Reviews

MRR #520 • September 2026

3 the Hardway Hotcakes EP

I am immediately drawn in by the simplicity and haphazard, stumbling-forward Detroit proto-punk quality that these songs have. Bustin Brooklyn’s vocal delivery is a see-saw between boredom and aggression, while Sloppy Joel’s guitar, somewhat repetitive riffs nodding to haunting space-rock drive her lyrics with a much more calamitous impact. These four songs trickle Detroit with every note, and will leave you feeling empty and somehow wanting more. Maybe it’s the Michigan soul or the “heavy-handed swamp-voodoo electricity” (MRR review of LAUGHING HYENAS’ Merry Go Round, issue #56), but somewhere in this, I’m reminded of the LAUGHING HYENAS’ Merry Go Round 12”. Either way, this is a very melancholy and wonderful listen.

Bad World Maker of Rules EP

Moshers rejoice, BAD WORLD returns with vengeance, dishing out another dose of classic crossover that’s groovy as hell and as hard as a brick to the face, backed by precision drumming and furious riffage. The guitar player absolutely rips—the opening track “Maker of Rules” opens with the sickest divebomb solo, and the last track “Ninevah” features a shreddy solo that quickly combusts into a crushing mosh riff. The band is super tight, and the vocals are typical, but I appreciate the fact that I can understand the lyrics. I’m a firm believer that 7”s are best served with two songs played loud, but I can’t fault them for putting out three rippers such as these. Pick this up and mosh ‘til you puke.

Brad Marino Agent of Chaos CD

BRAD MARINO has been working the seam between rock’n’roll and power pop for a long time now, first with New Hampshire’s the CONNECTION and now five albums into a solo run. He covered the RAMONES’ Subterranean Jungle front to back in 2020, then put out a 2024 EP called Ramones and Stones whose title track happily admits he doesn’t much need anything else. Agent of Chaos works that same ground, but sounds closer to Pleasant Dreams than Too Tough to Die. What keeps it from being a costume is that it doesn’t feel like MARINO is impersonating anyone. He’s carrying the thing forward rather than wearing its skin. Thirteen songs in thirty-three minutes, with Gene Champagne of TEENAGE HEAD behind the kit for most of the way, and my favorite tracks are “Voodoo” and “Devil May Care,” the latter breaking up the formula with some lap steel from James Cap Nunn. I usually want records louder and faster than this, and mid-tempo is a hard sell for me, but these songs just sound exactly like what they ought to be. The CD has a bonus cover of the JESUS AND MARY CHAIN’s “Between Planets.”

Closetalkers State of Nature LP

For some reason, Calgary’s CLOSETALKERS completely flew under my (admittedly rusty) hardcore punk radar. I understand they released an EP on Neon Taste in 2024 and enjoyed some kind of success among hardcore nerds, making it even more surprising that I had not heard of them. The internet tells me that CLOSETALKERS sound like UK crust and Scandicore, but the internet must be drunk because I don’t hear it at all on this first LP. To me, the band sounds like yet another act influenced by US hardcore, with intricate riffs, a stomping, aggressive vibe, rawer by way of good production, and low-pitched gruff vocals. Undeniably, the band knows what they are doing, they do what they set out to do well, and it sounds and looks good. Some parts of it bring WORLD BURNS TO DEATH or TRAGEDY to mind, but to my ears, it is mostly a soundtrack to mosh hard. Not bad, but certainly not for me.

Dissekerad Väggarna Rasar LP

Here’s an instant grip for all the mangel-oids out there. DISSEKERAD continues to crank out flawless D-beat albums, thirteen-plus years in, building on a lineage tracing back to Sweden’s most iconic and influential bands, including TOTALITÄR and AVSKUM. Start to finish, this album is a complete scorcher. I’ll try to avoid the most obvious comparisons and just say that if you have any taste at all for käng, or like ripping punk music really at all, then don’t waste time reading about something that you could blissfully destroy your eardrums to. I’m not being hyperbolic in saying that this album is at the pinnacle of punk fucking mastery. Eleven tracks, absolutely no filler. I’ll be listening to this non-stop for a long while.

Eulogy Demo ’25 EP

EULOGY is a Montreal based five-piece who released their inaugural recording in late 2025. Their six-song Demo ’25 EP is a whirlwind of D-beat-driven raw punk with the bulk of influence being drawn from DISCHARGE. EULOGY uses a brutal rhythm section to maintain a bass-heavy attack, while the lead guitar shreds psych-punk riffs just above a gravelly, full-throat vocal delivery. In other words, an absolute must-listen if you’re an aficionado of loud, fast punk.

Feral Housecats Go Feral Yourself! CD

Laid-back, rockabilly-adjacent Midwestern punk. Like a dark and loose garage rock band playing at the bar you weren’t supposed to go to because it’s dangerous there, but you went anyway and it felt like you were at a revival but the revival was a party with guitar solos.

Orsini Ezin Atera LP

Debut LP from Bilbao, Spain’s ORSINI, a four-piece doing heartfelt post-punk with a mix of ’90s Fat Wreck Chords sounds on the vocals—reminds me a bit of SWINGIN’ UTTERS with the backing chants. More contemporarily, it reminds me of Athens’s CHAIN CULT, who I reviewed a while back. The lead guitar phrasing is really nice, soothing almost, and consistent with the genre, it acts as the throughline for each track. While I don’t know exactly what they’re singing about, the album description shares that they were “looking back at that huge black hole we ended up in, and how, in the end, making it through actually made us stronger.” Even to ears unfamiliar with Basque, the deeply personal storytelling is evident in the feel and tenor of the songs, balancing a sense of longing with hope, or at the very least, acceptance. Not sure if that’s what they were going for, but it’s how I’m left after repeated listens to Ezin Atera. This feels like a good end-of-summer record, so tune in now.

Piss Poor Under Attack cassette

New Haven, Connecticut hardcore punk, with six songs recorded live and released on the Big Neck Records subsidiary label Primitive Screwhead. This is what a hardcore punk band should sound like. The recording sounds dingy and fucked-up, without being punishingly lo-fi. You can hear the room and the imperfections, but nothing feels so buried or blown-out that you lose the songs themselves. The tracks are fast, short, and sloppy, and the guitar is ever so slightly out of tune. This panic-inducing PISS POOR cassette sounds like it could fall apart at any moment. All the little nuances where you can’t quite tell if you’re hearing an intentional choice or a mistake are exactly what makes this sound right. Those imperfections give this recording an impact that a cleaner, more polished recording certainly wouldn’t have. There isn’t anything particularly novel happening here, and I don’t think there needs to be. This is straightforward, nasty hardcore punk that feels like it could have come from almost any point in the last few decades.

Sacred Hate Bold as Love LP

This album was recorded in 1989? How in the hell is that possible? This sounds like it was tracked just yesterday! They must have done an insane job mixing and mastering this slab because it sounds immaculate. Bold as Love kicks off with a track called “Jam,” and it’s pretty much exactly as described: random instrumental meandering around a half-baked solo. Kind of an odd way to open up the record, but we’re immediately launched into what can be best described as latter-era BLACK FLAG being mashed up with BLUE ÖYSTER CULT. Yeah, I know that’s a wild combination, but that’s what this is and it works. Spooky, dark guitar riffs paired with a manic rhythm section and a headstrong vocalist who cuts through the noise with piss and vinegar. Fantastic work here.

Sistema de Entretenimiento Arcade Punk EP

Spain has an undeniably characteristic scene of synth punk and adjacent genres, but SISTEMA DE ENTRETENIMIENTO has always been one of the most instantly recognizable of them all. With their aptly-titled new EP Arcade Punk, they keep the flame going. The classic SISTEMA sound is still there: bright drum machine beats, sharp guitar melodies, signature synth parts, and vocals swimming in reverb…but leaning a bit more towards the gloominess of darkwave, it sounds darker and catchier than ever. Fans of the band will be more than satisfied.

Smog Marines Opus LP

Formed in Los Angeles’ Silver Lake neighborhood, home to acts like the SCREAMERS and the FLESH EATERS, the band known as OPUS changed their name on New Year’s Eve 1979. Adopting a snappy new moniker to better suit their punchy sound, they forged a sonic imprint that bridged the gap between the DEAD KENNEDYS and X, incorporating Jello’s exaggerated vibrato, speedy agitation, and prominent dual vocals into their brawny and eclectic compositions. The resulting melodic racket wouldn’t have been out of place on Dangerhouse Records, but that particular “what if?” scenario wasn’t to be. As the band was beginning to burn their brightest, the label was in the process of fizzling out, positioning SMOG MARINES as torchbearers of the first-wave L.A. sound. However, by the time they recorded their full-length album at Hollywood’s Mystic Studios in 1980, hardcore was on the rise and record companies were following the emerging trends. The material was ultimately shelved, and would remain buried in the sands of time for decades. After 46 years in purgatory, archival label Obsolete Universe has dug it up and delivered it straight from the original masters. Though diverse in style, the album is instantly recognizable as a product of its specific and prolific place and time, capturing the group in the midst of evolution as they embraced the harder and faster sounds of the era with their old school roots still showing. It leads with crisper recordings of the two songs from their 1979 7” that’s known for sitting prohibitively pricey on collector want lists. They cover “These Boots Were Made for Walking” with a guitar tone that reveals how the NANCY SINATRA hit likely inspired the lead-in riff to Black Flag’s “Rise Above.” They’re sometimes referred to as deathrock, the case for which is most apparent in eerie tracks like “Butterflies” and “Bright” that feature theatrical droning vocals akin to P.I.L. efforts of this era. And “Sharpen the Shears,” a wistful power pop track presented in demo quality, caps off the album with one of the most charming moments to be had here. It’s a concrete addition to the zeitgeist overall, and will surely leave some wondering how it managed to stay in the dark for so long.

The Burrow The Burrow CD

Killer PNW shit with shades of heavy alt/grunge and ’90s melodic punk. Every song feels like a dead simple earworm that will make other musicians wonder “why didn’t I think of those two chords?!”, while regular listers will be drawn in by super-fuzzed guitars and a rhythm section that lands somewhere between KARP and WIPERS fronted by gruff, melodic, and poetic vocals. Looking for modern comparisons? The BURROW hit me like the first time(s) I heard CRIMINAL DAMAGE and SMOKERS, which is high praise from this lowly reviewer. There’s a just world where this shit is absolutely huge, the songs and the delivery are that good…I just don’t think this world is ready.

The Cowboys Captain Easy’s Downfall LP

That Bloomington, Indiana has been a bastion of adventurous punk sounds for half a century is a beautiful thing. From the land of JOHNNY COUGAR, the COWBOYS offer up their newest collection of perfectly pleasant oddities. Fans of SPARKS will be in love within three tracks, if it even takes that long. There are damn near twenty tracks here, and they are all wonderful explorations in not getting pinned down, in playing with sonics, in non-masturbatory psychedelics. In 49 states it’s just music, but this is Indiana after all.

Theee Retail Simps Theeeeeee Retina Lamps 7″

The nerve of these Canucks! After their last record drew considerable ire from the venerable Sir Bobos, you’d think they’d have the decency to hang it up and leave this whole punk rock business to the professionals. But no, here’s two fresh piles of sub-par slop they’re serving up for us to choke down! I’m kidding, of course. I love this band. And while I may disagree with my chivalric colleague, I applaud his willingness to write a negative review. We can’t all like everything. I’ll also say this: 69 minutes is a lot of SIMPS. So, I really appreciate the concision of a 7” as a follow-up. And these two tracks are some of the best these dudes have laid down! “Quality at Your Feet” is almost a HOME BLITZ-ian mangled power pop number, and it features one of my favorite vocal performances from Joe—there’s a scream he gives at 1:40 into the song that makes me smile every time I hear it. “More Lies” is closer to standard SIMPS fare, borrowing heavily from VELVET UNDERGROUND, but by sticking to what they know best, they end up with one of the catchiest tracks in their catalogue. Once again, shout out to Goodbye Boozy for keeping the 7” alive. For my money, this one’s about perfect.

Jimbo Easter / Timmy Vulgar split EP

When legendary Detroit weirdos and long-time buds Timmy Vulgar (the EPILEPTIX, CLONE DEFECTS, TIMMY’S ORGANISM) and Jimbo Easter (PIRANHAS, DRUID PERFUME, PARADISE HOAX) team up to make a record, you can safely expect a thorough and enthusiastic mindfucking. Timmy’s side spans from fuzzy outer space rhythm and blues to primitive and poetic synth, while Jimbo conjures unsettling funhouse haunts and eerie shamanic juxtaposition. Listen to the whole thing and you’ll be seeing trails.

Animated Violence / Total Vacation split LP

Two servings of fast and loose West Coast hardcore punk on ANIMATED VIOLENCE and TOTAL VACATION’s split LP. Both bands draw from a similar well of influences; each plays snotty, ’80s-inspired USHC, but with enough variation in style between the two to merit sharing twelve inches of wax. First up is ANIMATED VIOLENCE, and it must be said: this band fuckin’ rules. Seven tracks of urgent and snarling hardcore punk with twangy, beefed-up guitar tones and a sort of playful vibe, as heard most prominently on the cloyingly catchy “Super Toys Last All Summer Long.” It may be early September, but this is a summer anthem if ever there were one. On the flipside is TOTAL VACATION, whose track list doubles ANIMATED VIOLENCE’s in length and whose style is a little more rambunctious and offbeat, with shrill vocals accompanying much more spastic drumming that is absolutely pummeling. The gang vocals they pepper throughout remind me of ADOLESCENTS, bringing a rowdier vibe to the proceedings. All said, both sides are strong, but ANIMATED VIOLENCE really steals the show. Highly recommended; for fans of G.U.N., INVERTEBRATES, Unlawful Assembly.

Unarmed Gloomy Skies // Screaming Vultures LP

Veterans of the crust war UNARMED have returned with their Gloomy Skies // Screaming Vultures full-length, and it captures these punk warriors in all their glory. Deep, guttural vocals bark over bass-heavy D-beat rhythms, while soaring guitars frequently dive in with epic runs—could there be anything better? Champions of the ’90s era crust aesthetic, UNARMED has the sound that many of us of a certain age grew up on, which makes a release like Gloomy Skies // Screaming Vultures feel refreshing and restorative.

Chien Flic / V.V.M. Tourist Complex split cassette

V.V.M. starts the Tourist Complex split on a very high note with their fast and loose hardcore with super fun genre-bending moments. Kickass riffs, super tight drumming, cutting basslines…it’s all there with its modern flair and old school attitude. And when we switch over to CHIEN FLICK’s side, they don’t fail to follow up at all with their unique take on the powerviolence sound with less angry and more expressive vocals. From complete chaos to more steady and straightforward composition, the band definitely stands out. All in all, I think this split is an amazing pairing of two likeminded and equally good bands that I won’t be getting tired of anytime soon.

V/A Hey Fuck You Compilations, Vol. 2 cassette

Dating back to my early years of getting into underground music, coming across a sampler for an unknown record label with the music they’ve released has remained one of my favorite things—what a simple and easy way to discover a bunch of new music. Hey Fuck You! Records out of Arkansas has been cranking out releases for the past three-and-a-half years. Scrolling through the lot of them, the only ones I had previously been aware of were LACK OF INTEREST, who seem to have re-released cassettes from their discography on the label, and HUMAN, who are a modern powerviolence band whose debut tape I was sent to review when it first came out. HUMAN kicks off the sampler, and their track is immediately followed by a modern pop punk band, BLANKET OF M. I made the connection right away to the old Skull Duggery 10” compilation, Fallen Upon Deaf Ears, a really cool comp that put extreme music powerhouses like NAUSEA and DROPDEAD side-by-side with nasty pop punk acts of the time like SCREECHING WEASEL and the VINDICTIVES. I picked up a copy of that comp years ago and always thought it was a really unique concept, reminding punks that for all the subgenre nitpicking we tend to do, things are actually far more closely related than we may give them credit for at a glance. That memory ended up being the best thing I got out of this tape sampler. Most of the tracks here are some variation of modern powerviolence and extreme music, which is generally what I had expected. It was the attempts to push beyond that sound that left me more than underwhelmed. The over-five-minute nü-metal track by MINDROTT, the novelty modern pop punk tracks with phony-baloney angry vocals by RADICAL FUN TIME, and the sloppy street punk song by RIVER CITY REJECTS getting chopped abruptly short make the whole compilation feel less like a curated introduction to a record label and more like someone just haphazardly threw a bunch of songs onto a tape. By the time this cassette compilation came to an end, I had started to wonder if I should have paid closer attention to its title. Perhaps it was meant as a warning.

Wet Denim Bite Back LP

A rock’n’roll punk stomper, this one is. From the weird armpit known as Indianapolis, WET DENIM probs learned their songs while drunk, so they can muscle-memory through the parts live. There’s a little punk honky-tonk, CANDY SNATCHERS, starts and stops, calling folks “baby” a lot, so what more could you want? I feel like their club contact would be written on the back of an overdue internet bill and just say “WET DENIM 1) will only play after dark, 2) wants some drinks, 3) $/% of the door or just a lot of our friends can come in, 4) did we mention the after dark thing? Baby, we’ll figure it out.” Here you get eight punk’n’roll tunes that keep the pace, and have maybe anchored themselves into the category of best party record for 2026. Oh, the record is transparent blue, too, just like wet denim? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯