Reviews

Delayed Gratification

En Love Fled EP

Brutal powerviolence from Columbus, OH’s EN LOVE. Clocking in at under ten minutes, the Fled EP is a mosh classic. In what seems to be specifically crafted for the pit, this slab flows perfectly for anyone who is looking to dance their ass off. The EP kicks in slow and low, but immediately jumps into the action. No guitar solos, drums set deep into the pocket, just one homogeneous pile of fervent intensity. Very reminiscent of CLOUD RAT and other modern PV bands. I don’t know if this was on purpose, but the drums are blown out like crazy and it adds so much depth and vigor to an already massive recording. Good stuff here, recommended to anyone who loves newer grind.

First Day Out Cruel World cassette

This shit might be one of my favorites this month. Streetwise semi-metallic hardcore with “tough guy” lyrics, but not in the super cheeseball “B-boy gangsta meets NYHC” kinda way. It immediately gave me BLOOD FOR BLOOD vibes, but with not as much of an “I don’t give a fuck about you” attitude. My only complaint is the length. I wish there were a few more songs, but I suppose that’s a good thing. The ol’ “leave ‘em wanting more” trick.

Lexan Lexan cassette

This one is good. Demo from this Ohio hardcore band that pulls from UK82 and Oi! influences and delivers four pummeling songs with raw vocals and great two-guitar riffs. If I have this correct, the songs center around a creature called Lexan, reduced by the grind of daily life into a walking plastic environmental disaster. I’m picturing the Incredible Melting Man with liberty spikes. Working class anthems times sci-fi body horror makes for a great tape. Take the lyrics to “Man Made Ultra”: “Polycarbonate fused to the hate / Now I’m a carcass even Earth wouldn’t eat / I’m man-made, ultra, plastic monster.” Now imagine it shouted as a fist-pumping, kill-your-boss sing-along. It rules. If you ever thought CHUBBY AND THE GANG needed more monsters, listen to this now.

Lousy Suffer cassette

Right off the bat, you know that Indonesia’s LOUSY is here to deliver some real aggressive, moshy, riff-driven hardcore punk. Riotous stuff, not unlike, say, FREEDOM—this is music made to get you raging and get you moving. This is twinned with barking, reverb-and-delay-smattered vocals that compliment the tough instrumentation very nicely. We’ve got a super solid release on our hands here—highly recommended.

Piss Me Off 2 Much Power LP

Shredding, solo-heavy hardcore from Cleveland that brings to mind classic skate rock and crossover in its no-frills approach to punk. These ten tracks rip, straight up, and the entire package (including the artwork) could have come out anytime from the mid-’80s to now, with its focus on chugging rhythm guitars, wailing solos, crowd-killing breakdowns, and shouted vocals. If you like carving bowls (or smoking them) to the SHRINE, the FACTION, or SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, you’ll like this. Conversion van, sweatpants hardcore (CVSPHC) in 2023—let’s go!

Prevention Split the World EP

This is the fourth release from Springfield, Illinois straightedge hardcore band PREVENTION, and it’s pretty much as generic as it gets. There’s some heavy riffs and drops here that will please the bruised meatheads on the dancefloor, but this slab likely won’t interest any of those outside that specific demographic. If you like your hardcore hard, this may be of some interest to you, but it just bored me.

Rabbit Halo of Flies cassette

This interesting cassette comes straight out of Brooklyn, New York. RABBIT provides the finest metalpunk merged with classic hardcore, delivered with blunt force. Deep bass, great solid drums casting breakdowns from hell, smashing guitars, and a reverberating chaotic voice that takes over all the space (and your ears, too) from time to time, producing the feeling of melting down in a violent pit full of raw energy. You can sense some GULCH vibrations and a setting of unease. Highly recommended for those in dire need of a blunt dose of metalpunk and heavy breakdowns. Great art cover featuring a nice putrid egg. Definitely a band to check out live; surely their gigs exude energy and chaos. Suggested tracks: “Malparido,” “Withdrawal from Mass Grave,” and “Worse,” if you fancy some demonic possessed vocals.

Rejoice Promo 2022 cassette

It’s always amazing when a band can play so unhinged, you think there is no way they can hold it together. Surely, the guitars, drums, bass, and vocals are going to fly off in different directions like shrapnel from a grenade. They produce a tension in your head like you are about to watch a horrible disaster, yet by some sorcery, great bands hold it together, leaving you a sticky mess at the end. REJOICE’s three-track demo of melodic hardcore does all that and more. It’s wild stuff out of Columbus, OH, with vocals screamed through an echoey effects box and a wall of distorted guitars. The opener, “Empty Hands,” starts with the crazy, reverb-y drum track, and then all hell breaks loose.

Rejoice All of Heaven’s Luck LP

The first new release from this Columbus quintet in about two years, REJOICE reminds me a bit of what NEGATIVE APPROACH would sound like if its members were born within the last quarter-century, mainly because the singer sounds like a modern-age John Brannon. Otherwise, this a pretty groovy record, and teeters more on the metal side of the hardcore see-saw than punk. I don’t know how else to explain this, but this record is chock-full of what I’ll call “spooky” guitar leads that you often hear in black metal. Actually, this whole album has a blackened edge to it. It would probably sound like it came directly from the Arctic Circle if the recording quality wasn’t so top-notch.

S.M.I.L.E. Just S.M.I.L.E. cassette

Hardcore punk that has something for everyone. A little bit of metal-tinged guitars here, some RANCID-esque bass lines there, some breakdown parts, a dash of street punk, and mildly distorted vocals. S.M.I.L.E. is one of those bands that would appeal to all sorts, while simultaneously being an acquired taste to others. Definitely worth a listen, or three.

S.M.I.L.E. S.M.I.L.E. Some More cassette

Second slammer from Cleveland’s Delayed Gratification to pass through my ears this month, and like the opening track pleads: “I just need more.” Three doses of ripping USHC from Akron’s S.M.I.L.E.—nothing fancy but very special indeed. A logical extension of the BIB, S.H.I.T., HOAX-style hardcore that (justifiably) dominated the mid-’10s, there’s just a touch of groove here and fukk, it just slams so damn hard. More indeed, please.

Slug Continuing Growth LP

I may be biased, but nothing hits quite like hardcore from the Midwest. Very cool shit from SLUG, an Ohio-based outfit playing lean and mean punk on their EP Continuing Growth. There’s some lurching WARTHOG goodness here—check out “Axe” and “…Tired” to see what I mean. I’ve seen some Hate5Six footage of SLUG and all I can say is that I’m anxiously awaiting a Chicago date.

Slug Ohio LP

SLUG from Ohio plays straightforward, Boston-inspired hardcore, and following their excellent 2022 EP Continuing Growth, they’ve returned with their first LP Ohio. Featuring ten songs continuing their trajectory of meat-and-potatoes hardcore, there’s plenty to dig into here for fans of the style: killer dual vocals, metallic riffs, and plenty of breakdowns for the two-steppers. Check out “Get Ahead,” “Brain Rot,” and my favorite, “An Ulcer,” a catchy one with a great guitar lead. I should mention that Dwid Hellion of INTEGRITY has a guest vocal on the song “Introspection,” a cool full-circle moment for Cleveland hardcore. Highly recommended.

Sour Songz cassette

Disorienting guitar opens the tape, then the rest of the band drops like a bomb to start “Sum Body” and I’m at attention. Mid-paced, deliberately erratic hardcore, with a damage that can only come from millennial-era punks. Dark and serious, down and dirty, Ohio’s SOUR hits like a fukkn wrecking ball and while you’re turning up the volume, they’re turning up the intensity. Howling vocals, entire songs built on indescribable breakdowns—while this is in the speakers, for those nine powerful minutes, I don’t want to hear anything else in the fucking world.