Reviews

Hip Kid

Gidim Demo 2025 cassette

Chicago’s GIDIM returns with a four-song tape that drags black metal through a hardcore basement without sanding off either side. The three originals are headed for a future LP, joined here by a MERKIT cover, and the demo already feels more substantial than a placeholder release. “Quiet Planet” opens in a bleak, collapsing atmosphere before the riffs start biting; “Stolen Squalor” is tighter and meaner, while “The Boot” stretches to four minutes and lets the metallic weight really settle in. The vocals stay harsh and buried enough to keep the record ugly, but the riffs remain readable instead of dissolving into raw-production mush. There is punk economy underneath the metal vocabulary, plus an openly anti-authoritarian streak that gives the tape a clear spine. Grim, riff-heavy, handmade stuff. Worth hearing now; the LP should also be worth looking out for.

GIDIM, desde Chicago, vuelve con un cassette de cuatro temas que arrastra al black metal por un sótano hardcore sin lijar ninguno de los dos extremos. Los tres temas propios serán regrabados para un futuro LP y acá aparecen junto a un cover de MERKIT; aun así, el demo ya se siente bastante más sustancioso que un simple adelanto. “Quiet Planet” abre con un clima sombrío y derrumbado antes de que los riffs empiecen a morder; “Stolen Squalor” es más ajustado y hostil, mientras “The Boot” se estira hasta los cuatro minutos y deja asentarse todo el peso metálico. Las voces se mantienen ásperas y suficientemente enterradas para conservar la mugre, pero los riffs siguen siendo legibles y no se pierden en una papilla de producción raw. Hay economía punk debajo del vocabulario metalero y una veta abiertamente antiautoritaria que le da columna al tape. Oscuro, cargado de riffs y hecho a mano. Vale escucharlo ahora; habrá que estar atentos al LP.

Mycelium Cloak / Righteous Propaganda split cassette

An interesting tape that features two bands with distinct yet complimentary sounds. I was fully prepared to dislike this for a few reasons. First off, I find the artwork to be quite lacking. It’s boring and offers no indication of what the bands might be like stylistically. Strikes two and three are the respective band names. MYCELIUM CLOAK doesn’t really roll off the tongue, and RIGHTEOUS PROPAGANDA is about as generic as it gets. The music supersedes all of this, thankfully. MYCELIUM CLOAK dishes out some left-of-center hardcore that skillfully incorporates elements of powerviolence, post-rock, and metal. A bit of a slow burn, but the band is tight and the tunes are well-constructed. RIGHTEOUS PROPAGANDA offers a more direct take on powerviolence, with a plethora of blastbeats and a killer fuzz-forward tone. The unexpected inclusion of a cover of “Daddy Never Understood” by DELUXX FOLK IMPLOSION won me over.