Record of the Week: Quarantine - demo cassette

Quarantine: demo cassette (Damage United) Demo cassette from this hardcore band out of Philadelphia. This tape hit the internet almost a year ago (the band had their name well before the COVID lockdown), but our homie / man crush Chris Ulsh (who plays in the band) whipped up a batch of cassette copies for the people of Sorry State. Thanks Chris! You might know Chris from projects like Impalers, Vaaska, and Power Trip, but Quarantine differs from all of those, with a rough 80s US hardcore sound that sits somewhere between Eye for an Eye-era COC, Poison Idea’s Pick Your King EP, and early New York hardcore like the Abused and Antidote. Those are lofty comparisons, but Quarantine warrants them… this is the real ripping shit that you want from 80s US-style hardcore. Quarantine’s main mode of attack is the short burst of speed punctuated with tight, dramatic stops that remind me of the Abused and the Negative Approach EPs, but many of their slow parts have a nasty Sabbath groove to them that’s pure C.O.C. (see the crushing closer, “Media Psychosis”). Word on the street is that Quarantine will drop an LP soon, but in the meantime I’m going to be playing this tape on repeat.