Reviews

All Viceroys United

False Front Valley Stomp EP

Seven minutes of pure floor-stomping hardcore. McAllen, Texas’s FALSE FRONT play stripped-down skinhead hardcore with one boot planted on WARZONE, NEGATIVE APPROACH, and the TEMPLARS, and another boot on newer bands like LIBERTY & JUSTICE (with whom they collaborate on track three), with additional blastbeats à la early AGNOSTIC FRONT and DEAD KENNEDYS surf riffs here and there. Each breakdown catches you off guard, as FALSE FRONT manages to make things groovier and more aggressive with each twist and turn. Lyrically, it’s all about protecting hardcore from tourists, poseurs, and fake scene politics, and these boot boys ain’t playing around, so they just might revoke your hardcore card.

Tank Division Chewin’ Ice EP

This EP Austin’s TANK DIVISION features four re-recorded demo tracks and four new songs of ugly, dour hardcore that is fairly manic and hectic. Listing bands like Rollins-era BLACK FLAG and OUT COLD and shouting out CHEETAH CHROME MOTHERFUCKERS and GORDON SOLIE MOTHERFUCKERS (in the same song) gives you an idea of where their heads are at. On paper, this sounds like something I’d really dig, but it just didn’t do much for me. I’ve given it a couple of spins, and maybe it’s the ranting vocals or the unusual song structures, but overall, this one’s a pass.