Reviews

For review and radio play consideration:

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

Sistema de Entretenimiento Sistema de Entretenimiento LP

Fantastic synth-heavy, drum machine punk from across the pond (Valencia, Spain). Diverse flavors in each track—well, as diverse as you can get with punk music. The first half of the album sounds like EPOXIES and GRAVY TRAIN!!! with a hint of ’90s Euro house. The rest are a mixture of classic DEVO and what could be described as a modern-day MUMMIES. I know drum machines aren’t for everyone, but I’m a sucker for them. Really adds to the band’s motif, and I don’t think a real drum set would do the music justice. Judging by their YouTube presence, their live shows look fun as all hell. Hopefully we’ll see them stateside soon enough. Lovely record here. Well worth a spin if you’re into melodic dance punk.

Snailbones Keelhaul ‘Em All LP

There is definitely noise here, though more punk than noise and more rock than punk. The guitars are a hard rock via grunge variety: blues riffs with the sensuality replaced by sludge. They’re supported by solid and occasionally very left-field drumming. The album seems cut down the middle to me. The first half features a few more awkward FLIPPER-style dirges, while the second spends a lot of time filtering pretty, saccharine tunes through a mesh of early ’90s Sub Pop angst. According to their Bandcamp page, Steve Albini will record their next album, which seems like a good fit.

Soft Shoulder Smile Building’s Exit LP

James Fella and friends have been cranking out SOFT SHOULDER releases in the Arizona desert for close to two decades now (like, a lot of them—I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a lathe operation somewhere that is single-handedly being kept in business by this crew), generally sprouting through various cracks between collapsing improv avant-punk and blown-out no wave antagonism, but the more overtly FALL-indebted turn they’ve taken over the past year or two is by far my favorite incarnation of the project. Smile Building’s Exit opener “Raw Time” is pulled along by a gouging, infinite loop bass line that’s simultaneously filthy and funky, like A FRAMES with a serious GANG OF FOUR fixation, abetted by a spring-loaded disco beat and Fella’s stream-of-Mark E. vocals that sound like they were recorded on an answering machine circa 1987, and “Narrow Yellow Slip” follows a similarly wavering line, with deadpan-shouty lyrical ruminations about PO boxes punctuated by stabbing synth squeals, while “Dual Deck’s Decay” adds some skronking sax and extra-trebly guitar clang to its droning Messthetics-gone-Krautrock outro. Total prole art threat damage.

Unruly Boys Too Hard Livin’ cassette

Scorching new tape from these Charlotte bruisers. I’m a little biased because I have seen this band’s live power many times, but this tape captures the intensity with five UK82 and Oi-inspired tracks of intense, classic hardcore. Imagine ARMS RACE and RIXE playing together, but extra pissed-off. Opening track “Take Your Shot” pummels with a mid-tempo chug and gruff vocals, which lead into a pit-killing breakdown accompanied by haunted house keys that give it a sinister crawl. “Path of Fools” and “Too Hard Livin’” feature abrupt time changes with blasting and furious D-beats driving the anger. The production is great, too—thick, clearly defined, but still completely aggressive. This is tough-as-fuck, mirror-punching, fighting music and totally recommended for your worst days.

Voltage The War to End All Wars cassette

From Kamloops, BC comes roaring a biker DISCHARGE-worshiping hoard of miscreants. Some might cry MOTORCHARGE, but labels equal weak minds. Five songs that level you with wailing guitars melting brains, ending with the anthemic if not stereotypical “Charged Rock’N’Roll.” Get this crew on a bill with MÖWER, pronto.

War//Plague Manifest Ruination LP

Minneapolis crust punk agents who have achieved fifteen years of intense DIY activity since 2008, with more than ten releases. Elaborated songs with great drums and solid riffs and socio-political content. A ten-track LP with sharp cutting cadences, blending metal punk, crust, and thrash in more than decent dosages, delivering a blunt sound and desolate tunes accompanied by a deep, screaming voice in trance. Suggested tracks: “Grief,” “Vacillation,” and “Disruption.” Punk is protest!

V/A Skate Ratz Vol. 1 LP

Everything on this comp took me by surprise. Dose after dose of hard-driving punk rock’n’roll, ripping crossover, crunchy pop punk, metallic hardcore brutality…every song fit to shred (to). DISCO ASSAULT, FASTPLANTS, GOOD TOUCH, and TOO MANY VOICES are this reviewer’s faves, joined by cuts from the HACKS, RABID ASSAULT, BING CROSBY, SLASHERS, and SINCE WE WERE KIDS—an LP with nine DIY bands I’ve never heard of is going to perk up my ears every time, but it helps when it’s an LP full of new good bands.

Angerboys How to Profit From the Panic LP

I’m going to make a food analogy here, sorry in advance. Hardcore, like food, is best prepared from the best ingredients and prepared simply with proper seasoning. No fuss in the mixing booth, the right blend of influences and new ideas, and mastered properly. While ANGERBOYS have some of the ingredients right, namely speed, this full-length just doesn’t sound right. For one thing, it’s not mastered properly. I’m not a sound engineer or a snob, but when there are differences between the overall volume from track to track, it’s not a “who gives a fuck” punk ethos, it’s annoying. Combined with the fact that everything here sounds way too upfront, with no room to breathe in the instrumentation, and the vocals isolated and unnatural (not to mention some truly irritating lyricism)—this is just an unpleasant record altogether. Whatever happened to “community not competition,” when you have a song like “Your Band … Sucks!” (yes, punctuated like that). They even reference Bandcamp in said ten-second “fuck you” to other, presumably local, bands. Mirror, meet band, where do you think I listened to this thing?

Astrid Lindgren Świat Jak Śnieg LP

ASTRID LINDGREN’s songs seem built around their big, anthemic choruses. The build-up can be a restrained verse, a chugging guitar, or even some frantic post-punk bass lines. This record could be described as melodic hardcore, but the delivery feels more somber, more demonstrative than your typical rager. The band knows when to ease off the gas and give us time to recover from each peak. The end result sounds cathartic and urgent.

Balta Rendszerszintű Agybaszás EP

Completely feral feedbacker thrash meltdown from a Budapest unit making their debut, and whose number appears to include another MRR reviewer (Viktor Vargyai) and someone from NORMS. Anyone already aware how out to lunch that band’s last two LPs sounded, prepare for BALTA to cube that on Rendszerszintű Agybaszás. If one wanted to pinpoint the location where noisepunk of the CONFUSE ilk morphs into noisecore à la SEVEN MINUTES OF NAUSEA, they could try the seven minutes and seven songs on this 7”. Fully life-affirming anti-music.

The Black Black / Kissed by an Animal split EP

Two indie-flavored pop punk bands from Brooklyn on a split with two songs from each. The first song from both is a separate take on “Songs About New York,” but don’t be confused, they really, irreverently “fucking hate songs about New York.” Comparing the second tracks, BLACK BLACK is a little heavier and darker, with distorted vocals and a more driving beat on “Work,” while KISSED BY AN ANIMAL has that feel-good, shamble-y guitar and operatic backing “ooooh”s on “I’m So Happy I Don’t Wanna Die.” The album art caught my attention, with the primary colors of a graphic novel depicting a woman giving the so-what hand flip to a drunken, lumpy Muppet (KISSED BY AN ANIMAL), and the lumpy Muppet finally passed out on the bar, wine glass intact, woman gone (BLACK BLACK). I enjoy the jab at how over-romanticized New York City is, but this kind of dark indie-dance thing isn’t quite for me. Are you looking for a snarlier version of the BLACK KEYS? Well then, this could be for you, and both bands have a couple LPs in their catalog if you want more.

 

TJ Cabot The Sound of Cape Breton CD

This mainstay of New Brunswick’s trash-and-slash rock scene has been kicking it around the island for a good bit. You get three (count ‘em, three) EPs inserted onto one plastic disc, and the songs are a good carry-on of ye olden Rip Off Records sound, or prime-time Goner Records racket, albeit a little cleaned up production-wise. The songs are catchy and dance-worthy as hell, with even a tinge of classic glam on songs like “King Grove,” or ’78 DICKIES speed-pop on “Away.” If you’re like me, you’ll be wondering how you missed out on this for so long. It’s all fun with a capital “PH,” and you should get on the bus real soon because this guy’s going places.

 

Capric​ö​rn Sink in Tears LP

French D-beat punk that sounds a whole lot like MOTÖRHEAD. The production on this record sounds great—thick bass lines, drums straight up front, and clear vocals. A “Road Warrior” clip starts us off, and then it’s ten fast and earnest rockers about goats, Satan, beer, and Satan again. There’s an OZZY clip at the beginning of “Sober is Bullshit,” who is either the best or worst spokesperson for the cause. Gang choruses and some call-and-response vocals give the album a fun, live feel throughout. If this kind of speed-punk/metal mix is your jam, you’ll like this.

Discreet This is Mine LP

Holy shit—this record is a motherfukkr!! You want abuse? The chorus to the opening track “King Heroin” reads: “Bow down, my lord / I am restored.” And then they go fast. This lands like HOAX on a diet of ANTISEEN, and I am terrified.

Dissekerad Inre Strid LP

I had not realized that DISSEKERAD had already been going for ten years. On the surface, bands playing Swedish hardcore—or käng as it is known by nerds—are not unlike haikus: they are always doing the same thing over and over again, and yet some are clearly better than others. Alright, writing haikus usually does not involve playing as loud as possible in order to punish an audience that actually paid for that, but you get the gist. DISSEKERAD is made up of members of AVSKUM, MAKABERT FYND, and obviously TOTALITÄR, as singer Poffen, with his recognizable flow and vocal tone, is also the frontman of the aforementioned cult band, whose popularity has never seemed as important as it is today. Unsurprisingly, the band plays angry and pummeling käng hardcore with mean, hoarse, raspy vocals. The comparison with mid-’90s TOTALITÄR (even without taking the vocals into consideration) is not irrelevant, and I can also hear late ’90s UNCURBED and the ferocious NO SECURITY, too. The production is brilliant, heavy and thick but keeping that direct aggressive hardcore punk sound. Inre Strid does not disappoint and does not surprise. It is probably my favorite DISSEKERAD work and an objectively solid LP. It should be pointed out that the past two or three years have been quite generous in quality Swedish hardcore records, as Inre Strid can attest. As usual, this was released on Phobia Records, a label that could be compared to a delicatessen for käng music.

D.O.V.E. D.O.V.E. LP

D.O.V.E. plays that jam-laden style of anarcho-punk that explores riffs as much as societal criticism. Sure, there are portions of this album that are “heavy” and “fast,” but there’s also a lot of instrumental and vocal experimentation. Most of the songs on this album are well over the three-minute mark, without including any sort of outside audio sample. In fact, I don’t believe there are any samples used on this album, which in 2023 is a rarity of its own. If I had to compare D.O.V.E. to something, I’d say something like HONEY BANE, but with more willingness to embrace the jam, or maybe a more chilled-out PERMACULTURE.

Endorphins Lost Night People LP

Sludge-violence out of Seattle. Not a bad record by any means. Band is tight, and production is on-point. But if you’re recording a hardcore album in 2023, you best bring something unique that makes you stand out from the rest of the crowd. Night People comes off as a formulaic, grind-by-numbers slab. Very reminiscent of a modern CAPITALIST CASUALTIES and MAN IS THE BASTARD, especially with the dual vocals. Drums are easily the most impressive part here, and really drive the energy of each song. Worth a spin if you’re a powerviolence junkie.

Full Stride Demo 2022 cassette

Youth crew-ish hardcore complete with the good ol’ gang vocals peppered in here and there. Songs range from fast to mid-tempo and there’s definite heart here, not to mention potential. The thing that kinda turns me off, while at the same time endearing this to me (I know that’s a mind-bender), is the recording quality. For the last handful of years, every time I’ve heard a “demo,” it’s sounded album-quality. This actually sounds like a demo. Like, you can tell the songs are good and with a bit more hammering and polish they could be great, but the recording doesn’t do them any favors. You know what I mean? Don’t get me wrong, though! This is exactly what a “demo” should sound like. Like, why would you go to a fancy studio and record some polished, album-quality recording of four songs to put on a tape that you made 50 copies of or put up as a free download? Fuck that. This is the proper use of the term “demo” and I am for it!

Gluer Gluer LP

Gritty, grubby, nasty, and mean. GLUER bashes through fifteen songs of misanthropic, mid-tempo punk rock’n’roll. I would’ve guessed this band was from San Francisco rather than Stockholm. This is oozing with bad vibes in the best way possible, not dissimilar to LIFE STINKS or CRIME. Dirgelike but never plodding, GLUER delivers plenty of tough, catchy hooks both vocally and through instrumentation. “Weird Boy,” in particular, is a choice cut with a killer picked-out guitar riff and the howling cadence of the line “Look at that weird boy!”. Few things brighten my day more than some menacing downer punk. Excellent.

Helta Skelta Helta Skelta LP reissue

Despite having been a big fan of the Perth scene that birthed this band and an avid follower of the label that bears their name, I’ve somehow managed to avoid listening to HELTA SKELTA up to this point. I don’t really have an excuse, just never got around to it. Thankfully, Bad Habit is here with a reissue of their 2011 debut LP to make me feel like a big dummy for prioritizing whatever bullshit I was into back then. This thing smokes! It’s fifteen tracks (the eleven from the original LP, plus four from their 2010 Parasite demo) of blown-out, mid-fi garage punk ramped up to hardcore tempos. The music seems to be equally pulled from a variety of garage-y influences—the raw simplicity of the Back from the Grave comps, the artsy primitivism of LAMPS, and the bouncy, treble-heavy, soulful garage pop of contemporaries ROYAL HEADACHE. But the vocals are 100% hardcore—somewhere between the croaky holler of POISON IDEA and the grunty shout of G.B.H. Just an exceptional record that everyone should have owned since 2011!

Murmansk Voices cassette

Named after a city in Russia, this fairly new outfit from Tours, France debuts with Voices—a new project, but with experienced players from the likes of LOVVE, CRACKHOUSE, and VERBAL RAZORS. This power trio blends old and new influences, creating a moody crust album leaning towards neocrust with the occasional blastbeat (think MASAKARI with a more hardcore edge). Different styles pop up here and there to keep the juices flowing and add some spice to the album. Voices works well as a whole, and the songs go by quite nicely together.

Hayes Noble Head Cleaner CD

With his debut CD after his “Forget It” single from Fall 2022, HAYES NOBLE brings forth a shoegaze wall of sound. And literally, there’s a lot of shoegazing in his “Forget It” music video, as he swims in a pool fully clothed, wearing black-and-white Chucks. This kid’s seventeen, but has clearly done his homework on the indie/alt/grunge genres, as the songs are tight and engaging. The light-hearted, higher vocal register of BUILT TO SPILL, mixed with J Mascis’s heavy, blurred guitar lines. But HAYES, come on, Head Cleaner? This should really be a cassette release, just saying. All told, a warm and fuzzy good listen.

Oil! Unify Unity / Don’t Forget Me Mate 7″

This one was a fuck of a surprise! I had thought these hard-working lads folded up and stored their Sta-Prest long ago. Upon receiving it, I reached out to former OIL! member Private Skick, now in Australia, for further comment. “Aw, that’s Corporal Boots (lead voxist) carrying on the name with a new lineup and an umlaut(?!)”. Well I guess he dropped the famed German metal accent for this release, but picked up some stellar guests including Phil Templars and Johnny Peebucks for further vocal duties. Sure there’s no “Proud of My Pride,” “Spent My Paycheck at the Pub,” or “Red, White and Boots” here, but this still has the magic and tongue-in-shaven-cheek humor that’s their trademark. “Unify Unity” is the anthem we all need right now to shake off the plague and get back to work, and “Don’t Forget Me Mates” is the new “Built Up, Knocked Down” ballad of the year. So go to the closet, dust off your boots, and give this a whirl. I wonder if they can still do push-ups on stage? Gimme ten, gents.

Pandemix Dead Celebrities cassette

PANDEMIX have been doing the dang thing for the better part of a decade, and they’re always a heavy-hitting live band each time I have seen them. Oddly enough, they were the last band I booked a show for mere days before the COVID pandemic kicked in, as well as the first band I booked a show for once it started feeling safe enough to do so after that. With multiple records and cassettes under their belt already, the band’s newest release is a four-song cassette which they had for sale on their most recent tour. Mostly continuing the band’s ongoing mixture of hardcore punk blended with peace punk, this cassette features one piano/fiddle/trombone/vocals ballad to close it out. A little out of place for my tastes, but it seems like it would be enjoyed by the folk punk/AGAINST ME! aficionados.

Presión EP 2022 cassette

“Honest hardcore with nothing to prove,” as can be read on their Bandcamp page. This might be the best way to introduce this hardcore band straight from Santiago, Chile. The vibes scream ’80s hardcore with strong thrash influences, sitting on the fence of crossover. Mosh pit music for sure, filled with gang shouts, thrashy riffs, and relentless drumming. Hardcore for hardcore people.

Ratizzage Ratizzage demo cassette

Grueling, dirgelike, and guttural crust punk from Mexico. The initial rhythmic delivery reminds me of early BRUJERIA splintering out of the speakers with a much more punk angle. Varying vocal pitches harken to DEATHTOLL 40K, COP ON FIRE, or later era ENT. Grisly crust that does not let up on the D-beat and chaotic soloing. I reviewed a demo a couple years ago by PERVITIN from Finland, and this reminds me of that powerful impact. Hopeless, bleak, pulverizing filthcore spanning twenty minutes, from a demo with seven complexly written tracks. RATIZZAGE has groove and gruesomeness. The bass grumbles lower than anything else, like a tank rumbling in the distance, and the vocals scorch. Not sure how easy this will be to find, but it’s one of the better crust demos I’ve heard so far this year. Everything that went into this sonically and visually exceeds that of an average demo tape.

Rotary Club American Tower / Planet 67 7″

Ah, yes, Iron Lung’s famed Systemic Surgery series—a collection of releases we’re all definitely aware of, bound together by a concept so apparent that it needs no explanation here. It’s been a mere three years since they dropped the third installment (of a planned five), so it’s quite a treat to be getting this fourth entrant so soon! Anyway, ROTARY CLUB is a four-piece out of Reno who play telephone-themed punk tunes (the members have names like Hotline, Operator, etc). The Bandcamp copy says they play Killed By Death-style punk, even going so far as to bring up the UNCALLED 4, a mid-’80s Texas act who actually tricked folks (including the compilers of Killed by Death 8 ½) into thinking they had been late-’70s punk obscuros. But I don’t think anyone’s going to be tricked by these folks. That’s not to say this isn’t KBD-ish at all—it’s just not the first thing I would have thought about the band. The production is pretty loose, but it doesn’t feel anywhere near as amateurish as, say, TEDDY AND THE FRAT GIRLS, and these tracks are much more melodic than what I’d expect from the KBD set. To me, this sounds more like a mix of what NOTS has been doing since they shed the amateurism of their early 7”s and some of the tamer tracks from JUDY AND THE JERKS, particularly in their adoption of multi-tracked talk-sung vocals. And when you pair that with awkward lyrics about wires and shit, as they do on “American Tower,” it really starts reminding me of SERVOTRON. “Planet 67” has more of a Dangerhouse vibe and is probably the better of the two tracks. Not a bad release by any means. I just wish I hadn’t read that comparison prior to listening, as it was all I could think about.

Shitty Wizard Shitty Wizard cassette

Self-described Philadelphia party punk. SHITTY WIZARD opens with a GG cover (piece of shit glorified rape for most of his career, so minus ten points—fight me) and careens through eight more high-energy slammers with heavy rock’n’roll vibes. Vocals have an occasional Rev Summer tinge that genuinely sets SHITTY WIZARD apart from the dirt rock set. There’s something here, for sure.

Sludgeworth Losers of the Year LP reissue

Here we have a reissue of an already posthumous compilation album from a SCREECHING WEASEL-affiliated band that predicted the ’90s Midwest pop punk that would eventually birth that weird, crooning dude-sweat style that VFW hall punk bands did in the late ’90s/early ’00s. It is both a time capsule and something that the Riot Fest crowd would freak out about if it was recorded and released today. It feels like the hype around the original couple GASLIGHT ANTHEM releases, when they were maybe the new saviors of Americana punk or something. There’s just something here that’s tangible and timeless that sticks with you. The fact that there’s still enough warranted interest in this release 30 years after the band broke up (and almost 28 years after this was originally released on Lookout!) is testament to how perfectly this collection captures a feeling that many of us want to experience over and over. It’s also one of a million examples of the second track on an album always being awesome, with “Someday,” originally from their only LP, What’s This?, taking that spot here.

Strange Attractor Good Boy Bad Boy LP

Drunken Sailor’s track record of killer material continues to burn the forward path. STRANGE ATTRACTOR brings the snotty fringe from the far-flung corners of Sadbury, hard rock (mining) capital of the world. Admittedly, Good Boy Bad Boy took a few listens for me to glom onto, but after letting this one settle in, I’m a believer. The whole record skips through eighteen tracks in under seventeen minutes of jaded and despondent garage punk. These people are devotees of the school of ANGRY SAMOANS, with a bit of Finish Your Popcorn-era F.Y.P. Call me crazy, but I am picking up on a little PERE UBU? Now go on tour.

Tetnis Moving Quickly to Prevent a Hater From Detonating the Vest cassette

Incredibly catchy, pretty garage pop from Columbus, OH. TETNIS has been around releasing music regularly since 2018. Some of the songs on this tape are rather middle-of-the-road, rock-en-general sounding, but there are more than a few cool, driving tunes to make up for that. It’s like an indie pop bastard sibling of the MARKED MEN or something. A bit slower and wimpier, but catchy all the same.

Visitors From Hell Bon Appetit! CD

Six-track effort from this self-described “punk and roll” quartet from Warsaw (that’s in Poland, apparently). They remind me a lot of the driving metallic hardcore of STRAW DOGS, without the guitar solos. I guess early MOTÖRHEAD would be the obvious gold star. I’ve always been partial to this particular style, and they do it well.

Waste The Next Century is Almost Over EP

Dutch hardcore types wind back the years with a remontada release a mere 40 years after their debut, which is a level of lackadaisicalness to which one can only tip your bonnet. The tunes sound broadly how you would expect a band who made their debut in ‘82 would sound. A nice nostalgia trip around the musical tropes of the time—a dash of anarcho here, a pinch of Oi! there. A real Bombay mix of second-wave punk and a pleasant enough way to spend your time, but if they waited another 40 years for a release, I wouldn’t exactly be calling for them to pull their finger out.

Weak A Guide to Adult Despair LP

This band should be on Fat. Like seriously. I’m not even joking. Why are they not already? Somebody send this to the right people, and if this “review” is the catalyst of that actually happening, I’d like a finders fee. Thank you.

Zealot Zealot demo cassette

From Houston, Texas, we are delivered this graceful debut of metallic crust punk. Five tracks in under sixteen minutes of stench metal punk, filled with sludgy cadences, sick guitars with a ball-of-noise sound, and anger-filled, pain-induced vocals with a cathartic cadence releasing all, plus heavy drums that often take the speedway before leaving a spree of chaos behind them and with you. Raw energy contained and let loose at different paces, with great palm-muting and riffy strings. Suggested track: “…And How Did We Get Here?” for seekers of crust punk sounds of a more metallic nature.

V/A If, When & With Whom cassette

Great compilation for a great cause, with all proceeds benefiting the National Network of Abortion Funds. Wide range of genres here, spanning ’90s alternative radio worship to West Coast garage rock to lo-fi bedroom pop. Hell, there are even a couple vaporwave-fused synth-funk tracks as well. There’s something for everyone here. Heavily recommended release, both for the music and the mission. At this point, all we can do is look out for each other and help wherever we can.

Antigen / Socialstyrelsen A Sense of Dread split LP

Phobia Records from the Czech Republic won’t stop delivering crust punk D-beat bands. On these eleven tracks in under 25 minutes, we encounter ANTIGEN and SOCIAL STYRELSEN. ANTIGEN offers four tracks led by a crust-cut female voice pitching high choruses, filled with desperate feeling along with a painful screaming. Solid crust punk with hardcore drums, pretty much all straightforward. SOCIALSTYRELSEN blasts crunchy D-beat crust punk with demonic high vocals, guitars like non-stop chainsaws, and ranting drums. A chaos sound from another era with modern nods. The Swedish language hits hard, with such suffering-infused voices fueled by violence. Suggested tracks: “Knivad” and “Hata Mig.”

The Brokedowns Maximum Khaki LP

I relentlessly wished every nearby human who would listen a “Happy Kony 2013” (and 2014, 2015, and so on) every New Year’s Day for almost a whole decade and did not get tired of that incredibly stupid joke. I am therefore very happy to see “Kony 2022” as a track title on the new BROKEDOWNS album. This is a collection of fourteen straight-ahead punk music moments, most under ninety seconds each, with tongues shoved into cheeks and maybe other places. A prime example of what’s being presented here is the EXPLOITED sequel no one asked for, “UK82 Pt. 2: The Olds Are Not Alright.” If you’re slowly finding yourself past your physical peak at shows lately, “I’m Sore” is the new anthem the crowd that stands in the back now has been waiting for. It also serves as a rad showcase for the guitar section. If you find comfort in the awkwardly warm embrace of Midwest punk à la DILLINGER FOUR or the LAWRENCE ARMS with just a smidge of GOOD RIDDANCE thrown in, there are a few fun little ditties for you on this album. You also can’t be mad about the option to get in on the mature and business-like khaki-colored vinyl.

Bug Central And the Fires Began 10″

Gargling bass starts what quickly presents itself as classic UK anarcho-punk. Sort of reminding me of SPITE, or RIOT/CLONE with a KILLING JOKE rhythm to it. Abrasive while equally encompassing a tide of UK82 and some crust influence, BUG CENTRAL hits a SUBHUMANS groove at times as well. This is dancey and slamming. Boots and bristles with a darker veneer. This is clearly composed by maestros from decades of UK punk rock. “Another Vegan Hipster” is cracking me up. BUG CENTRAL pulls no punches, but packs a catchy wallop. SUICIDAL SUPERMARKET TROLLEYS, PIL, RESTARTS, POLICE BASTARD…it has a lot going on. I want to see this band play with PI$$ER. I wish this was the direction ANTISECT went in. This album is earnest and smart. The title track kind of recalls early ENT with more discernible vocals. BUG CENTRAL is gloomy and bright. The cover art is a full-color British street scene, if you mixed CRASS graphic design with Zdzisław Beksiński. Check this out.

Cataphiles Cataphiles LP

A very dark cloud was above Bremen when goth punks CATAPHILES wrote their debut self-titled LP—a quick listen to it is all it takes to prove that punk with goth leanings is still alive and well. The same energy and melancholy can be found on records by the CURE and CHRISTIAN DEATH, who are obvious references but fitting ones. A punkier edge to deathrock and goth did no harm to their sound and elevated it into new sonic spaces, as did the dual male/female vocals and usage of keyboards for gloomier purposes. CATAPHILES will surely stand out in the goth punk scene.

Celebrity Handshake Final Education LP

Attention, weirdos. Portland, Maine’s CELEBRITY HANDSHAKE has released the newest in a long line of shattered, no-fi blues-noise records. Read their other MRR reviews to see how divisive this band can be (and it’s not hard to hear why) with their room-clearing take on art-punk. They sound like a blues band falling down the stairs, every player clinging on to their last strangled pattern. The vocalist is the grouch behind you in line who talks to himself about how long everything takes these days, and how back in his day, kids had respect, etc. Imagine the energy of HARRY PUSSY mixed with U.S. MAPLE mixed with your uncle, and you get the idea. That’s not to say it’s terrible (well, it is terrible, but I think that’s the point); the spoken non-sequitur lyrics like “A dictator without a mustache? / That’s no dictator” and “Take your lunch to work / Flush it down the toilet / You can eat next week / Blame it on the cigarette snake,” sputtered out against the band all trying to solo at the same time, is interesting. If you’re into heavy skronk, check it out. If you like it, you’re in for a treat, because they have released a whole bunch of this stuff.

Cotärd Delirio EP

I have to say, I did not have a clue about either Cotard’s syndrome (some sort of neuropsychiatric condition involving the delusional fear of losing limbs, something like that) nor CÖTARD, the band, before this review. Needless to say that I much prefer the latter, as the aforementioned syndrome did frighten me quite a bit after reading about it online and I spent the night checking whether my limbs were still in place…but then, that is generally what happens when I Google medical conditions (I once thought I had caught the bubonic plague). Let’s stick to punk, shall we? CÖTARD is from San Luis de Potosi in Mexico and Delirio is their first proper vinyl output after two tapes and one CD. The umlaut on the “’o” does suggest that they are not insensitive to Scandinavian music, which does not exactly come as a surprise, since they play relentless, gruff, and hairy crustcore. This is exactly the sort of band that makes me wonder why and how I had not heard of them before, as they are right up my street (figuratively speaking, I looked and they are not actually up the street, sadly). On the bright side, it is very pleasant to be surprised. CÖTARD plays absolutely crushing Scandicrust with hoarse, desperate-sounding vocals in Spanish. I suppose the comparison with a metal-free NAPALM RAID makes sense, as they do share a similar unrelenting fury, not unlike Portland’s DÖDLAGE, either. If you need a more poetic image, let’s say the band sounds like a blown-out version of classic Swedish crustcore, like an electrocuted 3-WAY CUM or SKITSYSTEM, or maybe like SVAVELDIOXID covering DISRUPT while being chased by starving hyenas wearing sunglasses. This is Scandicrust at its most intense—the recipe is classic but the dish, well-executed, is perfect. This EP is a significant improvement upon their previous works and hopefully it will find its way to Europe (to be more accurate, in my mailbox).

Damak Crisis of Faith cassette

A wild ride of a debut full-length release by this trio from Austin, TX. Not the style I initially expected, seeing as it was released by the label that put out the newest records by LIQUIDS and ERIK NERVOUS. DAMAK does their own thing, a jangly, driving, poppy take on modern post-punk. Really catchy songs, beautiful instrumental interludes, unconventional rock instruments like flute, cello, and autoharp peppered through the recording—this is sure to get quite a few more plays on my stereo. Very much looking forward to what DAMAK does next.

En Love Fled EP

Brutal powerviolence from Columbus, OH’s EN LOVE. Clocking in at under ten minutes, the Fled EP is a mosh classic. In what seems to be specifically crafted for the pit, this slab flows perfectly for anyone who is looking to dance their ass off. The EP kicks in slow and low, but immediately jumps into the action. No guitar solos, drums set deep into the pocket, just one homogeneous pile of fervent intensity. Very reminiscent of CLOUD RAT and other modern PV bands. I don’t know if this was on purpose, but the drums are blown out like crazy and it adds so much depth and vigor to an already massive recording. Good stuff here, recommended to anyone who loves newer grind.

Feral / Judy and the Jerks Free Violence split cassette

I’m assuming everyone’s familiar with JUDY AND THE JERKS at this point. They’ve been around since 2017, making a blend of deliriously infectious hardcore that’s somehow both a straight homage to classic American scenes and distinctly contemporary. If it weren’t for them and Earth Girl (the label putting out this cassette), I doubt anyone would think of Hattiesburg, MS as being a punk town (it’s still wild to me how fertile that scene seems to be). Their side of this split is more of what you’ve come to expect from this act. That being said, the production here is much crunchier and more immediate than anything I’ve heard on their past releases. So, these five mainly sub-one-minute rippers really pack a wallop. FERAL shares 50% of its members with JUDY AND THE JERKS, who’re also maybe Atlanta-based now, so it’s not surprising that their side bears a lot in common with JUDY AND THE JERKS’ sound. But FERAL is a little less straightforward. The guitar and vocals on these four tracks are often bathed in effects that give their sound more of a psychedelic sheen. Reminds me a bit of the weird hardcore we got in the early 2010s from acts like GUTTER GODS. Both sides are great—definitely worth your time!

Ghidrah Invincible Deluxe LP reissue

Blessing GHIDRAH’s ’96 CD with a vinyl release, this record commemorates the 25th anniversary of the veteran New Zealand band’s debut. With a sharp new remastering courtesy of Dead Air Studios, this slab showcases 21 blasts of rowdy hardcore that are punctuated by random TV, movie, and video game sound bites. That structure was typical for powerviolence albums in the 1990s, and while the music here touches on that style with a few healthy blastbeats, there are other flavors at play that are hard to ignore. This is more of a primal and expressive sort of chaos in the vein of SUN CHILDREN SUN, complete with a good bit of brass cacophony. It’s a heavy, heavy racket that goes into a range of moods. There’s also a baked-in sense of strangeness that makes me think of the BUTTHOLE SURFERS, and the song “Can’t Undo” with its yearning indie melody and spoken-word overlays reminded me of the closing “Tugena” on the DEAD MILKMEN’s Big Lizard LP. An unlikely stew, but it’s a raw and original document that deserves the celebration.

Haren Demo 2022 cassette

HAREN is a three-piece band from Murcia, Spain, and their demo tape is (also) released by Educacion Cíncia from Buenos Aires. A quick note on current tape labels such as Educacion Cíncia: they keep punk fresh. It is impossible to keep up with how many random bands there are with streamable records, yet for those whom a physical release is still important, tape labels have become more handy than ever. It gets better when they are focused on a local scene and function as a platform for the bands to show off. Tapes are cheap and small, ship easily, still look alright and allow a lot of mastering bullshit. What better format, right? I also dig the fanzine-esque promo that is written by the label of this release. But back to HAREN: They play street punk/Oi!, but uptempo and with enough dirt that it swings into the UK82 sound with a significant amount of melodies. Don’t expect blazing energy, it’s much more rudimentary and therefore predictable. But how many variations are there for power chords? While the songs do not offer anything extraordinary, HAREN does not slip into becoming background music. There is an elusive determination behind their playing that demands attention and feeds their simple melodies to my brain. It’s capital-letter punk music—if you played it for a mohawk owner, they would start to move. The guitars play dense-to-bouncy and mid-tempo, and the vocals add a bit of a hymn-like feel to each track. This is a decent tape, proving that punk is still accessible and showing how putting yourself into your music can improve your songs no matter how simple they are.

Home Front Games of Power LP

Upon the release of their 2021 EP Think of the Lie, Edmonton, Canada’s HOME FRONT brought something new to the table in an already diverse modern punk scene: a new wave sound drenched in catchy synth and nods to some of the ’80s greatest. Masterminds Graeme Mackinnon and Clint Frazier delivered songs with hooks that could go toe-to-toe with nearly any one-hit wonder of the era. It comes as no surprise, then, that with their debut LP Games of Power, HOME FRONT has pulled out all of the stops and it pays off in spades. This is a lovingly crafted album full of wall-to-wall hits that not only continues the trajectory HOME FRONT set out on with their debut, but takes it to soaring heights, incorporating nearly every benchmark of the new wave and post-punk eras. Opener “Faded State” and second track “Real Eyes” were wisely the first two tracks available before the album dropped, and give a good idea of where things are heading, but even the perfect pop sparkle of the former and the propulsive post-punk grit of the latter cannot prepare the listener for what’s ahead. Track three (“Nation”) is an Oi!-infused family affair, featuring vocals from Cal of the CHISEL as well as members of RIXE on backing vocal duties. Typically the word “anthemic” feels overused and trite, but here it fits quite nicely. Stuffed to the brim with icy synths and righteous indignation, this one will do well with a live crowd. Highlights elsewhere include “Contact,” a euphoric ode to the end of the world that shimmers like a NEW ORDER single at the end of a John Hughes film, “Crisis,” a Krautrock-y second spin down KRAFTWERK’s Autobahn, and the album’s crown jewel, title track “Games of Power.” It’s a dazzling, beat-laden groove straight out of the Haçienda during peak Madchester. Rarely does a song get an immediate second spin from me, but this one demands it. It cannot be understated: HOME FRONT’s songwriting is superb. They have a sound that is familiar and authentic without teetering into parody, only tasteful homage. Both Ian Curtis and Alan Vega receive heartfelt love letters via “End Transmission” and “Born Killer,” respectively. Both are so deftly put together that you can easily forget it isn’t JOY DIVISION or SUICIDE playing from the speaker. Therein lies the beauty of Games of Power: it lovingly celebrates a genre while pushing it forward into a modern age. HOME FRONT is no throwback, they are the future.

Komplex Viny Suita Pro Nové Konce EP

KOMPLEX VINY is a band from the Czech Republic that plays some killer crust punk tunes. The powerful vocals are backed with furious but complex riffs and smashing drums. This is one of those 7″ records you can spend hours listening to over and over again. Each song is unique, so KOMPLEX VINY avoids the trap of writing songs that all sound somewhat similar, and the sound is something totally exclusive to these rockers. If I had to compare KOMPLEX VINY to other sounds, I’d hazard to say it’s all of the best global crust noises distilled into a palatable but commanding recording. There are familiar riffs and fills, but KOMPLEX VINY also manages to reshuffle certain elements to create a very refreshing presentation. The song “Dno za Dnem” even manages to fit a bit of Oi! into it without going full gang vocals. Overall, I highly recommend this one!

LDMA / The Seeker split EP

France versus Italy, in a ring called powerviolence. LMDA delivers a brutal ham-slapping of vicious modern powerviolence almost stepping into grindcore territory, complete with all the tropes of the genre: movie samples, INFEST vocals, start/stop motions, everything one can expect. The SEEKER takes a more chaotic approach but also goes heavy on the trope usage. Powerviolence the way it’s supposed to be, rooted in hardcore punk, not just breakdowns followed by blasts.