. It is a niche, but a comfy one.
Including their 2005 split with the HUNKIES, Teraz is the eighth full-length album by this Polish powerhouse. EYE FOR AN EYE fires off ten tracks of their signature metal-tinged punk, with scorching female vocals and hardcore breakdowns. It’s obvious that EYE FOR AN EYE has been honing their craft for many years, and Teraz finds them at the top of their game. Alternating between brutal and melodic, each song feels like the result of the kind of chemistry that is reserved for long-running bands. The lazy comparison is to POST REGIMENT, due to the vocals and being from Poland, but EYE FOR AN EYE veers far more into an aggressive, metallic territory with lots of tempo changes and even some blastbeats. The production value on this album is quite polished, which detracts from the energy, but suits the mosh parts well enough. Overall, a strong effort from a group of seasoned hardcore veterans.
Pure noise. Call your friends, lock yourself up in a basement with mold and bad acoustics, try some acid, and play out-of-tune guitars and rusty drums. Then, record everything with an old phone while a maniac screams as if the world was coming to an end. The result would be something similar to the latest FÜKKHEADS work, an indiscernible maelstrom of din topped with a voice out of a psychophony. A crust pandemonium just apt for the demented and fans of the most unhinged DOOM tracks (kind of the same thing). The A-side is a 10:32-long recording of a cave show; the B-side was taken from a squat gig at an abandoned factory. It seems more fun to play than to listen to, but as they say: “This release is an existential cry for help as the human race accelerates towards complete oblivion, wishing to return into the mycelium network from once we evolved from. It’s ugly but so is this world!”. I agree.
Well, this is an interesting one. On my initial listens to this Melbourne five-piece’s debut, I was having trouble nailing down points of comparison. I kept landing somewhere among the contemporary no wave/post-punk scenes of Oakland and Portland. The four tunes on this EP are built around sparse, bass-driven grooves, and harsh guitars play more of a percussive role. So, in that respect they’re not a million miles away from the stuff LITHICS, the WORLD, or COLLATE have made. But it would also be a stretch to say this sounds like any of those bands. It’s more like GUT HEALTH takes that same minimal post-punk foundation, cranks up the tempo, and, instead of making something funky, arty, or cool, layers in goofy synths and exuberant vocal melodies to create something that’s unabashedly new wave pop. Listen to a track like “Lethargic” to get a good sense of the uniqueness of this act—I wouldn’t say this “Kids in America”-meets-JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS chorus comes out of nowhere, but it’s definitely not what you would expect given the first 30 seconds of the song. It’s a formula that I think ultimately works due in large part to the tightness of the band and Athina Uh Oh’s commitment to this vocal performance. I’d be really interested to see how well this works live. On record, though, it’s good!
