Demonstrate: Prove Me Wrong 7"

Demonstrate: Prove Me Wrong 7” (Designated Moshers Unit) After a couple of well-regarded demo tapes, this Philadelphia straight edge hardcore band delivers their debut vinyl on Designated Moshers Unit. While the aesthetic is very NYHC, to my ears Demonstrate’s sound splits the difference between early 80s USHC and late 80s New York Hardcore in the vein of what you’d hear on compilations like New Breed and Where the Wild Things Are. The songs’ main riffs are generally very punky, reminding me of bands like the Abused and Antidote, and they are super hooky and memorable, but the songs’ arrangements—which feature mosh parts and lots of dramatic bass breaks—are more in that NYHC vein. For a lot of people, that combination of early and late 80s influences will be like peanut butter and chocolate, but even if you aren’t as into one or the other style (I’m more of an early 80s guy myself, for instance), there’s plenty here to keep you very interested, particularly since the quality of the riffing and songwriting is so high. Which makes sense, because Jim from Dark Thoughts plays guitar in Demonstrate, and while Demonstrate couldn’t sound more different than Dark Thoughts (and I don’t even know how much of the songwriting Jim was responsible for), his knack for hooks and songwriting chops no doubt help to raise Demonstrate well above the pack of bands attempting something similar.