Korupuhe

Reviews

Hook / Korupuhe split EP

Here we have two bands from Finland churning out two different styles of punk, and each of them nails their target dead fucking center. HOOK’s songs are chock-full of simple, catchy guitar solos and fast-to-slow parts, and they fit the usual pop punk themes, from breakups and downtrodden boys being bummed out about unrequited love to a catchy song about the devastation of war in the streets. This is one hundred percent the stuff I was loving in my twenties. KORUPUHE blasts in with two hardcore numbers that are annihilating and relentless. They check all the boxes of great hardcore with multiple singers, group choruses, stop-on-a-dime musicianship, and a perfect breakdown in the middle of the song. I am gonna take a break from this and go find out what other stuff these bands have available. If you like either pop punk or hardcore (or both), then this is the split EP for you.

Korupuhe Näin on Hyvä EP

Deftly dancing between melodic pop punk and something with a slightly harder edge, this is an impressive little sampling from these punks from Helsinki. The production loses me a bit; it’s somewhat sterile with each element in its own sonic space rather than truly melding together for something holistically special. The songwriting and the playing is all there, though. While I often prefer shorter songs, my favorite tunes here actually take their time to spread out and explore their ideas. The finest example of what this band does right is on the harmony-rich “Rainbow Islands.” I’m less convinced by the attempts at faster and harder punk, which the band delves into as well. For me, the pop punk is right in the pocket, while the rest just doesn’t have the teeth or the riffs to sell me.