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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!
Six-track LP from these Belgian hardcore punks, filled with anger and versing on anti-fascist and anti-racist ideals. From Oostakker near Ghantes, BURNING KROSS delivers violent and fast-paced hardcore punk with crust and D-beat references and deep bass vocals ready to fight. Extra points for the album cover art featuring a KKK scumbag receiving a burning cross right in their torso.
After countless rip-offs of either the TOMS or (god forbid) BIG STAR, power pop’s luster has really tarnished for me over the years. Then I throw on this record, and initially my scuzzy punk brain is saying “too shiny, sounds too good!,” but then I realize this is what I’ve been missing for years in power pop. It’s still referential music, to be sure, but it’s referencing heyday ’90s power pop bands like TEENAGE FANCLUB and especially BUFFALO TOM. So I’m suddenly sitting up straighter in my chair, realizing this is something I didn’t think I’d ever hear again! A band with chops, a singer with loads of character, harmonies, and complex arrangements that hit. It takes a fair amount of confidence to put out music this sincere, and I’m totally here for it. To me, it’s tougher to write an honest-to-god ballad like “The Night” with some wavering fragility to it that beats out a hundred leather jacket ’70s-worshiping ironic rockers. This is so far the biggest surprise of the year for me, something I didn’t even know I was looking for, and I can’t wait to spin it all over again.
Holy shiiiiiiit, this is what I want from teenage punk! Snotty, fast, raw swinging in-yer-fukkn-face Brooklyn punk of the highest order, the CUT-UPS do everything that they’re supposed to here (including the “These Boots are Made for Walking” cover, for fuck’s sake), and I’m hoping that future releases (or endeavors) are going to be even better. I Hate is straight fire—highly recommended.
When I pressed play on the opener “Carry With You,” I was hit with a drum machine and a dirty, farty synth line—like something you’d hear on a NINE INCH NAILS record—then Haley Himiko (PLEASURE LEFTISTS) came in with deep and dark vocals, crooning through the mechanical soundscape from Noah Anthony (PROFILIGATE), Christopher Brown (CLOUD NOTHINGS), and Paul Ryan (solo project under his name). A little coldwave, a little goth, a little synth punk, and a lot Cleveland. Songs are on the longer side, the shortest being three-and-a-half minutes, so you get good mileage out of these four tracks. The last song (“Make a Wish”) has a music video, if you want to see the team at work. I believe this is the first recording from the group, and I hope they keep at it. Lovers of the off-kilter and avant-garde, apply within.
The A-side is a mid-tempo garage punker with dark vocals that sort of remind me of JOY DIVISION. It’s good. It’s not great, but it’s definitely good. The B-side is a very average cover of the UNDERTONES’ classic single from the late ’70s. It’s delivered at a slightly slower tempo than the original, but for me the real issue is that they don’t do anything with it. If you’re going to cover a classic song, you need to really make it yours. Do something with it. Unless your goal is to be a cover band…
Split between two hardcore outfits out of the UK. There’s a little bit of a grind/powerviolence element here as well. FRISK is reminiscent of early CEREMONY, while LAST AFFRONT has more of a D-beat edge mixed with NEGATIVE APPROACH. Really love the vocal stylings from LAST AFFRONT. They’re unique and help them stand out from the mix of other bands who have done this type of hardcore countless times in the past. Otherwise, nothing really groundbreaking here. Worth a listen if you’re a moshcore junkie.
Out of Malaysia, this four-piece delivers hardcore punk that reminded me of POISON IDEA, SLAPSHOT, and to a lesser extent, CRO-MAGS. This five-track EP comes fast, hard, precise, and political. A good example is the track “Edu-Cash-It,” which insists “What you have to seek is the education / But it’s been misused for their greed.” An excellent choice for fans of old-school hardcore with a thrashy twist.
This band with members from San Francisco and Oakland delivers vibrant, crusty hardcore punk, with pinched, aggressive vocals and high-pitched guitars that deliver rocky riffs all around. Drums are on-point with bass lines that never seem to stop. The Bay Area continues to give us fast hardcore punk bands. Favorite tracks: “GTFO” and “Hiking Stomp.” Catch them playing live, as it must be a thrill—this cassette exudes groove and aggression.
Melodic punk heavy on the crunchy guitars, with vocals that give ‘em just the slightest redneck tinge, like NINE POUND HAMMER on a slowed-down ’90s Fat Wreck tip. Super pro recording, and it’s hard to deny the chops—nice and simple gets the job done here.
This is a cool one: punk from Tel Aviv sung entirely in Hebrew. JARADA plays tough and heavy hardcore songs about the oppressive system they live in, and boy, do they seem pissed. Each and every song here is angrier than the next, and rightfully so! These guys are living in a world of corrupt police, religious extremism, and general apathy towards it all. Sound familiar? Loud, fast, and hard is the name of the game sonically, each song pummeling forward with crunchy riffs and hoarse vocals, and even though I don’t understand the language, I can understand loud and clear what these guys are expressing in songs like “Inertia,” or the excellently titled “Tear Down the Settlements and Sentence Their Leaders.” If you like your music politically minded and desperate, check this out.
Genuinely weird shit coming out of Buffalo, NY! I couldn’t turn up anything about the band, so it’s unclear who all is involved with the project—their Bandcamp profile pic is just an image of what appears to be a teen plucked straight out of one of the audiences in The Decline of Western Civilization. In any case, this appears to be their debut release. It’s eight tracks (a quarter of which are sung in French) of what I would primarily describe as USHC, maybe on the skate rock end of the spectrum. But the production is pretty bizarre—the guitars are both thin and really fuzzy, while the vocals, which are pretty buried in the mix, sound like they were recorded in an abandoned mineshaft. Then, every so often a really faint keyboard kicks in, or a “Careless Whisper”-ass saxophone lick, or even a TALKING HEADS-esque vocal melody. Really bizarre stuff, all of which is wrapped in a J-card seemingly signaling you’re about to listen to some playful European post-punk. I don’t know that I loved this, but I’m certainly fascinated by everything about it.
First off, this EP’s cover is a still from Electrocuting an Elephant, an early 20th century film in which, you guessed it, an elephant is killed on screen. If there’s a good reason for using this image, the band doesn’t provide it. Yuck. Luckily, the edgelord antics end there. The rest of the album really splits its time between plodding hard rock riffs and brittle pop tunes with a menacing bass-and-drums undercurrent. This band could be playing something from the Doolittle outtakes and the rhythm section would still sound like it’s about to throw a floorpunch. The last track is a thrashing noise piece whose lyrics consist of the singer screaming “beans!”—the whole record is filled with this back-and-forth between sillines and severity.
Oh Jesus. I could be totally wrong, but this reeks of a one-man bedroom project where some technically knowledgeable human decides to put down the video game controller, make self masturbatory guitar music (debatable), and put it out to the world in hopes of gathering praise or in a sadistic attempt to force one’s art (debatable) down people’s throats. Sure, you could say this about much of the great black metal music of yore, but this ain’t that, my friend. If you check online, you can even see videos of this talented soul self-stroking his stringed member over a video game rhythm section, and it’s very much a Guitar Hero version of thrash metal punk with some prog moments. Message to our readers: “If you feel the overwhelming urge to put your homemade laptop music on a viable punk format and send it in, please don’t. Thanks and goodnight. -RR.”
I think it takes a certain level of self-awareness to be able to acknowledge when you just truly do not understand something. I wholeheartedly admit that MISCOMINGS from Seattle are very much that for me. Structureless, angular, plink-plunky, riff-less guitar licks over math-rock drums that incorporate blastbeats, disco beats, and many things in between, with vocals repetitively yelped on top. Kooky, artsy no wave/noise rock that leans into that nu-metal-feeling groove pretty heavily. Maybe it’s just over my head and I’m missing something.
The first in what is (hopefully) a series of releases celebrating the early works of underground Polish dark/post-punks ONE MILLION BULGARIANS. Brooding and cold mechanical wave sounds with a bass-heavy recording and a deliberate, plodding pace, this collects recordings from 1986, at the very beginning of the band’s run. You know SIEKIERA…right? Considerably less accessible, which is precisely what makes this release so compelling.
Stripped-down, discordant, gnarly noise punk with screamed vocals. The tunes on this tape are not quite as disgusting as its cover art, but almost! Nothing subtle or melodic here. PIGMILK blazes through seven tracks faster than an electrical fire in a slaughterhouse, with nary ‘a one cracking the two-minute mark. Most songs are uptempo and brisk, but don’t be shocked by the occasional breakdown or off-kilter interlude. There’s something slightly left-of-center lurking beneath the surface, gurgling up in the angularity of shrill guitars and subverted harmonies. This is evident in “I Tried,” which is the most overt nod to emotional hardcore. “Know Thyself” reels that impulse in and delivers a no-frills ripper. Good stuff. Analogous with life, this demo is brutal and over before ya know it.
The latest release from PSOAS of Buenos Aires consists of eight tracks with a unique approach to thrashy fastcore fury. Airy, psychedelic, cleaner garage-rock-sounding overdriven guitars, screamy vocals, a hint of psychedelia at times, but somehow doesn’t scream “math rock.” Reminiscent of the weird side of the tail-end of Y2K thrash, buried somewhere in the 625 or Sound Pollution catalogs with bands like the SPROUTS, MIND OF ASIAN, the FUTURES, or earlier period MELT BANANA, except with better breakdowns. Recommended.
Poland’s RED CRAP brings you traditional punkabilly with a little bit of a surfy goth-rock edge. The kind of band you might see at a hot rod show or a very large tattoo convention. Recording quality is fantastic, but that isn’t automatically conducive to an interesting album. While the talent is obviously there, The Truth is Still Out There is chock-full of old punk tropes that we’ve heard hundreds, if not thousands, of times before—very reminiscent of the early Fat Wreck bands. They would have fit in well with the Lookout! crowd in the late ’80s and early ’90s, but at this point we’ve heard this all before.
New San Francisco hardcore punk band featuring members of ACRYLICS. Stylistically, this is nothing new, nothing mind-blowing, but the heavily distorted riffs are catchy enough that they feel very familiar and I have heard them running through my mind since my first listen. Staying mostly in the mid-tempo range, SIMULATION plods through these four songs, and as soon as it’s over, you’re gonna wanna flip the tape and listen again. Pretty cool first release, and I can’t wait to hear where they go from here.
SMRT RAZUMA (“death of sanity”) brings the “new age of darkness,” or so the title of this Croatian band’s debut claims. They play heavy crossover with a well-mixed balance between the thrashing riffs and a hardcore bounce of the toughest order. After two demos, this debut solidifies their thirst for chaos. If you miss POWERTRIP or want an alternative to ENFORCED, you should look here!
Malaysia-based SPLIT TONGUE leaves a good impression on this 7″. The style is Oi!-tinged hardcore punk, not dissimilar to bands like 86 MENTALITY. It’s raging, it’s driving, and it gets the blood (not to mention the fist) pumping. This is a super solid record, and I really look forward to hearing more stuff from these guys. Recommended!
TOXIC RITES have a sound based solidly in the anarcho-punk tradition with a similar delivery to CONFLICT or ACTIVE MINDS: straightforward punk rock with all the speed and aggression intact. Lyrically, TOXIC RITES uses logic-driven dialogues to progress ideas about social, economic, and environmental concerns. Check out the song “Modern Nightmare,” it rocks hard and is as honest a message as you’ll find these days.
TULIPS are from Germany, they love both Sylvia Plath’s poetry and SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES, and they are able to create songs of ethereal beauty, where they spin a constant tension as if an eminent external danger was about to engulf us all. More than a band, I consider them painters of urban landscapes in the style of German expressionism, searching for ineffable beauty at the bottom of an abyss.
With maybe the best emotional/melodic hardcore band name ever, WITH ARMS STILL EMPTY puts out all twenty songs from their tenure of 1998 to 2002; the sweet spot of the genre. Think of bands like DEATH BY STEREO, THRICE, DROWNINGMAN—fast, technical guitar riffs, probably a drum kit with a million pieces, call-and-response screamo vocals that shift into sung harmonies, you know the deal. I can only digest this type of music in small doses, indulging my angsty inner teen, so listening to the whole discography in one shot was a bit of a slog. But for fans of the genre, and the band, who apparently had a good run in their heyday throughout the Midwest, this may land as an important piece of history. Again, I think they really nailed the band name, and the songs are just as good, with titles like “Even With Warrior Screams,” “Every Goddamned Butterfly,” and “Lunar Fuck, ”and while I may be laughing, you know these dudes were dead serious. Jump in with both feet or pass on by.
Seven DICKS standards from all over the globe. The lineup is mainly European, by way of Melbourne and Connecticut. I could go 30/70 with the material—there seems to be a feeling left with some of the recordings that the bands (hello, GOODBYE JOHNNYS) could very well have punched a clock before the process began. The EP, however, is not devoid of meaty morsels that do kill from the heart (jesus, sorry). La Rochelle’s BART & THE BRATS’ cover of “Fake Bands” is a savage kill, and BRAT FARRAR replicates “Dead in a Motel Room” with a tone and feel that would make Gary Floyd proud.
The Los Angeles punk scene seems to be going through an atypically fertile period. New interesting bands are sprouting up all the time these days, a lot of which seemingly center around a handful of hyperactive weirdos who can’t help but compulsively start new projects. Take for instance this act, brought to you by the same folks behind DIODE and the FREAKEES. They play a cool mix of classic L.A. punk, funky hardcore, and jazzy no wave, sans saxophone. The five tracks on the release zip by in less than ten minutes, but they’re jam-packed with ideas and generally well-executed. I really dig this vocal performance, too—kind of a mix of Darby Crash, James Chance, and I’m even detecting a bit of Dave E., though every so often they throw a little more affect onto the delivery and it dips a little into Ian Svenonius territory, which I’m less into. Still, this is a solid release, and I’m stoked to hear more from them!
Here is a brief little three-song EP from the San Antonio-based AMYGDALA. Some parts on here sound like a typical fast hardcore band, some parts have mental blastbeats, some parts sound like melodic stadium crust, and some parts sound like weird 2000s metalcore. It’s a lot of stuff squeezed into just under four minutes of music, but I think it’s cool. Would recommend this if you’re into any of those things I mentioned.
Fourth full-length coming from Tyler Fassnacht’s solo project BABY TYLER, and it’s got all the energy, grit, and unpolished punk that’s only getting better with age. This is one of those COVID bedroom endeavors that has carried on and proved to be something special; the brazenness of ALIEN NOSEJOB and hooky songwriting skills of (fellow Tetryon-er) RICHARD HAMILTON. Speaking of the label, Tetryon is a cassette-only subsidiary of Feral Kid Records and has lots of fun up-and-coming artists, even encouraging bands to submit demos, so check them out! Back to BABY TYLER: for a taste, listen to the closer “E.E.L.” with the chorus “And it feels as though I’m caught in the undertow / Of everyone else’s life,” which rings like an anthem. This music makes me want to take out the trash. It makes me want to stomp around and feel good. Get your hands on this one.
Here’s another one to add to the growing number of emerging Oi! bands: BLESSURE from the Basque Country. BLESSURE is refreshingly female-fronted, and plays a post-punk brand of Oi! with wiry guitars, rumbling fuzzed-out bass, and leftist lyrical content (at least that’s what you’d gather from the “A-C-A-B!” chanting chorus on opener “Ils Sont Partout”). BLESSURE keeps it sparse and simple, even cold at times and bordering on deathrock; check the icy synth on “Ça Suffit.” Overall a solid effort, although I can’t help but feel like if they leaned into the deathrock/goth sensibilities more, they could stand out a bit more from the crowd. That said, I’ll be looking forward to hearing what BLESSURE puts out next.
Absolute monster release from DC trio CHILL PARENTS—a steady, four-on-the-floor hardcore hybrid that’s heavy and relentless. I realize that as a generational subgenre, this is not unusual, but it still strikes me when I hear modern anthemic hardcore/punk mingling with early ’90s Sub Pop hooks. I prefer when the band opens up (see “Dissipate”). but it’s the contrast that sets them apart (see “Migraine”). Only 25 copies on cassette, but there’s a CD, too (and a digital version of course, because it’s 2023).
The Berlin punks of CIEŔN have discovered the secret to darkwave punk rock by featuring chunky, dirty bass guitar so far forward in the mix it creates an instant need to dance, while the vocals deliver real messages in whispers, shouts, and harmonies. The lead guitar occasionally drifts far into space but returns with a stabbing vengeance to highlight key lyrical moments. There are a lot of “influences” that I hear on this album and naming a few would belittle the wealth of it, so check it out and find out what you hear. I definitely recommend the song “Glass Houses.”
This is one for the collector nerds. DA SLYME was Newfoundland, Canada’s first punk band, and it’s one of those deals where biker hippie-ish outcasts heard the SEX PISTOLS and decided to drop any RUSH aspirations to stick safety pins in each other’s body parts. I’d compare them to the CHILD MOLESTERS or even the FUGS. They appeared on a Smash the State comp and copies of their original double album goes for mega bux, causing many nocturnal omissions for the Graham Booths of the world (love you, Graham). They did the homemade spray-painted thrifted record cover thing that San Francisco’s BLACK HUMOR did so well, and they repeated the art for a limited number of this new collection. I do appreciate the existence of such a historic artifact, but It’s honestly really hard for me to get through. There’s definitely moments, like “Violence, Anarchy, Baby, Mother, Daddy-o, Dig,” but it’s pretty dated and a lot of the jokes fall flat. It’s a nicely put-together “labor of love”-type package that’s definitely worth looking at, but it’s already sold out everywhere, of course!
Atlanta punks DINOS BOYS’ 2022 single “Holy War” / “Don’t Mind” gets the vinyl treatment on Crossbar and boy, what a treat! Two straight-outta-’77 tracks that bring to mind any number of CBGBs mainstays. Both sides are super catchy, but A-side “Holy War” is truly an earworm, with a chorus that will be rattling around inside your head for days and an outro that would make the RAMONES bop their heads in approval. Side B is a cover of obscure Japanese power poppers the RAYDIOS’ “Don’t Mind,” and while I can’t speak on the original, this version is like Stiv Bators fronting the HEARTBREAKERS (those guitars!). Highly recommended!
Been listening to lots of interesting and vicious D-beat and Oi! coming from France lately—something must be happening in the streets and local DIY/underground scenes in that European country, you can feel a very exciting effervescence incomparable to other places of the so-called First World. For yet another example, we have this brilliant demo cassette from FAUCHEUSE, an excellent hardcore band from Bordeaux, a city which has already become one of the world’s D-beat powerhouses. This band presents five absolutely thrillingly addictive tracks; please pay special attention to the tour de force that is “Ville Interdite.” It’s a brutal but deeply melodic D-beat sound with a pub-rock or generally dirty and fun rock’n’ roll vibe that I really dig, and that refreshes that ol’ D-beat sound that we love.
You know who they are, you know it’s good, but still allow me to dive in with my big critical brain to this freaky little handful of tunes from TEE VEE REPAIRMAN and GEE TEE (more accurately, frontman Kel Mason). These tracks are lo-fi, crunchy joy bombs that sit precisely in the uniformly excellent discographies of both artists. Killer originals, cracking snares, and buzzing guitars—there’s even a trick ‘r’ treat of a cover of the BOYS’ “First Time” to put in your bag and check for hidden razor blades. It’s always good to see this loose coalition of bands keep the spirit of early ’00s garage punk alive and supercharged into the now. I won’t throw around the usual references, but this is the type of attitude that first turned my ear to this style and it’s just getting better.
Oh my. This is one hell of a record here, folks. Melodic hardcore coming to us straight out of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Akin to the SUCIDE FILE and very early EVERY TIME I DIE, this album just feels like it’s from the South. I mean that in the best way possible, attributing this to their heavy use of twangy, jammy guitar leads. Bouncing between groovy, catchy, dissonant, and downright violent, Slogan Machine features some of my favorite lyrics I’ve heard all year—a lamentation of a lack of community within a “community.” At least that’s how I interpreted it. Maybe I’m just jaded. Great stuff here, and very much recommended.
The latest LP from Cleveland’s the HELL consists of ten tracks of pure fast and furious hardcore punk, like a sober, Darby Crash-fronted Pick Your King-era POISON IDEA, but too Midwestern to avoid DIE KREUZEN-ness. With energetic bursts of ferocity, the guitar sounds like they stole their vintage guitar enthusiast uncle’s amp and blew out the speakers because they couldn’t make it sound loud enough. No-frills, no bullshit, no metal, straight-ahead hardcore attack.
Creeping, raw, and vicious is how I’d shortly describe INYECCION’s sound. Hailing from Chile and Argentina, these punks create a form of hardcore that is an absolute blast to listen to. Bashing drums, chaotic vocals, and grinding guitars are perfectly arranged to create a form of punk crudo that I want more of. This EP maintains a similar sound to INYECCION’s earlier demo, but with a tighter and more refined presentation. A collaborative release between Barcelonian label Discos Enfermos and Japanese label Record Shop A-Z, this EP is well worth adding to your collection as the packaging is a work of art on its own.
You know when you spend a couple of hours listening to and reviewing some interesting and unique records and you think “man, punk is so varied and it’s cool that bands keep pushing the envelope and finding new ways to create and project sound!,” and then you pop in a tape from a band from Maine and it’s like four-and-a-half minutes of raw, distorted noisy D-beat hardcore recorded in a fukkn barn with the wildest guitar solos ever and you think “nah, fuck that, I just want to have my ass blown out of my speakers repeatedly until I can’t walk straight.” That’s what just happened to me. It can happen to you, too. Listen to KOMATIITE.
This is one for the historians, for those of us who dig, excavate, exhume, dust, analyze, and present to the (often ungrateful) masses. Of LEUKÉMIA, I had only vaguely heard their 1987 demo tape, a prime example of fast and raw, angry ’80s hardcore from what was then called “the Eastern world,” at a time when punk wasn’t exactly welcome there. However, I had no idea that the band had kept going until the mid ’90s in a rather prolific fashion. Kivül is a tape reissue of the band’s 1991 demo (there was a vinyl reissue last year). Gone is the hideous original cover (thank fuck), as this tape has a cracking new visual that looks much more enticing. Like many hardcore bands at that time, LEUKÉMIA had left the “play fast or die” approach to their music, and this recording saw them go in a decidedly crossover thrashcore direction with plenty of changes of paces and riffs. To be honest, I actually like the faster, pummeling, thrashing metal-punk moments, as the many progressive technical moments are completely lost on me—there are just too many things happening and, as granny used to tell me, “you’re a simple man who loves simple things.” It is pretty obvious that at this point LEUKÉMIA had become good musicians and strove to progress. I guess you could file this between ANARCRUST and ACID RAIN DANCE on one side and late ’80s US crossover on the other (for my ears untrained in thrashcore). An interesting piece of punk history from a scene we hear too little from.
LIFE IN VACUUM is very much alt-rock of the ’90s: a big guitar sound with a touch of punk in its louder moments. The songs can take a minute to arrive at the big, stick-in-your-ear chorus. Before that, you’ll get some very pro, pretty verses to provide the build-up. LIFE IN VACUUM could coast on that alone, but they keep the arrangements and guitar lines novel enough, which I appreciated. It’s not a gimmick, but it’s not a cover…they’re bolstered by the singer’s ability to carry both a tune and an anguished roar in equal measure.
This is a reissue of the last album by this Barcelona punk band, originally released in 1997. Formed towards the end of the ’80s, MISERIA Y KOMPAÑÍA created a body of work that is already considered a classic among Spanish punk connoisseurs. I suggest you listen to their fierce 1989 demo called …Y En Un Mal Día, and also give their split with SPATEK a chance. Unlike their early work, which had a more lo-fi and frankly brutal intensity, Mundo Muerto has better production values and more inventive arrangements that give it a very interesting creative variety and make those blastbeats harder. There is also a more marked melodic turn and even forays into ska. If you like Latin American punk, MISERIA Y KOMPAÑÍA is a band that definitely influenced the sound of that region, and this final album is a good entry point to their work.
Skuzzy, tough punk from Vienna. Not as fast as REGULATIONS or as tuneful as the VICIOUS, the OBSESSIONS are still somehow reminiscent of both. They keep things tight in the pocket with mid-tempo but propulsive beats, a wooly thick guitar tone, repetitive vocals, and driving bass lines. A sense of exasperated frustration cuts through in the stark choruses and punctuated hooks. I kept waiting for a blazing fast face-melter to kick things up a notch…but that never materialized. That’s just as well, because the OBSESSIONS still rip in their own way, trading in speed for attitude and anxiety. Best kind of bad vibes.
Neocrust is the perfect soundtrack for a post-pandemic world in which darkness seems to engulf every aspect of our day-to-day lives—there is always a glimmer of hope in the lyrics and songwriting, with its heavy-to-melodic riffs. PLAGUE THIRTEEN plays heavy and sludgy crust that leans towards the more melancholic spectrum. Filling the void left by neocrust agitators LINK (their previous incarnation), they follow the steps of TRAGEDY to early NEUROSIS. Soundtrack for the days of no hope.
On the second edition of their 2021 demo, Copenhagen’s PLEASER blasts out three sub-two-minute bangers. If you put a guttural metal singer up front, this would be a straightforward thrash/crossover band, but it’s not. A mix of shouted and melodic vocals from the two frontwomen form a menacing yet playful sound. Vocals ride over deathrock guitars, drenched in reverb, and super splashy drums—there’s a jitteriness at work, paired with catchy lyrics and downright push-and-shove rhythms. Kind of a riot grrrl thing, but more metal? BABES IN TOYLAND come to mind, or the more current band MAUDIT DRAGON who I reviewed a while back. This has the making of something very good. And before you ask—yes, their debut is on the way. Look for the self-titled LP this September and pre-order now!
A solo release from the singer of Charlotte noise-poppers ACNE that revels in scruffy, romantic pop gems with noisy punk edges. Like a mix of the best parts of GUIDED BY VOICES, early NO AGE, and maybe even the CURE, QUINN RASH captures an intangible feeling of nostalgic emotion perfectly with these four tracks. “Reincarnate” opens the tape with gruff but melodic vocals, woozy, shoegaze-y guitars, and carefully layered production. “Me and Van Gogh” dips into SST-era SONIC YOUTH dissonant guitar lines, layered and laced with melody. Every song is a heart-tugging hit. I recently saw QUINN play live, and it was a fairly confrontational affair, heavy on noisy electronics. So, this tape comes highly recommended, but I am also curious about what he does next.
Hard-stompin’ debut from these Spanish boot boys. Those familiar with the Tough Ain’t Enough catalog won’t be surprised by the four tunes on this EP. Big, meaty guitars with harmonizing leads lay the brickwork for gruff half-sung/half-shouted vocals, replete with anthemic choruses meant to incite a beer-drenched sing-along. The production is more polished than your oxblood Docs, which doesn’t exactly benefit the source material, but it doesn’t detract from the overall experience either. Do skinheads go to rodeos? If so, this certainly ain’t the first for the members of REO, having served in prior street rock acts like SHERRY SOLDIERS and SECOND DIVISION. “1880” is the standout for being the catchiest number, and would make a good candidate for inclusion on your next Oi! themed mixtape. Sobre Las Ruinas falls on the melodic side of the spectrum, but otherwise doesn’t stray far from the traditional sound of the genre.
I put this record down on the turntable thinking what a treat this will be. I hadn’t given it a good look yet, and realize now it is a live sampler from 1984. The SIEKIERA Demo Summer ’84 repressing was a very top record for me in 2021—one of the best reissues I’d ever heard, that was initially recorded when I was seven years old, and I had never heard until a couple years ago. So all you need to know: track down the Demo Summer ’84 record. Track down this blistering fast and tight live recording (maybe first, as it’s probably cheaper). Totally powerful and a raw, bass-driven example of their relentless hardcore punk sound, similar to VORKRIEGSPHASE if you’d like a comparison. There are four live tracks on this EP, they all destroy at the highest caliber, and only two of these songs are on the demos record. SIEKIERA was on fire in Poland 1984! Treat yourself to both!
“Mysterious guy hardcore” hasn’t been an approved descriptor for, what, a decade now? And I’m not going to try and turn that outgoing tide. On the other hand, the actual spam callers of this world are some of its most mysterious guys, so can we suppose their hardcore band namesake follows suit? SPAM CALLER is from Novato, CA and this, their third tape in ten months, is some blitzin’ nihilistic hardcore on that “disaffected suburbanite sicko” tip. It’s got reverb-heavy vox and freaky psych guitar (“Waste It” being the real gem in that department) for BIB and GAG kids, but also unfettered rage and powerviolence-ish compactness of, say, the REPOS. Really cool foldout sleeve art designed by Mark McCoy too, the likes of which you rarely find on a tape release.
Brazillian-style harcore from Sweden? OK, let’s go. This disc has five tracks of original music and five covers of tunes by PSYKOZE, MERCENARIAS, and OLHO SECO. I wish I knew Portuguese because this shit rips! Two of my favorites are PSYKOZE’s “Buracos Suburbanos” (“Suburban Holes”) and “Santa Igreja” (by MERCENARIAS.) Both have catchy choruses and great bopping rhythms. Musically, TERROR 83 plays crisp and clean with crunchy guitars and a solid rhythm section.
