D7Y: S/T 12” (Iron Lung) Debut vinyl from this new Icelandic band featuring members of Daudyflin and ROHT. I love that in 2019 we’re all just sitting around listening to artsy Icelandic hardcore like it’s no big deal. What a world we live in! Anyway, D7Y lies somewhere in the gulf between Daudyflin’s progressive hardcore and ROHT’s bleak, aggressive noise. They’re more straightforward and hardcore than either, but D7Y’s music is still pretty out there by the standards of contemporary hardcore. My favorite track is the first one, “Martraðaveröld,” which starts with a manic, Confuse-esque pogo beat while the guitarist wails pure Albert Ayler-style nonsense over it. From there the record covers a surprising amount of ground in its short run-time, with moments edging toward Broken Bones-esque metallic hardcore, more chugging later Cimex-style parts, and plenty of straightforward bashing. Throughout D7Y seems to teeter right on the edge of chaos, making this is a gripping listen all the way through.

Diät: Positive Distintegration 12” (Iron Lung) This record has been out for a bit, but vinyl has been so scarce that we haven’t had copies in stock long enough for me to write about it. As I’m writing this, the second press has sold out from the label, so this record’s momentum shows no signs of abating. Which makes sense, because this album rules. When I first listened to Positive Disintegration I worried that it wasn’t as good as their previous record, Positive Energy, but if I remember correctly that one was a grower too. While they’re a melodic and pop-oriented band, Diät is sneaky with their hooks. They layer each song with so much rhythmic and melodic complexity it can take a few listens for your ear to make sense, but once it does each track is like a feast, with as much killer, memorable music as most bands spread across an entire album side. I could spend all day highlighting brilliant moments like the intertwining guitar lines on “Foreign Policy” or the electronic gurgling on “W.I.G.T.D.W.M?” because the album is chock full of them. I also want to point out the track “Missed the Bus,” which finds guitarist Josh Neutron sharing vocal duties. If you liked Josh’s Itchy Bugger LP that came out last year you’ll be all over “Missed the Bus.” I can’t praise this record enough. Certainly it's one of the best of 2019 so far.

Death Strike: Fuckin’ Death 12” (Me Saco Un Ojo) Re-release of this cult 80s death metal demo on London’s Me Saco Un Ojo label. Death Strike was a short-lived project featuring Paul Speckmann from Master. Death Strike’s 1985 Fuckin’ Death demo, collected on the a-side of this LP, is a crucial piece of early death metal’s history, and if you love the sound of first-generation American death metal, it should be in your collection in some form. While there’s still one foot planted in Slayer’s world of dark, heavy thrash, Death Strike inject Venom-style looseness and Celtic Frost-inspired brutality into the equation and inch American underground metal a little further toward the definitive death metal sound. The b-side of the LP is another Death Strike session recorded in 1991, and while these tracks benefit from a thicker sound and more sophisticated songwriting and arrangements, they’re still coming from the same place. Essential listening for all you metalheads.

Shit Coffins: Termination 12” (Iron Lung) Hardcore is a young person’s game, so when I saw that Shit Coffins featured members of No Statik and Talk Is Poison I wasn’t jumping out of my chair to grab it. My mistake, because this RIPS. If you’re a fan of Talk Is Poison and Deathreat, you need to grab this record because it has a very similar sound to those bands’ classic records, and it’s just as good. Those bands always felt like a reaction against the artsy and progressive direction that underground hardcore went in the 90s, getting back to the genre’s roots in pure, seething anger. While Shit Coffins’ context is different, they’re just as pissed. The recording is big and burly, and while there are a handful of mid-paced parts (side note: the drummer’s habit of using a disco beat during mid-paced parts gives them a unique, Killing Joke-type feel), you’re never a few seconds away from a full-bore assault when you’re listening to Termination. This band isn’t trying to impress you, and they aren’t trying to follow any kind of trend; they’re just embodying pure savagery.

Khiis: Bezoar 12” (La Vida Es Un Mus) After an earlier 7” on Distort Reality, Oakland, California’s Khiis make the jump to the great La Vida Es Un Mus label for their debut LP. While I don’t want to make Khiis seem like a soundalike or derivative, Bezoar’s approach and execution are similar to fellow Bay Area rippers Torso. Like Torso, Khiis combine intricate, Totalitär-inspired riffing with big, pit-worthy mosh parts, wrapping the whole thing in production that’s so clear and heavy it’s almost (but not quite!) slick. They handle both the songwriting and the production with the care and precision of a master carpenter; there isn’t a note that sounds illogical or out of place, and every instrument has its own precise frequency range in the mix, rendering every sound Khiis makes clear and audible. My ear gravitates toward the moments when Khiis expands on the formula, like the haunting melodic guitar lead that closes the LP, but you could drop the needle anywhere on this record and find the band ripping it up. If you’re a fan of airtight, meticulously constructed hardcore records like Torso’s Sono Pronta a Morire or Blood Pressure’s first LP you’ll love this.

Jackal: S/ T 7” (Painkiller) After an earlier demo (which we still have in stock as I’m writing this), Florida’s Jackal deliver their debut vinyl on Painkiller, and it is a total rager. It’s fitting that Jackal share their name with YDI’s frontman, because this 7” has a similar quality to the blind rage-out that is that band’s legendary A Place in the Sun EP. The recording is super raw (with audible tape his between the tracks), but somehow this doesn’t dilute the band’s power. The drums are full of that analog crunch, which accentuates how Jackal can move from a Negative Approach-style ripping part to a punky riff that reminds me of the first 86 Mentality EP to a blistering, hyper-speed convulsion a la Straight Ahead. The record doesn’t have an ounce of fat and it’s over before you know it. Highly recommended if you ride for the early 80s USHC sound.

EEL / Radioactive: Guilt by Association 7” (Doomed to Extinction) EEL’s Night Parade of 100 Demons LP was one of my favorite records of 2017, taking the classic Kyushu noise-punk sound to new, more psychedelic places, so I was very excited to hear new material from them. Their three tracks here do not disappoint! The formula is largely the same. EEL would be a great hardcore band with just drums, bass, and vocals, but when they add in their element of harsh noise over that rock-solid foundation it shoots them into the stratosphere. Japan’s Radioactive aren’t as texturally rich, but they’re great too. While they have the classic Disorder-style dentist drill guitar, they also seem to take a lot from classic Japanese hardcore, dirtying up the sound of early Paintbox or DSB with harsh noise-punk elements.