Hailing from Barcelona, BAIT’s debut full-length is a slab of angry, stomping hardcore punk. Jam-packed with riffs and aggression, it’s meat-and-potatoes hardcore, which certainly isn’t a bad thing. If you’re a fan of that sound, you could certainly do a lot worse. Good stuff.
Diáspora is the third record of the Barcelona-based hardcore band BAIT, this time back with a 12” including seven new songs released through a collaboration between no less than eight labels. The lyrics are in French, Spanish, and English, which gives the band a welcome additional edge. Musically, there are a lot of things happening in BAIT’s music, and possibly too many ingredients to make it perfectly appetizing to my delicate tastebuds. From NYHC-style mid-paced mosh parts, fastcore moments, Scandicore riffing, and good old punk rock, maybe too much is happening in just thirteen minutes, and it sometimes sounds like the band is unsure of where to go. This said, the music is tight, energetic, angry, and certainly intense (and if you have seen them live, you know what I am talking about), and I can imagine many punters being into it. As for me, well, there are already many bands going for this sort of stomping hardcore, and I don’t think it particularly stands out.
This is a beautiful slab of fastcore: five tracks in the blink of an eye recorded down n’ dirty in the band’s rehearsal space that indeed thrash, with just a taste of powerviolence to make things interesting. Party-violence? Is that a thing? This Budapest crew makes a pretty strong case for it, with a sound that’s equal parts SPAZZ and A.N.S. coated in about a foot-thick crust of grime. Perfect for basement beers and slamming your head into the wall.
MALESTAT wants to see everything burn! Que Arda Todo is the debut from this punk’n’roll band from Maresme, Spain. The riffs come at you like a freight train, very rock’n’roll-driven, almost as if channeling THIN LIZZY, and the vocals scream with pure disgust, making for a frantic but somehow catchy concoction, like a collision you can’t look away from. Twenty-four minutes of energetic racket and lifted middle fingers, but always very slick and fun. Reminds me of a more raw version of ANNIHILATION TIME. If you like your punk sprinkled with some rock’n’oll attitude, then MALESTAT is the band for you.
