Twelve anxious doses that span a crevasse between early ’00s colossal crust and an indescribably awesome hardcore lurch. Makes me think of the NOW DENIAL…or maybe just some modern kids simultaneously harnessing anthemic core and honest intensity. Fans of fast and/or heavy and/or intense hardcore will want to pay attention here, because France’s ED WARNER ticks off literally every box.
Don’t judge a book by its cover, lesson one: this fukkn record. The stupid cartoon claymation cover would turn most punks off before they even saw the band names, and I confess that I never would have given this slab a second thought if it were not my punk duty to do so. And holy shit did I eat my thoughts as soon as JODIE FASTER started cranking through five absolute rippers that sound like nothing at all except (apparently) JODIE FASTER. A raw drum attack that reminds me of RUDIMENTS, a penchant for don’t-give-a-fuck combined with serious chops à la SCHLONG, open chord clean guitars like JASPER THREAD, and an overall purity in their ferocity that I haven’t heard since I saw ROLEX last year. I didn’t want to turn the record over. But I did. And GENITAL JUGGLING delivered the same energy on the flip—just as much irreverence in their song construction, but with a SoCal hardcore tinge, and aggression replacing the quirk on the A-side. Listen to all of the records, punks—even the ones you think aren’t up to whatever your bullshit “standards” are—because chances are good that you are wrong. This record is definitely right.
Seventeen songs here, with the longest clocking in at 1:29. Short, fast, hardcore songs that strangely don’t use distortion on the guitars. I don’t particularly know how I feel about this. The songs are good, but the lack of distortion is off-putting to say the least. I wanna like this, and I think I do, but the sound of the guitar is fucking with my brain. Like it’s seriously giving me a borderline panic attack. Hahaha.
Named after a city in Russia, this fairly new outfit from Tours, France debuts with Voices—a new project, but with experienced players from the likes of LOVVE, CRACKHOUSE, and VERBAL RAZORS. This power trio blends old and new influences, creating a moody crust album leaning towards neocrust with the occasional blastbeat (think MASAKARI with a more hardcore edge). Different styles pop up here and there to keep the juices flowing and add some spice to the album. Voices works well as a whole, and the songs go by quite nicely together.
France’s URAKEN serve up a heavy mix of hardcore, crust, sludge, and powerviolence that is reminiscent of some of Southern Lord’s faster acts on this reissue of their 2017 demo. While none of their style is particularly new or innovative (anyone else remember when it seemed like every other band was crust-infused?) it is varied and punishing enough to avoid a monotonous listen.
I find it really hard to take this sort of thing seriously. It just reminds me of shit like MUNICIPAL WASTE, drunken idiots in sleeveless denim, sordidly becoming caricatures of the aging thrashers of yesteryear. It just doesn’t manage to capture the grit and nastiness that the forefathers of the genre (SLAYER, VIO-LENCE, etc.) managed to radiate. It’s a shame in a way, because bands like this are always more than technically proficient, I guess proving again that just being decent at your guitar doesn’t necessarily make a decent thrash record.
VETO hails from Dunkerque, France, and are five years deep into a largely tasteful execution of the thee Rockin’ Fast Hardcore template, which this LP continues. This wouldn’t have been out of place on the No Way Records roster, as overall it’s strong on fills and low on space, save for a few stop-start moments and a curveball couple of moments of quasi-emo yelling which I could have taken or left. You know what you’re getting when a band names a song “Play Fast and Aggressive.” You’ll know if you can handle the occasional peppering of throaty gang vocals or sung vocals or not; all in all sounds like a sweaty good time live if a little on the earnest side.
