Reviews

MRR #514 • March 2026

Active Minds Things That Cannot Be Unseen LP

Look, the world needs ACTIVE MINDS. For 40 years, they have been delivering blunt-force, uncompromising activist hardcore/punk to generation after generation of punks, and I swear they feel more relevant today than ever before. The way they present such basic topics makes them feel…well, as important as they actually are. ACTIVE MINDS challenges acceptance on tracks like “The Price of Sporting Excellence” and “We Need to Talk About Saudi Arabia,” and ACTIVE MINDS challenges convention with the five-minute-plus anthem “The Man Who Fell to Earth” and the dirty Motörpunk speed-picking of “Fear of a Secular Planet.” Their commitment to The Plan is what makes ACTIVE MINDS so important—much like DROPDEAD continues to bludgeon everyone in earshot with the unfiltered truth, this UK duo continues to spit fire and deliver uncompromising (and uncompromised) sounds rooted in early UK anarcho. Fortunately for us, those roots have taken hold, and the result is more powerful than ever.

Better Plastic EP2 cassette

Brooklyn’s BETTER PLASTIC follow up their self-titled debut with the aptly-titled EP 2. Featuring two original tracks of powerviolence-infused post-hardcore and one LEFT FOR DEAD cover, anyone interested in mid-tempo, slightly off-kilter songs with blastbeats will find much to enjoy here. Overall, I do think the vocals are cool, but this doesn’t really do anything for me.

Blind Adam and the Federal League DCxPC Live Presents, Vol. 39 LP

If you’ve read my past reviews, then you’ll know I often go to bat for these DCxPC live albums—pure rock’n’roll archiving that will be long remembered for documenting the history of the genre in the 2020s. They are always worth at least a couple spins. BLIND ADAM brings more of the same energy you’ve seen in the past on these slabs, with high octane punk spliced with a hint of country/western and BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN. For the sake of simplicity, I’m going to refer to BLIND ADAM as skate punk (which I think is fair, as they sound like a cross between SWINGIN’ UTTERS and early RISE AGAINST), as the term “pop punk” doesn’t really do them justice. In an era where political punk is more commonly found in folk punk and powerviolence, it’s refreshing to have a skate punk act return the genre to its roots. These are the types of anthems you can build a revolution around. Their songs are so polished that if you told me this was a studio recording, I’d believe you. The lead guitarist is easily one of the best I’ve heard in a very long time; nothing but face-melting licks that tear their guitar to absolute shreds. A truly brilliant player and master of their craft. You already know what I’m gonna say: go give this record a twirl.

Camp Regret Camp Regret LP

High-energy punk with snaky elements of post-punk guitar work and staccato vocals. Catchy garage riffs and the overall buzzing enthusiasm make this record a fun listen along the lines of HOT SNAKES mixed with BLACK EYES. There are straight-up rockers like “Smoke Screen” and “Summer Venues,” but more interesting are the skittering drums and jerky bass rhythms on tracks like “Go Getter” and “New Zack City,” the latter with a smooth synth accompaniment.

Cigarette Camp Steps LP

CIGARETTE CAMP easily falls in with OFF WITH THEIR HEADS, RVIVR, DILLINGER FOUR, early JAWBREAKER, and all-over-the-place gruff melody and hooks galore. This record has summer and friends dribbling and popping through every note. I think that it is important to understand that although they are covering well-worn ground, this record also comes off authentically and not as merely wanting to mirror or rehash any other bands. There are nineteen songs, which might seem long, but they average fifty seconds each and are perfectly sequenced to flow together, and before you know it, it’s over and you have to flip it and start all over again. I think Steps is going to make gobs of folks happy, and perhaps make it easier to get through the cold and wet spring.

Dashed Dashed LP

DASHED’s self-titled debut LP offers eleven tracks of surf-inflected rock from this Minneapolis four-piece, built on jangly tones and rawly emotive vocals. The musicianship is solid throughout, and it all sounds fine in the most literal sense of the word. I wanted it to grab me, but every so often I found myself drifting, waiting for a moment that never quite arrived. Closing track “The Elephant” finally lets things get noisier and more raucous, hinting at a wilder band lurking underneath. I’d love it if this became the starting point for album number two. Recommended for people who like their surf sounds with a mild hint of HOT WATER MUSIC. The vinyl is pressed on Coke bottle clear wax.

Death Party Haunted 10″

This one’s got a little bit of a SOCIAL DISTORTION feel to it, both in the vocals and the instrumental work. Definitely not a copy or even trying to sound like them, but it’s there. The vocals are also a little distorted, almost like SONIC AVENUES—maybe they’re just leveled up super high. Catchy and melodic, there’s a lot to like about this one. It attacks the whole time and it’s got a garage-y eeriness to it. At the same time, it maintains that catchy, poppy side. Good stuff.

Forma Forma cassette

Debut release from Bilbao, Spain’s FORMA, a mixed female/male-fronted group singing mostly in Italian, with one song (“Itzalen Artean,” I believe) sung in Basque. Songs are heartfelt, angry at times (“Non c’è Spazio”), and run in the post-punk realm, at least in the phaser/effect pedal bass, crunchy rhythms, and clean lead lines way up front in the mix, while the vocals take a little more from a hardcore/melodic hardcore sound. Dynamic sound all around, great mix—music for the good and bad times.

Hektiks Obliteration cassette

Discordant, chaotic, noisy, and rage-filled is the short description of the Obliteration tape by Vienna, Austrian punks HEKTIKS. The six songs on the cassette are over and done with far too quickly, which means multiple replays are mandatory. Lyrics cover a range of topics including the horrors committed in the name of capitalism, sexism in our current times, and state oppression/repression, while sonically raw punk, feedback, and dirty distortion abound. This cassette is currently available through Roachleg or can be had digitally for a donation through the HEKTIKS Bandcamp page.

Itches House Animal Included LP

Very garage-y. The first track intro sounds a lot like MTX’s “Paula Pierce,” a garage rocker from their first record if I remember correctly. These guys definitely lean towards the garage sound. And not just any old garage sound, but the ’60s garage sound. I can’t tell if that’s a tambourine or just a ton of hi-hat, but you get the idea. Catchy and very easy to like.

Komatiite Famine Pact cassette

This is a short one: five songs in less than five minutes. Not even enough for a cig break. This tape EP is KOMATIITE’s second recording, after their demo in 2023. I would be a shameless liar if I said I’d heard of these chaps before, but I understand all the members previously played in the rather good BAKKARA, an evil metallic discore affair. KOMATIITE is a different animal, belonging to the US hardcore species with a distinct dark touch and something of a modern D-beat influence. The band does manage to vary the pace on the tape, offering a beefy, stomping number and a dynamic classic mid-paced hardcore one. There are a lot of things happening here, and what they did include is done well, but because of the length of the tape, I have trouble identifying what they really aim to do. I guess an additional ten minutes would have helped. Still, a pleasant slice of raw, dark hardcore.

Mandy Die Herrin Ist Mein Hirte LP

Germany’s MANDY belts out twelve tracks of no-frills powerviolence in around ten minutes. Throat-shredding vocals, tempo changes aplenty, blastbeats…they’re ticking all the right boxes. The down-tempo parts stand out for not being overtly metallic or floorpunch-y, and the production is exceptionally balanced with just the right amount of grain. The between-song feedback and samples add enough flesh to the skeleton for it to clock as a full-length LP, though I wonder if it would actually feel more complete as a 7” EP. That’s really splitting hairs, but I suppose that’s what I’m here to do. All told, a solid release with heft and force that leaves me searching for something corpuscular that would push it into brilliance.

Nite Sprites Only Better Changes LP

This sits in that sweet spot of soaring pop punk with gritty hollering and chunky diamond bass lines. The shout-along melodies are triumphant in a triumphless world, weary but fighting ‘til the end. While the band can air it out, too, with tracks like “Teaching Boys” and its chiming arpeggios, they’re muscular in sound in the evergreen tradition of groups like LEATHERFACE and OFF WITH THEIR HEADS. There is a wistful heartachingness to these tunes, but it always gallops forward. I also appreciate the lyrical abstraction, evocative and poetic even as the music sounds like anthems. A smart, spry full-length that’s recorded beautifully.

Open Veins Dead Inside LP

On Dead Inside, OPEN VEINS channels a distinctly metallic strain of hardcore that favors suffocation over flow. The riffs land in full-speed, collapsing patterns—less about momentum and more about pressure—while the low-end churn gives everything a nauseating density. The band does accelerate in almost each track, but it’s in short, panicked sprints that only heightens the sense of entrapment before dropping back into breakdowns that feel engineered for maximum structural damage (excepting their LP intro “Scorched Earth”), The vocal performance is all serrated edges, riding the mix like a threat rather than a guide. There’s a calculated bleakness running through the entire LP that resists easy release. Dead Inside doesn’t posture despair; it manufactures it in real time.

En Dead Inside, OPEN VEINS canalizan una veta marcadamente metálica del hardcore que privilegia la asfixia por sobre la velocidad. Los riffs caen en patrones lentos y derrumbados —menos sobre el impulso y más sobre la presión—mientras el bajo le da a todo una densidad nauseabunda. Cuando la banda acelera, lo hace en sprints cortos y paranoicos que sólo intensifican la sensación de encierro antes de volver a breakdowns diseñados para daño estructural máximo. La performance vocal es puro filo dentado, montándose sobre la mezcla como una amenaza más que como una guía. Hay una negrura calculada que recorre todo el LP y resiste cualquier liberación fácil.

Plant Bau! cassette

Talk about a good switch-up—these guys range from a mid-tempo post-punk feel to classic punk in just one song. I loved how I was caught off guard with guitars streaming in and out all of the time, and just when you think the song’s over, they bring in something new. Overall, these guys do a great job of bringing something fresh for every single song.

Quite Ridiculous Nonsense A Failure… EP reissue

Long-lost DIY EP from 1984 whereupon a young man named Dan Foley made audio experiments with a drum machine, a bass guitar, and kitchen appliances in his Montreal bedroom. Why go all the way to New York City when you can get SUICIDE at home? The ingenuity shines in all four tracks, like the blender solo in “General Attitude,” and the warped conga beat in “Appropriate Blocks.” Teenage ennui leaks out of the gurgling “Boredom” in the form of a looped “Dull / Boring / Dull / Boring” lyric. Kind of like a junior league THROBBING GRISTLE in that there is more creative spark than musical aptitude in these short song kernels, this is a curious document of DIY industrial-leaning punk, and a testament to the joy of fucking around with what’s at hand.

Radioactivity Time Won’t Bring Me Down CD

RADIOACTIVITY’s Time Won’t Bring Me Down arrives ten years after Silent Kill, and, damn, the wait just might have been worth it. If you’re not familiar with this crew, Jeff Burke, Mark Ryan, Gregory Rutherford, and Daniel Fried intersect across so many bands (including MARKED MEN, MIND SPIDERS, BAD SPORTS, HIGH TENSION WIRES, etc.) that their family trees must look like a spirograph. Here we have eleven songs in just over thirty minutes, each written with clear purpose and played with the kind of tightness you’d expect from people who’ve spent their lives doing this. At times, for me, this brought to mind Meltdown-era MIND SPIDERS, but I think fans of any band in this extended universe will feel right at home. The faster songs are always going to be my happy place, but one standout track for me was the more nuanced “Shell,” where the rhythm section locks in below a soaring guitar line that opens up an unexpected sense of space while maintaining that forward momentum. Ten years between full-lengths, and they’ve evolved without losing the best parts of their sound. This would have made my top ten list last year if I had heard it in time. Strongly recommended.

Serial Experiments Freshly Baked Ritual cassette

Tokyo’s SERIAL EXPERIMENTS offer some of the most deranged and psychotic powerviolence I’ve heard in a while. Freshly Baked Ritual sounds absolutely hostile. Two bass guitars dialed to the most sledgehammer-y tone imaginable along with abrasive guitar riffs and blistering drums create a wall of sound that is impossible to penetrate. And yet, two vocalists rip off their vocal cords trying to do just that. The result is a noisy, almost avant-garde kind of fastcore that would be impossible to replicate. It’s totally, uniquely disgusting. Therefore, I love it.

The Liarbilitys Vandalheart LP

Here’s a reminder to never judge an album by its first track. Vandalheart kicks off as your standard skate punk affair: basic power chords, call-to-arms lyrics, and NOFX-esque drumming. I prematurely wrote the rest of the record off, assuming it would all sound similar. I was dead wrong. This slab completely opens up following the second track, “Sickbed,” and is a masterclass of modern punk rock songwriting. While the guitar work itself is as catchy as it gets, the vocals and the lyrics are what drives this home. The storytelling here is reminiscent of the CLASH; very personal yet undoubtedly relatable and sentimental for all who listen. The vocalist themselves is on another level—pure unadulterated talent here. I mentioned the guitars being catchy, but goddamn, this singer has hooks for days. It all reminds me of an English ARMCHAIR MARTIAN and Chad Price-era ALL. Very solid album, well worth hundreds and hundreds of spins.

The Tights Bad Hearts EP reissue

Didn’t the TIGHTS have a single called “Howard Hughes”? They did, way back in the late ’70s. This is also from that era (1978) and originally came out on the Cherry Red label. This is classic early UK punk rock/power pop, back when the two weren’t necessarily distinguished. This is a must-have. In addition to the punk and the power pop, this one’s got a dusting of new wave you can throw into the mix, just for fun.

Thee Headcoatees Man-Trap LP

“Dude, did you see THEE HEADCOATEES have a new record out?” I asked my bandmate. “I’ll check the press release, I doubt it was recorded recently,” he responded, followed by “Welp, I guess I’m immediately eating my words.” Eat ‘em and smile, my friend! This is their first new release in 26 years, and features a few BILLY CHILDISH-penned originals along with a bunch of covers. If you’re an existing fan, you take comfort in knowing that the band still sounds great after all these years, and CHILDISH’S songwriting has improved the same. If you’re new to their music, sit back and hear where the COATHANGERS learned it all. I would have loved to hear more originals, but you can’t slight the band for having fun and letting the tape roll again after all these years.This one is a no-brainer for all the garage heads out there.

Ultra Bleach Ultra Bleach cassette

Eight songs of quirky, bubbly, unhinged, repetitive art-punk from Richmond, VA. Musically, ULTRA BLEACH stays within driving, mid-tempo punk range. Cool little drum fills, tight-sounding band. I am not entirely sure if it is how loud the vocals are in the mix or the eccentric yelp styling of the vocalist itself that makes the repeated lines in each song feel less like hooks and more like someone aggressively lecturing you from a soapbox. There are moments where I hear a little bit of early MEAT PUPPETS, which only added to my overall feeling that this has much more of a grunge-type feel to it than anything near the band’s self-proclamation of egg-punk.

V/A Stop Genocide Now! Volume 1: In Solidarity With Lebanon & Palestine War / Genocide Victims cassette

The Stop Genocide Now! series has put together an impressively diverse roster across four volumes to raise funding for Lebanese and Palestinian victims directly affected by the ongoing genocide. This tape (the first volume to be put out as a physical release) features twenty bands from across the globe, spanning Brazil to Canada to Mexico to the Philippines and beyond. I recognized a couple of names here like INDIKATOR B and TÀRREGA 91’, but I was mostly introduced to these bands through this comp. There’s a lot to dig into, but standouts include raw punks MAU AGÖURO from Brazil, Dis-beaters DISANXIAN (地三鮮) from China, and ’80s USHC-inspired STILETTO from Singapore. I could go on, but this collection is best explored by the listener. Pick up a copy, discover some new bands, and support a good cause.

Windley Cloverleaf CD

WINDLEY opens up with a quiet and pensive look back at moving on and into the next phases in life. However—dang, duder! WINDLEY likes the DESCENDENTS and ALL and gobs more Bill Stevenson-esque bands. Look, of this specific kind of powerhouse pop punk, WINDLEY does it very well and prolly kills it live. The lyrics are a bit more introspective than usually tend to drive tunes of this ilk. Ten songs is the perfect amount for an album, and they nail it with nine out of ten, only because I’m not a fan of tunes about hangovers, and one of the ten songs is thirteen minutes long and sounds like maybe four different songs, so maybe eight out of ten or fourteen out of ten for someone else (¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ). I’ve spun through this three times trying to find ways to beef it up or be more descriptive, and I think I’ve nailed all you need to know for you to jump in. Oh, the only other band I knew from Myrtle Beach, SC was BAZOOKA JOE, and now I know of WINDLEY too, so there’s that.

XSmashcasters Tokyo Rose CD

Virginia punks the SMASHCASTERS broke up in 2013. Three years later, three of the group’s four members decided to reinvent the band, christening their updated configuration with the logical moniker XSMASHCASTERS. And now they’ve put out this CD. Though the tunes take cues from classic English street punk, they present an earnest rock’n’roll style akin to the HUMPERS. I’m reminded at times of the ANGELIC UPSTARTS, the BUSINESS side project PROLE, and also poppy ’90s punk like early BOUNCING SOULS. It’s smooth, upbeat, and punchy stuff that probably rocks harder live.