Record of the Week: Face-Off: S/T 7"

Face-Off: S/T 7” (Donor Records) The UK’s Donor Records continues their hot streak (having recently released scorchers from Mother Nature and Tormented Imp) with this debut 7” from Yorkshire’s Face-Off. While Mother Nature and Tormented Imp both had an arty bent, Face-Off is undiluted hardcore punk. The a-side starts with two rippers, “Lethal Dose” and “State Surveillance,” and while they’re both pitched straight down the middle for lovers of classic USHC, the energy level is off the charts… they really captured lightning in a bottle with this recording. The b-side mixes up the tempo, but even though the tempos decrease slightly over the course of the record, the EP gets more intense as it goes on rather than less. Style-wise, Face-Off reminds me of the full-bore assault of Jerry’s Kids, but with touches of Tear It Up’s desperation and enough groove to give it a slight west coast US feel, but none of this feels belabored… the focus is squarely on the explosive energy. The packaging is great too, with classic stippled punk illustrations on the sleeve and a cool lyric insert that uses a bunch of different fonts and graphic elements to visually underscore the themes of paranoia and information overload in the lyrics. All in all, a brilliantly executed, highly addictive hardcore punk EP.