Arson: Burning Future 7"

Arson: Burning Future 7” (General Speech Records) We’ve carried a couple of tapes from New York’s Arson over the past few years, and now they’re here with their debut vinyl courtesy of General Speech Records. It’s cool that Arson waited to make the move to wax, because Burning Future really shows off their finely honed chops. This is still blisteringly raw noise-punk, but Arson finds a lot of room within the narrow parameters of the style to add complexity and dynamism to their songs. The singer’s vocal style toggles between a bark, a scream, and a shout, the guitarist has a handful of different distortion tones they might throw at us at any moment, and the rhythm section also has a few different modes, including fist-pumping d-beat, E.N.T.-style grinding crust, and a pit-clearing mid-paced groove, plus the ability to shake things up with lots of hooky rhythmic accents. Burning Future always feels like it’s coming at you full force, but Arson finds a lot of space to shake things up within that 95-99% intensity level, which staves off the inevitable feelings of fatigue and boredom that one-dimensional crusty hardcore can give you. While a close listener can appreciate Arson’s craftsmanship, this isn’t pretentious or arty in the least… just raw as fuck, to the point hardcore punk that knows you gotta shake things up just a little bit to keep it interesting.