Massacre System: S/T cassette

Massacre System: S/T cassette (Bunker Punks Discs & Tapes) Jeff and Usman’s label Bunker Punks breaks a year and a half of silence to bring us the debut cassette from new Richmond hardcore punk band Massacre System. While I’d seen Massacre System live and thought they were great, hearing this recording and getting to listen to the songs a little more closely makes it clear why they’re a perfect fit for the Bunker Punks label. When I think of Bunker Punks, I think of d-beat hardcore that’s fast as fuck but also grooves, and that’s precisely what you get from these four tracks. A lot of d-beat-type bands go for brick wall mixes that attack you at every frequency, but Massacre System’s mix is elegantly uncrowded, each instrument given a good amount of sonic breathing room so you can really hear what everyone is doing. If anything is emphasized in the mix, it’s the drums, which makes sense because for me they’re the star of the show. Massacre System’s drummer is Sammie, who has been lending her drumming to a lot of bands recently (and you might also know her from Armor), but she really shines here, with that strong groove / swing I mentioned and a heeeeaaavy foot on the kick drum (that reminds me of Usman’s in Scarecrow, actually). While I’d be perfectly happy for Massacre System to just fall in the d-hole and stay there for the whole demo, their songs have exciting arrangements full of rhythmic shifts, breaks, leads, and other flourishes that really keep you on your toes. That’s particularly true of the sub-minute opener “Apathetic Destruction,” an all-impact rager with no repeating parts that leaves little room to find your footing. Have you ever been at a show (or in a similarly crowded space) and a fight breaks out around you, you get knocked around and jostled a bit, but then the whole thing is over before you even know what’s going on? That’s what listening to this track is like. The rest of the demo is slightly less frantic (giving Sammie ample space to groove!), but reaches another climax with the closing “War Crime Technology,” which introduces a Heresy-style, super-fast tupa-tupa rhythm into the mix that cranks the energy level even higher. There’s a lot of d-beat competing for your attention these days, but you can trust the Bunker Punks stamp of quality… this one is something special.