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Innocent: Architects of Despair 12” (Side Two Records) After dropping two highly regarded tapes in 2017/2018, Boston’s Innocent emerges from their slumber with Architects of Despair, their vinyl debut. It’s such a Boston thing for a band to lie dormant for years then emerge, with no hype or advance notice, with a record so killer that it makes you wonder if the band has been locked in a practice space for that entire time refining and honing every detail. That’s the impression I get with Architects of Despair, which is as airtight a hardcore punk record as you’ll find. Stylistically, Innocent’s sound is rooted in, but not constrained by, Discharge, taking that band’s musical motifs and refining them into something that’s more intricate but still has all the crushing power. Take a track like “Straw Men,” for instance, which starts with a riff straight out of the early Discharge songbook but, over the course of the song’s frantic minute and a half, pokes and prods that riff like a specimen on a dissecting table, manipulating its chords and rhythms until, as a listener, you feel like you’re trapped in a building that’s collapsing around you. The vocals are also very distinctive, a bit like Tam’s high-pitched yelp in Sacrilege, but (like the music), stretched to its extremes, rendered almost avant-garde by a long delay effect. While many noisy hardcore records in this vein cultivate a sense of wild abandon, Architects of Despair sustains a seething, simmering tension, its complexity and brutality dancing on the edge of collapse, a feeling that only slightly abates on the record’s two mid-paced tracks. If you follow the output of this universe of Boston hardcore punk bands—i.e. if names like Chain Rank, Lifeless Dark, Green Beret, and Exit Order mean anything to do—you’ll want to make time for this one.

Graven Image: Discography 12” (Beach Impediment Records) Beach Impediment Records compiles the complete studio recordings of 80s Richmond, Virginia hardcore band Graven Image. The two studio sessions collected here originally appeared on the Your Skull Is My Bowl split cassette with Honor Role (1982) and the Kicked Out of the Scene 7” EP (1983), and there are a few outtakes from each session as well. Having grown up in Virginia, Graven Image has been on my radar for a very long time. I’ve always enjoyed their two releases, but this collection presents the band in the best possible light and has given me a much deeper appreciation for them. Graven Image might not have had the chops of Minor Threat or the Bad Brains, but they had some great songs, including my favorite, “My World,” which the band contributed to the We Got Power: Party or Go Home compilation, and uses one of my favorite musical tricks, the guitar hook composed entirely of harmonics (see also the Fall’s “Who Makes the Nazis”). Graven Image sound focused for a young band who didn’t seem to aspire to (or at least didn’t reach) a national level, avoiding ill-considered stylistic experimentation in favor of full-bore US-style hardcore heavy on the straight beats, power chords, and shouted vocals. Rather than just dabblers, they were key participants in the hardcore subculture, and one reason Beach Impediment’s presentation of this material so powerful is because it emphasizes how embedded Graven Image was in this world, with its expansive booklet full of flyers, photos, and other artifacts from the era. As Beach Impediment’s description states, “For admirers of early American Hardcore and not much else.”

Horrid Peace: Agony Surrounds 7” flexi (Acute Noise Manufacture) Horrid Peace is the first release by the band and label, both headquartered in the mid-Atlantic punk hotbed of Richmond, Virginia. People in the area already know the Acute Noise name from presenting numerous noisy punk gigs over the past several years, and their first foray into physical media keeps with the theme they’ve established with their gig-booking operation. Horrid Peace features a bunch of familiar Richmond faces pounding out four tracks inspired by the late 80s UK crust scene, specifically Doom. Listening to Agony Surrounds makes me wonder if they brought in Doom’s Peel Sessions and told the engineer that’s exactly what they want to sound like. They fucking nail it too, with that heavy, metallic sound that’s less about frantic riffing or big chorus hooks and more about creating this pummeling, monochromatic wall of sound that beats you in the face without letting up. Horrid Peace stays in that fist-pumping d-beat mode until slowing things down for the stomping “Human Refuse,” whose pit-clearing chug bears some resemblance to Public Acid’s moshier moments. Besides the four hot tracks, I love the packaging on Agony Surrounds, which nails the aesthetic of cult 80s Japanese hardcore flexis. Oh, and it’s limited to 250 copies, so get it while you can.

Flex TMG: Whisper Swish 12” (Domestic Departure Records) Whisper Swish, the debut vinyl from the Bay Area’s Flex TMG, comes to us courtesy of Domestic Departure, the label run by Erika from Collate. I’m a huge fan of the label’s small but excellent discography, and Flex TMG continues the hot streak. Taking inspiration from the sounds coming out of early 80s New York, Flex TMG mines artists like Liquid Liquid, ESG, and Tom Tom Club for their dance floor friendly, repetitive punk-funk grooves. While that scene is brilliant in its own right, it’s perhaps more widely known as one of the instrumental backbones of early hip-hop… see, for instance, Grandmaster Flash’s “White Lines,” which samples Liquid Liquid’s “Cavern.” That sound is so baked into American culture I can’t imagine not liking it… it would be like not liking classic Motown or something. Flex TMG isn’t just a throwback, though. They make this classic sound modern, dressing up that rock-solid rhythmic backbone with synth and vocal melodies that sound more contemporary… it’s easy to imagine a track like “Come on Over (Bebé)” playing when you walk into a hip boutique or coffee shop. That might sound like a kiss of death to your average Sorry State reader, but remember this comes to us on a super underground post-punk label with five releases under their belt, all of them brilliant and with small runs and distinctive packaging (Whisper Swish included… you need to hold any Domestic Departure release in your hands to fully appreciate it). Flex TMG might be a little outside Sorry State’s usual stylistic comfort zone, but it’s a brilliant record and I urge you to check it out if the above description sounds intriguing.

Ingrates: Don’t Wanna Work 7” (No Norms Records) While I think most people associate Sorry State with 80s-inspired hardcore, I am and have always been passionate about more melodic and song-oriented 70s-style punk, a predilection you can see in the corners of the label’s discography inhabited by groups like Rough Kids, Louder, and the Number Ones. Part of the reason that style of music doesn’t get featured as much in Sorry State’s newsletter is that I’m very picky about it. When a band hits with me I fucking love them, but when they don’t, it’s a hard pass. If things are too slick or lean too far toward pop-punk, I’m out, but if a more melodic band has super raw and noisy production, more often than not that is disguising a lack of good songs and hooks. It’s a delicate balance. California’s Ingrates hit the sweet spot for me, with a gritty yet hook-laden sound that is perfect for a two-song single with eye-catching graphics. The a-side, “Don’t Wanna Work,” is the anthem, an amphetamine-fueled singalong whose chorus hook goes for the jugular while the rhythm section hits you in the ribs with a series of lightning-fast jabs. The b-side is even better, laying back behind the beat and summoning some Steve Jones by way of Johnny Thunders riffing that sounds oh so 70s. The Boys are another good point of reference. I’m always happy to make space in the 7-inch bins for killer, classic-sounding (and classic looking!) punk singles like this.

Ervin Berlin: Junior’s Got Brain Damage 7” (Total Punk Records) Total Punk resurrects this super obscure Killed by Death-era punk single from their old stomping grounds of Florida. This is bound to whet the record collector’s appetite, since the original pressing was only 200 copies and it has never been reissued or comped as far as I can tell… it’s basically an unknown record. Both songs are strong and have everything I love about KBD punk, including bargain basement production (courtesy a local country and western studio) and a twinge of goofiness (see the a-side’s title, “Junior’s Got Brain Damage”). Ervin Berlin was an experienced musician in his late 20s who was dabbling in the punk world, and these two tracks have a punksploitation feel that reminds me of the corkers compiled on the great Who’s a Punk Compilation. The thing I love about punksploitation—experienced musicians doing cheap cash-in records to capitalize on the punk “trend”—is that it’s often capable musicians and songwriters working fast and loose, which gives those records a feel that’s different from the labored-over aesthetic of most studio recordings you hear, punk included. That’s on display in spades here, and I’m thankful Total Punk has brought this obscurity to a wider audience.

Todd Killings & the Contracts: S/T 7” (Slow Death Records) Slow Death Records brings us this 3-song 7” from Todd Killings & the Contracts. From what I understand, Todd Killings is a project featuring some folks from the Bootlicker / Chain Whip / Neon Taste Records camp, and if you’re a fan of that crop of bands, you’ll want to check this out. Stylistically, Todd Killings is in line with the Neon Taste Records roster, which has one foot in early 80s hardcore and another in late 70s underground punk, the best bands on the roster combining the energy of the former with the memorable songwriting of the latter. If you’re a fan of bands like Career Suicide or the Carbonas who tread a similar path, it’s a scene you should follow. As for Todd Killings, from what I understand, these songs were composed and recorded quickly, and they have a loose and immediate quality that feels very 70s to me, in contrast to today when so many bands’ performances are airtight. Further, rather than building the songs around intricate riffing, Todd Killings’ songs all center on memorable lyrical / vocal hooks in the chorus, most memorably on the a-side smash, “(I’ve) Got Your Contract.” It reminds me of early Career Suicide hits like “Quarantine” and “Jonzo’s Leaking Radiation,” and that’s a high compliment coming from me. Throw in some period-appropriate artwork and you have yourself a pretty bangin’ punk single.

Curleys: S/T 12” (Total Punk Records) We loved Curleys’ debut 7” on Total Punk from a few years ago, and this new 12” picks up right where that one left off. Definitely on the more hardcore end of the Total Punk spectrum, Curleys play fast and hard without exception, their super short songs coming at you rapid-fire, without breaks, exceptions, slow parts, or anything that breaks their jittered flow. Even with such narrow parameters, Curleys imbue their music with so much personality. There’s the fucked beyond belief guitar sound, which is blown to shit but still conveys the weird, epileptic rhythms that give these songs so much of their distinctive character. Then there are the vocals, snotty yet garbled, an occasional slogan like “Florida Fights Back” or “We Say No” gurgling up from the primordial soup. While these songs are hardcore punk, they’re played with a sense of total abandon I associate with Hasil Adkins or Dexter Romweber, boiling primordial rock and roll down to its essence, stripping it of anything that doesn’t contribute to the explosive raw energy. By the time they get to the closing track, the strikingly named “Sewer Cuck,” they nearly hit the two-minute mark and even have a kinda melodic guitar line in there, which sounds like Rush next to the minimalistic self-flagellation that comprises the rest of this record.

Padkarosda: Sötét Végek 12” (World Gone Mad Records) World Gone Mad Records brings us another gem from outside punk’s usual geographic hotspots… you might remember Siberian band Crispy Newspaper they released a while back, and now they’ve brought us the new album from Padkarosda from Budapest, Hungary. One great thing about hearing music from different places is that people who come from different backgrounds and traditions approach familiar tropes with a fresh perspective, and that’s the case with Padkarosda, who imbue dark post-punk with a more straightforward and aggressive energy. The heavy chorus effect on the guitars and the foreboding melodies fit the death rock style, but Padkarosda has a way with a lead guitar hook, and songs like the record’s title track (which sounds a lot like Second Empire Justice-era Blitz) and “Gépszij” where the band shows off that skill are immediate highlights. If Padkarosda was fronted by someone with a melodic croon (like, say, the guy from Interpol) they’d be millionaires by now, but the vocal delivery is snotty and snarling. The barked vocals and the interesting rhythmic inflections to the vocal lines remind me of Dezerter, and as with Dezerter, those vocal rhythms often interact with the musical accompaniment in interesting ways. Anyone with an ear for punky death rock or a broader interest in Eastern European punk will find much to enjoy here.

Gen Pop: The Beat Sessions cassette (Shout Recordings) The latest volume in the illustrious Beat Sessions series captures Olympia’s Gen Pop live in the studio. I’ve loved Gen Pop from the start, which makes sense because they wear their Wire influence on their collective sleeve, and Wire is one of my favorite bands ever. As with early Wire, most of Gen Pop’s songs are energetic, minimal, and angular to the point of being spiky around the edges, even treading into hardcore, but without that genre’s more macho and aggro elements. Even in those aggressive songs, though, there are elements that feel artsy and beautiful, like the interesting guitar melodies in “Senseless Action” or the chiming, Paisley Underground vibes in “Rough Slough Triptych.” Of course the ultimate Wire move is dropping a pure pop banger in the middle of all that spiky angularity, a feat Gen Pop nailed on their debut LP and reprise here with the same centerpiece, the gentle and fluid pop song “Pixel Glow.” As is typical for the Beat Sessions series, Mike Kriebel’s recording captures the band in clear and striking detail, like they’re filmed in strong natural light, and that approach only serves to highlight what a great fucking band Gen Pop is. Oh, and since they rip through several tracks that haven’t been released elsewhere (at least as far as I can tell), this makes this volume of the Beat Sessions a mandatory purchase in my book.

Eteraz: Villain 12” (Iron Lung Records) Iron Lung Records brings us the debut vinyl from this hardcore band from Olympia, Washington. Villain is total Iron Lung Records hardcore… urgent, smart, heavy, noisy, and somehow traditionalist without being any kind of homage. Eteraz is a little metallic but not metal, Discharge-inspired but not d-beat, and they play with confident power without being ornately technical or self-consciously primitive. At the risk of rattling off a bunch of unconnected band names, they make me think of B.G.K., Christ on Parade, Terveet Kadet, Iconoclast… the shit Pushead liked in the 80s and released on his label. It’s lifer music, and while it might lack the accessibility and easy frames of reference of starter punk bands, it makes up for it with its commitment to hardcore’s musical ideals and its unexpected musical subtlety. Also, the lyrics are in Persian, which gives songs a unique character and allows the singer to show off a gnarly rasp. This is bruising, and continues to grow on me with each listen.

Deadless Muss: 5 Years Imprisonment 12” (Euro Import) Deadless Muss was an 80s Japanese hardcore band from Shizuoka. Deadless Muss was on my radar and I have a couple of their records, but I don’t think I’d ever heard this album before this reissue arrived. I was more familiar with Deadless Muss’s earlier material, their 8” flexi from 1984 and their I Will… 7” from 1985. Those records are more in line with the gruff and murky 80s Japanese hardcore sound that I can never seem to get enough of. However, when the band signed to the legendary Selfish label and released their 860 Seconds Cooking 7” in 1987, their sound changed. Besides the layout getting more colorful than their previous records, they got way faster, moving toward a skate-thrash style that reminds me of their label mates at Selfish, Systematic Death. While there are a few moments on 5 Years Imprisonment that sound like holdovers from the band’s earlier period (“Texas Chainsaw” in particular), the band I keep thinking of when I listen to 5 Years Imprisonment is the Stupids from the UK. Obviously the lyrics and vocals are different, but the music is similar, blistering fast skate-thrash with lots of gang vocals and a hint of melody in the guitar playing. If you’re into that late 80s / early 90s Japanese skate thrash thing—bands like Systematic Death, Chicken Bowels (who I wrote my staff pick about last week), early SOB—you can’t go wrong with this well-done Fan Club pressing.

Lexicon: Devoid of Light 12” (Iron Lung Records) Way back in 2018 Iron Lung Records released a demo tape by Seattle’s Lexicon. Now they’re back with their vinyl debut. That demo tape was already head and shoulders above most hardcore records I hear, so Lexicon needed little refinement. Still, things seem a little more unified on Devoid of Light, which sees the band locking into a sound that takes the dense and chaotic production values of noise-punk bands like D-Clone, Zyanose, and Lebenden Toten, and applies it to a more rhythmically intricate and punkier songwriting style. I wonder if you took all the distortion off this if it would sound like Amde Petersen’s Arme or something? It’s hard to say, especially with this full-bore assault blasting in your ears. Lexicon reminds me a lot of the Richmond band Spore I also wrote about this week, and as with Spore, the moments on Devoid of Life that hit the hardest for me are the loosest and most chaotic passages. Lexicon is so locked-in that when a track like “Parasite” or “Electric Shock” flies off the rails, it’s thrilling. Records like this are why we love Iron Lung… it’s raging, interesting, and exciting in all the right ways.

CML: The Dirty Tape cassette (Rotten Apple) Most of what the new label Rotten Apple has released so far has fallen on the weirder and/or poppier end of the spectrum, but this tape from Indianapolis’s CML proves they know raging hardcore when they hear it too. The first track, “State of Mind,” starts off with a haunting intro that makes me think of Part 1, and even when the song erupts, there’s a haunting quality to the riffing and an off-kilter, anarcho vibe to the rhythms… like a more manic Rudimentary Peni or something. After that first track, though, things get down, dirty, and raw, with more straightforward, early 80s hardcore-style bash-you-over-the-head riffs and changes. The vocals are snotty and a little screechy, a dead ringer for Urban Waste in places, and the music has that raw and immediate early 80s New York Hardcore vibe too. Everything about this rules, right down to the perfectly shitty drawing on the cover.

Spore: Rabid Intent cassette (Not for the Weak Records) Not for the Weak Records brings us this gloriously noisy and crushing cassette from Richmond, Virginia’s Spore. I can hear a whole lineage of hardcore punk in Spore’s music… they sound like an American hardcore band influenced by noisy Japanese punk bands from the 2000s inspired by Swedish bands from the 80s who were stealing from the playbook Discharge first drafted. It’s fists-in-the-air, bruising shit, fast and heavy as fuck with no letup. My favorite parts are when the guitarist drops the riff and dissolves into a D-Clone-esque squall of inchoate distortion… most of Spore’s music winds me up, ratcheting up the intensity until I feel the anxiety in my body, then when the guitarist makes that move, it’s like being in the middle of a panic attack and screaming at the top of your lungs, shutting out the world and providing an essential moment of cathartic relief. As with everything on Not for the Weak, the sound is massive and bruising, and with eight tracks and eye-catching artwork, I don’t see anyone complaining they didn’t get their money’s worth out of this one. Totally killer.

The Apostles: Best Forgotten 12” (Horn of Plenty Records) The short history of 80s anarcho punks the Apostles on their Discogs page sums up the band’s unique approach very well: “The Apostles were an experimental post-punk band who developed within the confines of the 1980s Anarcho Punk scene in the UK, but did not necessarily adhere to the aesthetics of that movement.” While the Apostles eventually, once they moved from releasing cassettes to vinyl, evolved into a somewhat more conventional anarcho-punk band (I wrote about their excellent second single, Blow It Up Burn It Down Kick It Till It Breaks, in our Staff Picks section a while back), the tracks on Best Forgotten compile an earlier era for the project when they sound less like a band at all, and more like a container for a wide range of musical experiments. In that way, this era of the Apostles reminds me of groups like Alternative TV, Television Personalities, and Cleaners from Venus… all of them very different from one another, but united by the approach of following their curiosity and pushing at the edges of their respective sounds. Best Forgotten does a great job of documenting that approach, feeling less like an album and more like a documentary, and while it’s hard to imagine anyone saying that Best Forgotten contains a wealth of great songs, it is rich with vibe. It practically smells like a squat in early 80s London, cold and damp and desperate, but at least with the free time to get weird and creative (even if the means to document that creativity are of the make-do variety). I imagine this era of the Apostles’ music flies way over the heads of Conflict and Crass-loving crusties in both their time and ours, but this is tailor-made for punk intellectuals with a taste for the artistically confrontational music of groups like Alternative TV (particularly their second album, Vibing Up the Senile Man), Virgin Prunes, and early Cabaret Voltaire.

Churchgoers: demo cassette (11PM Records) 11PM Records brings us the demo cassette from London’s Churchgoers. Falling on the rawer, punker, and more early 80s-inspired end of the contemporary UK hardcore scene, it’s easy to imagine Churchgoers on a bill with bands like the Annihilated and Last Affront (who also released a record on 11PM)… I’d go to that gig! This is just a theory, but it seems to me that one of the distinguishing characteristics of contemporary UK hardcore is that many of the players grew up listening to New York hardcore, which comes out in their music in subtle ways, even when I think they’re trying self-consciously to do something different from that. I don’t know if that’s the case with Churchgoers, but I hear it on a track like “Hillsy’s,” which sounds like something that could have been on the New Breed compilation tape. Most of Churchgoers’ songs, though, are more in the fast and raw, early 80s vein, though the way the drummer lunges ahead of the beat on the fast parts also makes me think of Heresy (the super short track “M.S.P.” serves as further evidence for that line of thinking). Maybe you won’t hear any of that and Churchgoers will just sound like a ripping 80s-style hardcore band to you, but either way, it’s a win.

Alerta Roja: Punk Rock En Dictadura 7” (Esos Malditos Punks) Esos Malditos Punks brings us this 5-song 7” from early 80s Argentinian punk band Alerta Roja, which they bill as the first punk rock studio recordings made in that country. According to Discogs, two of these tracks came out on an extremely limited 7” (only 50 copies!) in 1982, but Punk Rock En Dictadura presents all five tracks Alerta Roja recorded at the session. While hardcore was in full swing in other parts of the world by 1982, Alerta Roja’s music here is still steeped in the music of the Damned, the Heartbreakers, and most of all the Sex Pistols (they even borrow the “no future for you” melody from the end of “God Save the Queen” for the chorus of “Desocupación”). While the compositions are in that riffy, rock-influenced punk mode, the recording is raw and nasty, giving this a feel closer to that of early European punk classics by bands like Tampax or Lost Kids. Alerta Roja’s singer also has a similar tone of voice to Eduardo Benavente from Paralisis Permanente. All five songs are killer, starting with the anthemic “Desocupación” and climaxing with the gloriously strange guitar solo at the end of “Robots.” If you’ve put in your time with your Killed by Death and Bloodstains compilations, this 7” is gonna be right up your alley.

Dominant Patri: Heroes Glory 12” (Demo Tapes Records) Demo Tapes Records brings us a reissue of this obscure but worthwhile document, Dominant Patri’s 3-song 1982 demo Heroes Glory. Dominant Patri was only around for a short time, playing a handful of gigs with other punk/anarcho bands of the day and recording these three tracks. While it’s a slim legacy in terms of volume, Demo Tapes makes the most of it with incredible sound and a booklet collecting what must be every scrap of extant information about the short-lived band. As for the three songs themselves, they are gems. Stylistically, these are straight-down-the-middle anarcho-style punk, not as hardcore as the crustier bands and not as melodic as bands like Zounds, but bringing together both ends of the genre’s spectrum. It helps that these songs have a powerful recording, crystal clear and present in a way that you wouldn’t expect from a band so obscure. As the only audio document of Dominant Patri’s existence, I find myself listening to these tracks with a lot more focus and attention to detail than I otherwise would… it feels like this record is a keyhole to a wider world. That actually goes for the reissue as a whole. Some reissues can feel like a feast overwhelming you with music and visual ephemera, but Heroes Glory is like a miniature painting that you pore over and appreciate every detail. Dominant Patri might have been a blip on the radar, but they were a beautiful blip, and anyone with a taste for vintage UK anarcho will love these three tracks, even if every time we listen, we wish we could have more.

122 Hours of Fear zine This giant, ambitious, full-color, square-bound zine comes to us from Layla Gibbon, former Maximumrocknroll coordinator, member of Girlsperm, and all-around punk historian and aesthete. I was super stoked to devour this mag, and even with my high expectations, it blew them out of the water. Do you ever read Maggot Brain and wish there was something of similarly high quality that focused on hardcore punk? If so, 122 Hours of Fear is the fulfillment of all your wishes. Focusing (rather loosely, I’d say) on the live gig-going experience (Gibbon started work on the project during the pandemic, when there were no gigs), 122 Hours of Fear cuts a wide swath in pretty much every respect, from the contributors (young punks, old punks, and everyone in between), to the bands and music covered (everything from classic punk to the most obscure Japanese noise to mainstream rock), to the styles of writing (show reviews, text messages, journal entries, stream-of-consciousness essays, etc.), to the emotional register (hilarious, angry, wistful, irreverent, surreal, thoughtful), to the modes of presentation (standard written entries, visual art pieces, scans of vintage ephemera, photographs, and more than a few mixes of several of these). While there are highlights (Sam Ryser’s surreal account of a Dawn of Humans gig in Slovenia, Ambrose Nzams’ story of a wild night at Philly art school parties, Tobi Vail’s deep contextualization of the Wipers’ standing in the wider punk scene, and the numerous incredible photographs littered throughout the book), the entire publication is just riveting. There’s also probably a cool story about your favorite band (my favorite band is the Fall, and there’s a bonkers account of one of their most infamous New York gigs). I know this is expensive, but it’s beautiful and the amount of work that has gone into it is staggering. If you love punk and underground culture, it’s hard to imagine you won’t love this.

Class: Epoca de Los Vaqueros 12” (Feel It Records) In case you missed the memo when their excellent self-titled cassette came out (note: that cassette is now back in stock), Tucson, Arizona’s Class features Rik from Rik & the Pigs on vocals, but with a sound that’s more fleshed-out and ambitious than the Pigs’ grimy, Stones-descended punk. Class’s first cassette caught my ear right away, and while I’m surprised to hear the full-length follow so quickly (especially in today’s age of interminable vinyl production waits), I’m pleased to hear that it picks up right where those tracks left off. Class is one of the few American underground bands that sounds of a piece with the most interesting music coming out of Australia right now. Like Civic, Vintage Crop, the Shifters, or Delivery, Class makes pop music informed by the punk and post-punk traditions, and they take songcraft and production seriously in a way bands typically don’t in the American underground, where a tossed-off, slacker approach seems essential to make it clear you’re not with the capitalists. Not that Class has anything to do with capitalism (I bet no one has ever written that before!), but they are interested in making good music that people might want to listen to, and listen to in order to get a feeling of simple pleasure rather than some sort of complex emotional and political gestalt. Stylistically, they remind me of the fuzzy 70s space where the punk underground met the rock overground, with the Flamin’ Groovies trademark chime informing tracks like “Light Switch Tripper,” and others like “Left in the Sink” reminding me of 70s UK bands like the Skids or Elvis Costello & the Attractions who weren’t punks but whose music from that era soaked up the ambient energy. Pop tunes, punk energy, musical chops, rich and subtle production… Class’s debut album has it all.

Penetrode: S/T 12” (Alonas Dream Records) The last time we heard from Philadelphia’s Penetrode was back in 2017, when they released a split 7” with Chicago’s C.H.E.W. That was a great pairing, bringing together two intense and inventive bands with top-notch musicianship, and while C.H.E.W. is sadly no more, the intervening five years have apparently done little to soften Penetrode’s rough edges. The overall tone of this record is dark, murky, and uncomfortable, but the thing I focus on most is the playing. Penetrode is so locked in that they can execute the lunging rhythmic acrobatics I associate with Bl’ast! or Damaged-era Black Flag. You hear this on tracks like “Delusion” and “Past.Future.Present,” which sound a lot like Bl’ast!, but that locked-in way of playing also shapes songs like the dirge-y, mid-paced “Psychic Death” and the manic instrumental “Penetrode.” The riffing is great throughout the record, catchy, powerful, and inventive, often squeezing complex, dissonant chords into nimble runs. The grimy production and the muffled, low-in-the-mix vocals are straight out of the Bl’ast! playbook too, and as with that band it can make it a little tougher to wrap your ear around this record on the first listen. However, once you lock in, the murk perfectly encapsulates the music’s dark and desperate vibes. Highly recommended for those of you who like your hardcore dark, moody, and complex.

Flower City: Maggots Consume 7” (Esos Malditos Punks) Maggots Consume is the debut EP by this hardcore band from Austin, Texas. I’m not sure who is in Flower City, but based on Maggots Consume, it’s hard to imagine their sound isn’t informed by titans of Austin hardcore like Impalers and Criaturas. Flower City has a similar approach, building their songs around interesting and inventive riffing and playing with a head-down intensity that never lets up. As with those bands, it sounds like a relentless barrage on first listen, but a closer inspection reveals a subtlety in the arrangements that keeps the songs interesting all the way through… a noisy lead guitar passage here, an ever-so-subtle let-up in tempo there (only to come crashing back to full intensity, of course). The vocals are drenched in echo and buried way down in the mix, keeping the focus on those riffs, which just keep coming at you for the duration of these six tracks. While the lack of obvious dynamics and theatrics might make Flower City inscrutable to a dabbler in hardcore, those of us with an appreciation for this workmanlike approach to the genre will appreciate their power and precision.

Mosquito: The Originol Soundtrack cassette (Rotten Apple) Several times over the past few years, I’ve wondered, “what happened to Mark Winter?” It seemed like he was everywhere for a few years. His project Coneheads was a certified underground phenomenon, but there was also Big Zit, C.C.T.V., D.L.I.M.C., and plenty more, and they were all very good to fucking great. Then the releases just stopped with no fanfare. Maybe he was still putting out tapes you could only order via carrier pigeon to keep them safe from poseurs like me, but if that’s the case I didn’t so much as hear about them. So, Mosquito: The Originol Soundtrack marks, for me, the return of Mark Winter, and it is fucking awesome and a complete left turn. The fifteen-minute album is all instrumental (there are a few passages with spoken vocals) and the music, according to the description, follows the life cycle of a mosquito. Not being an entomologist, I can’t speak to the accuracy with which Winter has evoked the mosquito’s biology, but I can say the music is wide-screen cinematic, evoking a range of different moods that all seem mosquito-like, but from different directions. The way Mosquito slides between different moods and textures reminds me of the 70s German band Faust, as do the often bass-driven arrangements and the loose, quasi-jammy structure of the different movements. The bass-driven, funky feel also makes me think of cult 70s film soundtracks, particularly Alain Goraguer’s brilliant soundtrack to the 1973 animated film La Planète Sauvage. While the genre differs from anything I’ve heard Winter do before, you can still tell it’s him… the tones and textures of the instruments sound a lot like Coneheads and D.L.I.M.C., and a few of the movements (especially the first and last ones) feature some of his trademark mutant Chuck Berry lead guitar playing. While the potential audience of people who love both Coneheads and the kinds of weird soundtracks and library records unearthed on labels like Finders Keepers might be small, I am 100% in that demographic, and I fucking love this. Now, pardon me while I research how to train carrier pigeons so I don’t miss another note of music this person makes.

L.O.T.I.O.N.: W.A.R. in the Digital Realm 12” (Toxic State Records) Without ever fundamentally changing their sound, every L.O.T.I.O.N. record has been better than the previous one, and the trend continues on their latest album, W.A.R. in the Digital Realm. L.O.T.I.O.N. has always sounded to me like an aesthetic marriage between the 90s Wax Trax scene in the gnarliest, darkest end of Japanese hardcore (bands like G.I.S.M. and Kuro), which might sound like a simple formula on the surface, but those sounds are so different and the territory is so uncharted there’s a lot of room for L.O.T.I.O.N. to do their thing. One thing that amazes me when I listen to W.A.R. in the Digital Realm is how catchy it is without compromising the fundamental ugliness and harshness of the music. One way they achieve this is by paring down the choruses to just a few repeated words. This gets you singing along to tracks like “Desert E” and “Cybernetic Super Soldier” the second time the chorus rolls around. My favorite track on W.A.R. in the Digital Realm, “Every Last One,” also takes takes this approach to the chorus: “decapitation—every last one” (it’s a song about cops). The song also features my favorite moment on the LP, the part in the bridge where they repeat the line “the only good cop is…” again and again, building anticipation until they let loose the big payoff line we’re all waiting for… “a dead cop.” W.A.R. in the Digital Realm feels short at only eight tracks, but all eight tracks are distinct (particularly the J-pop leaning final track, “Cybernetic Super Lover”) and none of it feels redundant or like filler. And it goes without saying that vocalist and renowned visual artist Alex Heir makes sure the packaging is as compelling as the music.

Mutated Void: Roses Forever 12” (Iron Lung Records) What a disgusting mess! Canada’s Mutated Void has one of the most original hardcore sounds I’ve heard in ages, but it is fucking nasty. The closest comparison I can think of is Septic Death in its warped darkness, but filtered through the aesthetics of the rawest underground black metal and… 80s skate rock? It’s a singular concoction that needs to be heard to be understood, but to say the least, this isn’t for everyone. That’s what I love about Mutated Void, though… you can hate on the incomprehensible, snarling vocals, the “so loose they’re barely there” song structures, the no-fi production values, or the bewildering visual aesthetic… or you could just say fuck it and choose to love this patently unlovable record. I choose love. Bold hold on, I think I gotta puke…

Ojo Por Ojo: Leprosario 12” (Cintas Pepe) Mexico City’s Ojo Por Ojo is back with a new album, and if you liked the direction they were headed on their recent 2-song flexi, Paroxismo, you’re gonna love it. Since the beginning, Ojo Por Ojo has been a relentlessly bleak band, exploring the depths of human cruelty, pain, and suffering in their music, lyrics, and artwork. Steve Albini recorded Paroxismo, which was clearer and denser than their previous album, and even though he didn’t have a part in Leprosario, the sound remains changed. Leprosario is huge, rich, and bright, but rather than feeling glossy, it’s like looking at vomit on the sidewalk in the clarity of a sunny summer day. While the subject is as dark and uncomfortable as ever, these songs are so rich with texture that you get lost in the detail. It’s like Ojo Por Ojo has married Amebix’s brutal chug with Slint’s delicate iridescence. The closing track, “Carne,” is the prime example, a gloomy march that will have you alternately reaching and recoiling. And, as we expect from this band and the Cintas Pepe label, the artwork is excellent, its detailed illustrations and collages embodying everything I love about the music. What a record.

Terveet Kädet: TK Pop 12” box set (Svart Records) This five-LP box set compiles everything the legendary Finnish hardcore band Terveet Kädet (translation: Healthy Hands) recorded between 1980 and 1989. Most people credit Terveet Kädet as the first hardcore band in Finland, and they continued to carry the hardcore torch when so many other early hardcore bands put it down in favor of being more melodic, commercial, and/or artistically adventurous. For me, their first three EPs are essential 80s hardcore punk records, and they’re still my favorite Terveet Kädet records. Those records have the same joy of discovery you hear in the early Dischord and Touch and Go records, and as with bands like Minor Threat and the Fix, they grew into their chops and became a great fucking band. For me, they peak with their 3rd EP, Ääretön Joulu. After that, their music takes a definitive turn away from snotty punk and more toward the Discharge-inspired hardcore of bands like Bastards and Rattus. That’s hardly a bad thing… if you like records like Bastards’  Järjetön Maailma and Rattus’s  Uskonto On Vaara, it’s hard to imagine you wouldn’t like Terveet Kädet’s first album or The Horse too, and I do. I hadn’t listened to the late 80s EPs collected on the box set’s 4th LP, but it turns out I like those too, maybe even better than the first two albums. They’re still hardcore records, but they don’t feel as monochromatic as the first two albums, and they get back some of that spirit of discovery I liked on the early EPs. The fifth LP in the box features unreleased and rare tracks from the era of the first three EPs, and they are crucial, ranging from primitive rehearsal recordings to blistering live-on-the-radio sets to an entire unreleased EP that would have come out between TKII and Ääretön Joulu. The music collected here is excellent, but as I listened to TK Pop in its entirety twice over the last couple of weeks, I thought a lot about how I impressed I am with how TK Pop is put together. It’s a comprehensive collection, presenting the band’s discography during this period as a coherent body of work, much the same way many CD anthology releases did in the 90s and 00s. However, where I found so many of those CD anthologies exhausting to listen to, it’s clear the folks at Svart thought a lot about how people would experienceTK Pop. They cut each record loud at 45rpm and they sound great. Rather than proceeding strictly chronologically, they give care to making sure each record (or, with the EPs, each LP side) is a coherent and complete thought. And while you’re listening, you can look at the comprehensive insert book with a wealth of archival photos and fanzine interviews and a detailed discography. I just really enjoyed this box. It takes a bunch of records that are excellent in their own right and makes them work as something bigger, more impressive, more demanding, but ultimately more rewarding. If only every reissue could be this good.

Ä.I.D.S.: The Road to Nuclear Holocaust 12” (La Vida Es Un mus) It’s kind of weird that we’re looking at two industrial-tinged hardcore records by bands whose names are acronyms this week, but I guess sometimes Ä.I.D.S. and L.O.T.I.O.N. arrive in the same week and you just have to roll with it. I don’t want to get into too detailed of a comparison between the two records because they’re very different and don’t seem in dialog with one another in any substantial way, but one subtle yet noticeable difference is that while L.O.T.I.O.N. feels like a pop record with its chanted choruses and danceable beats, Ä.I.D.S. feels more like a rock record that’s built around riffs. A lot of the riffs remind me of Discharge songs like “State Violence, State Control,” elongated musical phrases that rely on chugging palm muting. We used to have this joke in one of my old bands that some riffs make you feel like you’re riding a chopper over the horizon at sunset, and that’s the case with a lot of these, giving them that badass “Motorcharged” feel so many bands aim for. Even better, while those longer riffs were a sign of Discharge’s imminent decline, Ä.I.D.S. is at pains to keep things maximally heavy and brutal. Everything is big and heavy, with the pounding drum machine rhythms and synth squelches pushing the vibe to something between Mad Max and cyberpunk. For something so gnarly and punishing, it’s a breezy listen… which makes sense because this is, at its core, a 6-song 45rpm hardcore EP, albeit one that elaborates on the form significantly.

Delivery: Forever Giving Handshakes 12” (Feel It Records) Hot off a string of excellent EPs, Melbourne, Australia’s Delivery brings us their debut album, arriving a mere 18 months into this ambitious band’s lifespan. The secret might be a healthier division of labor than most bands, because if I’m interpreting what I read correctly, Delivery boasts five songwriters and three lead vocalists in its ranks. Forever Giving Handshakes no doubt benefits from sharing creative responsibility, but it sounds cohesive… it’s apparent that Delivery has a clear idea of where they’re headed as a band. While their earlier releases were quirkier and more introverted-sounding, Forever Giving Handshakes sounds as joyous and alive as the photo on its cover, which features the band cresting the hill of a roller coaster. Much has been made of Delivery’s transition from a home recording project to a live band, and Forever Giving Handshakes sounds like a record made to be played in front of an audience… the first time I heard it, my mind drifted to a recently departed venue in our town, Neptune’s, a small basement bar and venue that would have been the perfect place to see Delivery in Raleigh. Fortunately, high-energy pop songs like this work just as well in headphones or on a car or home stereo as they do in a live set. Fans of contemporary Australian punk-inspired music—everything from UV Race to Alien Nosejob to Vintage Crop and back—will find this an essential listen, but the way Forever Giving Handshakes crackles with life and energy will win over anyone who loves to mix their pop with their punk.

Irreal: Era Electronica 12” (La Vida Es Un Mus) We loved Irreal’s previous 7”, 2020’s Hardcore 2020, and their new 12” Era Electronica keeps the hot streak going. As before, Irreal’s sound is straight up hardcore punk, inspired by Discharge and the legions of international bands who came in their wake. For a band that is so uncompromisingly raging, their sound has a lot of wrinkles, going from straight up Discharge worship like the title track (which is a blatant homage to “Fight Back”) to more complex songs like “Desorden,” which is driven by fast palm muting that reminds me of Broken Bones or Riistetyt. This is just perfect hardcore punk, toeing the line between chaotic and catchy, summoning that glorious feeling of being at a happening show where the band and audience are both going off. A total ripper.

Flash: S/T 12” (La Vida Es Un Mus) When I first dropped the needle on this Flash album, my first thought was, “La Vida Es Un Mus released an egg punk record?” There’s no denying Flash’s jittery drum machine rhythms and underwater guitar sound resembles bands like Prison Affair, Liquids, and Coneheads, but as you might expect, there’s a lot more going on than your bargain basement Coneheads homage. While that distinctive production style gives the tracks a unified feel, this album shows off a range of different approaches, from chaotic hardcore like “Incontrolable” (my favorite song on the record) to straight up pop-punk that is almost as gooey sweet as early Blink 182. Flash sounds at home with all these styles, bringing an unhinged feel to everything that reminds me of early 80s Italian hardcore. I like the record’s sequencing, too, which groups together similar tracks and moves you from the egg punk-y opening part of the record through a more hardcore section in the middle, then finishing up with the two most melodic tracks, “Herri Hau” and “Querido Punk.” If the idea of Negazione mashed up with the Coneheads sounds appealing to you, give this a try… it’s original enough to grab your attention and interesting enough to hold it.

Girlsperm: The Muse Ascends 12” (Thrilling Living Records) You might remember riot grrrl supergroup Girlsperm from their killer 2017 full-length. Now they’re back with another one on the same label, Thrilling Living, and fans of that record will be pleased to hear that not much has changed. Girlsperm’s sound is steeped in the 90s riot grrrl sound of bands like Bikini Kill, Bratmobile, and Huggy Bear, and if you’re a fan of those bands, it’s difficult to imagine you wouldn’t love Girlsperm too. Just like the original riot grrl bands in the 90s, so much about their music feels like a fresh counterpoint to what pretty much every other band out there is doing. Where so many other bands strive for tightness, Girlsperm is loose and improvisational. Where other bands are theatrical and extroverted or navel-gazing and introverted, Girlsperm sounds like an intimate gathering of close friends. As a middle-aged white man it’s hard for me to articulate, but when I listen to Girlsperm, it feels just like listening to the Raincoats or Kleenex, like it shines a light in a part of the room that I’d ignored because it was cloaked in shadow. But even though Girlsperm challenges punk orthodoxy, they still sound punk as fuck. The songs are still short and exciting and angular and energetic and all the things I want punk to be. As Girlsperm blasts through these 16 tracks, they make it sound so easy and so natural. You’d think there would be a thousand bands out there just like them.

Judy & the Jerks: Music to Go Nuts 12” (Thrilling Living Records) I’ve loved Mississippi’s Judy & the Jerks since they started, and they continue to warm my heart with their latest full length, Music to Go Nuts. In the past, Judy & the Jerks has covered bands as diverse as Die Kreuzen, Negative Approach, the Buzzcocks, and Floorpunch, and they weave those influences into a sound that is total hardcore punk, but not like anyone else. I’m tempted to attribute that to their status as a small-town band, as small scenes force you to build bridges between camps in a way that you don’t have to in bigger cities… if only the crusties, the straight edgers, or the garage turkeys comes to your show, it’s just not going to be as much fun. It takes a great band to weave together so many styles, but Judy & the Jerks is up to the task, going from catchy to tough to raging so quickly you hardly even notice the change. And their frontperson remains a star with an instantly identifiable voice, a way with a subtle yet memorable melody, and brilliant (if often tongue-in-cheek) lyrics. Music to Go Nuts was made for blasting on your shitty car stereo on long, sunny drives with the windows down. Who would have thought you could articulate unrestrained joy so beautifully through the medium of hardcore punk?

The Poisoning: S/T 7” (Maldito Ruido) Southern California’s the Poisoning brings us a debut 7” that doesn’t sound like anything else happening at the moment, at least that I know of. While a lot of bands fuse metal and punk these days, the way these elements come together on these four tracks is a far cry from the “thrash metal with mosh breaks” style the words “metallic punk” might make you think of. Instead, the Poisoning’s approach reminds me of cult Japanese metal-punk release from the 80s… I’m thinking of records like the Randy Uchida Group 7”, the Bones’ In a Sick Society, or the Execute’s An Omen of Fear. Like those records, the Poisoning’s EP drips with spooky vibes, with a Christian Death-style creepiness that not too many bands these days capture. Their approach is also similar to those Japanese records in that they have gravelly vocals, stripped-down and punky songs and arrangements, metallic guitar riffing, and playing that is metronomically tight. While a lot of bands who are influenced by 80s Japanese punk go for a noisy and chaotic sound, the Poisoning has a clean and full-sounding mix, which is much closer to the professional production jobs on many of those records. I wouldn’t call the Poisoning an homage to that style… in fact, I can’t even say whether it’s a direct influence, but if you have a taste for that quirky, mid-80s metallic punk sound, the Poisoning will scratch an itch very few contemporary bands can.

Cherry Cheeks: Cherry Radio 7” (Under the Gun Records) I loved Cherry Cheeks’ debut LP on Total Punk Records, and I’m pretty sure other people did too, as I remember that record selling out quickly. Now they’re back with another 6-song EP, and it’s just as good, if not better. All six tracks are just brimming with hooks… let’s take the first one, “UFO,” for example. After a quick rhythmic intro with marching-band snare and some tension-building noodling, they introduce a killer guitar hook that evokes the spooky theremin melodies in old sci-fi movies. Before you’ve digested that, the vocals come in with a big melody in the verses, and then rather than go with a broad hook in the chorus, the bottom falls out of the song and it returns to the intro’s marching-band rhythm and that infectious intro guitar hook. After another verse, they make the same move into the intro-as-chorus, but this time over top of it we get the big singalong chorus melody we’ve been waiting for the whole time. Then, just like that, the song is over and it’s on to the next mini-masterpiece. There’s no chance to catch your breath over the course of these 11 short minutes… it’s just hook after hook after hook. Even if you’re a dabbler in the world of Total Egg Punks that Cherry Cheeks lives in, they’re worth checking out, as this band is one of the best things going in that corner of the scene.

Gurs: S/T 7” (Symphony of Destruction Records) Over the past few weeks I’ve written about all four new releases on France’s Symphony of Destruction Records, but I think I might have saved the best for last with this 4-song 7” from Bilbao, Spain’s Gurs. I’m not sure there’s a name for the style of punk Gurs plays, but it’s one I recognize: think of bands like the Estranged or Red Dons whose music is informed both by the Wipers’ melodic density and sophistication and the drama and energy of hardcore. It’s a style many bands attempt, but you have to get the mix just right. If you’re missing the grit or the fire, it can come off sounding like tepid pop-punk or just boring hardcore, but Gurs has no such problem. The performances on these four tracks are explosive, bristling with energy and built around dramatic peaks and valleys. Their guitar player is just brilliant, finding non-intuitive but catchy lines that are worthy of Greg Sage himself… check out “Tan Solo Unos Minutos” for a great example. There’s so much packed into these four tracks, but it all works, making for one of those rare records that’s gritty enough for the punks but memorable and likable enough to get the entire room singing along.

Dust Collector: S/T cassette (self-released) Dust Collector is a new band from Los Angeles, and if you’re well-versed in hardcore, the artwork already tipped you off they play full-bore noise-punk in the Disorder / Gai-influenced style of bands like Lebenden Toten and EEL. This was a trendy style a few years ago and there were a lot of bands attempting it in a pretty half-assed fashion. On the surface, the style is easy to replicate… play a fast pogo beat, run the guitar through multiple distortion pedals, and (the only semi-demanding part) make sure you have a halfway decent bass line to center the song around. Despite the strict template, there’s a lot of room for innovation in this style, as bands like Lebenden Toten and D-Clone have proven time and again. While Dust Collector doesn’t sound as self-consciously progressive as either of those bands, they’re not half-assing it, as their songs are complex and interesting. A couple of them even run for over two minutes, which is all but unheard of in this subgenre. Besides more complex songs with a lot of dynamics, Dust Collector also has a strong recording. Of course, the tones are fucked to hell, but everything sounds clear and powerful, and the mix leaves space for each instrument to do its thing. This is a cut above your average noise-punk tape, and I hope it’s not the last we hear from this promising band.

Raw Breed: Universal Paranoia 12” (Convulse Records) Universal Paranoia is the debut album from Denver’s Raw Breed, coming to us on their hometown label Convulse Records. I hadn’t heard Raw Breed’s earlier releases, but Universal Paranoia is an ambitious and powerful record with a distinctive sound. Raw Breed fuses elements of hardcore and underground death metal in a way that reminds me of Public Acid, but with Public Acid’s d-beat foundation exchanged for late 80s and 90s US hardcore. While the music is dirty and driving punk, tracks like “Damnation” and “Isolated Reality” have mosh parts that wouldn’t be out of place on an Only the Strong or Victory Style compilation. It’s an interesting vibe, taking those crowd-pleasing parts and making them sound dirtier and more dangerous. I like Raw Breed’s vocals too, which sound like the perfect mix of a hardcore bark and a death metal growl… like John Brannon trying to sing for Morbid Angel or something. Toward the end of the record, Raw Breed messes with the formula a bit, throwing in noisy and progressive passages on tracks like “Malignant Fantasy” and “Isolated Reality.” If they leaned into this part of their sound, I could imagine a future record that sounded like Uniform’s industrial-tinged hardcore, but in the meantime this is a cohesive and powerful record that doesn’t sound like anything else I’ve heard.

Soft Kill: Press Play b/w Concrete Fluid 7” (Convulse Records) When this single from Portland’s the Soft Kill came in the shop courtesy of Denver’s Convulse Records, I thought to myself, “I’ve heard that band’s name… I’ll give it a listen.” While Convulse is a hardcore label, Soft Kill’s sound is total early 80s style darkwave / post-punk with the anthemic sheen of 90s alternative rock. The driving rhythm section and the spooky, chiming guitars are straight out of the playbook of the Cure and Echo and the Bunnymen, but everything is more locked in and polished than the typical underground bands we write about at Sorry State. That’s true of the vocals, which are rich and dynamic, separating Soft Kill from the legions of similar bands out there with unremarkable vocalists. It’s easy to imagine the Soft Kill on a big indie label or playing on giant festival stages. However, they’re connected to the underground that is so important to those of us who write and read this newsletter. I think I first heard Soft Kill’s name when TKO released a cover they did of Blitz’s New Age b/w Fatigue single with Jerry A from Poison Idea on guest vocals (check it out… they make “New Age” sound like Modern English), and they’ve also released records on the underground metal labels Profound Lore and Closed Casket Activities and a slew of other records on small labels and on their own. Discovering all that, I feel a bit like I walked into a party, expecting to find a small and intimate gathering, but it’s a packed-out rager. It’s clear Soft Kill is an entire universe, so if you’re familiar with that universe, here’s another chapter. If, like me, this is your introduction, then welcome to the party.

Hellbastard: Ripper Crust 12” (Agipunk Records) When I first heard Hellbastard’s legendary 1986 demo tape, Ripper Crust, in my early 20s, I totally hated it. I had no sense of what crust was or what to expect, but I thought the band name and album title were so badass that it had to be the most ripping and crushing thing ever… I suppose I thought it would sound like G.I.S.M. or something like that… or at least something super gnarly like Extreme Noise Terror. That’s not what Ripper Crust is about, though. It’s brooding and primitive, equal parts Amebix and Hellhammer. The rhythms are dirge-like and uncomfortable, rarely even reaching early Discharge tempos. Even the fastest parts don’t sound raging thanks to the drummer’s paddle thrash beats. The songwriting and arrangements lean into this, repeating riffs and motifs way more times than I would expect and stretching the songs to sometimes punishing lengths. The production is also very lo-fi, with muffled sounds on all the instruments and an awkward, uneven mix. All those sound like criticisms on the surface, but despite these purported flaws, Ripper Crust’s overall vibe is so dark and grimy and distinctive that I can’t help but love it. It just sounds so nasty, like the end of a party with too much cheap beer and bad speed and you want to go home but your ride got too fucked up and now you’re stuck. Ripper Crust puts me into some negative headspace, but sometime that’s what you want, you know? Many people will hear Ripper Crust and wonder why anyone would voluntary listen to something like this, but if you get it, you get it.

Foreseen: Untamed Force 12” (Quality Control HQ) Untamed Force is Foreseen’s third album, but it’s my introduction to the band. We carried their first two LPs on the respected metal label 20 Buck Spin, but I never got around to listening to them… they seemed to exist just outside the scene I pay attention to. While I don’t follow contemporary thrash and crossover, I love plenty of classics, and those are likely the records that inspired Untamed Force. There are plenty of moments that sound like classic Bay Area thrash, but there’s also some very complex riffing that has a virtuosic quality similar to technical thrash bands like Forbidden or Artillery. There are also a lot of breakdowns, some that have a classic Exodus-type sound and others that have more of a Cro-Mags influence. One of the most interesting moments on the record is the song “Oppression Fetish,” which oscillates between a triumphant power metal groove and a spin kick-inducing mosh part, two styles I never would have thought could work together so well. As a whole, Untamed Force comes off as ambitious and composed, military in its execution, its power undeniable. Not the typical fare at Sorry State, but I think this is interesting and exciting enough that it should interest people outside the typical scene boundary lines.

Outpatients: Readmitted 12” (Painkiller Records) Painkiller Records brings us a retrospective release from this 80s / 90s hardcore / metal band from Western Massachusetts. You might have heard of the Outpatients if you’re a big US hardcore nerd, but since they never got out a stand-alone vinyl release during their hardcore era, they’re relegated to being known by the people nerdy enough to remember how ripping their contributions to the Bands That Could Be God compilation are. Readmitted brings together tracks from what sounds like several recording sessions (it’s not clear which tracks come from which sessions, which is frustrating), all of them no-frills affairs from a production standpoint, but showcasing the band’s wide range as songwriters and obvious power as players. In terms of style, the songs on Readmitted run the gamut from tracks like “Cover Girl,” which is pure 80s US hardcore, to more metallic, crossover-tinged songs like “Backwards Birthday” (these more metallic tracks remind me of our North Carolina heroes Subculture), to post-punk-tinged tracks like “Light Blue” that sound a bit like October File-era Die Kreuzen. Some of these songs are so different that they almost sound like different bands, and you could chop Readmitted into to three separate records with totally different styles, all of them very good for what they are. One of those records would sound like a lost X-Claim! release, another could fit in with low-budget cult 80s metal bands like Medieval or At War (shout out Virginia Beach), and a third might sound like a band trying to get signed to Homestead Records. Despite the stylistic breadth, Readmitted hangs together based on the incredible musicianship—all three guys could tear it up—and the no-frills nature of the recordings. The recordings have a candid quality, like they just threw up some mics and let this great fucking band rip, and while some of them might have benefitted from, say, a second guitar track, I love the way they place the focus on the band’s tightness as a unit. Besides the rad, period-appropriate artwork, Readmitted also comes with an insert full of photos and flyers and an essay by Mike Gitter of XXX fanzine. Ultimately Readmitted is for the 80s US hardcore deep heads, but those of us who fall into that category will enjoy this fresh look at an underrated band who never got their due.

Sniffany & the Nits: The Unscratchable Itch 12” (PRAH Recordings) Earlier this summer, a friend whose taste I respect told me how great the Sniffany & the Nits LP was, and that he couldn’t stop listening to it. I gave it enough of a listen online to confirm that I felt the same way, but I held off on bathing myself in The Unscratchable Itch until the vinyl arrived. Fuck, this record smokes! I liked Sniffany & the Nits’ earlier 7” on Thrilling Living Records (we even included the track “Horse Girl” on our Best of 2020 mix tape), but I like the The Unscratchable Itch even more. One of the first things I thought when I heard it was that it sounds a lot like the Das Drip record Sorry State released back in 2019. Like the Das Drip LP, The Unscratchable Itch is a hardcore record—loud, fast, and aggressive—but it’s bent in different directions. In most every song, the drummer plays the same fast punk beat for the length of the song, hammering repetitively until you feel like you’re spinning out, while the guitarist plays Joy Division melodies like they’re Darkthrone songs, the bassist holds it down, and the singer has what sounds like a tantrum or a mental breakdown. The lyrics are fantastic, many of them deploying rich, poetic images that evoke so much with just a few words. Many of the topics deal (sometimes obliquely) with sexual double standards and a feminine viewpoint of the world, and reading them—particularly since they’re so well done—makes me realize how rarely we hear women’s voices in hardcore punk. The record is furious and menacing, not a dud among its 10 tracks. If you like the aforementioned references and/or you dug the latest Amyl & the Sniffers record or Sorry State’s own No Love, give this a whirl… it’ll scratch an itch you might not even know you had.

Note: As I’m writing this on October 5, 2022, this LP is out of stock at Sorry State. We’re working on getting more, but in the meantime I encourage you to use the “email me when available” button on our website. This one is worth waiting for!

Abyecta: Enemigos De La Razón 7” (Symphony of Destruction Records) Enemigos De La Razón is the second EP from Barcelona’s Abyecta, arriving about two years after their first record, which Symphony of Destruction also released. In case you don’t remember that first EP, Infrafuturo, I’d describe Abyecta’s sound as fast hardcore punk with some light metallic and progressive flourishes. At their core, the songs are barreling hardcore punk in the broad tradition of Discharge (though not self-consciously d-beat), but the guitarist fills the songs with quick metal licks and rapid-fire palm muting. That approach reminds me of early Paintbox and later Death Side, but even more so, Abyecta sounds of a piece with Texas bands like Criaturas and Peace Decay, both of whom are also into that classic Burning Spirits Japanese hardcore sound, but dedicated to a more straightforward hardcore approach. These four tracks blaze by in a haze of riffs, rolls, and crashes, and every time I spin it I want to listen to it again because it feels like there’s still so much detail to appreciate in these dense and powerful songs.

Mirage: Immagini Postume cassette (Roach Leg Records) Roach Leg Records brings us the debut cassette from Mirage, who are from the label’s home turf in the New York City area. Roach Leg has been dropping a lot of tapes and it's tough to keep up with all of them, but Mirage isn’t the one you want to skip. Their sound is unique, with the (mostly) Italian language vocals tying them to the rich history of Italian hardcore while the music draws on post-punk atmosphere and psychedelic texture without sounding like anything other than hardcore punk. The chorus on the guitar and the dark chord progressions make comparisons to spooky-sounding punk bands like Part 1 and Rudimentary Peni obvious, but Mirage really reminds me of Wretched’s last 12”,  La Tua Morte Non Aspetta. Immagini Postume feels more interesting, exciting, and better-executed than most of the vinyl releases I hear these days, so if this is what Mirage is offering as their demo cassette, I’m very excited to see where they go from here. While we wait to find out, though, Immagini Postume will give us plenty to chew on.

Syndrome 81: Prisons Imaginaires 12” (Black Water Records) We first stocked Prisons Imaginaires, the new album from Brest, France’s Syndrome 81, earlier this summer while I was away on tour with Scarecrow. That initial batch sold out immediately, so I didn’t have an opportunity to listen to the record until this restock arrived earlier this week. Hearing it now, it’s easy to see why so many people snatched this up… Prisons Imaginaires is an infectious album. The basic framework of Syndrome 81’s is a collision between battering ram French oi! and angular yet melodic post-punk. That mix of styles isn’t unprecedented, but it’s not common to hear bands attempt it, and even less common to hear bands who really makes it work. Within that framework, Syndrome 81 finds a lot of room for stylistic variation, from the manic “Violence Sociale,” a near-hardcore song that sounds a bit like a faster version of something off of Leatherface’s first album Cherry Knowle, to more mournful songs like “Avenir.” My favorite tracks, though, are the super poppy up-tempo tracks like “Fuir Son Passe” and “Dans Les Rues Des Brest,” which approach the pop bliss of early Cure or New Order tracks with an added injection of punk energy. For the closing track, “Lumiere Magnetique,” Syndrome 81 switches out their acoustic drums for synth drums, going full darkwave and proving they could pass an audition to open for the Soft Moon or Boy Harsher. Through all the twists and turns, the songwriting remains immediate yet sophisticated, making for that rare record that knocks you out on the first listen, yet rewards you for coming back again and again.

Aunt Sally: 1979 12” (Mesh Key Records) Mesh Key Records brings us a beautifully done reissue of this stone-cold classic Japanese post-punk LP. I wrote about the lone LP by Aunt Sally as my staff pick earlier this year, so consult that if you want more detail. The capsule version, though, is that Aunt Sally’s vocalist was so entranced by the Sex Pistols that she flew from Japan to London in 1977 to see them live. She returned to her home country inspired but, like so many of the first-generation post-punk bands in the UK, she didn’t want to imitate what the Pistols had done but make something of her own. Interestingly, 1979 resembles what a lot of early UK post-punk bands were doing. As with groups like Joy Division, Gang of Four, the Slits, and the Fall, bass is at the center of Aunt Sally’s sound. However, besides the powerful rhythm section (which sounds huge thanks to this record’s warm and clear production), I hear traditional Japanese music’s delicacy in Aunt Sally’s sound, particularly the feather-light guitar lines and the odd but deliberate approach to the vocals. This is, simply, a stunning album, and I’m sure that anyone with a taste for the best post-punk and/or Japanese punk and underground music will flip for it. I couldn’t be more excited about having this in stock and to being able to introduce people to it.

Systema: Muerte 7” (Symphony of Destruction Records) It seems like nary a week goes by without me writing about a killer Colombian punk record for the newsletter, and fortunately this week is no different! We last heard from Bogota’s Systema in the summer of 2021, when Symphony of Destruction released their killer first 12”, Ultima Guerra. Muerte picks up right where that one left off, with an intense and snarling sound centered on breakneck rhythms and nimble riffing. As I noted when I wrote about Ultima Guerra, Systema’s style reminds me of classic Finnish hardcore, particularly Kaaos. Perhaps it’s the way Systema channels Discharge’s brutality in their overall approach, but still find plenty of space in their songs for memorable, well-crafted musical moments. The track “Muerte 2021” is a perfect example, and I’ve hummed its catchy main riff (which sounds a bit like Genetic Control to me) ever since I heard it. 5 songs packed with the trademark intensity that’s caused so many of us to fill our collections with records from Colombia over the past few years. Oh yeah, and sick artwork on this one, too.

Zanjeer: Parcham Buland Ast 7” (Symphony of Destruction Records) Symphony of Destruction brings us the debut record from Zanjeer, a band based in Bremen, Germany, but featuring members from Colombia, Pakistan, England, and Germany singing lyrics in Urdu, Punjabi and Farsi. There’s been a lot of (long overdue) interest in the punk scene in hearing from marginalized voices, and Zanjeer seeks to provide, as the label’s description notes, “a necessary window into the lives of people from the global south.” I’ll let you read the lyrics yourself so you can hear what the band has to say about that rather than this white person’s summary, so I’ll keep my focus on the music, which rips! Zanjeer’s sound is pure hardcore without sounding like it’s too grounded in any specific sound… as with the members’ backgrounds, there’s a melting pot approach. “Nakhair” is built around a crushing mid-paced part that wouldn’t be out of place on a Warthog record, but moments like the off-time punches in “Ijtimayi Bemaari” or the lunging beat in “Na Un Moghe, Na Hala” sound unique and distinctive to me. It’s tough to make a record in this day and age that sounds fresh without compromising on the intensity and rippingness, but Zanjeer has done it. And its eye-catching screen printed packaging ensures you’ll want to pull it out and play it every time you flip past it.

R.M.F.C.: Access 7” (Anti Fade Records) Australia’s R.M.F.C. has been kicking around for several years now, putting out tapes and singles on cool underground punk labels. They started out as a dyed-in-the-wool egg punk band, but they’ve matured into something… well, something more mature. Their last single, Reader (also on Anti Fade Records), caught my attention, but Access is even better, a stunning record with two great sides that differ totally from one another. “Access” is built around some hooky guitar work… the main two riffs are the kind of thing you want to hear over and over, and I would have sworn the song was barely a minute long (it’s two minutes and twelve seconds) because every time it ends, I think to myself that it’s way too short and I need to hear it again. The b-side, “Air Conditioning,” is a cover of an obscure tune from 1981 by a UK band called the Lillettes (I haven’t heard the original), and while “Access” is all about the guitar hooks, “Air Conditioning” proves that R.M.F.C. can build a song around the vocals just as successfully. A real standout single.

The Uglies: Planet Uglies 12” (UGL Media) We carried the first full-length from Australia’s the Uglies way back in 2017, and now they’re back with their follow-up, Planet Uglies. If you’ve forgotten what the Uglies sound like (I forgive you… it’s been a long time!), their music lies somewhere in the nether regions between early 80s snotty and sarcastic punk (think Adrenalin OD, Dayglo Abortions, maybe even early Screeching Weasel) and Australia’s long tradition of beefy, high-energy rock and roll. The latter comes out in the excellent guitar work, which is as hyperactive as you want it to be without losing the Malcom Young lurking way in the background… imagine Cosmic Psychos jacked up on speed and a battered copy of Jealous Again. The production is big and bright without being slick, bringing in high-minded accoutrements like background vocals, but using that resource mainly to sound bigger and meaner than they might have otherwise. The lyrics are irreverent as hell, with titles like “Make Me Dumb” and “Big Turd International” giving you a good idea of where the Uglies are coming from. While the Uglies sound a little more pro than a band like Personal Damage, they’d happily blow their nose into the same snot-soaked rag.

Forget: Once the Nightmare Started cassette (Disarmy Records) Forget is one of those international collaborative projects, this one spanning Germany and Sweden, and it comes to us from Disarmy Records, a new label from Krow of the Minneapolis band Hellish View. If any of those names I just threw out ring any bells, it won’t surprise you to find out that Forget sounds a lot like Disclose. Like a lot. Their buzzsaw assault is based on the template Disclose set up on their 90s records (the pre-Disbones stuff), but (as usual with these kinds of records) there are interesting wrinkles for those of us who listen more closely. In particular, I like Forget’s rhythm section, who give these tracks a battering ram-style heft and intensity. It’s not groove metal or anything, but it’s the kind of thing you notice when you ask yourself, “what separates Forget from the legions of other Disclose worshippers?” If you like appreciating the subtleties of unsubtle music, then you’ll like Once the Nightmare Started too, but if you just want something loud and crazy blaring in your ears while you slam beers and hate the world, it works pretty well for that purpose too.

Oog Bogo: The Beat Sessions cassette (Shout Recordings) The famed Beat Sessions series returns from a too-long absence with this set from LA punk band Oog Bogo. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Beat Sessions, they’re sort of like a punk rock version of the Peel Sessions. Engineer / producer / mastermind Mike Kriebel brings his favorite bands into his studio for a quick-and-dirty one-day recording session, and like the original Peel Sessions, the Beat Sessions are a magical combination of off-the-cuff performances and high fidelity acoustics, since Mike’s recordings are often much stronger than what these bands get on their own. Past Beat Sessions participants include underground heavyweights like Impalers, S.H.I.T., Uranium Club, and Institute. Oog Bogo might be less familiar than those bands to Sorry State’s readers. I hadn’t heard of them before this release, as they seem to exist in a world of lo-fi west coast garage-punk that is just outside of my radar screen’s range. It’s my loss, though, because I’ve enjoyed checking out their earlier recordings. While Oog Bogo’s earlier records vary in fidelity (their early EPs are lo-fi, their full-length less so), they’re all marked by a meticulous attention to texture, with most tracks weaving a range of different guitar and synth sounds into a rich sonic tapestry. The Beat Sessions, however, captures a different side of Oog Bogo, recording the group’s live lineup after tightening up these new arrangements on tour. Most songs revolve around two beefy-sounding guitars (one of which occasionally gets swapped out for a synth) and the rhythm section does what you need to do to catch the attention of the would-be fans who are drinking at the bar and smoking outside… i.e. they play hard and fast. Oog Bogo sounds like a punk band here, in the mold of high-energy groups like the Carbonas, the Dickies, Jay Reatard, the Marked Men… groups that wield pop songcraft like a sledgehammer. Mike Kriebel’s clear and powerful recording here only adds to the weightiness. I’m sure Oog Bogo’s existing fans will love these punked-up takes, and those of us who hadn’t heard their music yet get a punk-friendly entry point that’ll get us reaching for the rest of their discography.

Totalitär: Vi Ar Eliten 12” (Prank Records) My favorite Totalitär record tends to be the one I’m listening to at the moment, but the band’s final album, 2007’s Vi Ar Eliten, holds a special place in my heart. It’s the first — really, the only—Totalitär record I got to digest as it came out. While Totalitär was well known in 2007, Vi Ar Eliten still felt like a bit of a secret. Most bands who I thought of as Totalitär’s at the time (bands like Wolfbrigade, Victims, and Skitsystem) were playing more polished and/or metallic music, but beneath the head-scratching cover art was perhaps Totalitär’s best music. First of all, the production on Vi Ar Eliten is incredible… the drums are pummeling, the tones on everything else are biting yet full and present, and the mix is just perfect, raw and ripping yet crystal clear. It’s what a hardcore record should sound like to me. Wrapped in that production are a heap of tracks that find Totalitär doing their usual thing with the usual great results: a mix of full-throttle rippers, super catchy mid-paced songs, in-between songs like “En Av Dom Som Dom Skämtar Om” that are the best of both worlds, and a couple of unexpected moments like the rocked-out intro to “Overtid, Overflöd Mot För Tidig Död.” One thing that seems unique to me about Vi Ar Eliten, though, is how much lead guitar we hear. At least half the tracks find the guitarist Lanchy taking center stage, sometimes during the traditional solo section (oh man, the Buzzcocks-inspired two-note solo on “Nej Vi Ska Inte Ha Nåt…” FUCK!), and sometimes at unexpected moments, like the weird little lead break in the title track that starts the record, a moment that always make the hair on my neck stand up. There’s just so much to love with Vi Ar Eliten, and even after listening to it for 15 years it’s nowhere near getting stale. I’m pleased Prank has brought it back into print, and as usual they’ve done an incredible job, with meticulous detail to the record’s visual and sonic presentation and some subtle upgrades that still feel true to the original. This is one of those records that I just don’t want to imagine life without.

Lumpen: Corrupción 12” (Discos Enfermos) Lumpaen released their first 7” a couple of years ago (and we still have copies in stock!), and now Spain’s Discos Enfermos is back with a 12” from these Colombian punks based in Barcelona. As with the Primer Regimen EP we wrote about last week, Corrupción is marked by that unique intensity that seems to be a hallmark of contemporary Colombian punk… the vocals are just shredded, the singer forcing each breath out of their lungs like it’s a projectile meant to kill their mortal enemy. The label’s description tags Lumpen as UK82 in style (and the band’s photo on Discogs shows them wearing t-shirts of bands like Abrasive Wheels and One Way System), but I hear a lot more than that on Corrupción. The title track has a denser, more sophisticated hardcore punk sound that reminds me of Nog Watt in the way it balances ferocity with subtle hooks, while “Cicatrices” leans into the mid-paced, fist-pumping pogo that today’s punks love. In a move that also recalls Primer Regimen, “Anti-Patria” simmers in tension with a stalking anarcho feel, which erupts into “Represión,” the fastest and gnarliest song on the record. Lumpen finishes up with an Ultra Violent cover adapted to their own language, and I’m ready for another spin of this short but gripping 12”.

Freak Genes: Hologram 12” (Feel It Records) Five albums in and when I drop the needle on a new Freak Genes record I still don’t know what to expect, beyond a bunch of synthesizers and ambitious, wide-ranging songwriting. Hologram feels even more eclectic than their previous records, touching base on styles Freak Genes has dabbled in before (like the Jay Reatard-esque “Strange Charm” and “Spiderweb,” or the creepy, Screamers-ish “DNA”), but continuing to push at the edges of their sound. “New Crime” is an upbeat dance track with super catchy synth arpeggios, “Swimmers” is a moody and spacey meditation a la 154-era Wire, and tracks like “Hologram” and “Among the Drain” take surprising left turns, both of them wandering off into art rock land in their latter sections. While a more consistent approach might make it easier for listeners to latch on to Freak Genes, those of you who like following the picaresque musical adventures of folks like Jake Roberts of Alien Nose Job, John Dwyer of the Oh Sees, and Ty Segall will enjoy keeping tabs on Freak Genes’ continuing musical adventures.

Blessure: Ekaitza / Sabaté 7” (Discos Enfermos) This two-song single is the debut stand-alone release (they had a previous split 7” and appeared on some compilations) from this punk / oi! band from Basque Country, and it is a scorcher. It’s a bold move putting out a two-song punk single, but what Blessure loses in quantity they deliver in quality. The a-side, “Ekaitza,” is a great fucking song. Sung in the Basque language, its gritty sound and rudimentary instrumentation sound like something from the Chaos En France compilation, but the song’s structure is pure pop, with a simple but effective guitar hook leading the way to an anthemic chorus. The vocalist is spectacular too, not just carrying a tune but doing it with a unique timbre that makes Blessure sound unlike anyone else. The b-side, “Sabaté,” is a straightforward basher in the Blitz mold with terrace chant backing vocals that make it sound more prototypically oi! Like a great punk single should, this one keeps me flipping the record while I dream about how Blessure might expand on these ideas for an EP or (fingers crossed) a full-length.

The Prize: Wrong Side of Town 7” (Anti Fade Records) This debut 4-song EP from Melbourne, Australia’s The Prize is worth ringing the “power-pop banger” alarm bell for. While Sorry State is known for our focus on hardcore, I’d like to think we know a killer power-pop band, song, or record when we come across one. Hopefully our track record speaks for itself, as we’ve released records by the Number Ones and the Love Triangle on our label and sung the praises of groups like Romero and Midnite Snaxxx in the newsletter. Anyway, the Prize is a group I can get behind. The key thing you need in a power-pop band is hooks (that’s the pop part), and the Prize has ‘em in spades. All four tracks on Wrong Side of Town (three originals and an Incredible Kidda Band cover) are totally hum-able, the title track in particular an earworm that you won’t be able to dislodge even if you want to. The Prize also has the power part down, with energetic performances (particularly on the Ramones-y “Don’t Know You”) and big lead guitar hooks that are just as infectious as the vocal melodies. With all five band members sharing vocal duties, the Prize’s dynamic arrangements keep your ears alert, but everything hangs on those fantastic hooks. A killer EP.

Gefyr: S/T 12” (Flyktsoda Records) Usman and Jeff both chose this Gefyr record as their staff pick last week, and given their expertise, there isn’t much I can add to the conversation. As Jeff and Usman, Gefyr hails from the same Swedish town as Totalitär and has snatched more than a couple of tricks from that band’s well-thumbed playbook. There are a lot of bands out there who walk in Totalitär’s footsteps, but (again, as Usman said), Gefyr’s capability with a range of different d-beat grooves really sets them off from the pack. They can go to ripping fast Shitlickers-inspired shit to a groovier, driving d-beat to an almost rocked-out part, which keeps my ears perked up for the duration of this LP. Throughout the turbulence, the riffing stays dense and inventive and the vocals venomous. If you consider yourself a Swedish hardcore head, you’ll want to check out this record.

Arma X: Violento Ritual 12” (Quality Control HQ) Violento Ritual is the debut vinyl release from this Spanish straight edge hardcore band. I’ll admit, the word “beatdown” in the label’s description was a red flag for me… I don’t think beating people down is cool, and I’m not generally interested in music that serves as the soundtrack for beating anyone down. However, if I put that out of my mind and just listen to Violent Ritual, I have to admit I like it. While my personal tastes have always leaned away from the heavier end of hardcore, I admit a fondness for Victory Records-era Integrity… I played those records a lot in the 90s, particularly Humanity Is the Devil, and it’s clear that Arma X takes a lot of influence from them, accentuating and amplifying many of the things I find distinctive and likable about those records. While Arma X’s mid-paced, Cro-Mags-influenced riffs are solid, I think the band’s real strengths are the vocals (which sound gruff and punk… they wouldn’t be out of place in a raw punk band) and the lead guitars. Arma X’s lead guitarist avoids the music school scales you hear on so many metal-influenced records in favor of unhinged whammy bar antics that dart across the songs’ rhythmic and melodic foundations with an avant-garde flair. It’s a great counterbalance to the rest of the band’s locked-in grooves, and the tension this dynamic generates is enough to interest even a wimp like me.

Gehenna: Negative Hardcore 12” (Iron Lung Records) Negative Hardcore is the latest album from long-running (they started in 1993!) metallic hardcore band Gehenna. Gehenna has long been associated with the “Holy Terror” scene, i.e. bands who look to Integrity for their influences, both musical (smashing together Slayer and the Cro-Mags) and philosophical (a kind of apocalyptic misanthropy). While lots of bands who claim the Holy Terror tag are influenced by Integrity, Gehenna are more Integrity’s contemporaries, and while there are moments on Negative Hardcore that will remind you of Integrity (the title track could be from Humanity Is the Devil), it seems like Gehenna is doing their own thing rather than just copying someone else’s. And Gehenna’s thing is dark, menacing in a way that similar records (like, for instance, the Arma X record I wrote about above) aren’t. Gehenna is also somewhat unique among this Holy Terror cadre in that they incorporate black metal influences into their sound, which comes across as natural, the blastbeats and tremolo picking only adding to that air of darkness and negativity that Gehenna cultivates. Like everything Iron Lung Records puts out, it’s smart, adventurous, and well worth a listen if those are the things you value in extreme music.

Primer Regimen: 1983 7” (Discos Enfermos) Colombia’s Primer Regimen brings us a new 5-song EP, and while their earlier releases were excellent, 1983 both dials in and expands their sound, arriving at something that’s just as intense but more unique. If you come to 1983 looking for that trademark passion and intensity you hear in so much contemporary Colombian punk, you’ll be pleased to know that this record is drenched in it… it’s raw, primal, and authentic in a way that so many bands have trouble capturing on tape. However, Primer Regimen augments that intensity with a refined stylistic approach here. Primer Regimen has two basic modes on 1983: a churning, tom-heavy anarcho mode that reminds me of Killing Joke or early Amebix (i.e. when Amebix was at their most Killing Joke-ish) and a sprightlier UK82 mode. These two approaches work together to build and release tension throughout the record. It’s particularly effective on the last two tracks, where the slow burn of “Plegaria” erupts into the energetic “Parásitos,” which itself climaxes with an unexpectedly melodic guitar riff in the chorus. A really excellent record.

Hysteric Polemix: Songs for the Solstice cassette (Roach Leg Records) After a demo tape last year (also on Roach Leg Records), New York’s Hysteric Polemix is back with four new tracks. I’d peg Hysteric Polemix’s sound on the more melodic end of anarcho punk a la Zounds, Honey Bane, and the more melodic second album by Dirt. The music is straightforward and catchy with bright-sounding melodies led by a bubbly bass, while the vocals do that rapid-fire, million words per verse thing I love in anarcho punk. Portland’s Rubble is another good reference point for Hysteric Polemix’s sound, particularly the way they lean into the pop elements on a track like “Fortaleza De São Miguel,” which has an almost 77 punk feel. The lyrics are also a cut above, avoiding less obvious anarcho punk topics in favor of subtler philosophical introspection.

War Effort: self-titled cassette (self-released) Demo cassette from this Chicago band featuring a bunch of familiar names from that city’s fertile DIY hardcore scene. According to the band, War Effort started as an experiment in writing and recording a hardcore EP in one day. I’m not sure if this cassette is that session, a refined version of it, or something else, but regardless it’s excellent. As you might expect, it has a loose and off-the-cuff feel, the riffing straightforward but not boring and the playing intricate and locked in for something that was conceived so quickly. Plenty of great music comes from refining ideas, but sometimes you get the best results by just finding the right headspace and letting rip, which is what sounds like happened here. Fans of Discharge’s Swedish heirs will love everything about this, as will those of you who have worn out your Bloodkrow Butcher recordings. Ripping shit.

Final Conflict: 1985 demo cassette (No Idols Records) Final Conflict’s 1985 demo cassette is back in print on its original format (albeit with expanded packaging) on No Idols Records. Longtime fans of Final Conflict (of which I am one) will already be familiar with this material, as it’s been reissued many times already, both as bonus tracks appended to FC’s seminal first album Ashes to Ashes, and as a stand-alone release by 540 Records in 2013. While that might seem like overkill for a demo, particularly since most of the songs were rerecorded for Ashes to Ashes, this tape is a seminal document. Without the crunchier, cleaner, and more metallic production of Ashes to Ashes, classic tracks like “Apocalypse Now,” “One Answer,” and “What Kind of Future” burn with a different energy, placing more emphasis on Ron Martinez’s catchy vocals and giving the entire affair more of a peace punk feel. Even as someone who loves Ashes to Ashes, I feel strongly that both the demo and the album are essential. Besides strong sound (there are some crummy rips of this tape out there), it’s cool to see the tape in its iconic original packaging. No Idols has also placed the tape and j-card in a hand-stamped manilla envelope that also contains reproductions of flyers and the original lyric sheet. If you’ve already bought these songs one time (or even more) that might not be enough to sell you, but there’s no denying this is a cool package that feels like a love letter to this seminal recording.

Infandus: Beneath the Rising Moon cassette (self-released) Beneath the Rising Moon is the second tape from this New York City death metal band, following their excellent Lithium-6 tape from last year. Featuring members from After and Extended Hell, Infandus’s straightforward death metal will appeal to punks although there isn’t much of a recognizable punk influence in their music. I imagine Bolt Thrower must be a big influence on Infandus, as they have a similar songwriting style that’s not too stripped down but far from technical, building dynamic and complex songs around a deep bag of tricks from infernal riffing to crushing heaviness to hint-of-melody guitar leads and back. The drummer knows exactly when to drop in those crushing double bass rolls, which always make the hair on the back of my neck stand up. As usual, Sasha Stroud’s heavy and clear production job captures the band’s power, steering well clear of the over-processed sounds I hear on too many metal records. Consequently, Beneath the Rising Moon sounds like a killer death metal band ripping it up right in front of you… what more could you want?

Sub Space: I Walk the Devil 12” (Vanilla Box Records) I Walk the Devil caught my eye with its sick artwork: a spooky illustration of the devil and a skeleton doing some kinky shit against a shocking turquoise background that reminds me of an 80s hardcore punk record like the Zero Boys’ Vicious Circle. Stylistically, the six hardcore punk tracks here line up with what I expected based on the illustration: a barrage of pounding pogo beats, sneering vocals that ping-pong between Spanish and English, and riffs that sound dark and creepy but still catchy. This would be more than enough to stand alongside modern pogo-mosh bands like Bib or Gag, but the guitarist throws in interesting wrinkles by sneaking in hard rock riffing a la Fu Manchu on tracks like “I Walk the Devil” and “Wait and See.” It’s not full-on party rock or anything, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see Sub Space’s guitarist sporting a battered Annihilation Time tee on stage. While these six tracks are brief, it’s more than enough time for Sub Space to get the pit going.

Paranoid: Tatari 7” (Paranoid Northern Discs) Tatari originally appeared as a companion piece to Paranoid’s 2021 digital-only album Cursed, pressed as a gift for people who bought the digital version of the album through Bandcamp. That version sold out quickly, and I’m glad Paranoid has seen fit to make a small repress that’s more widely available. While neither of Tatari’s two tracks appear on Cursed, stylistically these songs are of a piece with that album. Less frenetic than Paranoid’s noisy earlier work, these tracks ride heavy, locked-in d-beat grooves a la later-period Anti-Cimex, with hoarse yet snotty vocals that make me think of Venom (but without the goofy / cartoonish element). Paranoid are pros, so it’s unsurprising that the songs are dynamic, “Senka” cresting with a melodic lead guitar riff that evokes the wind whipping through an isolated fjord. Paranoid has always released some of their best songs on EPs, none of which stick around too long, so grab a copy of Tatari while you still can.

Terminal Addiction: EPs 2020-2021 12” (Not for the Weak Records) Not for the Weak brings us this LP collecting two cassette EPs from Terminal Addiction, who come from the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod, about 400km east of Moscow. While I think it’s interesting that Terminal Addiction is from Russia, they’re not interesting just because of where they’re from… they are a perfect fit for Not for the Weak’s growing roster, sitting comfortably next to explosive hardcore bands like Reckoning Force and Axe Rash. Like those bands, Terminal Addiction comes from the Herätys school of hardcore, playing catchy, Totalitär-influenced riffs with the speed, precision, and power of early Poison Idea. The production is forceful (particularly on their 2021 EP, which appears as the first tour tracks on this release), with the perfect combination of crack to the high end (the snare propels you through these songs) and heaviness in the lower frequencies. And it turns out that Russian, like Finnish, is a great language for angry hardcore, its elongated vowels the perfect vehicle for a rabid snarl. This one ticks all the boxes, and if you have an ear for this vein of USHC-influenced mangel, it’s not one to miss.

Slicks: Total Filth Collection 12” (General Speech Records) General Speech Records brings us this collection from 90s Japanese punk band Slicks, the a-side culled from their 1992 debut Filth Mind Clever and the b-side from their follow-up, 1994’s Lad CM, neither of which ever appeared on vinyl. Slicks are from Hakata, on the island of Kyushu in Japan, and you might be familiar with that region’s rich tradition of punk with bands like the Swankys, Gai, and Confuse. Originally released on the Swankys’ label Kings World Records, Slicks have a similar Sex Pistols-influenced aesthetic to the Swankys, but their music reminds me more of high-energy 90s Japanese garage bands like Teengenerate and the Registrators, both of whom were Slicks’ contemporaries. When these records came out, I’m sure people thought of them as being steeped in 70s punk, but to 2022 ears it sounds very 90s, particularly the crisp and full-sounding production. It’s far from slick, but it’s professional in a way we don’t hear often in our modern era of home recordings and cheap DIY studios. While the fact that nothing on Total Filth Collection qualifies as hardcore might disappoint the Confuse(d) Gai(s) out there (note: that joke is copyright 2010 Nick Goode), lovers of 90s budget rock will eat this up… the songs are catchy, dynamic, and full of all the grit and energy you would want.