Kato Ihmiskulttuuri LP

I have been listening to a lot of raw ’80s hardcore punk lately, especially on my way home from work. The direct teenage energy of such bands is infectious and contrasts nicely with the tedious daily grind and the predictably boring colleagues (especially Nicolas from Accounts). KAAOS is one of the bands I play the most often because old school Finnish hardcore is probably the genre that best illustrates this sort of raw and snotty fury, and it is precisely the genre that the St. Louis band KATO decided to adopt. Absolute Tampere-82-style, and bands like the aforementioned KAAOS, RIISTETYT, TAMPERE SS, or MELLAKKA have been listened to frequently in KATO’s bedroom. It is very hard to replicate this ’80s vibe, especially Finnish hardcore since it relies so much on the specific tonalities of the language and the kind of unhinged punkiness inherent to being a sixteen-year-old punk that makes it such a lovable subgenre. But the band pulls it off very convincingly, with a Finnish vocalist (I assume) who sounds like he time-traveled from the golden era back when sniffing glue was still acceptable. This LP is very impressive, and fans of fast ’80s raw punk will go nuts for it. One of the best albums of the year so far for me.

• Reviewer Romain Basset
• Label Feral Kid
• Issue MRR #515 • April 2026