Reviews

Distress Signal

Mutant Genes Mutant Genes cassette

Originally released in 2012 as a 7” on Vomit Comet Records, Distress Signal Tapes does us the service of reissuing the only five songs recorded by this hardcore punk act out of Queens. I’ll be the first to admit that a lot of hardcore from this time frame, and admittedly a lot of NYC bands from this time frame as well, haven’t exactly aged particularly well. It’s not always easy to do something that leaves a mark and is able to stand the test of time. It’s incredibly silly, but seeing the “originally released 2012” line in the liner notes, I did not expect to be as impressed with this as I am. Driving, catchy, memorable songs, with vocals delivered by a dude that sounds remarkably similar to the singer from CAREER SUICIDE. I think this is great, and I’m a bit bummed I missed their singular two-week tour twelve years ago.

On the Block Ride or Die cassette

Sophomore cassette release out of Asheville, NC. Three songs of bare-bones, stripped-down punk rock. In a day and age where every rock’n’roll-infused punk band is flying the Oi! banner, ON THE BLOCK is actually a lot closer to sounding like an authentic band of that style. Simplistic riffs, catchy guitar licks played over top, repetitive choruses. I stand by my assessment of “closer,” as ON THE BLOCK is still sonically a very modern band. I have yet to see a contemporary self-proclaimed Oi! band really lean into shitty-sounding recordings and bordering on novelty music, let alone fully stomping one big boot over that line into parody territory, but I will keep waiting for the day!