Reviews - MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL

The Celebrities Redd Karpet LP

Joe Sussman (NANCY, DANGUS TARKUS, and MUFF DIVERS) teams up with Kel Mason (GEE TEE) for an overseas email project—apparently a holdover from the days of COVID lockdowns. Looks like it’s Kel on drums and Joe on “everything else.” I’m not positive how the songwriting credits shake out, but I would assume it’s mainly a Joe joint, which had me a little worried going in because his projects have never really done it for me (while Kel’s frequently have). But this thing smokes! Seven tracks whip by in about a dozen minutes, covering a mix of unabashed Born Innocent-era RED CROSS worship, RAMONES-y punk pop, the QUICK’s proggy power pop, and HUBBLE BUBBLE’s nuclear bubblegum punk. Check out album highlight “Crackin’ Under Pressure”, which also feature Ishaka from SATANIC TOGAS and TEE VEE REPAIRMAN. Great track—great record!

DFC 666 CD

Legendary Brazilian band that merges hardcore and thrash, delivering fastcore and crossover mayhem all around. Active since 1993, they have the energy and blasting fury of skate punk from the early ’90s but with a fiercer grip on the hardcore side, in addition to being political and compromised with Brazil’s reality. There’s carioca breakdowns mixed with speedy fastcore. Recommended as a reference example of this wave of hardcore punk that took over Latin America like 30 years prior, full of energy and relentless tupa-tupa to pogo ‘til you drop. Favorite track: “Respeito É Bom E Conservas Os Dentes” (that translates to “Respect is Good and You Get to Keep Your Teeth”). Bom pra caralho.

Exedo The Body Remembers LP

Debut LP from Chicago-based EXEDO, comprised of Milo Mendoza on bass, Vince Miller on drums, Christine Wolf on vocals/keys/guitar, and David Wolf on guitar. The Wolfs put out quite a few records as DAYLIGHT ROBBERY, but have reformed here with a slightly more synth-forward version of their soaring female-vocal post-punk. The Body Remembers features icy, reverb-heavy guitar lines on top of chunky, palm-muted verses with a synth flowing lithely in the undercurrent. None of the songs are under two minutes, most averaging around the three-and-a-half-minute mark, leaving plenty of time for lyrically questioning the “exedo” (Latin for eat up, devour, consume, etc.) of mankind with songs like “Victims of Convenience,” reflecting with hollow wails and shouts over bass-and-drums turbulence. While the mood is dark and sweeping, the beat is uptempo and just poppy enough to give balance to the melancholic vocals. All four songs from their 2020 demo made the cut here, and it’s good as always to see a band that made it through the pandemic years! Great debut, would highly recommend it for fans of SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES.

Goblin Smut Flea Market of Love EP

This gang of goblin-loving punkers are helping to keep Columbus weird. It seems that GOBLIN SMUT have been smoking plenty of the devil’s lettuce during D&D sessions and in between practicing the demented hardcore ruckus that’s demonstrated across these six songs. Recommended for fans of bands like MUTATED VOID and the Evil Bong movie series.

Highway Patrol On a Sensual Ride LP

Just looking at the cover art and hearing the first few chords, I am almost certain there are going to be things I like about this record and things I really don’t like. The intro to the first song is taking too long, bordering on self-indulgence. Not a fan of that. On the other hand, I kind of like the soft female vocals. And now it’s starting to go sideways for me. It’s a little too bluesy and a little too 1973. The second cut sounds like a variation of the first cut. I feel like I should be sarcastically snapping my fingers and swaying my head from side to side. There are a couple of tracks that work for me, those with a more rocking or more country feel. Overall, it’s just not cutting it for me.

Krash Nothing is Sacred LP

Oh hell yeah! Saskatoon D-beat that goes real fucking hard. Plenty of riffs to keep the shredheads fed, with a kind of BEHIND ENEMY LINES structure to songs, so hardcore, and with just enough Motörpunk to keep things raw and noisy. KRASH absolutely has a unique sound, and on this LP, the band creates an album that rocks from start to the finish while exploring a wider sonic environment than most in the subgenre. In all, Nothing is Sacred represents a refining of hardcore D-beat into an album that suits punks and metalheads equally.

The Marilyns I’m Glad I’m Not a Man / I’m on Acid 7″

A very belated first vinyl appearance for the MARILYNS, a group of Memphis women (and eventually, a male drummer) who, in defiance to the plastic artifice of the mid-to-late ’80s, kicked out a joyous mix of early rock’n’roll grit, ’60s garage stomp, and primitive punk. The tremolo-twanging Girls in the Garage shimmy-shake of “I’m Glad I’m Not a Man,” recorded in 1988 with an expanded six-piece MARILYNS lineup, has a skeletal, sneering spark that’s like Patti Paladin and Judy Nylon of SNATCH if they’d come up in the Paisley Underground alongside the PANDORAS, and even doubles as a CYNDI LAUPER diss track (“Cyndi Lauper / She’s so stupid / Says girls just want some fun,” amazing). B-side “I’m on Acid,” from the the MARILYNS’ quartet incarnation in 1984, is even more raw than the flipside—a ramshackle pop jam balanced on a tangle of post-VELVETS guitar strum, collapsing drums, and budget synth effects, sounding very much like it should have been sandwiched between the CANNANES and BEAT HAPPENING on an early K Records cassette comp, Let’s Kiss/Let’s Together-style. The fact that there’s only two tracks here is such a tease; I demand more MARILYNS now.

Middleman John Dillinger Died for You cassette

MIDDLEMAN keeps the music loose and dulcet, though not without some sharper edges. “Falls Apart” begins with a jangle and then a memorable chorus, but could just have easily proceeded into sonically harsher territory. The guitars have a particularly light, haphazard quality I associate with bands emerging from or in the orbit of the ’80s UK punk scene. It should please both genre aficionados and newcomers alike. The breezy presentation of often morose tunes gives this tape a weirdly whimsical feel.

Pollute EP. cassette

I’ve been following POLLUTE since the band before their current band. From the Durham area of North Carolina, POLLUTE is only a few states from me. POLLUTE plays D-beat punk, but they have two things going for them that a lot of bands in the field do not. The first thing being the vocals: they’re killer. Powerful, well-enunciated, full-throated screams that could lead any metal band, but still sound punk with their ragged edges. Secondly, the drumming is so tight that there’s time for cymbal play without ever dropping a beat on the bass pedal. See “Nuclear Cage” for creative use of cymbals, the song is perfect with the line “we’re all living in a nuclear cage.”

Prisão EP 2 EP

PRISÃO’s 2020 debut EP was one of my favorite debuts from a modern hardcore band in the last couple of years. It has everything I love about hardcore: intense, raw, stompy, and with direct lyrics. With this second EP, PRISÃO managed to raise the bar even higher and has made another modern classic. They have a strong Swedish hardcore influence, as the members also play in killer Swedish bands VIDRO, AXE RASH, NITAD, and WARCHILD, but the singer Lucas, of Brazilian origin, lays down the vocals in Portuguese, so it has a lot of qualities found in Brazilian hardcore classics like OLHO SECO or CÓLERA. The lyrics are straightforward; no beating around the bush and no metaphors, just straight facts in the form of one-liners, much like DISCHARGE in their golden era. Also, visually, they are a very well-put-together band that ticks all the boxes for me. It doesn’t rely on the tiresome tropes that plague the modern scene, and it has its own vibe. This one will make it to my best of the year for sure!

Secret Agent Headcheese Escapes From Alcatraz cassette

One-man UK operation that is as eggy as cyberpunk with traces of sci-fi could be, offering five tracks filled with monotone videogame synth drums and characteristically pinchy vocals with that “submarine telephone” effect that egg-punk people crave. Coming from Barnsley but jailed in Alcatraz for a brief moment, this cassette is meant to be some sort of pardon, or at least an argument to be offered a chance to escape. It seems that this secret agent may be dangerous, avoid if approached by this creature. Favorite track: “Elektrik Chair.”

Reviewer Gonza Perez
Label Idiotapes / Painters Tapes / Richter Scale
Issue MRR #494 • July 2024

Suppression Spiritual Sepsis LP

Loud, fast, and tight as hell. Fantastic bass-driven powerviolence/grind that also has a tinge of ’80s thrash. The vocalist has a super impressive range, spanning deep growls, high-pitched screeches, and a vicious bark that lands directly in the middle of it all, almost like the three bears of hardcore vocalists. Or maybe I’m an idiot and there are several singers on this thing—no idea, they don’t have the personnel listed. Drums are absolutely insane and need to be heard to be believed. In a time when most grindcore bands sound the same, I love hearing something refreshingly unique. Well worth a spin if you dig this kind of stuff.

Taünt Blood Feud cassette

This is music to raise the dead. They will not wake from their eternal slumber to walk around eating people and looking cool—no, they will just rise from the grave to tell you, in no uncertain terms, to stop that bloody racket immediately. Probably works with the living, too. TAÜNT is from New Mexico, and they are a self-proclaimed noisy bunch indeed. Blood Feud is a lo-fi, primitive-sounding, distortion-drenched demo of what could be best described as “crasher noisecrust chaos” (I copyrighted this one). It can be a bit of a tough listen if you are not quite ready or just have a passing interest in freaks abiding by the “noise for noise’s sake” philosophy. I love the manic, emphatic Japanese-styled drum rolls, the speed, the demented intensity, and of course, the gratuitous screams. The sound is raw, undoubtedly, if not harsh, but you can still understand what the band is trying to create (or destroy) and which tools they brought with them. Not unlike a blend of DEATH DUST EXTRACTOR, ZYANOSE, and ATROCIOUS MADNESS. Good stuff if you are a sonic masochist like myself. Distort New Mexico.

Wowii Wowii LP

Apparently WOWII was a thing back in the late ’70s and early ’80’s, like they had a legit contract. I was a kid back then, but I can’t say they ever hit my radar. Too bad for me. This is some top-notch pop/power pop music. It’s just super catchy and easy to like. Really great harmonies, which sounds kind of wrong in connection with an MRR review. Seems like classic pop music that was maybe just a little ahead of its time.

Yambag Mindfuck Ultra LP

YAMBAG is from Cleveland, Ohio, and they play a style that I would compare to a mix of NEOS and DROPDEAD. Mindfuck Ultra is fast and tough; YAMBAG even gives us great musicality in their songs. I genuinely love this record, whether they’re playing at 100 mph or 200 mph or giving us psychedelic merry-go-round music. This is top-notch stuff and I could go on and on about it, but instead I am just going to advise you to at least check it out online.

Zooparty No Matter What You Say LP

Succinctly, they’re from Sweden, they fucking rock, and I’m certain they have a higher high-kick than me. I am, in fact, late to the party with this band. Fortunately, they’re still raging. They’re as fast as LEATHERFACE, as sweet as MARTHA, and as high-octane as LONE WOLF. I fucking love it. They’re really similar to ’90s Lookout! bands, but as if they captured that lightning in a bottle and aged it. I certainly can’t go on record about how many of their songs are about failed relationships, drinking, and skateboarding, but I’m really not hearing those subjects on this record. I don’t know what else to say to convert the uninitiated. This has the sound of the immature shit we used to listen to in the ’90s and early ’00s, but, like, for grown-ups. Like if problematic pop punk wasn’t problematic. Yay, I love this. Hats off. Oh, and that song “Elephants” reminds me of the first time I heard the SEX PISTOLS, but goddamned way better.

Adrestia / Collapsed Antitheism split LP

Split release by two crusty death metal bands, ADRESTIA from Sweden and COLLAPSED from Canada. ADRESTIA’s side is Boss HM2 distortion pedal-infused, ENTOMBED-style old school death metal-influenced hardcore punk played by punks (less hardcore/modern production style). Despite many recent bands simply sounding either more death metal or like ANTI-CIMEX, their approach of doing something in between without being polished is unique. COLLAPSED from Montreal has a similar approach to the ’90s era of Swedish crusty death metal, but leaning more towards the guttural death metal side of things.

Bad Breeding Contempt LP

The UK’s BAD BREEDING certainly needs no introduction; their fantastic 2022 LP Human Capital became a regular fixture on year-end lists everywhere with its brutal critiques of modern empire, carrying on in the proud anti-capitalist tradition of the entire Crass Records roster. It’s a loud, abrasive, and thought-provoking record that anyone would say is hard to top. So where does a band go from there? In BAD BREEDING’s case, they crank everything up to (pardon the cliche) eleven and blow the whole thing out. Their latest LP Contempt is best described as an immersive experience, like going to see a film or exploring an exhibit in a museum gallery. Featuring album artwork by the legendary Peter Kennard and an accompanying zine featuring writings by ASHENSPIRE’s Alasdair Dunn and environmental journalist Aidan Frere-Smith amongst others, when given your undivided attention, this record fully surrounds you for its 37-minute runtime. While pulling inspiration from the aforementioned Crass Records, BAD BREEDING often goes beyond the usual hardcore punk touchstones and lands somewhere far more desolate and industrial. One of the album’s heaviest songs and one that truly feels like its centerpiece is “Gilded Age/Sanctuary,” a five-and-a-half minute epic that starts off as a full-blown hardcore blast before screeching into an extended intermission, featuring haunting field recordings the band picked up during stints at work sites and walking through town squares for lunch. Disembodied voices and a dark atmosphere break away once halfway through and again in its last minute, returning to a fuzzed-out hardcore dirge that hits like a ton of bricks. This is just one example of BAD BREEDING’s masterful ability to create a mood sonically that matches the mood contextually. When the lyrical content of your music explores the horrors of capitalism, poverty, Western exceptionalism, exploitation, propaganda, imperialism, and corruption this deeply, you’d better have the musical chops to match. Fortunately, this is an area where BAD BREEDING excels. Yet again, expect to see BAD BREEDING on those year end-lists this year, and rightly so; these guys are the real deal and deserve your attention.

Blistering Noise The 2023 Demo: Stop Gaza Genocide cassette

This is not a scam—BLISTERING NOISE, just like EXTREME NOISE TERROR, accurately describes their sound with their band name. Hailing from Japan with members of many prominent bands (ZODIAK, UNARM, DROPEND, KAFKA, KRIEGSHÖG), they play crasher crust. It is energetic yet less chaotic. The guitar and bass notes are recognizable despite their distortion, so naive melodies are pumping under the wall of noise. The songwriting mixes well with the pace changes and stops and bridges. If you are a big fan of the style, then this will be a good monthly dose. Although I miss the uncontrolled nature of crasher crust, everything is in place for a blast, but the burning match is not thrown on the gas-soaked floor. They use a lot of mid-tempo parts and everything sounds well-thought-out and polished—I mean, compared to one BPM from falling apart speed race, rolling, collapsing song structures, and maddened screaming vocals, it is more adjusted. As this is a demo, it’s really promising, so I hope they continue and don’t mind losing their shit on the records.

Chuck Jones / Sentido Común DCxPC Live and Punk Rock Mag Presents, Vol. 17: Live in Valle Guarco, Cartago, Costa Rica, 11/19/2022 split LP

This seems to be a split record between two bands from Costa Rica. Not just that, but bands who are connected by a bilingual punk zine out of Costa Rica called Punk Rock Mag. From there, the bands both did a session with DCxPC Live and put it out as an homage to live records—the recording quality is great for a DIY live recording. SENTIDO COMUN has eight songs, whereas CHUCK JONES only has five. My favorite song from the A-side is SENTIDO COMUN’s “El Dia Que Muera” (“The Day I Die”). It’s strong and sung with a lot of passion, almost as much as in their song “Sk8 or Die.” People take skateboarding so seriously! Por que andar en patineta es genial! While I did say the live recording is decent quality, it would sound a whole lot better if there was a live crowd. A lot of the background “whoa-oh”s are sung off-key, and the main vocals tend to get buried in the mix. However, the CHUCK JONES side is solid AF. The recording is a lot punchier and clearer than SENTIDO COMUN’s. For both bands, all songs are sung in Spanish, though the insert is in Spanish and English. While the recording on the B-side sounds a lot better, I think it’s really that CHUCK JONES is more experienced? I don’t know anything about either band, but the B-side is a lot stronger than the A-side. Cool project, great idea, awesome band exposure. I do think it sounds weird being so clean without a live audience.

Crom Early Shit 1994–2004 cassette

Collection of compilation tracks, demos, and outtakes by ’90s Pessimiser Records/L.A. grindcore legends CROM. You get to hear everything in one place so you don’t have to pull out a bunch of physical releases. For fans of ’90s PCP stories, couch-lifting grindcore/powerviolence, push-moshers getting kicked out of the gig vibes.

D. Sablu No True Silence LP

In that cursed year 2020, CASUAL BURN’s David Sabludowsky put out a cool tape on which he played nearly everything. Taken By Static dipped its beak into a gamut of styles, ranging from in-the-red garage to new wave-y romantic swooners to sassy cheap-synth punk. There’s even a couple of sensitive ballads. It was almost a throwback, like a mixtape from when Terminal Boredom was a going concern. It showed promise, but was too scattered to leave a lasting impression. Well, it’s four years later, and D. SABLU’s got a band now. Coming correct outta New Orleans, No True Silence cranks the amps and goes for broke, recalling local legends like KAJUN SS. Although the music brings the aforementioned swamp-dwellers to mind, and even POISON IDEA on “Scandalous,” the general outlook doesn’t revel in the nihilism inherent in those bands. Sabludowsky acquits himself well on the mic, especially on the faster tunes, where he lets loose a scratchy wail. The album hits a peak during the five-song run where all the titles start with the letter “S.” “Spiral Out” pushes faster and faster, building up a head full of steam in search of a release that never comes. “Smut Date” could be a LIVEFASTDIE song, which is all I really need in life. You too, whether you know it or not. Stack these guys up to any of the new crop of Aussie rockers and crawfish country ain’t doin’ half-bad.

E Living Waters LP

Couple of real stalwarts of clang within E’s three-person lineup: Thalia Zedek has held it down in Boston and its outskirts for over 40 years, with UZI, LIVE SKULL and COME all revered among those who know (and like their wrist-slitting noise blues). Jason Sanford founded NEPTUNE, a band who played discordant post-hardcore on self-built, spine-bendingly heavy scrap metal instruments in the mid-’90s, and drummer Ernie Kim used to play with a band called HARRY AND THE POTTERS (but pretend I didn’t bring that up). Anyway, this is the fifth “proper” E album by my reckoning, and it’s a big, burly fucker, equally enervating and energising. Recorded semi-remotely, with Zedek and Kim in Boston and Sanford in Boulder, every riff and drum hit is captured perfectly and cuts to the bone: sometimes I find myself thinking I have no use for this sort of “grown-up” noise rock any longer, but when it’s engineered this beautifully and the songs land so hard, I’m sold. Arguable highlight is “Postperfect Conditional,” where Kim takes lead vocal duties and—partly as a result of his slightly high pitch, partly via the song’s uptempo meld of riffs and scrabble—the band ends up akin to the later-career sound of the EX.

Head Cut Corazón Negro LP

Out of Ventura, California, HEAD CUT plays punk rock—straight up. However, the surf guitar that finds its home everywhere and the range of vocals that are delivered here take Corazón Negro beyond just being a good album. The bass is forward in the production and seems to drive the rhythm with a clean rumble that stalks beneath the lead. HEAD CUT reminds me of WHITE LUNG or maybe even BE YOUR OWN PET, but all comparisons would only be very loose as HEAD CUT is too unique. Maybe needless to say, the Corazón Negro LP by HEAD CUT is my current listening favorite.

Invertebrates Sick to Survive LP

INVERTEBRATES are from Richmond, Virginia and include a couple of members of PUBLIC ACID. Speedy hardcore reminiscent of JERRY’S KIDS at their best—’80s-style hardcore done right, with speed, ferocity, and a little bit of melody. This record makes me want to dance and jump around the room; I can’t wait to see them live. My advice is to get this album before it’s gone, it’s great!

Junk Guts Get Trashin’ cassette

High-energy punk. I originally thought the drums were programmed, but I think there’s a person behind that kit? Someone smarter than me is gonna need to wise me up here. If it’s the latter, then this drummer is one of the tightest I’ve ever heard. The singer does a ton of heavy lifting here; their energy is what carries this album throughout. Otherwise it’s pretty typical cut-and-dry punk rock. Twelve tracks seemed daunting at first, but the album really picks up midway through and ends strong. I’m starting to question whether the drums are real or not again. To quote JUNK GUTS, “sometimes I think my brain is broke.”

Küken Küken LP reissue

Twin Brothers Christian and Phillip Paul (the latter of whom also goes by “Beat-it” for reasons that elude me) have been fixtures of the German punk scene since the late ’90s, playing in power-pop-tinged garage punk acts like the HIGHSCHOOL ROCKERS and the KIDNAPPERS. They formed KÜKEN in the early 2010s and have issued a steady stream of EPs and LPs via the usual Euro garage channels, like Alien Snatch and Bachelor. What we have here is Alien Snatch reissuing their second LP, 2017’s self-titled album initially on Drunken Sailor, and adding a couple of bonus tracks. With this coming out hot on the heels of last year’s self-titled (so-called III) LP, it’s hard not to compare the two releases. And I think this is the stronger record. Both are full of the type of snotty but power pop-y downstroke punk that probably had its heyday back in the mid-to-late ’00s, when acts like the CARBONAS, BEAT BEAT BEAT, or the MARKED MEN were in full swing. But the fourteen tracks on this LP, which fly by in a brisk twenty-one minutes, don’t sound as thin as the stuff on III, and they strike a cooler, more consistent tone. Imagine some amalgam of the aforementioned acts crossed with a little of the bleak nihilism of, say, PREDATOR. It’s way more up my alley than schlockier strut rock moments on the new LP. Both records are worth your time, for sure. But if you missed this one for some reason, now’s your time to dig in—it’s great!

Marcel Wave Something Looming LP

MARCEL WAVE is the new musical venture from two former members of SAUNA YOUTH/MONOTONY, two former members of COLD PUMAS, and writer-turned-vocalist Maike Hale-Jones, putting a distinctly British spin on the sort of chipper-sounding (but often conceptually dead serious) twee-adjacent post-punk that their Upset the Rhythm labelmates TERRY have honed into a fine art over the last decade. Keyboards bubble alongside casually rattling tambourine, with Hale-Jones’s delivery criss-crossing from the talky deadpan style that’s de rigueur in contemporary UK DIY circles (the stop/start standout “Mudlarks” takes a joyride right through HYGIENE’s lane) to sweetly soaring harmonies à la DOLLY MIXTURE or GIRLS AT OUR BEST! (“Bent Out of Shape”), frequently within the same song (“Barrow Boys,” the especially TERRY-esque duo of “Peg” and “Elsie”), with sharp, narrative lyrical musings examining the likes of stratified social class in the UK, unchecked urban development, the double-edged sword of fame, and the monotony of routine capitalist labor. There’s also some obvious callbacks to Brix-era FALL, especially in the ramshackle gang-shout chorus punctuating the jittery, organ-blaring “Ides of March,” which is packed with more sly hooks and off-kilter melody than a song that’s not even a minute-and-a-half should be able to contain—like the rest of Something Looming, it’s a welcome instance of history repeating.

Norms 100% Hazaárulás LP

When I sat down to construct this review I started by listing out some words and phrases that came to mind. Urgent, frantic, sinewy…this slab has been on repeat for two solid weeks now, but I’ve struggled to find a coherent way to talk about it. Noise, speed (or the impression thereof), total saturation—I’ve tried to describe it to friends but everything I’ve come up with sounds fragmented and nonsensical when 100% Hazaárulás is wound desperately tight. Off-kilter, mind-warping destruction, a novel use of cowbell…it’s like this album has shredded my skull into shards. NORMS have been honing their craft for over a decade, and I have to believe this record represents their finest form. Like their previous releases, 100% Hazaárulás is dense and chaotic, deserving—nay demanding—a studied listen. Underpinning the screeching feedback and cacophonous percussive blasts, you’ll find some of the most devastating and innovative riffs to be etched into wax. I can’t get enough. Absolute hardcore lunacy for deranged punk freaks.

Perdidos Dormir Para Siempre EP

Cavernous Dallas post-punk project sung in Spanish. Reverberating vocals that evoke nostalgic, dreamlike thoughts almost as loud cries in the dark, and the string section is on-point with a very good selection of notes and riffage. Drums are tight, but a little distant in the mix compared with the ball of sound that is created here. Favorite track: “Dormir Para Siempre,” as it’s the most energized track of all, while the other songs are mid-paced all the way, which may be a bit repetitive. Recommended for adherents of early and current sounds of Latino punk such as GENERACION SUICIDA and TOZCOS. Interesting project, very well-oriented.

Pleasure Cube Cube cassette

This is the third release from Minneapolis, MN art-punk trio PLEASURE CUBE, but it’s also maybe viewed as their first release? I’m not entirely sure how to categorize it. There are two previous recordings, which could certainly be viewed as demos as they are a little bit rougher-sounding—Cube has a majority of the same songs from those recordings, but it’s more cohesive and recorded a bit better. However you decide to decipher all of that, PLEASURE CUBE plays some amalgamation of art-punk, post-punk, noise rock, and surely some other subgenres, too. There’s some almost FLIPPER-esque parts which jumped out at me, noticeable both in the plodding, repetitive song parts as well as moments in the vocal delivery. There’s definitely parts of this tape I think are really cool, but the length of the individual songs (as well as the overall length of the cassette) feels a bit overwhelming to me.

Quid Quo Circle Walks in Circles LP

Seattle-based trio QUID QUO puts out a second full-length after 2017’s debut APAINTEDROOMISASMALLERROOM. They’ve got a post-hardcore, truncated rhythm sound going on that reminds me of the EVENS (but more distorted), with complimentary male/female vocals to boot. Zack Wait throws his voice around in a way that reminds me (slightly) of Jello Biafra, while Chelsea Gaddy does sound similar to Amy Farina (of the EVENS). “Lamps Plus at Dust” is my favorite of the fifteen songs on offer, with a hopeless chorus sung by Chelsea that repeats “On and then on and then / On and then on and then.” QUID QUO appears to be a hard-working lot, their Facebook page littered with show posters, playing with the likes of JAMES CHANCE AND THE CONTORTIONS, TOP DOWN, and UK GOLD, to name a few—so if you’re in the Seattle area, check ‘em out!

Rising Seas The War Within CD

A little bit AFI, a lot ANTI-FLAG. I bet they get the latter comparison often, being from Pittsburgh. Yeah, this thing rips. If you like fast-as-fuck political punk screamed at you in a melodic and brutal ballad, it’s this absolutely. The drums hit hard and are rapid-fucking-fire. Yup, there’s a little less room in the ANTI-FLAG-shaped hole in my heart. Oh, and introspective working class lyrics? Yeah, they got that too. I love this.

Schnaps Alles Verdampft LP

SCHNAPS gives us old school punk/hardcore with a lot of influences. I hear a little bit of NOFX-style guitar playing and some old school hardcore punk with a few ska parts which slow down and at times and remind me of the CLASH. I hear a lot of melody mixed in with the hardcore. If your favorite bands include the CLASH, TOY DOLLS, NOFX, RANCID, DAG NASTY, STRUNG OUT, ALL, and bands like that, you might want to check this out.

Slitasje Måndag Morgon LP

It’s pop, it’s punk, but it’s not pop punk. There’s definitely big, chunky power chords and plenty of melody. The rhythms bounce as much as they blast. There’s also a ton of lead guitar relative to most punk. The band’s sound is a well-oiled machine, and they occasionally deviate from a rigid punk format to slow down or spotlight only an instrument or two. The vocals are right up front, a choice usually reserved for those doing a bit more singing and a little less screaming, but here they command attention without choosing one over the other.

World Headquarters Unremitting Humiliation Ritual cassette

Gloomy garage punks versing on issues of scene critique and modernity’s existentialism. Monotonous and draggy, but very well-executed. This drone duo makes a plethora of sounds in a slow and steady cadence, but still manages to hold a driving force (barely). String section is well-seasoned though a bit overshadowed in the mix, and vocals are good, too. Undefined and a bit slow, yet interesting enough for some spins. Favorite tracks: “So Broke” and “King of the Scene.” Special mention to the solid straightforward lyrics, much needed nowadays.

YC-CY Wake Me Up Again EP

Phantom Records continues their mission to blanket the globe in oddball releases from the deepest recesses of the European punk underground. This time, we’re treated to some harsh synth punk from Switzerland. YC-CY has apparently been at it since the mid-2010s, but this four-song EP is the first I’m hearing from them. They play an odd mix of Ed Banger-esque maximalist French House, 2-step/UK garage, EBM, and melancholic darkwave. Tracks are constructed around drone-y but melodic baritone vocals buried under blankets of electronic squall. Imagine the SERFS, DAF, and KAVINSKY playing at the same time on top of a BOY HARSHER record. It’s not bad, and I certainly applaud their efforts to be this annoying while playing something this unpopular. But I doubt I’ll be dipping back in.

Arüspex Hawthorne & Henbane cassette

Neocrust from California, not too dissimilar to HIS HERO IS GONE or TRAGEDY. There’s definitely heavy doses of black metal in their sound as well. Personally, I’m not really a fan of the “stadium crust” sound, but these guys do it really well. Lots of interesting song structures and musical ideas that I appreciate. Music to soundtrack sprawling epics.

Bad Idea Breakout 12″

Listening to this BAD IDEA LP sent me down a rabbit hole for about an hour after I gave it a spin, as one of the songs in particular reminded me so much of a band whose name I just could not remember—I eventually found them, anyone remember a band called the BEATINGS from the early ’00s? Anyway, BAD IDEA sounds pretty good here, sort of NY proto-punk that dips into early ’80s hardcore, like if the DICTATORS and the MISFITS went out to lunch. “Bad Attitude” has CBGB written all over it, and “Massacre” has a little West Coast vibe going on. They go a little poppy for my taste on “Good to Die,” but otherwise this was an enjoyable spin.

Brain Squeeze / The Death Sentence split EP

Split release by BRAIN SQUEEZE and the DEATH SENTENCE. Tight, cranking the volume eleven, overdriven garage-y guitar sounds of turbulent, thrashing madness by two bands. Both bands do have the ultra-fast JERRY’S KIDS or GANG GREEN-style ’80s Boston hardcore sound, so it almost sounds like a release by one band. Time for circle pits and stagedives.

Broken Barcodes Brainwashed & Braindead CD

Pop-punk-ish growls, sneers, and power chords abound here. This is a really ubiquitous combo, but something about this CD feels distinctly ’90s. Maybe it’s the polished and poppy guitars sprinkled with a touch of Epitaph-style hardcore? Maybe it’s the cover? Maybe it’s the CD format? A good-natured, meatheaded ride.

Cheap Death Immaterial World cassette

Five songs of metal-infused modern hardcore from Brooklyn. The vocalist makes CHEAP DEATH sound very much like some kinda screamo/post-hardcore kind of band. It’s got a fair amount of blastbeats, if that’s your thing. What I don’t understand about hardcore bands that incorporate blastbeats in this way is that if the riffs are slow, the song still kinda sounds slow even with blastbeats filling up the drum portion, but maybe that’s just me. Perhaps this style of hardcore just isn’t really my cup of tea, but the songs are tight, the musicianship is solid, and the vocalist sounds strained and pissed.

Cult Crime Cult Crime demo cassette

More solid punk coming straight outta Toronto. This one is a nice, concise three-song affair. Tuneful, rocking punk. Sounds like something that could’ve come out of Southern California in the early ’80s. Catchy tunes that’ll get your head bobbing like a maniac. I really dig it!

DDT Brave New World EP reissue

Musical rescue for this Atlanta punk rock relic from 1983 filled with hints of no wave and even poppier sounds of the era, with a restored audio and mastering effort by Chunklet Records. Quite interesting to know about what was happening with punk rock and hardcore punk in Georgia 40 years ago. Lovers of archival releases will think it is a punk gem, as this shouts KBD all around.

Deviated Instinct As the Crow Flies: Collected Recordings 2012/17 CD

DEVIATED INSTINCT is an essential monolith for what we call crust punk, or more specifically, stenchcore. The genre, named after their 1986 Terminal Filth Stenchcore EP, perfected the mixture of the dark metal heaviness of VENOM, CELTIC FROST, and SABBATH with the dystopian “no future” sentiment of DISCHARGE and AMEBIX. Alongside AMEBIX, ANTISECT, and HELLBASTARD, their music has left a lasting impact on countless bands and played a significant role in shaping the distinctive crust sound we recognize today, crossing over into influencing some death metal and doom bands along the way. This seminal act disbanded in 1991, went on to form an industrial-esque version of their sound with side project SPINE WRENCH but reunited in 2007, thus beginning a new chapter in their career. As the Crow Flies is a collection of all the music released since the band got back together. It includes songs from Husk, Liberty Crawls…to the Sanctuary of Slaves, and Dance of the Plague Bearer. Overall, the songs sound like their trademark, but with a more modern sounding production. It is an important piece of crust history.

Eärthdögs Distorted Static Addicts EP

Fuck me, this is one intense listen, and I am not sure where to start. First thing first: this is very noisy and chaotic. Dementia-driven. This is not something you’d get your little cousin for his birthday (unless he is possessed by some evil force). EÄRTHDÖGS play insane and vicious, black-metal-influenced, raw, distorted hardcore noisepunk. Distorted Static Addicts feels more like an experience than just a record, and with less than ten minutes of music, you can’t afford to be late to the fuzzy black mass. I love the genuinely malignant vibe of the record and the overall aggression, especially how energetic and noisy it is. The music sounds like it hates you, and that’s paradoxically what makes it lovable. It is difficult to properly describe even though the ingredients, taken separately, are familiar, but I guess that if a savage powerviolence record were possessed by ORDER OF THE VULTURE and if you distorted the result further, it would be quite close. Solid and furious. You should probably get it for your cousin, actually. This was released on two labels that specialize in these sorts of nasty things, 625 and To Live a Lie.

Gimic We Are Making a New World EP

Listen, I hate being hyperbolic, especially when it comes to record reviews. How are you going to take my word at face value if I constantly tell you how so-and-so’s newest album is the greatest thing I’ve heard all year? It’d be like the boy who cries wolf, except with punk music instead of a man-eating beast. Anyway, GIMIC’s newest single is easily the greatest thing I’ve heard all year. I have no other way to describe this other than post-post-punk. It’s like if you took BOW WOW WOW and threw them into a vat of toxic waste. Dance-y enough to groove to, while simultaneously being manic enough to have a complete and total meltdown in the pit. Guitar and bass are clean with a little bit of distorted twang. Very natural and classic. The tone reminds me of the ADVANTAGE while having a math rock edge. Absolutely worth picking up for your summer jams playlist and beyond.

The Mob 40’s The Mob 40’s LP

The MOB 40’S have a lot of elements of an Oi! band, but it’s probably more apt to call them street punk, or even hardcore. The production quality is good, even on the three demos that round out the album. All their songs have a lot of heft and can be pretty brutal from time to time. This isn’t something I would choose to listen to, but for those of you into things heavy, fast, and somewhat melodic, this is up your alley. I will say it looks like one of the members of the MOB 40’S used to be in NORTH SIDE KINGS, fronted by a goblin human who punched Glenn Danzig once. Not counting that against them, but it doesn’t help that I think their songs are kinda boring. Well-executed, but nothing exciting to me.

The Nerve Curlers 3-Song Sampler cassette

Debut three-song cassette release out of Houston, Texas. Catchy, poppy, indie-infused punk-adjacent rock music. Something about the vocal styling and delivery really reminds me of the LEMONHEADS, though I wouldn’t say the band particularly sounds like them. The band self-describes the release with the tags “psychedelic,” “surf-rock,” and “post-punk,” but I gotta say, I wouldn’t use any of those terms to describe them. Sure, there’s a bit of tremolo on the guitars, but that’s the closest thing to surf I hear, and these are like mid-to-fast-paced pop punk songs more than they’re post-punk—that’s just one punk’s opinion, I suppose. Regardless of how you want to categorize it, I have had the chorus of “God Hates You (Sylvia Plath Style)” stuck in my head for multiple days straight now.

Panikatax A Sudden and Unpleasant Change cassette

This may be a tape-only release on a DIY label, but to unfurl its glossy, multi-panel J-card, you’d think it the work of a real big-baller operation. Took me right back to the ’90s and stretching my pocket money further by purchasing my favoured grunge albums on the cheapest available format, I can tell you. Dubious nostalgia aside, these five songs are a welcome introduction to the dramatic, halfway psychedelic noise rock rumblings of PANIKATAX from Dublin. Big BIRTHDAY PARTY proto-psychobilly rhythms, JESUS LIZARD/FALL/COWS vocal slobbering, and a shit-ton of studio FX, to the extent I assumed there was a synth player in the band until I checked the credits. The B-side of the tape has a live set which is unavailable digitally and has seven songs, all different to the ones on the A-side.