NYC’s MORAL PANIC returns with a third helping of dirty back alley punk’n’roll. Composed of real scene vets who know their way around an instrument, they belt out twelve doses of DEVIL DOGS, SUICIDE KING, and HUMPERS-style bash-’em-up trash punk. “Quarantine” is quite the topical rager, and they do an excellent CONSUMERS cover. Hope I get to check ‘em out live, being a Big Rotten Apple resident now myself. Rock on, men.
This record sucks so profoundly that I don’t have the words to express how pissed I am that I wasted 22 minutes of my finite lifetime listening to it. Look at the cover for some clues: we have two guys in gaudy vintage suits, clown sculptures, and a font from the Man’s Ruin Records design bible. If time stopped for you in 1995 and these dudes look like a chill time, go ahead and order the “Crackhead’s Bundle” of records, shirts, and shit from their Bandcamp. Crank it up and bond with your favorite estranged uncles over this overworked, overblown casserole of psych, funk, doom riffs, and noise rock. And please understand that they wear wacky costumes when playing live. I wish I could do a citizen’s arrest on guitarist (let me check the notes) Midnight Moses—that’s right, the members have goofy pseudonyms like vocalist Cleetus Alreetus Alrightus and drummer Vinniehana, rumored to be Vincent Signorelli of UNSANE—for egregious wah pedal abuse with intent to harm. The songs, from the bombastic opener “Us vs. Them” to the deeply stupid “Hundred Dollar Hot Dog,” are an unceasing blast of psyched-up wah soloing, distorted bass grooves, and groaning, growling vocals. It’s loud and unyielding, but in the most annoying way possible, like a guy on a bus screaming his best Jim Carrey impersonation in your face. They namecheck FLIPPER, BUTTHOLE SURFERS, and FUNKADELIC as influences, and sure, whatever, this shit kind of sounds like those bands, with touches of LAUGHING HYENAS, RED FANG, and COWS. But much, much worse. Reptilian has released some great records, but this is not one of them. I would honestly rather sit in silence than play this again.
Slow-motion reverse hardcore from North Carolina that mixes the crush of early EARTH with the spirit of classic bummer punk like NO TREND and FLIPPER. Led by Gus Engstrom (formerly of GRIDS) with a revolving cast of musicians, this time Scott Wishart of LATE BLOOMER and guitarist Kathleen Johnson, a beloved Charlotte scene icon who tragically took her life during the recording process. This release takes noise rock to new heights (depths?) with quaking Sunn amps and subterranean guitar tones that are challenging, confrontational, and off-putting in the very best way. Opener “Exorcist III” (originally by the STRANGULATED BEATOFFS, one of three covers on the record) crawls through nearly six minutes of down-tuned droning riffs and repeated vocals that sounds like a punk band stuck in a molasses spill. DRUNKS WITH GUNS cover “Wonderful Subdivion” features Engstrom’s piercing, Albini-adjacent vocals piercing the sludge with diatribes that twist the original into something even heavier, ending with a five-minute collage of feedback and chaotic crowd riot audio. “Aural” grinds over an industrial-leaning “heave-ho” rhythm evocative of early SWANS, and the band’s cover of BLACK FLAG’s “Damaged I” turns the classic inside out, leaving all the guts on the floor. Basically, if you are into any of the bands mentioned or you can handle the outer limits of nihilistic noise punk, you’ll dig this.
