Featured Releases: January 22, 2024

No Fucker: Tombs 7” (self-released) Tombs is the comeback record from this notorious New York (previously State, now City, I believe) d-beat band. No Fucker’s original run was in the early and mid-2000s, but they recently resumed gigging. No Fucker was under-appreciated during that original run, when what they were doing went over virtually everyone’s heads. While they were inactive, I feel like I had more than one conversation to the effect of, “if No Fucker was still around they’d be HUGE!” Well, No Fucker is back, and they sound exactly the same. It is as if time had not passed. Yet it seems like plenty of people still look at No Fucker and think, “I don’t get it.” Honestly, I feel like I get it even more today, and I think Tombs is a sick record. As with seeing them live, the guitar solos are a highlight. No Fucker’s guitarist has this really intuitive way of playing I just can’t get enough of. The solos sound ragged, almost improvised, yet they’re full of memorable licks and melodies (just like Bones’ most perfectly chaotic solos). It’s not just the solos, though… the band sounds so great together… it’s hard to put my finger on it, but they make this sound that sounds just like them. I mean, maybe it also sounds a lot like Disclose and Shitlickers, but it definitely sounds like No Fucker, too. And putting aside the philosophizing, there are moments like the part when the vocals push into the red on “Tombs” that make my spine tingle. Maybe you get it, maybe you don’t, but, like I said, I think Tombsis a sick hardcore punk record.

Verdict: The Rat Race 12” (Phobia Records) We named this Swedish group’s first album, Time to Resign, Record of the Week back in 2022, and Verdict doesn’t lose a step on this follow-up. Featuring personnel from Dischange, Meanwhile, No Security, Disfear and many others, Verdict executes their take on mangel with surgical precision. The strengths they displayed on Time to Resign remain intact: the incredible riffing (they’re as strong with a manic tempo like “Demons” as they are with a groovier one like “R.A.G.E.”), the bruising rhythm section (check those ultra-tight punches on “Vulture’s Feast”), and the English-language lyrics (which still feel novel given so many Swedish bands in this style sing in their native language). One thing that stands out to me on The Rat Race, however, is the lead playing. These aren’t the rock’n’roll or metal-style leads you might expect… these leads are relatively simple, sit deeper in the mix, and often push the songs to crescendos that sound totally epic. I hate to use that adjective to describe a record like this because it might seem like I’m implying stadium crust vibes, but that isn’t the case at all… what I’m getting at is that the leads feel like they push the songs to this zone of extra intensity rather than simply breaking up or adding variety to the songs. Also, shout out to the bass intro for “Another Day in Paradise,” which is sick as fuck. Verdict are masters of the form, and anyone with a passion for Swedish mangel is gonna fucking love The Rat Race.

Chueko: Tools of Oppression 7” (Black Water Records) Debut 4-song EP from this Portland hardcore band. Jeff wrote about Tools of Oppression pretty extensively in his staff pick a while back and I’ll refer you there for deeper analysis, but I concur this is a slammin’ piece of US hardcore. Even before I re-read Jeff’s staff pick, I was thinking about how the songwriting really stands out on Tools of Oppression, with riffs that would be downright melodic if they weren’t delivered in such a nasty and furious way. The vocalist, however, doesn’t take the melodic route at all, with a hoarse bark that reminds me of Nico from G.U.N. As Jeff also noted, the bass is really prominent in the mix and feels like the lead instrument… a lot of UK82 records were mixed like that, and while Chueko mostly sticks to USHC-style ferocity, you really hear the UK82 influence come out on the bouncy final track, “Tools of Oppression,” which leans more in a Partisans / Savageheads direction. The nasty production perfectly balances out the tunefulness of the music, making Tools of Oppression one of those gnarly-sounding records that sticks to your ribs.

Gizon Berria: S/T 7” (La Vida Es Un Mus) Debut EP from this one-person project. The sound here is aggressively idiosyncratic, leaning on the strangest and creepiest aspects of cult underground punk like G.I.S.M., Zouo, and Rudimentary Peni. The label mentions Gizon Berria channels “the underwater orc side of GISM,” and that’s particularly true of the vocals, which take an inhumanly deep gurgle and run them through distortion and delay to make them sound even stranger (if you like the vocal effects on the Psico Galera records, Gizon Berria has a similar feel). While the vocals sound a lot like GISM, the music reminds me more of other 80s Japanese punk bands like G-Zet and Zouo that had more of a haunting, ominous feel. The hardcore songs here are cool, but the more abstract sections that begin and end the record might be even more interesting, evoking a dark, strange, and uncomfortable world that seems like the the natural habitat of whatever creature is blurting out those wild-ass vocals. Definitely one for the creepy crawlers and the true freaks.

Daydream: Reaching for Eternity 12” (Black Water Records) Reaching for Eternity is the third album from this Portland hardcore band, which finds them moving from one hometown label, Dirt Cult Records, to another, Black Water Records. I think Daydream’s first three albums having come out on three different labels (France’s Symphony of Destruction being the third) reflects the originality of their sound. They’re hard and fast enough that they make sense on hardcore labels like Symphony of Destruction and Black Water, but rather than jackhammering power chords, they build their songs around riffs that are more interesting and angular. The riffing style reminds me of Drive Like Jehu, and while that combination of angular riffing and a fast hardcore rhythm section might make you think of 90s hardcore, the production is much stronger and the playing more accomplished than, for instance, a lot of Gravity Records releases. Besides that angular riffing, Daydream’s guitarist also has a super loose playing style, which serves as a strong counterpoint to the locked-in rhythm section, with riffs frequently unspooling into feedback. This is smart hardcore that isn’t willing to compromise on energy and power in order to progress musically. An interesting and powerful record.

Hard Copy: 12 Shots of Nature 12” (Feel It Records) Feel It Records brings us the debut (I believe) from this Richmond, Virginia band. Rather than the hardcore punk most Sorry State readers probably associate with Richmond, Hard Copy plays arty post-punk. The official description for 12 Shots of Nature references the Fall, and I think that’s a good comparison as Hard Copy shares the Fall’s repetitive grooves, poetic lyrics, and way of fusing accessible and experimental sounds. Musique concrete-style pieces like “100,000 Negatives on Glass Plates” and “Slapstick” coexist next to Can-descended meditations like “Torpedo,” while “Caravaggio” and “Airlines” channel the Talking Heads’ skewed but approachable art-pop. Hard Copy’s sound coheres thanks to this slightly stoned-sounding nonchalance that carries through all the distinct sounds and styles Hard Copy undertakes on 12 Shots of Nature. Rather than trying to impress you or pull you in, Hard Copy makes you feel you’re eavesdropping on them as they make something up on the spot. I’m sure plenty of people will find that off-putting and pretentious, but those of us drawn to challenging music will get sucked right into Hard Copy’s world.