Solid first offering from San Diego’s AGGRAVATE. The band has one foot firmly planted in traditional USHC thanks to the straightforward vocals, but otherwise the proceedings are more atmospheric and heavier than your usual fare, almost approaching stadium crust. Overall not bad; I’ll be curious to see what direction they go from here.
Coming out of the gates sounding like a menacing version of PRISON AFFAIR and then settling in with their own thing entirely, D.U.N.C.E. does a killer job of introducing themselves to the masses with this demonstration. There is a sheen of effortlessness that coats this offering, especially on the highlight “Shark,” that is not too unlike the energy of a SPIRITUAL CRAMP or a HANK WOOD AND THE HAMMERHEADS. Demos should seek to turn a head or grab an ear, and D.U.N.C.E. successfully stops the listener in their tracks and makes them whip their head. Excited for what’s to come, but glad for what we’ve got.
Noise-addled, shit-fi punk that just might drive ya to the brink of homicidal rage if you’re listening too close in proximity to your place of employment. Four snappy, over-before-you-know-it jammers that kick harder than your grandpappy’s shotgun, this whole affair will take up less than five minutes of your precious time. For fans of HOAX, FRIED EGG, long stretches of unemployment, etc.
Five songs of revved-up, sleazy, booze-soaked Los Angeles rock’n’roll. Barked, distorted vocals on top of nasty riffs, driving drums, and wailing butt-rock bluesy guitar leads. This is the second pressing of the HOT LOAD demo, the first press of 50 copies apparently having sold out fast, so don’t sleep on the sleaze.
Monster San Diego split here. ALL BEAT UP plays heavy steamroller political hardcore with vocals that sound like they are trying to break into your mind. RIVAL SQUAD is stripped-down, Spanish-language (mostly) raw punk with a punishing popgun snare drum. I feel like anything I might be missing from one side can be found on the other, and the whole thing is gone in less than ten minutes…so I can listen to it again.
Growing up, powerviolence got me hooked like a bass to a fishing line, but soon I realized that half of the newer bands were playing fastcore and not “real” powerviolence. All the Slap-a-Ham bands that solidified the genre had a certain quality of exaggeration and drama to their music that is lacking in all the INFEST clones out there. VIOLENCIA from Tijuana is the perfect example of a band doing it right. The fast parts are blistering fast, the slow parts are doomy, the vocals are angry as can be, and the shifts in tempo just come at you like curveballs. The lyrics follow the tradition of irony that powerviolence has accustomed us to, with themes of social, political, and scene commentary. El powerviolence no esta muerto!
