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The hardcore scene in Indonesia has been growing and growing the last couple of years. HAZED is no exception to the rule. Already with a demo under their belts, now it’s time for a devastating EP. They take cues from modern USHC bands that worship old-school hardcore like GLUE and make it their own. Angry and uncompromising, this six-track EP is a high-energy banger.
Yet another new band from Finland, from Oulu to be accurate. KIROS, meaning “curse,” is a young dynamic band having a go at tried and tested male/female vocal anarcho crusty hardcore. I had never heard of the band at all, which makes me think that there are probably dozens of promising (or unpromising, to be fair, but it does not really matter) Finnish punk bands to be discovered. This notion of an infinite supply of snotty Suomi punk is pretty romantic, but as far as I know the bands could be like Gremlins. Just get them wet (or more realistically get them vodka) and they just multiply. Helppo Ja Mukava Tapa is an entertaining listen. I don’t always understand what KIROT is trying to do in terms of songwriting as they include a lot of different influences, from metallic blastbeats, to mid-paced crust, to fast and direct anarcho-punk. It is a bit much to my ears and sometimes it sounds all over the place, not unlike that annoying guy who switches records every five minutes at parties. Less is more—a corny saying often uttered by uninspired musicians to make up for their lazy riffs, but it is relevant here. The album reminds me of a metallic take on ’00s Scandinavian anarcho bands like OPERATION or PARAGRAF 119, and more especially of early RAKKAUS. I like how the angry dual vocals work (I am a massive sucker for those anyway), and I am looking forward to hearing a more focused recording. I’ll be watching them.
With some power pop, it’s hard to dig deep and really dial in that critical ear. But dig I must, even when part of me just wants to say that like 90% of the genre this album is “fine.” These Londoners probably have the right record collections among them, with touchstones spanning from the ’50s R&B-indebted stabbing piano of the opening track to the more contemporary nod to GENTLEMAN JESSE on “Anecdotes.” Even when the band loosens the collar a bit with crashing guitars on a cut like “Keep Me Alive,” it sounds like they’re still on the leash. It just doesn’t punch through like I want in a good, modern rock’n’roll band. But that’s not to say there’s anything glaringly bad on this full-length. It’s just…fine.
Debut release from this Buffalo three-piece following a couple of short digital-only demos. Here you’re getting ten tracks of perfectly adequate, lowish-fi punk—a beige blend of early ’80s US punk, ’90s garage punk, and, like, late ’00s Fat Wreck Chords. Maybe the most memorable thing about this release is the band’s zany-face emoji sense of humor. Track titles include “You Can’t Fart On My Head & Get Away With It” and “Lemmy + Your Mom = 42.” LOL, I guess.
Great record from Swedish post-punk shoegazers. Very drifty set of songs, led by stabbing bass lines wrapped in soft vocals. The band brings a melancholic siren-song quality to Bracklig Jord, which, after doing a bit of research, looks like the band’s first full-length. All in all, the vocals from Sanna Lodin are the most resounding throughout the record. This is straight from the mid-’80s 4AD playbook. Worthy of many more listens.
Sydney, Australia’s the PARTICLES started in 1977, directly inspired by the punk’s year-zero explosion, but the trio of EPs that they eventually released between 1980 and 1984 responded to the “anyone can do it” call of punk with a much more playful and colorful palette: shards of spiky post-punk rhythms, smudges of proto-twee/pre-C86 jangle pop, insistently catchy melodies modeled after the ARCHIES and the MONKEES as much as the BUZZCOCKS. 1980s Bubblegum compiles all of the PARTICLES’ recorded material (everything from those three EPs, some comp and live tracks, and a few unreleased bits and bobs), and it’s an utter joy—if it wasn’t already apparent where the latest wave of OZ DIY bands like TERRY and PRIMO! sourced most of their crib notes, it should be now. 1980’s Colour In EP featured three minimalist pop songs with an understated post-punk tension, most notably on “Zig Zag,” where Astrid Spielman’s vocals shift from delicately airy to conversationally detached (think DOLLY MIXTURE/GIRLS AT OUR BEST) over a nervous and jittery beat that’s up there with anything bearing a Postcard Records logo. The PARTICLES’ drummer departed before 1981’s Advanced Coloring EP and the band opted to continue on with a drum machine, which, coupled with some dance-demanding DELTA 5/MO-DETTES-style bass lines (that groove in “(Bits of) Wood” is pretty undeniable), further aligned their sound with the UK’s concurrent femme-centered Rough Trade faction, while the group’s final 7”, 1984’s I Luv Trumpet, circled back to sparse, pastoral pop with the addition of bright, melodic horn parts (that title wasn’t an empty promise). The stark, stilted rhythmic jab of the previously unreleased “Family Life” might just be the highlight of the whole LP, and that was an outtake! The mind boggles at the depths of possibility. Such an important and worthy history documented here.
Swiss punkers PIG SWEAT bang out a barrage of sputtering and scrapping hardcore punk like a gut punch. Tracks are fast and furious, clocking in at around one to two minutes each, yet they are chock full of attitude with blistering riffs and changes. Some moments are mid-tempo jackhammers, others are blazing hardcore. A lot comes to mind here, from contemporaries GOLPE and EXIL to NIGHTMARE (huh, that’s the title of track three) and POISON IDEA. Guitars are in the higher register like DIE KREUZEN, while the rhythm section plays with a ton of heavy umph, think SEVERED HEAD OF STATE. The balance of punk rock groove and insane hardcore meltdown, all done, again, in just a couple minutes each, is impressive and concise. The outro track “Dictators of Austerity” is a perfect melody-churning send-off and seems like their ballad track—but it’s only two minutes! And it is just as impactful as the 45-second “No Aims” into the title track.. A fuckin’ winner from PIG SWEAT.
Good old “rager” there, mates. Bristol UKHC that goes full-on raging hardcore punk, coming near fastcore speed as well. Anti-conservative message in a British context and anti-politics stances with solid lyrics. Suggested track: “Feels Like the End,” for a padded cell experience.
It’s hard to deny interest in a release that offers a glimpse into the history of punk. Courtesy of Refuse Records, we get just such a peek in the form of a double LP compiling the output of one of Germany’s first hardcore bands to embrace the USHC sound. Among the 42 tracks, you’ll find covers of FAITH and NEGATIVE APPROACH, which is a good starting point for what SKEEZICKS were going for, but it also sets a high bar for comparison. More so than either of those bands, I hear nods to CAPITOL PUNISHMENT (especially in the vocal delivery), RICH KIDS ON LSD, and CIRCLE ONE. The songs are fast with a lot of gang vocals and palm-muted guitar riffing. Though not exactly youth crew, it came as no surprise to see that SKEEZICKS were straight edge. There’s a lot of material here! A few songs appear multiple times in varying versions, including some live takes. From what I can tell, SKEEZICKS had a blast during their brief existence and helped to pave the way for German hardcore bands like SPERMBIRDS and HOSTAGES OF AYATOLLAH. Fans of obscure bandana hardcore will want to give this a spin.
I’m a sucker for female-fronted punk rock. In this case, the band is all-female. I’m a sucker for bubblegum punk. It’s almost a fault of mine. (Some would say I should remove the “almost” from the last sentence.) So, it was a given that I’d like this record. And I do like it, but I wouldn’t say that I love it. It’s got this ballad/doo wop/’50s feel that just isn’t my thing. Here’s a fun fact: they cover the band HELLO, who I’ve never heard of.
From Novato, California comes SPAM CALLER with their second release. A slab of aggro, pissed-off hardcore, but there isn’t too much to latch onto here, either. Not bad by any means, but not super memorable to these ears. It’s worth your time if you like your hardcore angry and aggressive, but I didn’t come out of it with much.
Mouth of Madness has re-released the sole release by these Quebec death-grinders, originally from 2000. Recorded in their jam space, the sound quality is what you’d expect from the turn-of-the-century DIY metal cassette scene. Nevertheless, the hissy tape sound works for this raw, aggressive style. The pounding, marching drums are slightly forward of the relentless, fuzzy riffage. The two vocalists swap growls of mostly French hostility. Not sticking to the conventions of the genre, they make bold choices as on the track “Torturer,” where the bass and drums take center stage and the guitar hangs back through most of the song. Never fear, the guitar comes back toward the end with a manic, noisy vengeance.
TATXERS sound like a melancholy, rainy afternoon drinking beer at a pub in old downtown Iruña. Hiruzpalau Amets Larri was a breath of fresh air that hit every squat party in Spain last year. They follow in the tradition of the solid Basque Country scene, but with a brand new approach. The band is more influenced by the sense of melody and arrangements of the early records of punk pioneers ZARAMA than by the cornerstone of the genre in the region, ESKORBUTO—who were coincidentally named by ZARAMA’s singer, Roberto Moso. The guitars are playful and clean, with almost no distortion, snailing through repetitive riffs. You can see the trademark of Julen Urzaiz, engineer at Sound of Sirens studios and godfather to a handful of the new Oi! and Basque punk bands: KALEKO URDANGAK, STREETWISE, AGAINST YOU, HERDOIL. The four songs on this EP have that certain feeling of nostalgia in their own subtle ways, but without turning their backs on a powerful chorus and a fair share of rage. When I listened to Hiruzpalau Amets Larri, thoughts of green and mountainous valleys, old cobbled towns, and endless drizzle, but also riots and pub shows, came to my mind. It’s one of the most outstanding punk records I’ve heard in a long time.
There must be something in the beer out there in the Midwest, because I swear that region is consistently churning out some of the best pop punk. This has it all. Hooks, “whoa-oh”s, songs about drinking, cool guitar licks, melodies out the wazoo, a singer that has that kinda RAMONES yet kinda vaguely Dan Vapid-esque style while not being either of those things. This one is gonna be on repeat for a while. Solid album. I dig it.
Oddball five-piece from Slovakia with their second LP, Tlak. The music ranges from straightforward chuggy punk to post-punk-styled guitar lines to polka-tinged ska rhythms (plus a surprise ending). The singer wields a trombone, using a plunger as a mute, they all wear matching short-sleeved white shirts and striped ties, looking like begrudged office hacks, and they’ve collectively donned “Potreba” as a last name; has a cult formed here? I couldn’t find much in English about the band, but it seems like we have a group of middle-aged punkers giving it their all and having a bunch of fun (the live videos are really great). This release is available on CD or plunger-shaped USB drive (which also gives you their first album, V Rohu). Tlak is a pretty long album, so if you want a taste, try out the penultimate “Vypeníš,” which has a breezy, nostalgic air to it. And hold the front door! What’s that last track? “TRAPenie ľudí” is yes, a trap song, with all the auto-tuned, click-beat trap-ings. That’s a first for me in an MRR review. I’m out of answers, you be the judge.
In these post-everything times where there seems to be less and less room for truly idiosyncratic expressions, it is very pleasing to realize that there are still people playing with the space-time equation of underground music history, not to simply recreate greatness lost under the weight of memory, but to found new lineages of sound. Iowa’s WHY BOTHER? is just such a band, with a lo-fi sound that takes certain melodic ideas from late ’80s indie music (HÜSKER DÜ) and classic Midwestern punk, mixed with melancholic poppy hooks and, in this case, lyrics about unsolved murder. The result is shattering, an album full of instant left-of-the-dial anthems, with layers of synth that create eerie atmospheres for what is essentially a kind of mutant garage rock album. I read somewhere that WHY BOTHER? doesn’t play live, but I hope they keep producing music of this quality forever.
This album is a documentation of a gig played in Jarocin, Poland in 1985 by ZBOMBARDOWANA LALECZKA. Raw anarcho-punk merges into the hardcore lane without signaling, occasional psychedelic guitar fills a small gap in time, and you’ll find yourself bouncing to the primitive but tight rhythm section. The spirit of a “live” performance carries through on the recording and gives the songs a presence of a time and a place. At times it’s possible to hear the kick drum reverberate with the walls of the club as the crowd stomps and shouts along. ZBOMBARDOWANA LALECZKA created a style of punk that jams hard, unafraid to explore repetition, without getting too noodly, which makes for great background music or a full-on listening experience.
Four-way split between four different hardcore bands that all sound pretty similar. Typical gruff, tough-guy riffs written solely with the pit in mind. HUNDREDS OF AU stands out from the other three with more of a classic ’90s emocore sound similar to GRADE and early THURSDAY. The rest are reminiscent of the slew of Victory Records bands that were huge in the late ’00s. I’ve always loved this type of compilation 7”, but you really gotta diversify the sound if you want to make it interesting.
What we have here is apparently the fifth cassette in a series of annual compilation tapes released to coincide with an all-day event in Detroit, MI. Such a cool idea. Thirteen different bands, mostly all within the dingy, garage-y rock’n’roll world. I really like this concept and the event seems like it is probably a blast. Hell, some of the tracks on here are really good! My big gripe is that I can’t possibly explain which bands on the tape I like because there is no track listing to be found for this release—neither on/in the physical tape case, or anywhere online that I was able to dig up. There is a jumbled list of band names on the front cover, but no song titles and no way of knowing if I am to read the names vertically or horizontally as to which bands play in which order. I assume these tapes were made in bulk as a giveaway at the event, but I would highly recommend splurging on an insert stating the band names and song titles, or at the very least including a back flap on the cassette’s J-card cover listing all of the pertinent information. In terms of printing costs, I’m not sure how many more tape covers can fit onto a sheet of paper when you only have a front cover and spine for the cassette, but it can’t be a big enough difference to justify this level of confusion.
’80s Houston freaks whose only real-time output was sharing the backside of the first PAIN TEENS release, and who might have slipped into total obscurity had they not reformed in the late ’00s and recorded these tracks in 2011 for a CD release. Without dissecting too much, Digital Dark Age sounds like ’80s Texas punk—DICKS directness, off-kilter swing à la REALLY RED (with whom they shared a drummer)…the kind of punk that doesn’t sound like anything else. Fans of the aforementioned bands and/or CRUCIFUCKS, BIG BOYS, WIPERS, and the like will want to dig in here—a worthy vinyl reissue.
Three-piece band from Birmingham, UK who are specialists in the creation of a tortuous and aggressive noise. The rhythmic base maintains an almost mechanical rhythm while the guitar envelops everything with guitars that paint sonic landscapes as sharp as broken glass. The vocals are like that of a person chastened in hell. I really dig it. Check them out right now.
San Francisco’s CAGED VIEW has released two volumes of online demos from 2022 together here on one single tape, totaling seven songs of melodic post-hardcore. The band lists a number of heavy bands from the late ’80s and early ’90s as influences, but to my ears, it’s mostly FUGAZI-worship with a few detours here and there, which isn’t a bad thing! “Back Light Reflection” stands out in particular, featuring a feedback-laden opening complete with creeping bass line before the full crunch of guitars and nasally yelping vocals kick in, leading to a chorus that is surprisingly catchy. “Push” is cool as well, with a fairly punky direction that sounds like DAG NASTY and other Revolution Summer bands. Not my usual thing, but I dig it.
Six-track cassette from this lo-fi, female-fronted fast-paced post-punk/garage band from Chicago, with a touch of Aussies AMYL AND THE SNIFFERS in the intention and style of vocals. “Clock Me Out” is the choice track, creating the right amount of progression—sick bass line and tasty clocking guitars. Give ‘em a listen.
Debut release from this Milwaukee four-piece, whose sound defies classification…according to the album copy on their Bandcamp page. But to be as fair as I’m being reductive, these folks play punky indie rock. That’s not to say that they aren’t pulling from a wide array of influences! Over the ten tracks on this cassette, I’m definitely hearing a broad mix of stuff—the stripped-down garage punk of the GORIES, surfy new wave that’s part NERVES, part B-52’S, bluesy riffing, ’90s melodic guitar rock, post-punk, etc.—all assembled in a kind of rough-and-tumble manner that feels genuine and a little goofy but also cool. But that’s pretty much the whole deal with indie rock! In any case, it sounds like the band had a good time making this release, and those vibes were infectious. I really enjoyed my time with this. The aforementioned ’90s melodic guitar parts make up a bulk of the album and provide an extremely pleasant backdrop for the singer’s upbeat, sort of tuneless but still slightly out-of-key rapping. It’s loose and jammy—I imagine a good chunk of these songs grew out of kernels planted in some improvised sessions—and there’s nice interplay between all the instruments, but it always manages to feel amateurish and fun. I imagine these folks could absolutely turn a party out! Worth a listen.
Blimey, a reissue of the EJECTED’s first album, A Touch of Class. I know the name of the record was supposed to be ironic and tongue-in-cheek, but even that intent does not make up for the pictures of the lads with their girlfriends that already looked awkward in 1982. A rather tasteless choice for a cover, akin to your average chauvinistic heavy metal band. When I was a teen, I played this LP to death (I owned the 1996 reissue for some reason) because its simplicity, sing-along choruses, and energy really appealed to me, and as a consequence, I know the thing by heart. I cannot say that it aged well, though. Overall, it is pretty sloppy, if not generic. It does get the feet tapping, but it could be out of nostalgia and my natural disposition to love naive ’80s British punk, as there were objectively much better bands at that time. The lyrics are what you would expect from an Oi!-inclined UK82 band, about being working class, being fifteen, fighting, England not being dead, and not having 10p. Despite all this, I still get goosebumps when I listen to the shower-tested “Carnival,” a quintessential teenage punk song with an unlikely, out-of-tune reggae moment right in the middle and a chorus that just goes “Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah.” There are two ways to look at A Touch of Class and at the EJECTED. If you think that Riot City Records was the most meaningful ’80s punk label and that getting hammered in front of a brick walls is a way of life, then you can probably already sing along to all the EJECTED’s lyrics, and if you buy this record, it is just because you could not afford the original version. If you are just looking for some solid, tuneful, old-school British punk music but are not a fanatic of the genre, then you can definitely find better bands to listen to.
This is the debut full-length from Polish metalcore band FORESIGHT. This is pretty by-the-numbers ’90s-style metalcore here, nothing more and nothing less. Not very much here really grabs my interest, truthfully. The musicianship is competent and if you’re into this kind of thing it might be worth your while, but I don’t dig it very much.
Noisy, fuzzed-out, pogo-inducing punk from upstate New York. Early GAI and SWANKYS come to mind, through a backbeat of DISORDER and CHAOS U.K. Nothing less, nothing more. Snotty, fast, and dangerous primitive hardcore. Extra points for the CHAOTIC DISORDER cover.
Montreal’s JOCK comes out swinging with this one. Originally released digitally in 2020, this one ultimately got a cassette release in 2023. Seven tunes of aggro, whirlwind hardcore assault. The Bandcamp description uses AGNOSTIC FRONT, NEGATIVE APPROACH, and Youth Attack Records as stylistic comparisons, which should give an idea of what you’re in for. I also hear a few sprinkling of fellow Canadians URBAN BLIGHT. If all that sounds appetising to you, which it probably should, I would recommend that you give this one a spin.
German punk rockers LAFFF BOX are difficult to pigeonhole into this or that genre. Driving hard with distorted vocals and a noisy, twin-guitar attack, they switch from rollicking, mosh pit punk on tracks like “Master” to a more melodic, mid-tempo rock vibe on the very next track, “Just a Fool.” The rhythm section stands out, providing a bedrock foundation for the chaotic guitars. One of my favorite tracks is the stripped-down Motörpunk rager “Restart the Program.”
I am a little torn about this one. Not so torn that I would lose sleep or talk about it to my shrink (God knows he’s been through enough), but circumspect enough to be unable to judge if Ordem Imaginada is a solid or average ’20s hardcore EP. There are some elements of the record that I cannot help but find rather generic in terms of production and songwriting considering the current creative context of hardcore punk. On the other hand, it would be wrong and unfair to discard LASSO, as their third EP is objectively, taken as a singular work (out of context, so to speak), a good hardcore punk record. And besides, as a massive fan of orthodox D-beat, I should be prone to love generic music anyway. LASSO’s work sounds angry and very energetic, the seven songs flow with ease, and there are enough shades of hardcore paces (and even some dissonant moments) to please every clique. There are strong elements of the furious years of Italian hardcore like IMPACT or INDIGESTI, but I can also hear some ’80s Mexican hardcore like CLAMOR INEXORABLE or MELI, and even hints of the hardest branch of UK82 punk (say CRIMINAL JUSTICE)—all brilliant influences on paper, but I guess the effects on the vocals and guitars are a little too overwhelming for me, and it actually impairs the raw and direct quality of the songs. I wish I understood Portuguese, because I am sure the band has a lot to say about Brazil.
Baltimore’s MALLWALKER have compiled their unreleased studio recordings along with a live performance on their Danger cassette, sadly released in unfortunate circumstances as a memorial to their late lead singer Sarah Danger Underhill, and released at her memorial earlier this year. As the band graciously chose to honor her by releasing this tape, those who missed the chance to see them play live will still get to enjoy these stellar songs. MALLWALKER played classic punk with a sneer and a big two fingers up, reminding me of CRASS, SEX PISTOLS, and U.K. SUBS (whose “Tube Disaster” they absolutely crush). Sarah rants and raves with sarcasm and wit, mostly preserving her scathing barbs for the likes of creeps in the punk scene, from emotionally draining partners (“Taker,”“Spell It Out”) to gaslighting perverts (“Hunt You Down”). She even saves some venom for mom and dad on the clever “Parent Trap,” a big eyeroll to all the rules given to you as a youngster living under their roof. For someone who never knew Sarah or saw MALLWALKER play live, it’s easy to see and hear what so many people miss.
Kyiv-based MORWAN’s third release of post-punk/darkwave was recently made during the most challenging circumstances any band could face (for obvious reasons). This is Alex Ashtaui’s document of life during wartime, and for that reason alone, it should have your full attention. The record pounds an atmospheric, tribal, surf-inflected psych sound into each track, addressing war and the havoc that surrounds it. The cassette needs to be heard in full, with each song building on the next. It is one of the more impressive pieces of music that I have heard this year. Start with “Полетіли” and “Земля палає,” and it’s hard not to see the importance of this recording.
On the strength of NIX’s four-song debut demo, this one’s no-messing, no-frills hardcore with velocity and bellicosity. The bona fides of the lineup—Reid Allen, Andy Bottaro, Dan Bulford, and Tallulah Hoffman—does not render this a great surprise, but NIX sounds in a real attack-dog mood here, and ensures this eight minutes is only predictable by virtue of how good it is. Tuned down pretty thick and rarely exceeding mid-pace, it’s a textbook example of how to do gruff, burly HC without throwing in metal flamboyance or beatdown sections, and on “Gospel for the Modern Age,” an almost melodic hook pokes out of the maelstrom, along with the sung refrain “Turn my body into dust.” NIX feels very much like a band who are a product of the 2023 London scene—or conversely a few of them, from the Knuckledust/LBU old-timers to so-called NWOBHC acts like ARMS RACE to the fresher likes of ANTAGONIZM.
This is a nicely packaged unreleased 1996 album by unknown SoCal sillycore band OUTAHAND. Who, you say? It’s a speedy fifteen songs in like twenty-something minutes. Movie sound bites, rapid drum beats, clowny vocals, and some melodic moments are all included here. They played with the likes of RKL, GOOD RIDDANCE, and NO USE FOR A NAME, which is a great predictor of what your ears will encounter. Not much joy is sparked here. I’m not really sure if this warranted more clogging up of the pressing plants, but if you ever owned a pair of baggy shorts or colorful Ray-Bans, this could be just what you needed.
The OWNERS play pop punk so smooth, so harmonious, it veers into power pop territory. The squeaky-clean sound on their self-titled LP contrasts a bit with their world-weary, jaded presentation, but it’s not a dealbreaker or anything. The vocalist has a big, swing-for-the-fences style, which gets a workout since most songs break the two-minute mark. That length made me feel like they lost steam at a certain point. I mean, it’s not Hidden World, but still, punk favors brevity. The lyrics often have a real story to tell and it’s easy to get swept away by the rants and reminiscences.
The Pain & Pleasure LP by PARANOIA is a compilation of songs from cassette tapes that were originally only available directly from the band during the mid-’80s. PARANOIA plays a type of punk rock that is heavily influenced by goth and post-punk, and at times even explores the prog rock field. There are portions of this album that remind me of PENDRAGON or other prog bands that used fantasy-based fiction to create sonic environments. Looping riffs that seem to continue endlessly before exploring another, while vocals explore lyrics about swords, battles, and other medieval imagery.
Powerviolence out of Albuquerque that draws comparisons to SPAZZ and CAPTAIN THREE LEG. Great barking vocals more reminiscent of youth crew than grindcore. Drums and bass sound huge on this and drive more of the record than the guitars. That might sound counterintuitive for a hardcore album, but it works here. Groovy as hell. I may be biased, but bands who reference Altered Beast in any way get a gold star from me. My only complaint is the samples at the beginning of some tracks. I know this is a classic grind trope, but it kills the momentum on such a short record.
Heavy-metal-infused party punk rock from Dekalb County, IL. Mostly pretty formulaic, with a couple of little curveballs thrown in that are likely little goofs between the band members—for example, the intentionally sloppy blastbeat part of their song “Scumbag Black Metal.” That one makes sense to me, but the disco beat on “Red, White, and Brew” is over my head. With song titles like that, I kind of imagine everyone more or less can tell what they’re getting into with a band like SATIN BLACK.
Hard to believe this dropped ten years ago, but here we are, and To Lie A Lie is giving new life to this Arizona powerviolence slab. Ten tracks, overloaded with low end and a lumbering, awkward approach to the fast part of the equation, while the slows just hit you in the gut and then take up residence there. This record still crushes, their approach to PV is legitimately unique and totally holds up…but it would be a copout to review the record without noting that the band name has always sucked and still does.
I really liked this band’s debut self-titled full-length, and was excited to see what they’d cooked up in the past couple of years. I’m mostly happy to report that while the sound is just a touch slinkier and snakier, it maintains its core of driving rock‘n’roll that carries echoes of giants like the ROLLING STONES without merely staley worshiping at the altar. The recipe hasn’t been tweaked much, the guitar work relies heavily on that back-and-forth boogie sound lifted from classic rhythm and blues music for decades, and the drums keep your ass wiggling throughout. What I will say is that I’m missing some of the warmth and recklessness of the band’s debut. Everything’s dialed-in and tidy, but that’s not what everyone wants from rock‘n’roll, is it? With some extra polish, I feel more distanced from the material. It lacks the immediacy, the broken glass on the floor, the stains on the bathroom stall door at a really great dive. Maybe that’s all artifice in itself, but if I get to choose the dream world I live in, I prefer one with cheap drinks where I can smoke inside. This time around, it’s more of a signature cocktail lounge and I’d better take my cigs the hell outside or else.
Synth punk is a style that was born perfect. Distilled down to its most primordial elements, it can be taken and re-created over and over again, and you know what? It is made of such noble stuff, that the results are always highly enjoyable. In the case of TELEGENIC PLEASURE (a band composed of members of the GAGGERS, ISOLATION PARTY, MONONEGATIVES, and MISCALCULATIONS), in addition to the aforementioned genre potentialities, you can expect the great talent and experience of such prolific people to generate great songs. And there are plenty of them on this album. Think of the unbridled energy of LOST SOUNDS and the fun and snotty attitude of late ’70s bands from the San Francisco and Los Angeles scenes. Plus, they have an excellent cover of Canada’s the DEMICS that is sure to become a cult classic.
German noise rockers TRIGGER CUT have really gone through it during the last few years. First, a devastating fire at their rehearsal space destroyed all their equipment and the early recordings for this album. Through determination and the aid of six (!) community-organized benefit compilations, they finished Soot, their third record. The band then hit another snag when starting their UK tour. Due to post-Brexit bureaucratic red-tape bullshit, they were turned away at the border, sparking international concern about the treatment of foreign touring bands, even appearing in mainstream publications like The Guardian. So, it has been a lot for a small touring band, but how is the album? It’s really good. “Water Fukkery” kicks it off with a mathy, DON CAB-style riff that explodes into trebly, sandpaper guitar and spoken/shrieked vocals like SHELLAC. “Soot Song” begins with fire alarm guitars that then run through several movements of hold-and-release tension that end in a quiet, chiming outro. “Slipstream” might be the perfect TRIGGER CUT song: it opens with a catchy figure and rolling drums, moves from textured guitar and hollered vocals down to near silence, and then takes off again into full-rocking mode. The songs are complex and emotional, and while not necessarily melodic, there is a compositional arrangement that is always interesting. A compelling and exciting record throughout, and a testament to tenacity. I’m glad they stuck it out.
Re-recording of a seminal and classic V2 track alongside one new one, “Car Crash.” This appears to be a predecessor to a forthcoming full-length in the works. The band has reformed somewhat recently, with the only original member being the guitar player. Nonetheless, the tracks sound good and have ’77 Manchester written all over them.
Debut release from Victoria, BC’s WHITE COLLAR. Nasty-sounding anti-capitalist tracks from the city of the newly dead. Aside from the UNITED MUTATION vibes and perhaps some influences borrowed from the Crass Records and Riot City catalogs, it’s also reminiscent of ’80s Montreal mutants CAPITALI$T ALIENATION. WHITE COLLAR not only sounds pissed-off, but reminds us of the ugly realities of our society.
The first thirty seconds of this cassette might lead you to think that you’re in store for some doomy stoner rock, which is most assuredly not the case. Instead, WILLFUL DISOBEDIENCE plays fast and aggravated punk rock with bouncing bass lines and shouted vocals. There does seem to be a subtle metal influence creeping in, but I think it’s just the way the drummer uses a china cymbal to accent certain parts. The song “Butthole to Butthole” inexplicably sounds like a DWARVES B-side and detracts from a release that otherwise seems to have fairly thoughtful lyrical content. All in all, this isn’t terrible, but it’s hard to commend something so average in a time when there are multitudinous bands pushing the boundaries of what punk can sound like.
Four songs recorded by members of ZLODZIEJE ROWEROW, APRIL, and OREIRO as a tribute to their friend who passed away in the summer of 2020. Rather than write some songs of their own, they chose to play some VERBAL ASSAULT and SERENE songs and record their own lyrics. I can only guess that perhaps these were among some of their fallen friend’s favorite songs and the lyrics are in remembrance of them. The songs are sung in German so I’m just assuming here, but the last line of the last song is sung in English with the words being “We say goodbye,” so I’m pretty sure that it’s a safe bet that I’m right. All in all, it’s a cool way to honor a friend.
The URINALS started Happy Squid to release their debut 7” in 1978, but this 1980 label sampler effectively foreshadowed some of the scattered directions that the members of the band would follow as they drifted further away from ramshackle punk into the ’80s, from their soon-to-be reinvention as tense post-punks 100 FLOWERS to the moody college rock of DANNY AND THE DOORKNOBS and TROTSKY ICEPICK. The EP leads with three tracks directly from the URINALS family tree, starting with a perfect half-minute of the parent group’s primitive bashing (“U”), followed by DANNY AND THE DOORKNOBS’ “Melody,” a dark, lo-fi punk jangler like the URINALS gone Paisley Underground, and then an organ-buzzing improv noise instrumental called “Get Down, Part 4” by ARROW BOOK CLUB (actually the URINALS incognito). For the remaining three tracks, things are turned over to a handful of URINALS peers from the L.A. underground—VIDIOTS (featuring Rik L Rik on vocals) offered “Laurie’s Lament,” a speedy, Dangerhouse-style burner that’s weirded-up midway with a PERE UBU-ish synth break, PHIL BEDEL’s “Caterpillar Stomp” is squelching, instrumental post-DEVO synthwave, and NEEF rounds things out with a lengthy (the EP’s entire B-side) neo-musique concrète jam. Punk to waaaaaay beyond punk in just six degrees.
I remember catching this band in 2016 in Croatia or, to be more accurate, I remember having a great time and being quite impressed by them, but actual details are largely lost—I think they played toward the end of the No Sanctuary fest, which was pretty much an obligatory summer migration for crusties in Europe. This album is the nastiest, meanest record I have heard this month. AHNA comes from Vancouver, has been going since 2008, and is the best example of a band successfully blending stenchcore and old-school death metal. They keep the best of both worlds in a seamless fashion. While the majority of bands conducting such a perilous experiment generally fail because they merely make either an angrier dis-oriented version of death metal or a more technical version of stenchcore music with too clean a production, AHNA’s sound is an actual brew which can appeal to both punks and metalheads. If it does sound like a herd of disgruntled, possessed hippos ravaging your hometown, the tastefulness and the mastery are obvious if you are a fan of crust. This is basically how a dark and desperate cocktail blending death metal and crust should be prepared. If BOLT THROWER, SACRILEGE, DISMEMBER, and AUTOPSY engaged in a brawl at the release party of a split between CRUZ and LIMB FROM LIMB, it would be pretty close to this. Crimson Dawn has a thick, dark, and macabre vibe, but still sounds like it could angrily bite you in half like your studded punk friend can tear through a vegan kebab at 2AM after downing eight pints of lager. I especially love the raging work of the two vocalists on this, and singer/drummer(!) Anju does a magnificent impersonation of Tam from SACRILEGE. The best I have heard, in fact. This album was originally released on CD and cassette in 2020, but the always reliable Phobia Records had the good idea to do a vinyl version.
This split EP is a really fulfilling piece of plastic. AUTOBAHNS deliver two delicious Killed By Death-style gems of crude and fun punk, while S.G.A.T.V. has a knack for infectious synth punk that reminds this writer of the best LOST SOUNDS ditties: chaotic and melodic at the same time.
It’s not often a post-punk band is able to find a groove and ride it to the precipice. BODY MAINTENANCE from the United Kingdom is able to find a groove quickly and jam their icy guitar work into the darker corners of rock with their danceable rhythm section. KILLING JOKE meets the SMITHS in a back alley rumble: cold, spacy, and full of hard-hitting twists.
