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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!
MIDDLE EDGE is from Japan, and offers melodic punk rock that is gloomy and gentle in the best ways possible on their I Lost My Mind LP. There’s something here that reminds me of early 2000s rock like the LIVING END or maybe TIGER ARMY. Clean, spaciously-placed riffs soar over a rhythm section that generates hip-altering momentum while a loveable voice croons in a very rock’n’roll way. Yes, give me more.
Hot on the heels of a most unexpected remontada after a 2018 hiatus with a second album that was easily one of the best of 2023, here’s a reissue of the 2016 debut from these Pittsburgh rockers, and a timely reminder of what an absolute belter of a record it is. An intoxicating mix of 86 MENTALITY-style Oi!-flavoured hardcore, AC/DC-style guitar peacocking, and TEMPLARS-style pitbull vocals. Fans of PRESSURE PACT would find a lot to enjoy here. Indispensable.
Hailing from the Swiss mountains of Glarnerland, OH TELEPHONE offers a unique flavor of ’60s-tinged psych garage. With production assistance by Detroit studio wizard Jim Diamond, known for his work with the DIRTBOMBS and WHITE STRIPES among many others, this LP showcases the band’s penchant for neat, uniform rhythms—they’re militant in delivery of their slithering, smoky rock din. The songs are fundamentally simple in structure with fuzzed-out vocals delivering poetic and often repetitive lyrics, but they’re layered in reverberating noise, sometimes ending up as vibrating puddles of sound. This equation pushes the boundaries of the band’s identity, eclipsing expectations of the genre and blurring lines between garage and post-punk. As lofty as this all may sound, the overall vibe of the album is grounded in traditional dum-dum punk. Hell, the title track is a damn SNEAKY PINKS cover. Love it or not, it’s an undeniable sonic tour de force.
Two tracks from the same sessions as PEACE TALKS’ 2023 LP Progress. Seething and caustic, PEACE TALKS sound as strong as ever, and I can only presume there’s a good reason for these not making it onto the full-length. “Bloody Murder” absolutely rips, featuring a great breakdown in its last thirty seconds that will force you to two-step. Highly recommended.
Garage punk with good whiny shouting to hop around to. There were a couple of tracks where I felt my mind wandering as I wasn’t particularly captivated, but then the track would change and I’d be alerted back to the present with something new. Every song had a good hook to start with (usually either feedback or unique riffs), but a couple of the tracks started to lose that in the rest of the song. That being said, I loved “Forever,” with heavy ghost notes and noise with intense screaming. There were other elements too that kept luring me back in, like different tempo changes with “I’m Into It,” or the witty lyricism in “Stab a Speaker.”
Female-fronted new wave dance stuff from Portland, Oregon. I find this just a little too easy for my liking. The vocals are this funny combo of sometimes stilted and sometimes real singing. With a focus on goofy lyrics, it’s just a little too cutesy for me. But if you’re in the mood for dance and you like lyrics about all the things you can find in a convenience store, this could be your thing.
With a title like this, there is little left to the imagination. SKREWBALL puts the “hard” in hardcore with their very moshable stomp. The introduction “Stretch” quickly sets the tone for what’s to come. The rest of the songs fluctuate between slam-fuelled grooves and fast-paced aggression. “Punchline” is a seventeen-second-long song enriched by a quirky solo that could be on any VOID track, and closer “Reality Smarts” is a five-second-long song, but it doesn’t feel that short at all as so much happens in that time. Pure stomp, pure hardcore, nothing more. Hardcore for hardcore people!
This record from Pittsburgh’s SNARLING DOGS is worth a left turn. It sounds like Stiv Bators lives, and he has been pumping out songs with the ZERO BOYS doing back-up duties. Snarling Dogs is eleven eruptions of homage to late ’70s street rock’n’roll. The album contains the full list from the band’s previous demo release, not sure if the mix changed up much at all. It’s good shit-kicking punk. “Televised Violence” is a menacing, imbibed provocateur of a song that sounds tough enough to go ‘til the sun comes up. Start there.
Remastered reissue of this fairly obscure Swiss band’s LP from 1983. If I didn’t read the bio, I would have placed them on the US West Coast, as they pull from the early recordings of bands like BLACK FLAG and DEAD KENNEDYS with their speedy, simple hardcore attack and occasional dissonant solo runs. If this is an era of punk you enjoy, it completely rules. What is striking is how crisp the production is and how it accentuates the playing, especially the killer drum patterns. This is a tight band playing hyper-speed rock music, stripped of all the feedback and grime that accompanies a lot of modern HC. Drop the needle for a full-tilt Alpine time capsule that is just as potent now as it was in ’83.
This twelve-song LP from SQUISHERS feels a little like a back-porch jam session with a bunch of over-the-hill punks, and I mean that in the best possible way. Featuring Ryan Modee and Teddy Helmick of THIS BIKE IS A PIPE BOMB, Marie Davenport of the BANANAS, and Daniel Westcott of ADD/C, this folk-punk-meets-country mashup isn’t what I’d normally reach for, but it grew on me with repeated listens. Rymodee’s vocals flirt with just enough twang to keep you on your toes, while Marie Davenport’s bass lines hold it all together with style. Perfect for fans of THIS BIKE IS A PIPE BOMB and punks who can handle turning it down without losing their edge. Check out the song “Wavicle.”
Buffalo psych/garage/blues trio T.T.T.T. unfolds three new ones into a second EP. There is nothing wrong with these three songs, with a great sound (a very Detroit sound) that steps a little further away from what the band has put up in the past. I would recommend it to anyone who is into PUSSY GALORE, DEMOLITION DOLL RODS, GORIES, etc. “On the Sleigh of the Damned” shoulda been the opener. Let’s see more.
After the supremely damaged mid-’70s New York proto-punk/no-wave-anticipating band JACK RUBY splintered, vocalist Robin Hall started W-2 with Russell Berke (pre-CERTAIN GENERAL) in 1979. The project lasted for less than a full year and only circulated a four-song demo for purposes of landing shows, thought to be lost to the sands of time until turning up recently in the archives of Danceteria manager Jim Fouratt and now collected here (with one additional rehearsal recording) as part of W-2’s first-ever legit release. At times hitting closer to the menacing, messy precariousness of Jim Shepard’s early work with VERTICAL SLIT than the overly art-conscious downtown sound of early ’80s NYC no wave (“Toxic Love” and “Sprezzatura” especially), the collapsing mutant funk beats of “Dancing on the Head of a Pin” and “Soho What” have some definite parallels to the likes of COME ON, if COME ON had been scuzzy punk degenerates instead of geeky clean-cut nerds. What’s not to love? The B-side of the tape is given over to a seventeen-minute interview with Robin Hall that digs into some interesting background history—there’s an anecdote about hooking up with Berke because Hall was searching for a guitar player in the style of Pat Place of the CONTORTIONS/BUSH TETRAS or Andy Gill of GANG OF FOUR, then recruiting a non-musician video editor for the band because she wanted to play bass, and it all makes total sense after hearing the demented disco of the A-side.
Seattle, Washington self-proclaimed “aggro-surf,” but I’m not entirely sure what is special enough about X-EYES to warrant a brand new genre. Considering myself a bit of an amateur surf music aficionado, I cannot understand attaching surf as a genre on this tape. There’s a couple songs with noodly guitar lead parts? Is that it? If I had to give this a non-existent genre tag referencing pre-existing musical genres, I would go with something to the extent of “politically-driven melodic karaoke bar-rock punk.” The band is tight and the songs are well-played. The singer clearly has a good voice and can actually sing, but at times it feels that they are hamming it up a bit in the spotlight rather than having their voice be one of the instruments in the band. There are a few moments that kinda reminded me of TEM EYOS KI, but without the harmonized guitar leads. Seven-song cassette with only a few tracks from it being available on the band’s Bandcamp, so the only way to hear all the songs is on a physical cassette or the included download code. Attempting to use that download code, I was told that it had already been used too many times. I assure you, I did not download this cassette multiple times.
The lo-fi bedroom jangle of YUASA-EXIDE finally lands on hardcopy! From the Twin Cities of Minnesota, Douglas Busson and a close group of contributors have been making music under this band name since 2006, releasing albums directly to Bandcamp on Busson’s Ape Sanctuary label, with over twenty-five singles, EPs, and LPs on offer. YUASA-EXIDE’s latest two recordings (Naturally Reoccuring and Information and Culture, both from 2024), are packed on this Round Bale two-album cassette. The first releases of the band, nearly twenty years ago, are much more experimental, sparse, and noise-focused, featuring solo guitar instrumentals, distorted vocals, and mechanical grating. After undergoing spinal surgery from a 2021 injury, Busson could only play guitar lying in bed, where he proceeded to record the majority of his work under YUASA-EXIDE and where he developed something closer to the bedroom sound we hear on this cassette. That said, the experimental and noisy roots are not forgotten—songs like “Fuck You Duracell” feature ringing feedback and bleak, groaning vocals pushing out a bleaker-still subject matter, with lines like “When I say petrochemical / What does that call to mind? / It recalls to mine / The acidic slime.” Whether you’re an ardent fan or coming by with passing interest, this Twin Pax cassette offers a great take on the prolific YUASA-EXIDE.
Fun little comp with a neat theme. Each band submits two songs: one original, and one cover song from a band commonly found in jukeboxes from the ’70s and ’80s, with pop punk renditions of groups like GOLDEN EARRING, KISS, and my personal favorite, the J. GEILS BAND. The originals are decent enough; it’s just your typical, modern day pop punk teetering on the indie side of things. If I’m being honest, the meat of the record comes solely from the tributes. If you loved that Punk Goes… compilation series from the mid-to-late ’00s, then you’ll adore this. It’s a throwback to a throwback.
These recordings from ’77 to ’79 are new to me, despite the fact that six of the twelve cuts were released on an EP way back then. From Liverpool, these cats were part of that first wave of UK punk that were fond of the R&B side of rock’n’roll. The RADIATORS FROM SPACE are another band that I would put in that category. There were lots of them. Some of the cuts make me think of the JAM. Also some new wave and reggae influences. Mid-tempo and catchy throughout, this very much captures the sound of the era.
This is a compilation of the APOSTLES’ earliest EPs. Anarcho-punk, post-punk, a combination of both—either way, this is great stuff. I love music that has a message or that really explains how I personally feel, and the APOSTLES do it in a big way for me. Musically, it reminds me of bands like ZOUNDS, FLUX OF PINK INDIANS, SUBHUMANS, and CRASS, ranging from standard anarcho-punk anthems to well-thought-out post-punk and an experimental sound of their own making. This is an excellent collection from an excellent band and the preeminent anarcho-punk label of our time.
Hattiesburg, MS has in recent years cultivated a reputation for churning out some killer punk and hardcore—BAD ANXIETY upholds and furthers that tradition with their first vinyl release. This slab ‘o wax absolutely smokes! The ten cuts were originally released on two separate tapes, the COVID-era brainchild of Mississippi madman Hampton Martin. This solo project cum full band has stirred a lot of interest in the punk world for good reason. The songs are quick, ferocious, and catchy as hell. Smart, biting lyrics are delivered with the right blend of snot and snarl, backed by an aggressively overdriven rhythm section and contrastingly clean guitar. This combination leads to the perfect lo-fi cohesion, where the production doesn’t get in the way of the songs nor detract from the eruptive energy. The release has a timeless quality that makes me think it could’ve come out forty years or forty days ago. The second track, “Police,” bears a striking resemblance to the CIRCLE JERKS song “Red Tape.” I doubt that’s coincidental, but either way, it rips. As someone who has mostly lived in small towns, “Big City” strikes a particular chord, and when BAD ANXIETY barreled through my town, I’m pretty sure the kids picked up some of their “Cool Moves.” This is a crucial ripper of the finest variety. 10/10.
Vocalist Nicolle Swims must get this a lot, but she seriously sounds like Gwen Stegani pivoted to a career in swampy ballads and Seattle post-punk experimentation. Upon a first listen to Psychotic Spew, it’s clear BLACK ENDS has chemistry between members and a shared goal in mind. Quite frankly, it sounds really good, rehearsed, a perfect witchy brew of alternative girly rock. However, I cannot shake the utterly contrived feeling I get from this release. Maybe it’s from them making a self-proclaimed genre of “gunk-pop,” or the fact I cannot figure out how a small-ish band can headline its own EU tour in 2023 without a single album released. I am no Debbie Downer, though; they do deserve recognition for this debut album. Comprised of pleasantly discordant melodies and sultry lyricism, tracks like “Pour Me” and “She Speaks of Love” speak to the release’s off-kilter but inventive sound. Bassist Ben Swanson’s and drummer Billie Paine’s rhythmic spell over the songs never gets old, and I also appreciate cellist Lori Goldston’s addition of an instrument you don’t often hear in releases like these. With the satisfyingly clean guitar on “Suppin’ on Stage” and the fun sample near the end of “When I’m Alone,” I’ll forget the curious self-insistence and categorize this as a stellar premier of albums to come.
Double-disc vinyl re-release of THE BLACK NASTY’S 1994 debut (and only) CD. The first record in this collection is the aforementioned CD itself, but the second slab is a live recording ripped straight from a VHS, remastered for our modern listening pleasure. It actually sounds great. I love shit like that. I also love the little BLACK NASTY history packet that comes included with this set. Well, the first quarter of it at least. The remaining 75% of said insert is a transcript from a Zoom interview they had with Stop All Wars fanzine, which reads more like a stenographer’s report from traffic court. Regardless, there’s a decent amount of information here for anyone new to the band, such as myself. They even included an old MRR review of this same album from 30 years ago, likening the band to a modern STOOGES. I’m inclined to agree, although they are a tad more poppy than Iggy and crew. You can especially hear the STOOGES influence in their live recordings. Important to remember that this was the burgeoning era of the DIY pop punk sound, so there were fewer comparison points at the time. If I were to compare them to someone from the last 30 years, I’d say they’d fit in better with the NOFX/BAD RELIGION/PENNYWISE crowd. This is your classic Gen X punk featuring songs about fast cars, cheap beer, and dirt weed. Fun stuff here; lots of bang for your buck.
Darkwave post-punk with the occasional touch of gothic or otherworldly synths. CORKER’s LP starts off with a powerful rhythm section of pounding drums and a menacing bass line, setting the tone for the rest of the record. I appreciate the variety they managed to capture with the spoken word in “Forever Silent,” to a short noise section in the middle of “Distant Dawn,” to the faster, more punky guitar in “Wiring.” Some of the tracks blended together a bit for me, but I loved the choice of ending the LP with “No Necessities,” as it’s the darkest and gloomiest track that seemed to encapsulate their vibe as a whole.
Originally released in 1982 by Grabaciones Accidentales, the label that DÉCIMA VÍCTIMA helped form, this self-titled debut LP has been reissued by Munster. Formed in 1981 by Swedish brothers Lars and Per Mertanen, playing guitars/keys and bass respectively, they later brought on Spaniards Carlos Entrena for vocals, and José Brena to replace their drum machine with a full kit—all to form this legendary, yet very short-lived darkwave group, ultimately playing their last show at Madrid’s Rock-Ola in 1983. These tracks are largely bass-forward, with that classic JOY DIVISION way-up-on-the-neck fretting; guitars rattle simply in the background and emerge through a veil of reverb for lead lines, vocals are hollow yet give off a certain warmth in their resonance, drums are precise and may, in some way, aim to replicate their machine origins. For a piece of Spanish darkwave/post-punk history, and in the genres globally, this reissue is a must! I wasn’t able to learn how much the members of DÉCIMA VÍCTIMA contributed to Grabaciones Accidentales after they disbanded, but the label had quite a run before it was incorporated with fellow independent label DRO, and before both were ultimately and sadly bought up by Warner Music in 1993. But that is not the legacy of DÉCIMA VÍCTIMA! With this LP, Un Hombre Solo two years later in 1984, and a handful of singles and EPs, there is a lot to listen to (if you parse through streaming service comps or cough up the dough for fleeting original copies), starting with this perfectly haunting self-titled reissue. Enjoy.
The EXILE was a 1977–1978 punk band from Scotland This is a reissue of their first EP, and they give us some tuneful punk influenced by the mod bands in the UK. The sound is similar to Canada’s BUREAUCRATS. This is a great listen and a piece of punk history that I had missed; I am extremely happy to be able to get this now. If you like your punk tuneful, this is a great record to get.
Absolutely stellar power pop out of France. Sounding like Joe Strummer fronting a mod revival band, these twelve tracks are truly top-tier. I was pulled in from the jump with the call-and-response of “What’s Wrong?” and locked in till the end. Truly surprised to find this their debut full-length; it’s clear that this group is made up of veteran musicians who know their way around a three-minute tune. There was also clear attention given to the sound on this record, as the bass tones are so clean and warm, the group vocals sound so full of life, and the guitars are crisp and bright. If you dig the 101’ERS, PROTEX, the NIPS, or any notable ’70s punk, this album will feel familiar. One of the finest albums in a minute, Zeitgeist Impressions is an absolute standout.
Fourteen-song cassette, though two of the “songs” are each a mere two seconds long, so I’m not sure if those truly count. Bonkers, lo-fi, spaced-out boppy egg-punk, a whopping ten minutes and fifty-seven seconds worth of it! Only one track here just barely crosses the one-minute threshold, aside from the bizarre two-minute-forty final outro track “Trapped Here.” Physical cassette is dubbed on a ninety-minute cassette with the recording repeated over and over on each side. Absolutely wild solo project from Tübingen, Germany, “recorded on my intergalactic couch and bed’.” If you’re of the mindset that egg-punk is over, I suggest you let GEODUCK DIODES have a word with you. Personally, I am in full support of the home-recorded solo projects. I mean, what are the truly maniacal wacko punkers out there supposed to do? There’s no way a group of friends could be convinced to learn and record this mayhem, so it’s off to the intergalactic bedroom! Keep ‘em coming, GEODUCK DIODES rule.
Metallic hardcore out of Vancouver that mixes old school palm-muted thrash with raspy vocals. It’s not bad, but GUILE would probably sit comfortably in the middle of a local hardcore or metal bill—it’s not exactly groundbreaking. Lyrics range from the personal on “Barb Tarbox” to the geopolitcal on “Fukishima Gargler” (your requisite anti-nuclear song) and “Supremacy of Failures,” a track with a minute-thirty instrumental chugga chugga intro. “Hollow Gesture” is the best one here, with furious downbeats that quicken into a fast hardcore beat. The production is crystal clear with thick distorted bass tones and heavy guitar, but it ends up sounding a little polished. The vocals are delivered as near-blackened (toasted?) raspy snarls that are carefully delivered, but lack the chaos that bands of similar ilk like ZORN deliver. I’m curious what the band sounds like live, because the performance, while competently done, all sounds a bit restrained. Worth a listen for dyed-in-the-wool heshers.
Fresh new hardcore from Czechia. It’s heavy, yet agile, and the songs have a lot of nuance and tempo changes. It swings between broody plodding and hype thrashing, and there are alternating vocals—a meaty main voice and intermittent possessed shrieks. Punctuated by soundbites à la the 1990s, these nine tracks are creatively composed and go down smooth.
One look at the cover art and Miss Machine from DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN comes to mind. The intro evokes the chaotic collage of mass media madness from CURSED’s Architects of Troubled Sleep. The second track “Normalcy Über Alles” erupts into a frenzy of blastbeats and heavy HM-2w riffage à la TRAP THEM, until the middle weirdly features a spoken word part that almost feels like rapping with scratches included. A not so common choice, to mix dark hardcore with elements of hip hop. The vocals would fit well in a band like EVERYTIME I DIE; they also keep a foot in post-hardcore (or mathcore, to be more specific). It keeps throwing you curveballs and mixing genres that seemingly shouldn’t mix together, but the backbone is always dark hardcore and CONVERGE-styled metalcore. This is a very different and crazy mix of influences that in a peculiar way works OK as a final product.
From ranting on ALEX CHILTON’s Like Flies on Sherbert in 1979 to drumming for the PANTHER BURNS, Memphis noisemaker Ross Johnson lives to rabble another day on this single with CLOUDLAND CANYON. It trades the psychobilly stomp of Vanity Sessions, which JOHNSON recorded with Jeffrey Evans in 2014, for the psychedelic and experimental sounds provided by CLOUDLAND CANYON—synths, looping sound bites, drum machine and distant guitars. While the prefix “psych” transfers from one project to the other, so does JOHNSON’s ability to spout strings of confessional complaints and late-night reveries. “Women, Money, Children” on Side A chugs along with a desert-rock sort of feeling; bass and drums keep a steady pace for fuzzy little guitar leads under JOHNSON’s bar room logic of “Why is it that the ones you want, don’t want you / And the ones that want you, you don’t want?”—the otherwise straight-driven rhythm swerves in endless diatribes that lead to places like “Radio Free Europe” by the songs’ end. “I Know Why They Leave” on Side B forgets the rock beat for a programmed sound of synth percussion like a dark section of a FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD song, with the dub production of LEE SCRATCH PERRY sung by a drunk Phil Alvin. If you enjoy lyrics from the patriarchy of rock’n’roll yore and the aforementioned blender drink of whatever’s happening on the B-side, then belly up to this release.
Back in the ’80s there was a band from Colorado Springs, Colorado called the CREEPS that played thrashy skatepunk and had a pretty good run, amassing a dedicated regional audience over the course of their seven-year lifespan. I encountered them on a fascinating comp that I reviewed in 2023, Colorado Springs Underground 1983–1994: Volume 1. In an unsuccessful attempt to revive the CREEPS for a potential fortieth anniversary album, one of said CREEPS stabbed out on his own…and thus we have LONE CREEP. As a solo endeavor, LONE CREEP carries the torch of the original outfit’s sound, cranking out energetic, at times melodic punk rock with a wry wit and political bent. There’s something about this album that reminds me of Metal Devil Cokes-era MDC. Perhaps it’s the blend of crude and satirical humor with biting political commentary, or the fact that the original CREEPS were also known to cover “Mongoloid.” Whatever the case, there is a lesson here for us all: if your friends turn out to be more flaky than creepy, never fear—even forty years on, you too may become a LONE CREEP.
Long-running Motörcharged metallic rock’n’rollers coming straight from Czech Republic. I’m here listening for the fourth time perhaps, still trying to decide if it suits MRR or if this would fit better in another kind of publication. Sure enough, cadences are medium-to-fast-paced, crusty metallic forms are there, good riffy guitars, vocals are ragged and familiar to hard rock connoisseurs, but still there’s something that tells me this is a very good production and yet does not reach the fiber that triggers the rage. Favorite track: “Hard Pint of Heavy” in Lemmy’s honor, the missing link that got me through this dense album.
With members from Russia and Germany, this heavy group serves up some slick metallic punk with traces of Oi! in the vocal delivery at times. Translated from German, MENSCHENFEIND means “misanthrope,” and that’s essentially the gist of these four bangers presented in the ever-polarizing 10” format.
Synth-heavy noise punk from Sweden. Six tracks of video game-y, drum-machine-driven tunes with intentionally wildly out-of-tune vocals on top. This would be in good company with the New Jersey egg-punk band I once referred to as “the most polarizing band in punk,” BIG CHUNGUS. NERVOUS B.O. (also written as NERVOUS BODY ODOR) is a bit of a confusing band to attempt to understand. They have a number of releases, a few since this one it seems, but it’s a little difficult to tell for sure based on how difficult it is to navigate their Bandcamp. I am as confused as I am entertained by some of these songs and the wild choice of snare tone for the drum machine on them. Limited edition of 25 cassettes (with cool little hand-drawn demon on the inside cover) by Xtro, not sure about other labels’ quantities.
Holy musical candy to my ears. I was certainly given music directly in my lane with the review of ON THE MIGHT OF PRINCES’ Sirens. Driving beats, plaintive vocals, melodic hardcore/emo sounding straight outta the best New Brunswick basement circa 2001 but with the polish and sheen of the likes of ENVY. The album opens up with a guitar riff on “No Sign of the Messiah (Pt II)” to set the emotional landscape of heartache those of us kids of the messageboards crave. Truth be told, I always knew of ON THE MIGHT OF PRINCES because of their proximity to so many bands I loved back in the day, but never got the opportunity to see them. This re-release is driving home for me the harsh reality that I truly missed out. Fans of THURSDAY, SAETIA, HOT CROSS, and, as I noted—partly tongue-in-cheek and partly dead serious—the messageboards of the aughts, will fall in love and put this on repeat.
This limited cassette re-release of the second 7″ from this late ’90s South Carolina screamo hardcore band is a gritty blast from the past. The scooped-mids production, crunchy guitars, and boomy bass nail the era’s vibe, while the vocalist’s high-pitched and raspy scream-sing style makes them a perfect match for a bill with REVERSAL OF MAN or FORCE FED GLASS. It’s an aggressively raw recording that definitely sparks my nostalgia for the ’90s hardcore scene that is worlds apart from that shit they’re calling screamo nowadays. All of these songs are on their discography Curtain Call, but if you don’t have that already and you need something to play on your Walkman, you should jump fast to snatch this up.
UK metalpunk four-piece SKABS return after their 2023 demo with World Burner. Four tracks of heavy-ass, death metal-influenced punk with “crustified” black metal-styled vocals. SKABS’ dynamic sound oscillates between mid-tempo grooves with occasional blastbeats here and there, maintaining things interesting throughout. Sometimes you just want to listen to something that makes you want to headbang and this is it!
Coming from Los Angeles, S.O.H. gives us some raging hardcore crust. This band can write a hardcore crust song while having some melody in their musical structure, and that’s not a bad thing. Their music has a lot of different textures to it, and they can take you up a mountain and then drop you off a cliff. I like it. It reminds me just a bit of some of the crust and hardcore that came out in the 1990s. This band makes their own music their own way and it sounds how they want it to. Now that’s punk!
Not sure if this is my stale 40oz of malt liquor. These guys are really, really adamant, but I couldn’t tell you about what. Foggy Washington sorta-grungers STORM BOY are doing a kind of TAD-meets-Frank Black thing that’s turned up to eleven on the melodrama. Four songs that bleed into themselves. I couldn’t tell you much more.
Thrash-laden, D-beat-inspired noisy raw fucking hardcore punk: that’s Unrelenting Forced Psychosis by SUFFOCATING MADNESS. From the very start, I’m reminded of Swedish hardcore band VICTIMS or maybe even WOLFBRIGADE. But then there’s this fuzzy punk energy that reminds me of the SWANKYS, or maybe it’s DEATH DUST EXTRACTOR. Either way, it’s supercharged with enough thrash punk à la CRYPTIC SLAUGHTER to launch the whole recording into warp speed. I think I just found my new favorite album.
Oslo’s TIEBREAK returns with Hardcore Bugs, their first release since 1998’s Stand Hard EP which made some waves before the band broke up a couple of years later for one reason or another. In spite of the band’s decades-long absence, they sound good here, playing youth crew hardcore that doesn’t sound at all out of place with the current crop of modern bands playing the same style. I really have no further notes other than that they unfortunately lose one point for the album artwork, which is confusing in my opinion. Anyway, if you’re into youth crew vets BERTHOLD CITY, you’ll like this.
TUBE ALLOYS return on the heels of last year’s fantastic debut album with a double A-side single for their most recent US tour. These tracks are taken from the same material that became Magnetic Point, so if you dug their debut, you’ll be drawn to these tracks right away. Both tracks here are stellar post-punk. “Evil Angels” is stocked with a propulsive bass line, wiry guitars, snotty vocals, and a brilliant sense of urgency. “Lizard Kingdom” is more post-punk, but you can feel the krautrock seeping in from all sides with its repetitive, almost droning instrumentation, not to mention its brief sample of TRIO’s classic “Da Da Da” to kick things off. Top-tier stuff, as you might expect from the always reliable La Vida Es Un Mus.
This Missouri band returns with its first full-length of original material in twenty years, and it sounds pretty damn good. These thirteen tracks hit with that satisfying weight of distinctly midwestern melodic punk with just the right amount of grit. This fits nicely alongside acts like DILLINGER FOUR and OFF WITH THEIR HEADS, to give a slight frame of reference, but this band is doing its own thing with a lot of heart and a lot of hooks. The harmonies hit on tracks like “Second Hand,” which has teeth and heft while sticking to a strong melodic center. It’s nice to hear a band that lives the punk half of the pop punk equation so that both elements work together. It creates a balanced and thoroughly addictive sound. It’s heartening to see this band get back in the saddle. Here’s hoping for more music on the trail ahead.
Former members of SOME VELVET SIDEWALK and JAPANTHER board a time machine bound for the heavy fuzz and wry, observational songwriting of the late ’80s-mid-’90s subterranean rock scene. Opener “Inside/Outside” and “Endless Grid” could have nestled nicely on SONIC YOUTH’s landmark Sister LP but also recall the thick layered distortion of bands like CHAVEZ and DEAD MEADOW. The slow-moving grooves here are enough to get your head bobbing, and the lyrics are frequently funny. Take the rambling storytelling of “Endless Grid”: “I’m at my desk and my phone is ringing, but it’s not ringing cause it’s 2022 so it’s this nice melody thing / I pick it up and I can see the name of the person calling, which still fucking amazes me / And so I say ‘Hi Dylan, it’s nice to hear from you, what’s up?’ / Dylan is 22 and he says, ‘I’m living in Albany, I have six roommates, we just moved the drums into the living room because it’s getting so crowded in the basement!’ / And I say ‘Oh, that’s great to hear, it sounds like you’re in a community, that’s really important’ / And Dylan says ‘Yeah! things are going pretty good’ — and I want to say ‘Don’t take drugs!’” That’s the first verse out of three, and after a while, you’re like, “What did he say next? What are Dylan’s plans?” There are also a few instrumental fuck-arounds (I’m pretty sure “Unroll (Unroll Inside)” was just an excuse to play with a vocoder), but they thankfully don’t take away from the vibe too much. If you miss the heady, honey-thick tones of years past, check this one out.
The third and (sadly) final installment to a series of international compilations whose proceeds support mutual aid efforts in Gaza. This is a great opportunity to contribute to an important cause and hear some exclusive/rare cuts by some of the most ripping bands on the planet. Featuring songs from all-time favorites like ZOUNDS, BURNING KITCHEN, and HELLSHOCK, to the cream of punk’s current crop such as GOLPE, CHAIN CULT, FAIRYTALE, and QUARANTINE, the tracklist reads like a hardcore who’s-who. All told, there are 23 selections and not a single dud in the bunch. Israel’s repugnant assault on Gaza is an insidious and growing stain on the decency of humankind. Here’s a chance to channel funds to where they are needed most, and add a badass tape to your collection at the same time. Collect all three! It should be mandatory!!
A cassette collection of the first two EPs recorded by this Spanish egg-punk band. I am unsure if there was a physical release of them independent of this collection, but seeing as how each is a mere two songs long and the artwork is almost indistinguishable from one cover to the other, I am glad that Knuckles on Stun has done us the service of putting both EPs on one cassette. Poppy, bouncy egg-punk, quite possibly the poppiest of this style I have yet to encounter. I know a lot of people seem to be a bit over the egg-punk phenomenon, but if new projects are popping up and releasing wildly catchy bops like the four tracks contained on this cassette, I will personally never tire of it. Knuckles on Stun limits all their releases to 25 cassettes, so act now or forever miss out on a physical copy of these four killer, scrambled tracks.
They apparently only started the project at the beginning of this year, but Cincinnati’s ARTIFICIAL GO cut right to the chase with their debut LP (and debut, period) Hopscotch Fever. An incessant wiggle of sparse and trebly guitar, solidly skeletal drumming, and mannered, alternately animated/nonplussed faux-Brit-accented vocals are roughed-up in a charmingly lo-fi and ramshackle recording, placing yet another daisy in the chain connecting today’s Midwestern post-punk weirdos to both the art school new wave eccentricity of SUBURBAN LAWNS and the scratchy naivety of late ’70s/early ’80s Rough Trade—the sort of band that would perform on rollerskates while decked out in loud, upcycled vintage outfits neo-New Wave Theatre-style, as they do in the video for “Pay Phone.” The taut, rhythmic herky-jerk of “Artificial Go” and the spacious brokedown disco groove snaking through “On Off” cast ARTIFICIAL GO as the less rambunctious kid siblings to their Feel It fam SPREAD JOY, as “Walk Like a Dog” and “Feeling Foxy” unwind into an ultra-minimalist, lopsided jangle like a modern BONA DISH, with Angie Willcutt’s too-cool vocal indifference buttoning everything up just so. Can’t really blame them for skipping any demo/single introduction formalities when they had this up their sleeves.
Synth-y garage punk band with a slight touch of horror punk at times. I loved how cohesive this EP was throughout and how the songs continued to build off of each other. That being said, I feel like I wanted a little more variation with the synth throughout the different songs as it seemed quite similar in a couple of them, but I do think that it added another dimension to the songs. The combination of edge and a bit of goofiness, like in “Secondhand Toe Jam,” really made the songs come to life. In “Spell,” it felt like the synths were taunting me and egging me on to go and do something like run into a wall.
This nine-song full-length by Buffalo, New York’s BLACK & WHITE CAT / BLACK & WHITE CAKE is an entertaining rollercoaster. A general post-punk vibe crosses through all the songs, but some are synthesized punk and a few are plodding towards darkwave. When you realize BLACK & WHITE CAT / BLACK & WHITE CAKE is a reference to the 1977 horror film The Sentinel and their favorite band is KILLING JOKE, then things start to make a lot of sense. Two guitars dance around in chaotic repetitions as digital drums and dirty, distorted bass keep time. “Invoke” is perhaps my favorite song with its build-up and very Jaz Coleman delivery.
Not really memorable at all. I’ve never really been a fan of that NEW YORK DOLLS style of punk, and this seems to fit right in with that. Just really boring, felt overly long for an album of that style. Honestly, come to think of it, I can’t remember a single lyric off of this thing. It would be one thing if they actually tried something original with their sound, but no, they continued to water it down with crappy production and mediocre (at best) performances. Yawn.
