Psyop

Reviews

Psyop Defector cassette

With their first release dating back to 2021 and the follow-up dropping in 2023, Washington, DC’s PSYOP continues their biennial release schedule with their 2025 release Defector, featuring four songs of fast and heavy hardcore punk with strong political subject matter. PSYOP is pissed at the system, the government, big business, as well as many other things which they are much more eloquent at expressing than I am, and truly, who could blame them? Fast, relentless palm-muted riffs, driving drums, and barked vocals, with political sound clips between the tracks. Of the three recordings the band has dropped, this is far and away their best output so far. That is, until their next release, which I’m assuming based on their set pattern is scheduled to drop sometime in 2027.

Psyop Permanent Underclass cassette

PSYOP plays USHC while folding in the usual pairings: a thrash metal riff here, a beatdown interlude there, and of course, some brief, grindcore/Cookie Monster woofing from the vocalist. The songs sound good, in no small part because of the drummer, who fires off all the standard beats and rhythms seamlessly. The lyrics tilt more towards the political than the nihilistic. For fans of vegan potlucks and union drives.