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This rerelease sure has a musical time stamp. Listeners will find plenty of mid-’90s USHC hallmarks: fast, occasionally breakneck tempos, blastbeats spliced in, and forays into crossover thrash territory here and there. The two vocalists trade high-pitched screams and a hoarse shout respectively. And of course, there are lots of (maybe too many) movie soundbites.
What a mystery this Philly trio called PLOT is. A series of very interesting influences come together in a thick concoction, where we can taste the pulse of the heaviest post-punk (think BIG BLACK or KILLING JOKE) with elements of ’90s industrial metal (voice samples included) and even some of the more exploratory spirit of ’90s post-hardcore. The result is dark, dense, and very singular. A deeply expressive sound that could well serve as the soundtrack of a post-industrial city in ruins or as the noise that our civilization makes when dying, a dreadful final death rattle.
Formed in 2019 in the mean streets of Paris, a breeding ground for new Oi! bands, RÉCIDIVE is a fairly new band with just the Planté Là x Jeunes Espoirs 7” previously under their belt (or should I say braces?!?). Back with Tripes d’Acier, this shaved-headed crew has done three songs that will get any skinhead on the dancefloor, swinging and slamming. You can hear CRIMINAL DAMAGE and BLITZ in their sound as expected, but they manage to sound mature with their well-crafted songs, bringing some sort of freshness to their catchy brand of Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi!
One of the most influential albums in punk history. But you already know this. This is the prototype from which the discographies of entire bands and even world scenes were created. But you already know this. We can also see it as a master plan for a suicide mission: to expose the farce of the great civilizational institutions and destroy tropes deeply rooted in our minds. Let’s say it is also an initiatory journey where the medium is the message and the medium is these 21 songs that expose the topographical record of a particular spirit, that of Blinko. A notoriously sensitive spirit that generates images that can be brutal and cryptic but powerfully vehement lyrically. An album that invites you not to be a mere passive recipient of riffs, but an active participant in a process of psychological and existential transformation, of the opening in the middle of a dark forest, a path of mental resistance. And besides, it just slaps. Consider it a unique opportunity to own a piece of history.
It slid right past me, but SKINNED PIG from Hesperia, CA dropped this hot little tape back in January, setting the bar for the year high right from the get-go. Combining ’60s pop melodies with classic punk sentiments and an Oi! mentality, the band plays sickly-sweet and garage-y hardcore punk with a timeless feel. I can hear everything from the DILS to the BUSINESS to the VINDICTIVES in their sound, and I would have dug this had it come out at any point in my life. C’mon, bud. Bump those first two songs quick and tell me not. Matter of fact, bump the whole thing.
Chicago’s SPREAD JOY appeared on the scene with their self-titled debut last year, and now they’ve returned with a second full-length on Feel It. And much like their first, this is not a record that overstays its welcome, clocking in at just over seventeen tightly-wound minutes. Channeling LILIPUT and SUBURBAN LAWNS, Briana Hernandez wails, whines, and squeals alongside jittery, scrabbling guitar lines and clean, taut drum beats. Forty-five-second-long opener “Ow” is frenzied and breathless, a burst of delirious punk energy. Lead single “Repetition” is at least initially powered by a riff similar to “Unoriginal” from the first record (which was itself swiped from “Three Girl Rhumba”), before it mutates into something altogether more punchy and abrasive (and still doesn’t surpass two minutes).The two longest tracks on the album, “Ich Sehe Dich” and “Languages,” show what the band can accomplish when given a little more space to stretch out and explore. II is a worthwhile sophomore effort, and proves to me that SPREAD JOY are one of the most invigorating bands operating in the neo-post-punk sphere today. Joyful!
As alluded to in the title, this is a compilation of four EPs by Italian wave weirdos TV DUST. Not sure the exact order of release on these individually, but the band has its sound locked in throughout. The synth maintains a minimal drone that allows the vocals to yelp forward, while the bass and drums drive and keep the rhythms and tempos interesting. Motorik hypnotics and disco hi-hat abound. I picture these guys having really big Martin Rev-style sunglasses.
I’m 99% sure that WOODSTOCK ‘99 is former FRIED EGG-ers who pulled up stakes from Virginia to settle in Cleveland, where their style of ripping hardcore probably feels right at home. Opener “La Casa De Fuck You” was on a Tetryon Tape (the one with Fred Durst on the cover) that came out last year, and it deploys a great, nagging one-note piano hook like POISON IDEA wants to be your dog. Maybe it’s the CB radio vocals, but the first half of “$800 Lunch Meat” sounds like MULE of all bands, erupts for a brief flash, then comes back down into a weird alt-rock vibe that could pass as TOADIES (or SEASON TO RISK, if yr frisky). “Pickled Drunk Driver” walks a peculiar line between ignorant hardcore stomp and SOUL ASYLUM’s semi-psychedelic heartland thrash. The more straightforward moments are high-class POISON IDEA tributes and probably go over like gangbusters in an Ohio City basement. “Green Oyster Dick” jacks a Bay Area punk structure and could have been on a split 7” with GRIMPLE back in the day. “Budget Inn” is all wailing guitar leads like a SCREAMING TREES song, but instead of Mark Lanegan’s growl, you’ve got a French lady talking. The other vital piece of information that you need to be aware of regarding Super Gremlin is that every song ends with a gong strike, a creative choice which this listener can only respect. Rats off to ya.
ADAMKUS IR IEVA, or A.I.I. as they seem to be abbreviated, were from Lithuania and active in the early 2000s. Originally released as a CD-R demo, the entirety of the band’s demo, which was their one and only recording, has now been re-released on cassette twenty years later. Sixteen songs of politically-driven anarcho peace punk. The recording is a bit thin and modern-sounding, which definitely makes it stand out from classic peace punk recordings. It’s a bit of a shame, considering the songwriting here is pretty cool and interesting. Even so, this is definitely worth tracking down if peace punk is your thing.
A cassette of lo-fi post-punk from Poland. After my last few encounters with this type of thing, I hesitated to press play. Hearing the opener “Yareg” drop in with a deeply funky beat made my face scrunch up and my head bob with approval almost immediately. The drums programmed with the robo-claves and handclaps, a thick intrusive bully of a bassline, tremolo-bar-torture guitar, and static synth smears. It’s a two-minute tune I’d love to have a 12” remix of, because after that, the tape goes to predictably cold and straightforward post-punk that just sounds limp in comparison. If it kept the mutant funk, I’d be all in, but at least they knew that first song was a strong opener.
Now, this is nuts. On their second cassette release, C-KRIT delivers some freako, lo-fi hardcore punk with plenty of attitude. The word that most comes to mind when listening to this is “obnoxious.” The vocalist makes practically no attempt to get in sync with the music, spitting and slurring the seemingly ad-libbed(?) lyrics in a particularly snotty demeanour and peppering in strings of gratuitous profanity along the way. As the recording continues, it sounds like they’re all getting dumber and dumber. The last two songs are two cliché hardcore covers: “Louie Louie” and “Stepping Stone,” except C-KRIT’s interpretation of these two tunes is certainly original. This is music entirely made for and by people who only possess two brain cells—I like it…
I’ve never been a fan of the moniker, I hate any kind of label to begin with, and I understand that it came about more or less organically (and more or less ironically tongue-in-cheek), but I must admit that it made me shy away from bands I saw associated with that thing they call “egg-punk” or “DEVO-core.” Anyway, CRISIS MAN is actually good. Like really, really good. These songs are full of gushing anxiety and energy that seems to make the songs almost collapse in on themselves. But the songs build complex structures that make them dynamic and always interesting. In addition to that, there are melodic hooks galore, great riffs, a beast of a drummer, a howling vocalist, a bass that throws memorable lines, and above all, what is most appreciated by this writer, a spirit of freedom that is contagious and that makes the band transcend any stylistic delimitation. Egg-what?
When quirky NYC art-wavers the MODEL CITIZENS splintered after a one-and-done 1979 EP, vocalist/organist Eugenie Diserio and guitarist Steve Alexander quickly formed the mutant disco/funky no wave outfit the DANCE, pushing the MODEL CITIZENS’ wonky downtown B-52’S vibe into more debauched corners of the dancefloor. Do Dada is an odds-and-ends adjoiner to the recent reissue of the DANCE’s two proper LPs, starting with the four songs from their 1980 debut 12” Dance for Your Dinner (the release of which coincided with their stint as the backing band for pre-teen post-punk chanteuse CHANDRA), looping in a few tracks from a pair of 1982 singles, and ending with two different mixes of a previously unreleased 1983 track (“Into the Future”) recorded just before the project’s demise; the alpha to the omega. Although the DANCE (inexplicably) never landed on ZE or 99 Records, their early EP material in particular would have fit right in with either label’s early ’80s rosters. Eugenie squeals, chants, and runs through various onomatopoeias over breakneck disco beats and a liquid (LIQUID) bass line on “Do Dada,” “She Likes to Beat” and “Dance for Your Dinner” slip into slinky, secondhand smoke-shrouded late-night rhythms punctuated by skronking sax, clattering cowbell, and retro-trash keyboard warble, and the urgent, body-shaking post-punk funk of “Slippery When Wet” sounds like LIZZY MERCIER DESCLOUX with a different accent, while later ’82–’83-era cuts like “In Lust” and “Dubbin’ Down” stretch out even further into simmering, extended dance grooves, taking Dance for Your Dinner’s wired abandon and refining it into club-worthy bangers for art school oddballs and the glitterati alike—they weren’t fucking around with that band name.
Originally released on CD in 1996, this second album from Brazilian hardcore legends D.F.C. (DISTRITO FEDERAL CAOS) is an exercise in ’80s crossover style that echoes the sentiments of D.R.I. and RATOS DE PORAO in speedy thrashing laced with rapid-fire vocals, but there’s enough melody and breakdowns to keep the music squarely planted in the punk camp. With a penchant for cartoony artwork and parody album covers, D.F.C. seems more interested in issuing their metal-infused ass-whoopings than taking themselves too seriously. There are twenty brief, snappy songs here, and two of them are only four seconds long, making it an ideal soundtrack to any hessian morning routine. Get your day off to a strong start by brushing your teeth while listening to D.F.C. call people “putas.”
Short-lived darkwave band out of Lima, Peru—this compilation of scarce recordings was put together on a 2002 GJ Records CD by the same name. Twenty years later, Cintas Taciturnas has put out the same comp on cassette, and thus the importance of reissuing continues! The audio quality is actually pretty good, so that you don’t miss the wandering, left-to-right vocals, the rambly, jabby guitars, farty bass, and almost new wave dance-y drums. “Absimos de Senitmientos” fits in that latter dance-y category, while tracks like opener “La Extraña Misión” are colder and more grating. If you’re looking for some obscure ‘80s darkwave, search no further.
I believe I reviewed this band a really long time ago. It seems like they’re still rockin’ along with their watered-down STOOGES-meets-MC5-meets-HELLACOPTERS formula. The EP title could be a nod to the 5 or even GRAND FUNK. “Degeneration Ride” is catchy as hell. Rama lama fa fa fa.
A live cassette of an on-air radio broadcast performance from October 25, 2019. Los Angeles, California’s GRIMLY FORMING brings you a non-stop barrage of pummelingly aggressive hardcore punk. The band speeds through their eleven-song setlist in right around fifteen minutes, barely pausing between songs. Growling, pissed-off vocals on top of mid-tempo plodding riffs, intertwined with blistering fast hardcore. What a stomper.
And the ugliest cover award goes to…Pittsburgh’s INVALID! This tight twelve-incher is packed with very authentic old school hardcore echoing BLACK FLAG and NEGATIVE APPROACH with touches of POISON IDEA. Tough chugging, speedy thrashing, and brooding breakdowns are covered in stretched-out throaty growls and hey, is that the SACRILEGE “Life Line” riff on “Party’s Over”?
The JEFF HILL BAND were a power pop three-piece based in London during the late ’70s, fronted by the eponymous Jeff Hill. They released only one single during their brief existence, 1979’s “Something’s Wrong With My Baby.” The four songs featured on The Pathway Tapes were originally recorded for the Chiswick label in 1979, and here they’ve been released at long last by Lisbon’s Different Class, who have done God’s work in unearthing several similar forgotten punk/garage/power pop groups over the years. Despite forming in the UK, the JEFF HILL BAND has a decidedly American (and specifically New York) flavor, sounding more akin to MILK ‘N’ COOKIES than the JAM. While there’s nothing revelatory about this lost EP, it did endear itself to me after several listens. By-the-numbers late ’70s power pop isn’t always enough to thrill me, but the songs here are sweet, simple, and toe-tappingly infectious. Won’t change your life, but it’s hard to dislike!
I mentioned in my review for their debut EP that LUMPEN is the spirit of South American punk dissidence, and this opinion hasn’t changed. This is what punk should be! Ravenous yet catchy UK82-styled hardcore punk with the wrath of a thousand dissidents who are fed up with all the violence and corruption that they were born into and who took matters in to their own hands in order to change things. Corrupción is as amazing as their debut Desesperación, but it has a few surprises. Aside from the CHAOS UK-meets-CRIMINAL JUSTICE hybrid, they managed to do a post-punk-ish song called “Anti-Patria” which is pretty bleak, and I could hear a whole album of songs like this. To end the record, there is a kick-ass ULTRA-VIOLENT cover, but with Spanish lyrics that prove that bands don’t need to succumb to the pressure of singing in English to sound good or get included. LUMPEN and fellow countrymen PRIMER REGIMEN are for sure the best Latin punk bands at this moment! Renuncia a tu vida!
This is energetic rock’n’roll, energetic enough that it borders on frenetic at times. With rockabilly, Americana, and punk influences, this is lead-guitar-heavy garage rock. At times it gets a little swampy and there are some KINKS influences in the guitar work. I’d call it Anxiety Rock. My wife thinks it could work as a spaghetti western soundtrack.
I think I’m turning into my dad. The man loved a lame high-concept cover album. JOE JACKSON jumpin’ and jivin’ through some swing tunes, RICKIE LEE JONES doing stuffy-nose jazz covers of kids songs, DREAD ZEPPELIN being an embarrassment to humanity—just absolutely his shit. I’d been subjected to so much of that kind of stuff growing up that when it dawned on me that this record was a collection of blown-out (“loud”) covers of MELCHIOR’s own back catalog (plus a couple of fresh covers), my eyes reflexively rolled right out of my head. But stripped of my sight, a heightened sense of hearing kicked in, and I think I came out really loving this record. The noisy production gives the taut, bare-bones numbers I loved from This is Not the Medway Sound (an under-appreciated record!) a fuller, looser vibe, while the relatively stripped-down versions of full-band tracks like “Hungry Ghost” really push MELCHIOR’s songwriting to the forefront. It’s kinda a shame that I don’t have any kids, because I can easily see myself foisting this on a car full of tweens who are neck-deep in Nintendo Switches or whatever and dad-splaining to them, “Now, DAN MELCHIOR has been making music for over twenty years, and on this record he’s playing louder versions of some of those older songs…,” and so on and so forth for the full 30-minute runtime of the album.
Incredible debut of this Milwaukee band. It’s nine short and punchy tracks of a very streetwise and very violently aggressive D-beat. Paradoxically, it feels quite intimate. Lyrics en Español, but the hate is universal. “Pudre Por Me” is one of the best punk tracks I’ve heard in 2022.
Seven-song novelty cassette with songs about pastries, baking, and nibbling in general. The songwriting is surprisingly good despite the novelty nature of this project. Somewhere between power pop, glam, and mod revival kinda stuff, PASTRY BOYS keep you really entertained the whole cassette through and are witty enough to force a few smiles throughout the listen, with their self-identified genre of “chouxgaze” being one of the more quippy attempts. Very entertaining.
Rockabilly-tinged and liquor-drenched. There, I just wrote this PDX band’s next album title for them. Featuring a member of the awesome BITCH SCHOOL, this band sticks to the over-21 crowd with tales of alcohol, fornication, and yes, Satan. It’s soulful in the vocal department and the band is good with the chops thing, but overall it’s not off-the-rails enough for me. Not horrible, but my standards are pretty high for this kind of thing to stand out from the endless supply of disposable CDs floating through here every month. Better luck next time.
Another scorching-hot banger from Austin, Texas. Seven deadly punk hardcore anthems in under seven minutes, as per punk tradition, in a GANG GREEN-meets-JERRY’S KIDS mash of ferocious energy. From the sound to the logo, this band exudes old school hardcore the way it is supposed to be. Even the lack of information about the band feels like the old days. Tune in and get transported to the ’80s!
SUSANS are a three-piece bass/drums/ukulele combo out of London, Ontario. It appears they’ve been active for a few years now, and this is their first full-length. This is art-punk with an aggressive, occasionally demented edge. Vocal duties (largely delivered in a declarative shout) are split between bassist K. Cuz and ukulele player Gabe Nestor. Nestor’s ukulele adds a spindly, classically DIY quality to the whole affair—it doesn’t really rock, but it suits the paranoid songwriting. Tracks like “Nine,” “Impress Your Neighbors,” and “Too Much Info” are anxious and wiry, while “Hands” and “Toro” find the band sounding messier, less restrained. “Hands,” an ode to handwashing written at the outset of the pandemic, incorporates both melodica and sampled speech. They end it all with the buzzing, feedback-laden noise-punker, “It’s Okay (To Be Weird.)” I happen to agree.
This is an uncovered live recording of the UNITS playing a completely ripping set at early SF punk spot the Deaf Club. Whatever synths they were using must’ve been able to take a beating, because it sounds like they are pummeling the keys and tearing the knobs off the panel here. The set comprises mostly what would be their first LP, and the band is fully frenzied from the start of opener “Cannibals.” The short-circuited arpeggiator, bent timbres, and careening synth squelches are maniacal and still ahead of their time to hear even now. Even with all their futuristic machine sounds, their very human drummer puts a physical power behind the band, giving the songs life and energy. They close out with the all-time hit “High Pressure Days,” with that monstrous backbeat wallop on it that no drum machine could replicate. The recording is astoundingly good, a clear but still gritty document that proves the power of the band in a live setting. The songs are so energetic, catchy, and danceable, and their sound so one of a kind, it still blows my mind that more of the world didn’t catch on to the UNITS at the time, even in the burgeoning rebranding of punk as new wave. Yes, in a better world, we would’ve had a fully-realized SCREAMERS studio album, but in this world, at least the UNITS are getting proper reissues of theirs, and hopefully well-deserved fair due as pioneers.
The WILFUL BOYS keep things loud, but also like to bring out their songs’ different qualities, be they aggro or poppy, lurching or raging. The vocals are a talky drone just as often as a hardcore snarl. My favorite songs restrain the ‘core just a little and dash in some pop or discordant noise. Sometimes it’s nice to get your angst sideways.
Seven songs of mid-tempo, surf-infused hardcore punk from Berlin. Catchy, memorable songs with vocals occasionally sounding a bit like Keith Morris. ALDI OST seems to be pissed for all the right reasons, poking fun at security guards, hating cops, griping about SUVs, and on my favorite track of theirs, coming down on the drug-fueled toxicity of rigid, emotionless “Masculinity.” Their self-proclaimed “male-fronted punk” angle and the pin-up centerfold-style sticker of the singer included with the tape definitely gave me a little chuckle. Very solid debut cassette and I can’t wait to hear more!
While I have developed a general aversion to the unabashedly quirky and messy styles of what is commonly referred to as “egg-punk,” BILLIAM has managed to win me over a bit with this little eight-song garage banger. There’s a frankness to these frantic and grooving tunes that makes the weirdness quite tolerable, and songs like the synth-driven “Soup Season” and the dreamy “Metal Bed” are just so damn catchy it’s hard to resist. This is probably my favorite collection that he’s put out thus far. He’s got a number on here entitled “B-Beat” where he pounds out a rudimentary D-beat for a few seconds before flatly proclaiming “I don’t get D-beat,” which I can totally understand because I used to not “get D-beat” either, back when I was stupid.
I love old French Oi! It can often be a really beautiful thing. Catchy and streetwise but almost touching in sincerity and feeling, as heard in bands like CAMERA SILENS or SNIX. This new Lyon band goes for a less traditional sound than their elder statesmen, but it still rocks pretty hard to the shaved noggin. Well, only one of these folks has the proper haircut, but don’t hate, as they mix in nice glammy rock’n’roll guitar to some perfect, gruff “TEMPLARS meets R.A.S. marching through the French sewers”-style vocals. It’s a little like what CROWN COURT was doing early on. Fine by me, and it should be fine by you if you know what’s good for you.
We’re only halfway through this latest trip around the sun, but I have no doubt that this debut will rate as one of the best punk records of 2022. There’s an appealing sleaze emanating from DIE VERLIERER. They wear suits like cooler-than-thou continental types, but they rock the fuck out like gutter-dwelling amphetamine enthusiasts. Debonair, but damaged. “Die Zeit” kicks off with thrilling, dark energy like SODS on Minutes to Go. This smashing opener is backed up by “Die Verlierer” (“The Losers”), which pulls a similar trick by effortlessly channeling Dagger & Guitar-era SORT SOL. But let’s not paint DIE VERLIERER into a Denmark-shaped corner—I’m just trying to establish the rarified atmosphere that we are floating in. A slashing guitar tears into “Intrige und Libido” and ratchets the tension up as the bass lands every punch it throws, and the barely-in-control singing is like DIETER MEIER at his incandescent early peak. I’ve probably listened to this song at least a hundred times in the last few months. Absolute punk perfection. “Plastic Life” is like the encore of a gloriously shambolic STRANGLERS gig; I can almost hear the crowd singing along like a chorus of shithoused angels. DIE VERLIERER can actually swing, and this skill alone sets them apart from a vast landscape of indistinguishable simulation rockers. “Mann im Mond” is the CURE reincarnated as street toughs; fierce romantics, sensitive brawlers. “Nichts Funktioniert” is desperate and flailing punk that demonstrates true mastery of the form. This is the kind of song to inspire hordes of punks to treat desolate urban sprawl as the adult playground it surely is. Structures, after all, are just objects to bounce ideas off; bodies too. Just keep your eye out for the cops. That’s when “X Ray Vision” comes in handy. “Deadgirl” is the kind of love song no one writes anymore. That could be a positive development—from a certain point of view—but hey, fatalism is hot, and always will be. Listen, I don’t make the rules. Speaking of which, “Into A” is an epic last gasp that shamelessly nicks the BIRTHDAY PARTY’s “Deep in the Woods.” If you’re gonna steal, do it from the best, and yeah, add some phased vocals to the funeral proceedings and drag that sucker out like a corpse ‘til it’s six feet under. Hell of a record here.
Reissue of the Detroit band the DOGS’ debut 7”, originally released in 1976 after the band moved to Los Angeles. The two songs reveal the band’s hippie roots. “John Rock” is an ode to MC5 manager, White Panther Party founder, and pothead poet JOHN SINCLAIR. It is a rollicking, catchy tribute. The B-side “Younger Point of View” utilizes a groovy psychedelic ’60s free love sound to sing of the end of the hippies, and I would assume the band’s hippiness too, as their next release two years later would be “Slash Your Face.” The original 7” had no sleeve, so this reissue uses the werewolf from the original label as a cover.
Astoria, Oregon’s the DUMPIES knock up some dirt with their Roberto Clemente EP, named after the Puerto Rican baseball player. And while traditional sports culture and punk ethos haven’t always walked hand-in-hand, I guess we are mixed up in everything now, and maybe that’s okay. All said, the track list reads like the snotty-as-ever garagesters they seem to be, with “Pot Moms,” “Eat Ass Do Crimes,” and “Garbage Zen,” to name a few. This six-song EP comes in at just over five minutes, with the longest song (1:19) being the SHANG-A-LANG cover “Commotion” that makes for a great anthemic ender. It’s catchy and fun like something you’d hear in a college basement, while being slightly more informed, with the song brevity of a hardcore outfit. Have a five-minute beer and listen up.
Originally released in February of 2020 and limited then to a mere ten copies, EX PARENTS decided to utilize the downtime that was about to be thrust upon us all to send their demo out to be remixed/mastered and have artwork done by Keith Caves, who is undeniably one of the best in the biz! So here we have the newly remixed/remastered/reissued/hand-numbered (out of 50 copies) EX PARENTS four-song demo tape of pop-infused hardcore punk. I can say with utmost certainty after playing with them in their hometown of Roanoke, VA last month that the tape doesn’t hit as hard as the band does live. That doesn’t at all mean that it’s not a solid demo, merely that the band’s live sound couldn’t quite be captured. As someone who is a bit of a completist when it comes to music, I can’t help but wonder how that originally mixed batch-of-ten tape sounds. Are we getting the DIY version of “the great rock’n’roll swindle” here? Can’t wait to hear the record that is allegedly in the works.
Featuring members of SCARECROW and OUT COLD, Raleigh’s FATAL delivers a slick exercise in traditional USHC stylings on this aptly-named cassette. These six blasts of pounding hardcore are produced in a way cleaner fashion than their accompanying artwork would suggest. In a world increasingly inhabited by echoes, distortion, etc., FATAL opts to come through loud, crisp, and clear. Favorite track: “Ghost on the Shelf.”
This was a really nice surprise in the mail. As an ex-resident of the city formerly known as San Francisco, I managed to witness this band several times throughout their career, at clubs, warehouses, and municipal waste sites that no longer exist. I saw this crew develop from a snotty hardcore band getting faster and heavier, eventually melding into the blackened, druggy beast unleashed on their Little Deputy EP and self-titled album. Their vocalist Matty improved both vocally and in fashion sense while the band got tighter and significantly more evil. This tape shows them right in the middle, I believe, showcasing all the older hits and including some excellent between-song soliloquies and wisdom. It’s raw and fucked-up as all hell and you should buy three copies immediately.
Killer Czech/Slovak emotional hardcore split release. LAKKA starts with blistering, anxious, passionate European screamo (think DOWNFALL OF GAIA, SHIKARI). SAMORAST has a more distinctly Eastern sound—similarly emotive but thinner and slightly more abrasive. Both bands are new to me, both bands are incredible, and both bands remind me how much I miss honestly over posturing in hardcore in general. Naturally, there’s substantial overlap, but this split feels real, and that’s worth a lot in these times.
I couldn’t find out much about this band other than it appears to be one person’s project. They play guitar and bass and program the drums. It’s not my usual cup of tea, but the first several tracks are perfectly serviceable, crusty D-beat. Later, some tracks, like “Prep 2 Freak” and “2 the Bone,” get a little experimental and weird. “I’m Not Crying I Got Smoke in My Eyes” closes out the EP with nearly three minutes of moody piano.
MILK TV channels early ’80s post-punk and it’s coming in loud and clear. I heard a bit of DELTA 5, MERCENÁRIAS, and DEVO in the mix. The songs’ melodies and rhythms sneak up on you in a great way. They can seem awkward or aimless at first, but in no time you’re in the midst of a totally weird, totally danceable number and you realize you’ve been headed there the whole time.
Man, what the fuck is it with Denver? What have they got in the water there to make their HC so sick? PROWLER is another addition to Denver’s hardcore domination. This is hardcore punk the way it should be done (in my humble opinion). The influence from bands like the ABUSED, NEGATIVE APPROACH, and YOUTH OF TODAY is apparent, while also not being cheesy like a lot of YOUTH OF TODAY clones can be. It’s loud, it’s fast, it’s pissed-off, and that’s all it needs to be. I think this one rules—give it a listen and you’ll feel the same way. Stoked to see what PROWLER has coming up next.
Swedish hardcore masters RÖVSVETT need no introduction. 2020 marked the 35th anniversary of one of the most brutal hardcore records ever to come out of Europe, Jesus Var En Tomte. Prove me wrong! This time, it has a new mix that makes it sound even fresher, with an added 22 bonus songs, including “Fast” (from the same recording as the rest of their second EP Jesus Was an Elf, with a new mix), and finally a live recording of the classic “Ultra Huset”. Hard to imagine someone playing blisteringly fast yet so precise like this back in the day, whilst other bands achieved classic status with way sloppier and mild recordings. Truly an underrated band.
Frenetic drum-machine-driven solo project punk from Mobile, Alabama. Four original tracks and a DANZIG cover. It’s fast, it’s catchy, it’s weird, it’s got unexpected hooks and tempo changes, it’s everything you could possibly want in a solo project. That is to say it’s everything I want in a solo project, I’m not gonna tell you what you should want, but you just might want to check out this killer cassette by SOSS. Oh, and I just discovered that there’s an additional four songs not included on the tape or on Bandcamp, unless you download the entire album from there, and they’re top-notch. Not sure why these weren’t included on the cassette, but I am pleasantly surprised to have uncovered them.
TORD is a solo recording project of Barcelona artist Blai Subirats Nuez, and this release appears to be their first solo effort (after a couple of splits). The EP is made up of four tracks of drum machine post-punk, pairing CURE-esque guitar atmospherics with industrial-ish beats. Some quacky vocals and a dash of eggy quirk help to keep this from being a totally rote affair, but it’s hard to say this packs any big surprises. This stuff ends up sounding best when they opt for harsher textures like on the track “Què Faràs Demà,” but everything here is listenable. A perfectly OK record!
At this point, everyone knows or has heard of WARTHOG. They’re one of those bands that with everything they release, be it records, merch, or other publicity stunts (billboard!?!?), will get major attention. To get this sort of attention nowadays with bands spawning left and right is admirable, so there must be an “it” factor to them. With that being said, the sons of Larry are back with their third self-titled EP in a row. Yes! They are delving more and more into metal-oriented territory with recognizable influences of proto-bands like VENOM or CELTIC FROST, but still go fast on the POISON IDEA-styled hardcore. WARTHOG is at the top of the game and has been a major influence on American hardcore, and they are quickly spreading that influence to Europe as well. But you have to see them live to witness the full force of the WARTHOG attack! Highly recommended!
Debut LP from Chicago’s WRONG WAR, this HC album is fast, tight, and angry. The socio-political tension can’t be missed, from the band’s moniker to each and every song. The opener “Words Were Mere Words” shouts in its chorus, “And how I / Long for / Those days when / Words were mere words. / And how I—let it align.” A reckoning with cancel culture, as in we should be responsible for what we write and say and how it makes one another feel? Or an actual desire to not be accountable? Although the lyrics are all shouted, they are clear and you don’t need the liner notes to make them out—that said, the messages are vague and trope-y…the war machine (“Count the Days”), religious falsehoods (“Direct Function”), foolish patriotism (“Escape Clause”). But I don’t know, maybe I’m just oversaturated with being reminded of how shitty everything is, was, will be, etc. Anyway, if this fuels your rage, they released a second LP (Once Upon a Weapon) earlier this year, and I can only imagine what they’ve got to say since this release came out in 2020.
If you’re looking for a fantastic, frenzied collection of contemporary Scandinavian and Eastern European hardcore punk, here is your comp. Twenty-one tracks of blistering heavy käng-and-roll, classic crust, and D-beat, comprising various levels of speed and distortion, yet compiled thoughtfully in pace and tone. All your favorites are rumbling the pots off your speakers here: PARANOID, EARTH CRUST DISPLACEMENT(!!!), ABSOLUT, PARASIT, DISSEKERAD (you need Dis LP), UTSATT, WARCOLLAPSE, SVAVELDIOXID, VOIDFILLER, SLUTET (you need Dis LP), and much more. Several decades of Scandi-beat punk-tuated melody and passion come though over the course of this LP, covering a bit over two decades from the Czech Republic’s punkest label. An excellent sampler from Phobia Records. Sixteen-page zine and poster included. Only a few are left on gold vinyl. Comp is a ripper, zero slouch tracks, and I enjoyed it even more while revisiting it to write about it.
The fine, formidable hardcore of AMMO comes in with a rabid intensity that approaches TOTALITÄR levels, but this New Jersey band manages to apply that ferocity to traditional USHC song structures with beefy breakdowns and what have you. I’m hearing JERRY’S KIDS influence, maybe it’ll conjure up some other memories for you. Turns out this is the guy from NIGHT BIRDS getting some hardcore out, and it’s nicely done, with “Answer to a Lower Power” being my favorite cut of the bunch.
On their third album, BURNING FLAG keeps on waving their determination for everyone to see. The Halifax group is equal parts political punk and metal; their formula is based around crushing Scandi-styled crust but sometimes they reach ENTOMBED-like heaviness and groove, with emphasis on the groove, and some dissonant, apocalyptic GODFLESH industrial bleakness thrown into the mix. The themes of Matador explore misogyny, toxic masculinity, and societal corruption, so it’s a record filled with politics just as it should be.
