Reviews

Slow Death

Blood Ties Make Me Sane EP

There’s no lofty concepts or deep poetry to be found here, friends; just a good old-fashioned ass-kicking courtesy of Vancouver’s BLOOD TIES. Raw and direct in terms of sound and substance, these eleven tracks are laid bare for the tribe to devour. This band does a good amount of heavy stomping on this debut EP, but their meaty hardcore is really at its best in the few moments when they kick into full-blown D-beat mode. This collection of songs feels more like an intro to the band rather than a complete body of work, but they manage to work up quite a sweat during this brief session. By the end of the record, the poor fella doesn’t even know where he is.

Butcher’s Laugh Demo 2022 cassette

Like many of my favorite HC/punk bands, BUTCHER’S LAUGH is tuneful under all the noise. Sure, the guitars are abrasive and the drums rarely move beyond a pogo march, but the songs have a little ’77 or early ’80s hardcore catchiness. The band isn’t just throwing one over the other; the harmony and dissonance work together. The tape ends with an air raid siren wailing over the fading feedback. I’ve heard this move countless times, but it sounds a little less ironic in 2023.

Headcheese Demo 2022 cassette

Kamloops’s HEADCHEESE is planning an LP, but in the meantime, we get this unhinged little demo. The band swings back and forth between sounding playful and pissed as they run through four speedy tracks of schizophrenic hardcore. These beefy tunes are centered around start/stop dynamics and often drop into spats of sparse, jerky instrumentation, not unlike the CONTORTIONS. If you like ‘em heavy and weird, this one’s for you. There’s a great hoe-down-style song called “Loss Prevention” on here, too.

Todd Killings & the Contracts (I’ve) Got Your Contract EP

Thanks to TODD KILLINGS & THE CONTRACTS, I’m now aware of the proud Vancouver punk pastime of “fuck bands,” or bands with members swapping instruments and opening for themselves at shows, playing joke songs that were more than occasionally actually very good. You see, at the time, the scene was so small that there weren’t enough bands to play opening slots at shows. Thus, the “fuck band” was born. Inspired by this tradition, (I’ve) Got Your Contract was recorded by Josh and Pat of CHAIN WHIP during COVID lockdown with minimal takes to keep it raw, and it sounds great. You can clearly hear the pent-up energy of two punks having a good time without giving themselves many restraints. Fun and rowdy pogo-punk, for fans of Killed By Death comps and rare punk 45s, this will be a fun discovery for crate diggers in the future.

Trenchraid Demo 2022 cassette

This is the kind of hardcore punk that I wake up for on a daily basis. Between the breakneck guitar work and the raw (not tough guy) vocals, this cassette rips! TRENCHRAID borrows from classic D-beat, but also manages to mix in enough old-school hardcore to create a hybrid that is somewhere between ANTI CIMEX and YOUTH OF TODAY. Plenty of catchy sing-alongs all backed with high-powered instrumentation make TRENCHRAID a perfect soundtrack for your high-adrenaline activities.

V/A Peace, Unity, Noise And Having Fun: Tekken Tribute & Remixes LP

So this compilation LP is apparently a tribute to the French fastcore band TEKKEN. I regret to announce I was not familiar with TEKKEN the band, but it looks as though they were around in the late ’90s and early ’00s, and with some video research, I have realized that they were pretty good! If you like to blast off with CHARLES BRONSON, SPAZZ, DAMNABLE EXCITE ZOMBIES, AGATHOCLES, or even FANTOMAS, or any bands that were forming when fastcore was really breaking into its stride, I have this recommendation for you! There’s also some really bizarre MIDI carnival music, which I must admit I am entertained by, if not perplexed.

Voltage The War to End All Wars cassette

From Kamloops, BC comes roaring a biker DISCHARGE-worshiping hoard of miscreants. Some might cry MOTORCHARGE, but labels equal weak minds. Five songs that level you with wailing guitars melting brains, ending with the anthemic if not stereotypical “Charged Rock’N’Roll.” Get this crew on a bill with MÖWER, pronto.

White Collar Demo 2023 cassette

Debut release from Victoria, BC’s WHITE COLLAR. Nasty-sounding anti-capitalist tracks from the city of the newly dead. Aside from the UNITED MUTATION vibes and perhaps some influences borrowed from the Crass Records and Riot City catalogs, it’s also reminiscent of ’80s Montreal mutants CAPITALI$T ALIENATION. WHITE COLLAR not only sounds pissed-off, but reminds us of the ugly realities of our society.