Featured Releases: February 12, 2024

P.S.Y.W.A.R.: Defcon 7” (Iron Lung Records) Posthumous EP from this now-defunct hardcore band from Kansas City. I’m thankful Iron Lung Records still pressed up Defcon, as it’s a strong EP that deserves to be heard. P.S.Y.W.A.R. sound to me like the Cro-Mags meets G.I.S.M., the tinny, fried guitar sound, guttural vocals, and industrial overload production recalling contemporary G.I.S.M.-influenced hardcore like A.I.D.S. and Gizon Berria, while the galloping beats and reverb-drenched snare sound are definitely giving Age of Quarrel. It might sound like an odd mix, but it works really well… so many bands who come under G.I.S.M.’s spell put all their energy into sounding weird and fucked, but P.S.Y.W.A.R.’s strong, bottom-heavy groove keeps your fist pumping. Defcon is also well-sequenced, counting down from the first track, Defcon 5, to the last track, Defcon 1, the vibe growing bleaker and more jagged with each track. By the time they get to the last two tracks, squealing, feedback-drenched guitar leads and creepy samples have colonized P.S.Y.W.A.R.’s sound. Defcon offers exactly the well-choreographed bludgeoning we come to Iron Lung Records for.

Crawl Space: My God… What’ve I Done? 12” (Iron Lung Records) Seattle’s Crawl Space make the jump to their hometown institution of Iron Lung Records on their debut 12”. If you caught their recent 7”, Bullshit Unity, on Forever Never Ends Records, Crawl Space has refined their sound since that release, not changing styles but making everything sharper, clearer, and meaner. Song titles like “Lay on the Tracks” (an 11-second burst) and “No Funeral” show the negativity on display here, which adopts the desperate world view I associate with Youth Attack Records, and as with bands like Hoax and Vile Gash, there’s a seediness mixed in there, the negativity pointed inward as much as outward. Sonically, the LP is based on the stop/start dynamics of Victim in Pain-era Agnostic Front, and it keeps your blood pumping across its entire 10 minutes. Mean as fuck.

Asbestos: Wishful Thinking 7” (11PM Records) 11PM brings us the debut from this dark and desperate-sounding hardcore band from Denver. As with the Crawl Space LP I also wrote about this week, Asbestos’s sound reminds me of Youth Attack’s 2010s output (which makes sense as a lot of those bands came from Denver): it’s fast and heavy, rooted in early 80s US hardcore, but with a loose, noisy delivery and a dark and depressing vibe, which comes through mostly in the strangled-sounding vocals. It’s straightforward hardcore punk, but there’s an arty edge to it I like, most apparent on the instrumental track “Interlude,” which applies Asbestos’s smudged textures to a pretty solo guitar figure. After that brief respite, though, it’s back into the pit for the last three songs.

Mother Nature: Can You Feel the Rhythm? cassette (Donor Records) Can You Feel the Rhythm? is the debut release from this new hardcore band from Leeds, England. Leeds has a long tradition of left-of-center hardcore bands that is reflected in Mother Nature’s members-of list, which includes Perspex Flesh, Mob Rules, Whipping Post, Beta Blockers, and the Flex (well, maybe the Flex aren’t so left-of-center, but they’re certainly hardcore). Mother Nature isn’t as out there as Beta Blockers’ synth-drenched noise or Mob Rules’ prog violence, but they sound more confident, the distinctiveness of their sound coming more from their voice as composers and players rather than their equipment and effects pedals or the way they reference their influences. The quirky moments often have the biggest hooks, or maybe it’s just that Mother Nature has a knack for highlighting their catchiest parts with the cool ping-pong chorus effect the guitarist turns on from time to time… the fact that it makes it sound even more like the Die Kreuzen LP is a bonus. Again, though, it’s not just the sound, but moments like the knotty rhythms in “Can You Feel the Rhythm?” that evoke the best of 80s outsider hardcore. The vocals and lyrics are thoughtful and distinctive (what I can make out of them… there’s no lyric insert), and the production is excellent, with a sound that feels alive and organic (with such complex music, a sterile and mechanical sound is a real danger). Can You Feel the Rhythm? is one of the most exciting demos I’ve heard in ages, and I’d be surprised if one of the several excellent labels in the UK didn’t snap them up for their next release. In the meantime, though, I think it’ll be many listens before I’ve fully absorbed all this tape has to offer.

Guimauve: Azovstal 7” (self-released) Self-released debut vinyl from this new hardcore band from Paris, France, who has released two cassettes over the past three years. I haven’t heard those early releases, but Azovstal sounds fully formed and powerful to me. The record starts with a glitchy, industrial-sounding intro that grows denser and more intense as the seconds pass, incorporating samples from Guimauve’s vocalist to set the stage for the rest of the EP. When “Cotard Tango” finally kicks in, it’s a hardcore stomp with a tinny, G.I.S.M.-y guitar sound, but as Guimauve segues into the breakdown, the guitarist switches on a chorus pedal and lays into some gnarly, black metal-style tremolo picking while the rhythm section drags you through the mud. Guimauve keeps the listener off-balance in this manner throughout Asovstal, adeptly shifting between jabs of strangeness and powerful blows of crunchy, straightforward hardcore. It’s a dense and powerful ten minutes that will satisfy anyone with a taste for boundary-pushing hardcore.

Warkrusher: Armistice 12” (Desolate Records) It looks like this Montreal band has been kicking around for at least five years, and the time Warkrusher spent honing their sound pays off with their debut LP, Armistice. Warkrusher’s logo and artwork are a clear nod to Bolt Thrower, and if you come to Armistice looking for Bolt Thrower-style epic, crusty death metal, you won’t be disappointed. Not being an expert on Bolt Thrower, I don’t feel qualified to get into the weeds about how Warkrusher matches up on a riff-by-riff basis, but they’re great at channeling that swampy groove that is the basis of so many of Bolt Thrower’s classic mid-paced parts (see “Apostate”). Ultimately, though, I don’t think you can dismiss Warkrusher as a “worship” band, as there’s plenty more going on. The title track, for instance, is built around a super catchy main riff with a sleazy vibe that wouldn’t be out of place on a Midnight record. “Shadows” pulls from a similar palette of influences as Hellshock… more the Amebix / Hellbastard / Axegrinder end of the crust spectrum. It’s not a million miles away from Bolt Thrower, but it’s not totally on the nose either. While Warkrusher’s references to their influences might be the nudge you need to check them out, Armistice is a well-produced, tightly composed LP that will keep any true crusty’s fist in the air.