Reviews

Spastic Fantastic

Briefbombe Deutsche Pest EP

The BLACK FLAG font on the cover had me dreading the first listen. I get a homage, but I see it used so often that it feels overplayed and unoriginal. It just feels kind of cheap, ya know? Are we so starved for fresh ideas that we must reuse and rehash the past? As much as I loathe the cover art, the music fuckin’ rips. It’s as angry, fast, and as pissed-off as the stuff our forebears were releasing 40-plus years ago, but it’s a different animal entirely. BRIEFBOMBE brings the riffs, and they do it with a fury. The songs are quick and meaty, packed with tight riffs and over-the-top drum fills. The vocals are intense and sung entirely in what I presume to be German. I can’t understand a word they are screaming, but the intensity in which it is delivered leaves no question that they mean every word. Cool stuff.

Jodie Faster Saint Lundi LP

Nineteen songs of feverish hardcore punk from France. No distortion, no breakdowns, no songs over 1:45, and no time to slow down! Super-political, super-fast, and the origin of Saint Lundi has me wanting to quit my job and go slam a pint! JODIE FASTER has been dishing out “short songs played fast” for a decade, and it truly shows on Saint Lundi. My favorite moment on the record is when vocalist screams “fuck that!” during a split-second pause in “S.O.R.G.A.” This shit rules.

Mandy Die Herrin Ist Mein Hirte LP

Germany’s MANDY belts out twelve tracks of no-frills powerviolence in around ten minutes. Throat-shredding vocals, tempo changes aplenty, blastbeats…they’re ticking all the right boxes. The down-tempo parts stand out for not being overtly metallic or floorpunch-y, and the production is exceptionally balanced with just the right amount of grain. The between-song feedback and samples add enough flesh to the skeleton for it to clock as a full-length LP, though I wonder if it would actually feel more complete as a 7” EP. That’s really splitting hairs, but I suppose that’s what I’m here to do. All told, a solid release with heft and force that leaves me searching for something corpuscular that would push it into brilliance.

Sad Neutrino Bitches Weltraumendspurt EP

Dare I say that this freaky record sounds a little like CRASS’ “Bata Motel” if it didn’t take itself nearly as seriously, took a bunch of psychedelic drugs, and decided to be on a rock’n’roll EP. Just focus on the vocals and the drums. Some less out-there references land in the neighborhood of a more gleeful version of BLATZ or the CRUCIFUCKS. I think the band says it best themselves: “The songs are about being ugly, being pissed, being not clever or too sad to fuck.” True weirdos fully embracing the meaning of punk and gifting this gem upon us as a mere side-effect of their rapture.