Goodbye World At Death’s Door LP
Twelve minutes of disgustingly hard thrashcore from the Youth Attack roster’s latest round of musical chairs: this bunch of middle-aged ’90s HC clingers-on and two slightly younger dudes appear to have made one of the genre’s high points of the ’20s to date. This isn’t to implicitly snark at newjack whippersnappers or some shit, just to note that GOODBYE WORLD is one brutal unit in word, deed, and aesthetic. Aaron Aspinwall, of the REPOS etc., kills it on vocals, although I suspect Mark McCoy to be the main lyricist here as they read like a more mass shooter-y continuation of his general vibe in FAILURES. (Not sure I’d call At Death’s Door a suicide concept album exactly, but most of its fifteen songs read like coded threats to some unnamed foe.) James Trejo’s bass sounds like I’d imagine being drowned in pickling vinegar feels and intermittent blasts of uber-metal soloing functions as light relief, at least in the context of this violently great record. I know it’s easy to roll eyes at the Youth Attack schtick but honestly, if you like hardcore punk this one is just undeniable.