Reviews

For review and radio play consideration:

Please send one copy of vinyl (preferred), CD, or cassette releases to MRR, PO Box 3852, Oakland, CA 94609, USA.

Maximum Rocknroll wants to review everything that comes out in the world of underground punk rock, hardcore, garage, post-punk, thrash, etc. No major labels or labels exclusively distributed by major-owned distributors, no reviews of test pressings or promo CDs without final artwork. We reserve the right to reject releases on the basis of content. Music without vocals or drums will not be considered. All music submitted for review must have been released (or reissued) within the last two years. Please include contact information and let us know where your band is from!

Appaloosa Western Glow cassette

Five songs on cassette, previously released as singles by Seattle, WA’s APPALOOSA.  Femme-led pop punk with a strong backbone of garage rock. Shamble-y guitars tear into solos, light vocals turn sassy and harsh, occasional keys provide texture, while bass and drums keep a pretty steady rock’n’roll groove. The earliest contribution to this release, the RATS cover “Thoughts By Now” (from 2020), is my favorite, with contrasted clear-as-a-bell vocals against lo-fi and super rough-sounding guitars; that said, the polish on “Western Glow” shows a nice maturing of their sound. I get the vibe of the COURETTES with rougher edges. Hope we have an LP to look forward to!

Black Dog Demo II cassette

Whenever you spot a release from Roachleg, you are sure to get the rawest of the raw, and I’m saying this in the best of ways. Only a few months after their first demo, Nova Scotia’s BLACK DOG angrily bites back with Demo II. It sounds just like the first one, which is basically what you would want. When it comes to raw punk, the more basic, the better. BLACK DOG follows the trash-filled route of the UK greats like DOOM (nice wink on “Life is a Lock”) or ENT, without innovation or changes to the style, just good old-fashioned crusty punk. “Life is like a lock on my mind. Is death the only key?”

Blue Ricky (BR) LP

Pop punk stuff that has a bit more grime to it than others of this genre. If you’re a fan of ANGRY SAMOANS or the more punk, less bubblegum QUEERS stuff, this would be right up your alley. The cover art GERMS homage is cool, but it could be a potential deterrent for those who are quick to judge a book by its cover. Which would be a shame, because this is a pretty good record.

Call the Cops Manifesto (For the Rebirth of the Worldwide Punk Scene) LP

Well, this is interesting. This is the second record I’m reviewing this weekend that has a distinct industrial rhythm; this is a compliment. In a sense, it’s similar to the way SADIST does it, but this is more like RESTARTS or RANCID meets MALIGNANT TUMOUR. Tone is sort of street punk though, with more death metal crust vocals. CALL THE COPS from Italy play breakdown hardcore with a pogoing street punk stance. I have no idea why you would ever even hint at CALL(-ing) THE COPS, but perhaps there is something not translating for me. Other jams swing with an Italian Oi! flavor and melodic bounce. CALL THE COPS can sing. There are a lot of samples throughout, and they are all interesting and unique political statements—I’m not talking ’90s movie quotes, more like interviews. CALL THE COPS have a lot going on, from the melancholy intros to downright grizzly street crust. There is a traditional old European folk sound to their album that is sincere and not overly sentimental. Sixteen tracks of malicious mohawked hardcore punk. A powerful fourth outing from CALL THE COPS.

Decorticate Conditioned By Violence cassette

Danish powerviolence with a hint of Ray Cappo thrown into the batter, sounding like BETTER THAN A THOUSAND merging with CAPITALIST CASUALTIES and other similar Slap-a-Ham-adjacent bands. Tightly mixed without being too over-produced. The drums are killer and direct traffic throughout, as is the case with most bands like this. Dueling vocalists channeling both youth crew and death metal energies. They’re not reinventing the wheel, but the nuanced singing styles make the album feel fresh, relentless, and unwavering. I am absolutely amazed that this is a trio. The sound is huge and intense as all hell. Well worth a spin if you love it fast and loud, which, if you’re reading this, I’d assume was the case.

División Autista Hijo Marginal 87​–88 LP

Credited for their role in introducing straightedge to Latin America, DIVISIÓN AUTISTA were major players in the Argentinian punk scene of the late ’80s. The two songs they contributed to the extraordinary Invasion 88 compilation are among the very best, and stand out as being contemporaneous rather than peddling in nostalgia. Hijo Marginal 87–88 contains the two aforementioned tracks, an additional song from the same studio session, demo recordings, and eight live cuts. While the band was short-lived, they had an outsized impact on the scene in Buenos Aires and beyond. DIVISIÓN AUTISTA’s brand of fast, melodic hardcore punk is fully realized on songs like “Straight Edge” and “Hijo Marginal,” where the vocals are propulsive and the guitar work feels particularly innovative. The sound quality on some of the live songs is unsurprisingly on the low side, but the energy they exude makes up for the drop in fidelity. This has loads of charm, excellent vocals, and some wicked guitar lines. Absolutely worth checking out.

The Eurosuite Sorry LP

It’s not an easy feat to create music that is both shimmeringly beautiful and unnervingly chaotic, but the EUROSUITE does just that on Sorry. Culling from post-punk, post-hardcore, glitched-out electronics, and noise rock, these ten tracks never linger in one moment too long, carefully layering a collage out of punk’s fringes. Opener “I Thought Your Hand Was a Cup of Water” begins with feedback, disembodied vocals, and synth, then charges into DIÄT-style Berliner ice-punk two minutes in. “B.O.D.Y.” turns snare rolls into electro-glitch malfunctions with screamed vocals placed on top—think SWING KIDS meets early LIARS meets MOUSE ON MARS. Most impressive are the gorgeous swirls of distortion that couple with punishing noise rock on songs like “Pull Back.” Thick, vacuum cleaner guitar churns against sputtered and shrieked vocals like Kevin Shields playing with MCLUSKY. If you hear a beat, it will eventually syncopate, a note will stretch and compound into a synth flutter, bass will decay into uneasy synth squelches. Such is the nature of Sorry, a punk record that experiments and frequently finds greatness in its meticulous chaos.

Fate Ananke 2xLP

The labels that are meticulously combing the early stages of Polish DIY punk and presenting the recordings to new ears are simply invaluable. I’m talking about Warsaw Pact, Pasażer, and specifically Nikt Nic Nie Wie, who are responsible for this beautiful reissue of FATE’s 1994 recording Ananke. Classic Polish punk mingling with folk, psychedelia, and reggae…it’s incredible to hear bands coming into and developing their own sounds on the same record. Fans of ARMIA, DEUTER, and BRYGADA KRYZYS will be lured in by tracks like “Do Mięsożerców,” while the quieter experimental tracks are the glue that will make it stick. Incredible and invaluable recording, presented by Nikt Nic Nie Wie with love and respect (as it should be). Highest recommendation.

Gel Only Constant LP

It’s likely you’ve already read a handful of reviews of Only Constant, the excellent debut LP from New Jersey hardcore band GEL that is currently making waves, so I’ll keep it brief. Only Constant is a very angry and very catchy record, but it’s also wildly accessible. It’s easy to see why GEL is having the same sort of moment as SCOWL and TURNSTILE before them. GEL’s songwriting is razor-sharp and full of attitude, and on songs like “Attainable,” “Dicey,” and “The Way Out,” they make the sound of wanting to smash a chair over someone’s head surprisingly danceable. Each song barrels forward relentlessly with the exception of “Calling Card,” a jarring but fitting break in the middle of the album. It’s a sharp U-turn featuring a lo-fi guitar played along to voicemails left by fans who vent about a number of issues, including but not limited to misogyny, shitty coworkers, and their thoughts on the hardcore scene. It’s a clever way for GEL to connect to their fanbase and another example of this album’s surprisingly charming nature. Highly recommended.

Grandine Discography LP

From Trento and active from 2000 to 2004, this now-defunct band offers the world a compilation of their material in LP format. This is Italian hardcore that proved to be highly influential since everyone in their scene wanted to sound like them. They go from fast-paced thrashing parts to more melodic and groovy hardcore. A great piece of modern Italian hardcore history

Hotza Demo EP

Once again I find myself researching the mineral content of the water supply in Euskara, because this region has once again produced a near-instant classic. Eight minutes of heat over four blistering tracks from Bilbao with this release, which doesn’t let up for the entire time. Scratching that traditional French Oi! itch you didn’t think you had, ticking the same boxes that RIXE and IENA did, this is just the tonic for those tired of milquetoast, by-the-numbers Euro bollocks. Rumbling bass that sounds like tank warfare, over tight and taught guitar lines giving you that brickwall sound that is sorely lacking these days. A suitably raucous 4 SKINS cover rounds it off, and back on repeat it goes. Excellent stuff.

IZM IZM demo cassette

IZM, a four-piece out of Los Angeles, does the whole “punk band plus a synth” thing that I tend to rail against here in my reviews. To reiterate, my position is not that punk bands can’t have synths, it’s that if you have one, it’s way too easy to fuck things up, so to be safe, it’s best to avoid them altogether. The most common mistakes with these outfits are that they opt for some squiggly-ass timbre, making the act sound too jokey, or they put the synth too far forward in the mix, drowning out the rest of the band—often it’s both. But I’m happy to report that IZM commits neither crime. These fellas play grimy, knife-fight hardcore punk—not generally where you’d expect to encounter a synth! Thankfully, it’s buried in the mix, really playing more of a supporting role, and the cheap (but not too cheap!) haunted-house tone they use actually adds some menace to the record. I think I still would have dug these tracks had they been synth-free, but I’m pretty sure they would have been less memorable. Solid work!

Kolpeka Amorruz Beteta flexi EP

KOLPEKA’s debut tape is refreshingly bleak in all the right ways. Playing rugged and dark punk with ominous overtones, these teenagers from Spain offer a caustic, punchy take on early NYHC styles. There’s also a bit of devilishness to the melee that reminds me of G.I.S.M., and I like how the three songs on this tape become increasingly more deliberate and hostile as it progresses. The members were only between sixteen to nineteen years old at the time of this recording, so let’s hope they’ve got plenty of juice left in ‘em to keep pumping out cool and inventive music.

Loosey Winter Promo ’23 cassette

Finally, an excuse to dust off the platform boots and denim overalls! New York City’s LOOSEY is here with their Winter Promo ’23 cassette. LOOSEY’s sound falls somewhere between the Australian Sharpie scene where pub-rock bands like COLOURED BALLS and ROSE TATTOO reigned supreme, and the Bovver scene from England which preferred the glammier side of rock’n’roll (checkout the comp Bootboy Discotheque to get down). After the right-on intro “Enter Planet Dust,” LOOSEY treats listeners to three earworms that stomp, shimmy, and howl (thanks to the gloriously gruff vocals of lead singer Fizzy of NEW YORK HOUNDS fame). Check out “There You Were (Alligator Song)” to hear LOOSEY at full-force; beginning with a glam stomp before bulldozing their way into Exile on Main Street-era ROLLING STONES and even BIG STAR territory, it’s pure bar-room boogie for lovers and fighters alike. This is the dawning of LOOSEY music, get into it!

Maldita Existencia Demo 2022 cassette

Two songs from Chilean synth-punkers MALDITA EXISTENCIA. Knowing this comes from Cintas Taciturnas, this demo sounds like it’s paying homage to EXRAÑA MISIÓN’s Ensayos 1988 which the label re-released last year, and they do a great job. Big, reverbed synth with matching high-octave bass, like you’d find in a JOY DIVISION intro, with jumpy drums and a clean, wandering guitar line. The vocals stay steady, almost spoken, and don’t achieve a huge range, but combined with the instrumentation, this really works.

Perplex Perplex cassette

There have been hundreds of raw hardcore punk bands in the past ten years, so it is has become hard, if not near impossible, to keep up with everything—sometimes you are just too late to the party and you’re being told that the band you just came across and are excited about split up ages ago (meaning six months in 2023), but the members already formed two brand new bands that you are still clueless about but you nod. PERPLEX from Phoenix, Arizona is one of the bands that I should not have missed but still did. On the one hand, they clearly belong to that modern school of raw, old-school hardcore punk with reverbed vocals, but on the other, they somewhat stand out from the crowd (and it has grown into a big one) because they are heavily influenced by WRETCHED and manage to build on that influence with efficiency and emergency. With the opening of the first song being a massive nod to WRETCHED, you pretty much know what you are in for—furious, primal hardcore punk with obsessive riffs and demented leads. But PERPLEX doesn’t lose sight of what really matters: relentless energy. Käng from the ’80s is also very present in the songwriting, and bands like CRUDITY or SOD definitely got invites, too. No wheel is being reinvented here, but I love this demo. This release is a bit particular since the tape was initially released in 2019 but quickly sold out, and the Oxford-based Richter Scale (a great tape label that specializes in rather obscure hardcore acts) decided to reissue it. The drummer of the band, Mal (he also played in SLIMY MEMBER, among other projects), tragically died that same year, and the tape is dedicated to him. The two remaining members went on to do the fine MEMORY WARD, who I recommend you check out, too.

Rollsportgruppe Denkfabrik CD

ROLLSPORTGRUPPE have a nice bounce to their pretty trad rock. Or maybe it’s mod? The guitars have a dash of distortion and, with the drums, create some driving but uniquely restrained rock’n’roll. The vocals are pleasing yet hoarse and urgent. Don’t get me wrong, this is no snooze-fest, my foot was tapping the whole time. But the band holds back and lets the rhythms, stops, and starts do the work. The whole thing has a soft, almost whimsical tone.

Sepsis The Divide EP

Reviewing a record feels a little like dissecting a body at times—well, without the nasty smells and the graceless medical gown you tragically cannot sew patches onto. You first have to gently lay the record on the table and, before proceeding to the actual listening, you have to check and analyze, with medical precision, the visible clues of a given punk subgenre and its signifiers. This particular band is called SEPSIS, a nasty word for infection. They use a hairy font and the EP’s cover displays a gloomy Lovecraftian humanoid creature, drawn in an old-school death metal style, holding in its tentacled paw what looks like an agonizing human head. So yeah, not a skacore band. SEPSIS is from Melbourne/Naarm, and The Divide was released on Hardcore Victim, a brilliant label dealing in quality crasher hardcore noise crust punk. With such scientific observations in mind, I can claim, before even putting the record on the turntable that, congratulations, it is a crust record! And I love a good old-school crust record—no, I crave good old-school metallic crust records, and this band precisely belongs to that school of thought. SEPSIS is an all-female band that works on the classic “DOOM revisiting ANTI-CIMEX in a cave” template, with a revival stenchcore toolbox borrowed from AFTER THE BOMBS and a vibe not dissimilar to that of ARMISTICE. The recording could do with a bit more power, but it is dark, aggressive, and groovy enough to reach a solid level on the international scale of crustness. The shouted vocals are angry but comprehensible (to an extent, we’re not dealing with pop punk here) with an ’00s feel maybe, the guitar has that perfect crunch, and even the creature on the cover feels like a mate after these four songs. Now give us an LP. Ace.

Shitty Life Limits to Growth EP

Parma, Italy won’t stop surprising us with their garage punk releases, like their fellow residents DADAR (more egg-punk, but still on the same wavelength). On this occasion, we have SHITTY LIFE delivering a frantic, fast-paced garage punk seven-track EP, full of energy, histrionic high-pitched guitars, and consonant screaming vocals very much singing along with the band’s overall rhythm. Reverb and tone changes are on-point, with a good non-stop drumming. Tune your chitarrino for this one. Favorite track: “In the Corner,” the one instrumental song, as it gives me a new wave feeling somehow related to skating and roaming the streets with friends; solid good.

Sial Sangkar EP

Since 2017 or so, SIAL has put out great record after great record, each one summoning more rage mixed through burning, buzzing psychedelic noise. The Singaporean band’s recent EP Sangkar brings more groove and swagger than I have noticed on their past releases. Case in point: the ripping opener “Tali” that is a can of deep bass drums, long, delayed reverb and…what is that? A tambourine? This record continues on with aural infectiousness. The track “Sia Sia” is ripping end to end with a hand-clapping break in the middle of the song. Perfect and just off the D-beaten path enough to bring a different perspective. 

Tee Vee Repairmann What’s on TV? LP

The Aussie one-man, Drew Owen-like multi-band force returns with his egg-punk power pop project TEE VEE REPAIRMANN. In case you’re ignorant or just don’t care about supportive plastic footwear, this is Ishka Edmeades, who does the genre-crossing neo-garage-meets-hardcore projects RESEARCH REACTOR CORPORATION and GEE TEE, among other popular combos. It’s pretty damn catchy, and old spiky punks might find themselves nodding along as they grumble. Besides the contemporary Mark Cone-ish correlation, this could be juxtaposed as a DEVO meets MIRRORS (CLE) meets the ONLY ONES being played in the mall scene in Valley Girl. “Time To Kill,” “Drowning,” and “Get Outta Here” are tops. It’s selling out as we speak, so don’t be a geek or embrace your inner one. Snag a copy today.

Yfory Chwaer Pwy? EP

The four members of YFORY converged in Berlin from disparate corners of the world (and from a veritable A-list of hot-shot contemporary punk groups like GOOD THROB, DIÄT, BARCELONA, etc. etc.), with various ’78–’83 Rough Trade singles and the collective works of DATBLYGU serving as the lingua franca for their debut EP. Bryony’s vocals (delivered primarily in Welsh, with occasional lapses into English) skip from KLEENEX’d trills and shrieks to deadpan talky monologues, guitar parts are economical and almost more jangly than jabbing, and the drums and bass wind around in calculated, unhurried concentric circle rhythms—the result is a quartet of smart, spiky post-punk/whiplash pop bops right in step with post-millennial heirs to the ELASTICA throne like PRIMETIME or CHILD’S POSE, and it’s a real delight.

Area 51 51 Fight! demo cassette reissue

Punks of a certain age, have you ever wondered what it would sound like if the vocalist from FILTH and members of ANTI-PRODUCT and AUS-ROTTEN met as teenagers and recorded a demo in their parents’ basement? Well, 51 Fight! has provided you with the answer. I’m not sure how much this fast-paced, grimy re-release adds to the annals of crust punk outrage but, for this reviewer, it was a trip to simpler, easier times.

Arrogänt / Visions of War split LP

Cool to see VISIONS OF WAR are still around—I was organizing my records this weekend and put on their split with OLHO DE GATO. I haven’t heard anything from them in a decade! Anyway, they retain a guttural crust vocal delivery with clean rhythmic D-beat hardcore à la later ANTI-CIMEX. Chords are bright and the tones are dense and dark, which creates balance and contrast that is aggressive and smoothly irreverent. Vevarsle at its finest; dirgelike, heavy, metallic, and crust as ever. This side totally rages. ARROGÄNT follows with an even heavier death-beat, with echoing vocals and an industrial punk pace. Percussion palpitates and bitterness seethes. Dual vocals complement one another, similar to FLEAS AND LICE meets MEATHOOK SEED. This looser and more raw and chaotic side suits the split so both sides are unique but equally sinister. I want it!

Barricaded Suspects Terminal Growth LP

First LP from Nashville, Tennessee’s BARRICADED SUSPECTS. All five songs from Winning, their 2020 EP, are scattered throughout this twenty-one-song album of relentless hardcore. The songs are fast and quick (only one track hits the two-minute mark), but they flow together so you barely stop nodding along from one to the next. This would be the kind of thing you’d hear at your local all-ages venue, giving a new generation of minors their first ringing ears. It’s grating but never droning, and you can pick out most of the lyrics over blisteringly fast drums and guitars; nobody gets a break here. I really like the humor in “Something You Already Know”: “The grass is green / The sky is blue / Don’t eat yellow snow.” But more and more we need common sense reminders these days…impressive set of work from this group.

Body Cam Promo cassette

Hot new tape from BODY CAM. Their flexi from a couple years ago was pretty great, and here they’re grimier and sharper than before. It’s three songs of whipping hardcore with rocking riffs and a dirty, distorted sound. The warped groove of “R.T.S.” is the winner for me here, but the whole thing rips. I’ll be looking out for more of this.

Brain Bent Boilerplate 7″

Rhodehouse record brings us the vinyl debut from this Calgary quartet. These folks primarily play a mix of scratchy (nearly twee) clean-guitar punk and drum-forward, bombastic synth rock (think of the less surfy moments from Touch and Go-era MAN OR ASTRO-MAN?). They also manage to slip in some straight-up ’70s hard rock digressions from time to time, which may sound like an odd choice, but it kinda works. Musically, I think this record is cool. Lyrically, I have some notes. The two tracks on this 7” take aim at the corporate office world—a subject certainly worthy of derision—but the observations they’re making don’t feel very fresh. Like, a lot of what they’re complaining about isn’t that far off from the kinds of things covered in Office Space nearly a quarter of a century ago. I mean, a lot of that commentary still applies, but the corporate world has grown much more ghoulish in many respects, opening up new hells of worker alienation that I wish they were able to tap into instead. I think if these lyrics were harder to decipher, I wouldn’t have minded it so much. But they seem to be going for a bit of a URANIUM CLUB clever-rock vibe, so they’re right there front and center. I think URANIUM CLUB manages to skirt being annoying by keeping things abstract, but since BRAIN BENT is clearly trying to say something, they don’t have that luxury.

Chorus Pedal Typo Landscape cassette

Noisy, angular, effects-laden art rock. This falls on the indie side of post-punk, with jangly guitars and overdriven vocals layered between blankets of swirling phasers, tape loop echoes, and (I presume) emissions from the eponymous chorus pedal. This is the sound of knobs being turned. There is an undercurrent of no wave influence, so if you don’t find a band like DNA annoying, then CHORUS PEDAL will almost certainly pique your interest. The songs are fairly repetitive by design and contain sensible hooks and enough charisma to prevent them from being totally inaccessible. Not dissimilar to the INTELLIGENCE or the COOL GREENHOUSE.

Dan Melchior Band Welcome to Redacted City LP

Instantly likable collection of post-punk-seasoned indie rock tunes from UK-born, TX-based DAN MELCHIOR. Songs like “Going Outside” and “Watching TV” conjure the carefully-written but loose energy of PARQUET COURTS or TERRY with strummed guitars, PIXIES-style surf licks (like on “The Right Influencer”), and the occasional warbly synth note. The only issue is that the pleasant music and wry, clever lyrics can fade into background music if you are looking for something more energetic. The whole affair is pretty low-key and relaxed, but that could be your perfect Sunday morning jam. Twenty-one songs is a lot though, and with some of them nearly crossing the seven-minute mark, like the repetitive “Incel Country,” the same effect could have been achieved in half the time. Maybe listen to one side at a time, but recommended for smarty-pants indie rockers.

Desamparo Cansado De Perder cassette

Obscure hardcore spawned in the lands of Chile. DESAMPARO delivers a spastic and frantic brand of hardcore with metallic leanings, with an emphasis on a sinister atmosphere. Like a crustier version of the sound that DEVIL MASTER crafted, with warmer tones. The urgency in the vocals and relentless riffing create a parallel with the bands they used as references. Not for the faint of heart.

Divorcer Espionage EP

Third release from Vancouver, BC’s DIVORCER, who “formed in late 2016 in a booth at Duffin’s Donuts,” according to their Bandcamp page. Pretty, slow-tempo pop/punk filled with sugary harmonies, backed by slippery bass and lead lines. That said, the distortion pedal gets a stomp here and there to give texture to these pop-heavy ballads. I think of jabby, single-note guitars influenced by SLEATER-KINNEY mixed with the breathiness and candor of DUM DUM GIRLS. Their lyrics aren’t diluted by pop trappings however, as “Bug” (my favorite of the four-song EP) is a metaphysical haunting (“You woke up in a box / I woke up as a bug / This world’s not meant for us”) that only gets weirder as you go…just listen to it.

Eddie & the Hot Rods Guardians of the Legacy LP

Life on the Line is on a short list of essential records…but this is EDDIE & THE HOT RODS in 2023, folks. First-wave punk veterans who do indeed have one hell of a legacy to guard, but I give this LP a solid shrug. Good, solid, mainstream pub rock—not bad at all but far from essential.

Ford’s Fuzz Inferno Eternal Circles of Fuzz EP

One of these Dutch punkers must have pals at the pressing plant, as this is their fifth vinyl EP in barely three years. In case you haven’t been listening, this is a two-man band featuring former members of SCOUNDRELS and WASTE, and their sound is a less punk and more garage version of those bands. Yes, there’s tons of fuzz and it’s very Dutch in sound. Reading their Bandcamp page, they’re really good at tooting their own collective horns with over-the-top, self-masturbatory praise like “These tracks pretty much sound like they were culled from a killer, semi-psychedelic score for an imaginary 1970 low-budget exploitation biker movie.” No, for real! None of this is bad at all, and I find myself primarily intrigued with the closing, mostly instrumental (minus dog barks and growls) “Fuzz Dogs” with its “Rock’n’Roll High School” Nick Knox drumbeat over some really nice early CRAMPS-meets-SUICIDE fuzz. Check it.

Fortschritt ZT 300 Fortschritt ZT 300 cassette

Seven lumbering German punk stomps with clean and damaged guitars and infectious shouted vocals—closest (admittedly lazy) comparison is KICKER. But German. To hear them lose control when they speed up is to hear what punk sounds like when there are no guardrails.

Gaffer Dead End Beat LP

Perth punks GAFFER dropped their debut demo back in mid-2020 then seemingly dropped off the face of the earth. Considering the times, I just assumed it was another COVID casualty. Bummer! I was really into what they were putting out—a blend of ’77 punk and early ’80s UK hardcore with just a smidge of post-punk at the edges, fronted by a plainspoken but charismatic vocalist. Fortunately, they’ve re-emerged just as unexpectedly as they disappeared and are finally back to deliver on the promise of that debut. They’ve resurrected a good chunk of the tracks from that demo here, added a few more to flesh this out to a twelve-song LP, and polished everything up just enough. The record has a nice trebly, mid-fi production that manages to make everything sound crisp rather than thin and really helps drill these tunes straight into your dumb head. It’s a solid LP. Give it a listen if you like cool stuff or if you’ve ever wondered what PREDATOR would sound like if they traded their love of the ADOLESCENTS for GBH and swapped out their nihilism for a little bit of class consciousness.

Horrendous Cutthroat System Horrendous Cutthroat System demo cassette

This demo cassette by HORRENDOUS CUTTHROAT SYSTEM is four songs (about one minute each) that push the limits between noise and hardcore. This two-person operation emits a powerful blast that is full of rage and menace while still remaining fun to listen to. Like D-beat dis-rocker noise that worships HANATARASH while shotgunning beers over lines of cheap speed. This shit rips and I want more.

Influenza I Think 12”

With a band called after a disease (the second one this month, probably a sign from the gods of punk that I should go to the doctor for a checkup soon), a slimy green font dripping onto a severed human head (or is it a head inside a head?), and ‘’I think’’ carved on the forehead, I initially thought that INFLUENZA was going to be some sort of raw and noisy gruff hardcore punk affair, especially since they are from Tampere. But I was wrong. I did not expect them to be, but INFLUENZA is very much influenced by early US hardcore, or maybe more accurately, I would compare them to those ’80s Italian bands that were influenced by US hardcore (not unlike SHOTGUN SOLUTION?), as the band has that similar wild vibe—I suppose POISON IDEA was also very much on their mind when they wrote the seven songs making up this mini album. There are some well-crafted, crawly, mid-paced numbers on this one and some proper rocking guitar leads, while the snotty singer is clearly committed and the lyrics have that sarcastic political tone that you expect from this style. Not the kind of sound I necessarily listen to often, but I did enjoy it, and with a total length of about seventeen minutes, the energy and dynamics are always present. Apparently INFLUENZA started out as more of a typical distorted hardcore punk band with reverb-heavy vocals, but the change might be for the best.

Klint Klint cassette

Here’s something worth sinking your teeth into! Driving electro/synth punk utilizing a drum machine with tons of attitude. LOST SOUNDS pops into mind as a stylistic reference, but KLINT isn’t as guitar-forward, nor are they flirting with new wave in quite the same way. The vocals are overdriven and at times end up sounding robotic. In fact, it’s all vaguely robotic and suitably low-fidelity. The song “Noiseless” sounds like the SPITS if they were more obsessed with DEVO than the RAMONES. Fans of the PRODIGY or ATARI TEENAGE RIOT may find this appealing.

Level Gone West EP

I typically love short and quick hardcore albums, but there’s something about this one that feels a tad empty and unsatisfying. The momentum is affected by dead air and sudden tempo changes, and it kills the energy midway through. These types of transitions work well on full-lengths, but for an EP that’s barely hitting the seven minute mark, there isn’t a lot of room to stretch your wings. I’d love to hear what an LP from these folks sounds like—feels like it’d fit their aesthetic a little better and give the building parts more time to breathe. Regardless, there’s some good stuff here. Very reminiscent of early CEREMONY. The drums sound great on this and are probably what’s causing me to long for more of their intensity.

The Lo Yo Yo Extra Weapons LP reissue

The LO YO YO splintered off from the UK musical collective FAMILY FODDER in 1984, upholding their parent group’s tendencies toward post-punk experimentation but de-emphasizing FAMILY FODDER’s detours into quirky, effervescent new wave (think “Savoir Faire”/“Debbie Harry”) in order to wander down more dub-adjacent side streets. “Bad Intentions” opens their 1985 LP Extra Weapons by carving out a bass-driven, stiff funk groove with DELTA 5/AU PAIRS parallels that are further underscored by vocalist Joey Stack’s no-nonsense delivery, while “All the Atrocities” sets an “Earthbeat”-era SLITS punky reggae rhythm to highly pointed, practically CRASS-worthy anti-colonial/anti-religious lyrics, and the Afrobeat-inspired “Learning to Fly” is overlaid with warbling synth and the subtle scratch of RAINCOATS-esque violin. “Cache-Cache” into “You Never Know” is a the unbeatable one-two punch of the LP, with the former’s airy male/female vocal trade-off and percolating beat colored in by understated keys and sax representing the LO YO YO’s stab at sprightly UK DIY pop à la TWELVE CUBIC FEET, and the latter’s loping, bouncy dub-punk rhythms and anthemic vocals evoking the more experimental ’80s anarcho-femme faction (ANDROIDS OF MU, HONEY BANE’s “Guilty” single, etc.). Not an easy band to pin down and that’s a positive thing; free your mind.

Marred Dark Legacy cassette

A fuzzed-out crusty punk punch to the stomach. MARRED is an ultra-brutal punk machine. A barrage of songs comes at you like gunfire, they don’t even give you time to breathe. For fans of pure aggression!

Polansky Y El Ardor Ataque Preventivo De La URSS EP reissue

Originally released in 1982 as a 12” EP, Snap!! Records has done a great service by reissuing Ataque Preventivo De La URSS as part of their ongoing Revival series. Although POLANSKY Y EL ARDOR was part of the second wave of punk to emerge from Madrid’s bustling scene, their sound is firmly rooted in 1977. The title track is an infectious ditty with a distinctive double-picked guitar line and sing-along chorus. Not far afield from the VIBRATORS or BUZZCOCKS, I’m reminded most of the utterly fantastic Finnish band 013. “​​Y No Usa Laca” is a killer tune as well and exhibits POLANSKY Y EL ARDOR’s use of a saxophone, which comes to prominence on the somewhat dour B-side cut, “Chantaje Emocional.” Beyond being a fascinating document illuminating a corner of Spanish punk history, this reissue also provides an excellent opportunity to get your hands on an underappreciated gem.

RF7 Weight of the World LP reissue

Twelve-track LP originally released in 1981 by Felix Alanis’s label Smoke Seven Records, reissued by Puke N Vomit. Classic hardcore punk from Southern California (Simi Valley), reminiscent of early BAD RELIGION with new wave hints. Rocky guitars with some interesting riffs, amateurish bass, sufficient drumming, deep vocals, and anthemic songs on this one—classic early USHC formula, but with a softer touch. Probably a great band to have seen live back in the day, and although lacking precision, this recording is full of the amateur passion so important for punk. This time vault discovery reissued captures the essence of an era, but for my taste, it lacks distortion and speed. Suggested tracks: “Satan’s Son” and “Jesus Loves You.”

S.C.U.M. Born Too Soon… LP reissue

Discovering a great band or album you’ve somehow missed over the years never gets old, especially when it’s a record as killer as this. Underrated hardcore heroes S C.U.M. from Montreal get the reissue treatment for their excellent 1985 LP Born Too Soon…if only I could go back in time and give this to my high-school self. Oh well, better late than never. S.C.U.M. (who bastardized the Montreal Urban Community police name and logo at the time) played hard and confrontational punk similar to J.F.A. and BAD BRAINS, with some cool satirical Jello Biafra-esque vocals. Lyrically, the band hits every touchstone of punk that was as relevant then as it is today: politics, war, skateboarding (although truthfully, I could do without the sort of corny “Pool Hunt”), and of course, hating the police. Ragers like “Go to War,” “Exit Death,” and “So Much Hate” rattle with power and are so well-produced, it really is a shame these guys haven’t received more recognition.

Sordid Ship Vague Digitale 12″

Avast ye landlubbers and hoist the mainsail, because here comes a 12” of seemingly entirely nautical-themed street punk(?)—while it doesn’t semantically make sense, it turns out that it also doesn’t make for very good music, either! It’s extraordinarily generic; I could see it nestling gently at 4:00 pm on the Breton leg of La Tour Warped or whatever, but I’m not even sure the band themselves would be able to recognise these tunes if they heard them in the wild. One for skateboard owners.

Surface Waves The Phantom Centre CD

Five songs that have a vibe like ROCKET FROM THE CRYPT minus the horns, meets SMUGGLERS at a TURBONEGRO show. Really well-done rock’n’roll-tinged punk. This stuff is really hit-or-miss a lot of the time, as it’s either a really bad rehash of something from decades before or really fresh sounding. Luckily, this falls in the latter category, and while it does have the feel of the aforementioned bands, it is something all its own.

Terminal Filth Death Driven LP

Crashing cymbals, guttural and nearly blackened-style vocals, gnarly hardcore breakdowns, and impossibly swift rhythm shifts make TERMINAL FILTH the current masters of international-style hardcore/stenchcore. This full-length is jammed with some heavy-hitting material! The band calls Berlin home, but they recently played in Portland, Oregon, so I’m hoping to see some more US dates develop. For me, this is worth seeing live. If you’re in the mood for heavy, metallic crust, then definitely check out TERMINAL FILTH and grab one of these LPs.

The Toms The Toms 2xLP reissue

A relic from ‘79 gets the reissue treatment from Feel It. Who the hell are the TOMS? From what I have gathered, this project is from an older Jersey guy, Tom Marolda—songwriter, composer, performer, movie soundtrack writer, etc. Not finding much on any other musicians involved in the project. This is really sweet music, cloying in fact. Like consuming a box of glazed donuts, I can feel my teeth hurting after the long march of heavy-duty power popness that makes up the 24 tracks on this LP. There are moments to be had for sure, but in the end, the production is squeaky clean and the songs way too repetitive. This might be for some, but I need more sharp edges.

The Vacant Lot Living Underground EP reissue

Impossibly scarce OZ DIY artifact brought back to life! The four songs on this 1980 EP from Canberra’s the VACANT LOT legitimately sound like the product of four different bands—I’d love to see some sort of Myers-Briggs-type punk personality test based on one’s preferred selection from Living Underground. I’m in the group clustered around “She’s Really Dead,” an exercise in stark, FALL-ish rhythm and repetition with a hypnotic, endlessly spiraling bass line, off-center disco beats, layers of fucked-up keyboard buzz, and desperate, keening vocals laced with more than a touch of PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED. “Multinationals” is a rabid synth punk scorcher, like DOW JONES AND THE INDUSTRIALS gone murder punk, and “Tatslotto Night” is even nastier, just sheer unadulterated KBD snot and snarl. Oddest of all (the record’s INFJ?) is “Milk the Land of Its Honey,” which sets up Factory Records expectations (like, major, major early WAKE vibes) before completely shattering them with Nuggets’d-out ’60s garage/psych keys that could have been lifted from the SEEDS. Pick your king!