Mark Balboni AKA Hash’d Out cassette
A California-based powerviolence-style band with short songs, mostly about smoking hash, littered with as many goofball sound clips and samples as there are blastbeats. If that sounds like it’s pretty well-worn territory, it might be because it is, but don’t let that impact your thoughts about the band. If you’re an extreme music enthusiast and this style sounds like it might be up your alley, then it very likely is. From the wording within the cassette J-card, I have to assume that this is a retrospective collection of everything the band did, on a single cassette. All the songs are incredibly tight and short, flowing into one another seamlessly. Seventeen songs are over before you realize it. There is an interesting take on “Still Pist” by the PIST, but a straight-up grindcore rendition of it. That was the only song that really grabbed my attention across the tracklist individually, but it is likely because of the song’s recognizable lyrics coming through the blastbeat cacophony. There isn’t much here that is going to reinvent the wheel, but if this flavor of powerviolence is your thing, I doubt you are looking for someone to reinvent it anyway.