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Mercenary: Demos Collection 12” (Beach Impediment Records) Beach Impediment Records brings us the collected works of Mercenary, an Atlanta hardcore band that existed briefly—according to the liner notes, not much more than a year—around 2013 and 2014. I knew Mercenary’s members from their previous bands (including Bukkake Boys, who released a couple of records on Sorry State) and the hardcore scene in the Southern US is small and pretty tight-knit, but even for someone like me who was paying attention, Mercenary felt like a blip on the radar, bubbling up and fizzling far too quickly. This collection adjusts my perspective, making me realize what a fully formed and powerful band Mercenary was. Listening to this collection in the year 2022, I’m struck by how ahead of their time Mercenary sounded. This sound—frantic and complex, Totalitär-style riffing with some extra Shitlickers / Cimex heft—is all over the place in today’s punk scene, and if you’re into bands like Public Acid, Scarecrow, and Extended Hell (guitarist Jesse’s band after Mercenary), you’re gonna love this. The LP collects Mercenary’s 2013 demo, their track from Beach Impediment’s Hardcore Gimme Some More compilation, and five songs from an aborted LP session. The 2013 demo sounds even better to me now than it did at the time. Vicious hardcore with some progressive, squealy noise bits that are a bit like what Public Acid has included on their recordings. However, the aborted LP tracks (which were released on cassette under the title Atlanta’s Burning) are the real treat here. These tracks strip away the noise elements and the riffs get more focused, more complex, and even meaner. It’s fucking killer. Mercenary’s vocalist Ruby (whom you almost certainly know if you were involved in the east coast DIY hardcore scene in the late 00s and 2010s) passed away in 2021, making this LP special for those of us who were lucky enough to know him. (The inserts feature a bunch of photos that make me laugh and cry at the same time.) Regardless of your personal connection with the band, this reissue makes a convincing case for Mercenary as one of the most underrated hardcore bands of the 2010s.

Agoni: En Röst För Fred 12” (De:Nihil Records) Sweden’s De:Nihil Records brings us the collected recordings of this early Stockholm d-beat / hardcore band. While Agoni later changed the spelling of their name to Agony and released a thrash metal record on the UK’s Under One Flag Records, they’re perhaps best known to punks for touring the UK with Anti-Cimex in 1986. I knew their name from flyers for that tour, but they released two demos in their earlier d-beat style and appeared on a couple of very hard to find cassette compilations. Actually, the second of these demos is so obscure they believed it lost, but a friend of the band turned up a copy and it appears here, where most people will hear it for the first time. If you’ve heard that first demo, you’ll be pleased to hear the second demo is just as ripping. In fact, the two sessions are so similar that it’s easy to miss when it switches from the first tape to the second on this LP. This is raw, Discharge-inspired hardcore in the vein of Agoni’s contemporaries like Mob 47, Anti-Cimex, and Shitlickers… the good shit. If you’re a Swedish d-beat fanatic, you’re going to want to hear this… I’ve had side A playing on repeat since this arrived earlier this week. The b-side features their third demo, where they transition toward their thrash metal style (I like these tracks, but they’re not the main draw here) and a live set from the d-beat era with a rough but listenable recording that captures the band sounding ferocious. The sound on the LP is great, and the gatefold features liner notes in Swedish. If you take the time to translate them (here is a link to an official translation the label provided us!), you’ll glean some interesting tidbits, like how they were frustrated with their drummer for not playing the d-beat exactly like Discharge, how they recruited their guitarist when they spotted him at a pub with Discharge painted on his leather jacket, and how the bass player (who writes the liner notes) turned up to the second demo session to find the guitarist had already recorded the bass tracks (he quit the band in protest). If you live for unearthed obscurities like this, you won’t want to miss En Röst För Fred.

The Drin: Engines Sing for the Pale Moon 12” (Drunken Sailor) I’d noticed a few people I trust hyping up this record by the Drin on Drunken Sailor, and I’m glad I took the time to check this out, because it’s a fantastic record. Originally released in a small cassette edition, Drunken Sailor plucked this gem from potential obscurity and gave it the wider release it deserved. Describing the Drin’s sound is difficult, because they don’t sound quite like anything I’ve heard before. I’ve seen a few people (including Will Fitzpatrick in the label’s official blub) mention Joy Division, but I feel like that does the Drin a disservice because they sound so completely different from the legions of Joy Division wannabees that have populated the punk scene for the past forty-odd years. Thankfully, you won’t hear any faux-Ian Curtis baritone vocals here, but you will hear a couple of tracks that have chord progressions that are familiar from Joy Division songs as well as some of the subtler elements of Joy Division’s sound, such as the heavily processed drum sounds and the steady motorik rhythms that powered so many of their greatest songs. But there are other ingredients in the stew too. I hear plenty of UKDIY pop in the Drin’s scrappy but accessible sound, and there’s a palpable (and non-cheesy) reggae influence that you hear in some of the heavy bass lines (see the standout track “Down Her Cheek a Pearly Tear”) and the frequent use of the melodica. It all adds up to a record that’s dense with distinctive atmosphere. Engines Sing for the Pale Moon really transports you to another place, and it’s a place I’ve been addicted to visiting ever since the first time I put this record on.

Scott Plant: Alone / With Us 12” (Ordinary Weirdos Records) Alone / With Us is the second solo EP from Scott Plant, following a lathe cut 10” from a few years ago. Through projects like Civic Progress, Broken Prayer, Droids Blood, and Canal Irreal, Scott has made some of my favorite music of the modern punk era, and his turn toward pure electronic music has not dampened my enthusiasm one bit. Indeed, it seems like Scott’s music evolves one step ahead of me, with him experimenting with new styles just as they’re coming onto my radar. Indeed, I’ve been listening to more and more electronic music lately, and Alone / With Us fits in with artists I’ve enjoyed (like Mandy, Indiana and Rakta, for instance) while carrying forward the things I love most about Scott’s previous music, namely his brilliant lyrics. The title of this EP is the name of the first two songs, and they seem like a matched pair here, the first song presenting a portrait of a loner who “hustles” in the “dog eat dog world,” while the second track shifts the perspective to a group (religious? professional? something even more sinister?) that targets those loners by offering them the sense of belonging they insist they don’t want but secretly crave. The music, like all of Scott’s music, is just brilliant. There are no guitars here, just driving electronic drums and a symphony of synths playing off one another with the deftness of a well-seasoned band. I’m not articulate enough to explain what is so distinctive about Scott’s music, but it’s instantly identifiable here and I’m as in love with it as ever. If you’re a card-carrying member of the Scott Plant fan club like I am, you need this, but I can’t imagine any hardcore punk kid with a curiosity about electronic music won’t love this.

Barren Soil: self-titled cassette (self-released) Barren Soil is from Vancouver, but those of you with an eye for graphic design will notice the Celtic knots and other medieval imagery and realize that Barren Soil draws musical inspiration from the 80s UK crust and stenchcore scenes. Crust and stench are two styles I didn’t have a taste for in my younger days, but I’ve come to love them in recent years, and Barren Soil carves out an interesting niche within that universe. They bring together elements of faster crust a la Doom or Extreme Noise Terror with heavy, mid-paced parts in the vein of Amebix or Axegrinder, sometimes alternating between those styles and tempos within the same song. The production is heavy and huge-sounding, with guttural vocals that are on the nose for the style yet highly effective. While tracks like “Illusions of Progress” flirt with a straightforward crust sound, others like “Throne and Altar” lean more toward thrash metal with complex riffing and more interesting rhythmic dynamics. There’s even an ultra-short Heresy-style thrasher, “Earn the Dirt.” And then there are the crushing, mid-paced stench parts, which are peppered throughout the tape but come to a head with the epic closing track, “Commodified Neurons.” With powerful production, great songwriting, and a fresh-sounding style, Barren Soil captures something special on this tape.

Rudimentary Peni: Death Church 12” (Sealed Records) Sealed Records has gotten Rudimentary Peni’s first album, Death Church, back into print and the world is rejoicing. Writing a description of Death Church feels a bit like trying to write something about Damaged or Walk Among Us or Never Mind the Bollocks… it’s all but universally heralded as a great album, so what can I add to the conversation? Probably nothing, so I’m not going to try. The album is available on the Sealed Records Bandcamp site and all streaming services, so if you haven’t heard it, it’s easy to rectify that problem. The record will blow your mind. However, those of you who are novices in the world of Rudimentary Peni might wonder why the album’s re-release has gotten so much fanfare. The short version of the story is that Rudimentary Peni is a band that people care about deeply. But why? One thing that separates Rudimentary Peni from most of their underground punk peers is their talent for building an immersive world around their music. There are some bands—Black Flag, Misfits, the Stooges, the Ramones—whose music, lyrics, visual aesthetic, and everything else surrounding the art clicks together so perfectly that it almost seems like a world you can step into. Indeed, many people try, listening to these bands’ music obsessively, trying to dress, talk, and write songs like them. Rudimentary Peni, though far less well known, has a similar thing going on. Rudimentary Peni’s world seems like it was ahead of its time, even better suited to 2022 than 1983, when Death Church came out. Singer Nick Blinko’s engagement with mental health / mental illness in particular seems prescient, since not only has the discourse around mental health become so much bigger in the decades since then, but nowadays it seems like everyone is on some mood-altering drug or another (I’m a Lexapro person, myself). The changing informational and economic landscape has also helped to balloon interest in Rudimentary Peni. As far as I know, Rudimentary Peni had no domestic releases in the US in the 80s and, hence, no promotion. Even in their native England, the band only played live a few times and remained a mysterious presence. The grand digitization of the 21st century has done little to remedy the sense of mystery that surrounds them. (I remember Usman excitedly showing me a radio interview with the band that surfaced on YouTube a few years ago.) Since Rudimentary Peni was pretty hard to find out about and really good, the people who found them in the pre-internet era developed a profound reverence for them. I remember when someone put “Teenage Time Killer” on a mix tape for me when I was a teenager… it sounded so weird, but so interesting, that haunting lead guitar line drawing me in like a siren’s song. On the rare occasions when I would come across one of their records in the years after that, I would always buy without question, exploring the group’s discography haphazardly as I came across the records. I’m certain I heard The Underclass and Archaic well before I ever scored a copy of Death Church. Speaking of which, the internet era has made Rudimentary Peni’s records extremely collectible. Much like G.I.S.M., Rudimentary Peni was a band that was pretty hard to hear before the internet. Once people could hear the music, it made them want the vinyl, but the records had been out of print for years, occasionally appearing as bootlegs but largely unavailable. The value of Rudimentary Peni’s vinyl went through the roof, and over the past few years I’ve seen copies of Death Church sell for hundreds of dollars. It’s unsurprising that someone stepped into that gap in the market, but I’m very glad that it was Sealed Records who did so. Their reissue of Death Church satisfies both the intense fan and the astute record collector, the vinyl having been cut from the original master tapes (it sounds great) and the packaging a meticulous reproduction of the original record’s incredible fold-out poster sleeve. Because what would a Rudimentary Peni record be without a pile of incredible Nick Blinko artwork to feast your eyes on? So, whether you’re a collector who needs something to keep a spot on your shelf warm while you hunt for an original, or you’re just a punk fanatic who wants to experience this landmark record in all its glory, now is the time.

Alienator: demo cassette (self-released) Alienator is a new hardcore band from Portland springing from the same well as Suck Lords and Reek Minds. This won’t surprise you if you’re familiar with those bands, but this tape is a total scorcher. Stylistically, Alienator lives at the intersection of fast, Discharge-inspired hardcore and thrash metal, with former’s density and ferocity and the latter’s technicality. They sound kind of like Within the Prophecy-era Sacrilege or Forward Into Battle-era English Dogs, but at Shitlickers speed and with a level of meanness that’ll remind you of Siege or YDI. It’s brutal shit, to where it’s easy to get lost in the intensity and miss how fast and technical the playing is. I’m generally wary of breakdowns, but Alienator are masters of the art, and that holds true whether they’re doing a pretty traditional-sounding thrash metal mosh part (as in “You Wish”) or one of their sludgier breakdowns, like in the crushing opening track, “Born to Die,” whose mosh part has a Sabbathian swing that brings to mind Corrosion of Conformity’s classic Eye for an Eye. Those C.O.C. vibes might cause some people to put Alienator in the same bucket as Tower 7 (admittedly, a pretty good bucket to be in), but Alienator’s speed and viciousness place them in a league of their own.

Necro Heads: Mindless 7” (Kill Enemy Records) We carried a demo tape from this Pittsburgh hardcore band a while back, now they’re back with a total rager of a debut EP. Necro Heads’ sound is burly, straightforward hardcore that I’d put in the same bucket as SOA, Negative FX, Negative Approach, early Agnostic Front… basically the heavier, meaner end of the early 80s USHC sound. While the longer (i.e. one-minute) tracks allow room for the slightest hint of tunefulness, my favorite tracks are the two 30-second smashers that open the record. Necro Heads build both songs around dead simple riffs that prove three chords and a bad attitude are all you need to make great hardcore. You won’t find anything fancy or unexpected here, just eight tracks of compact, punishing US-style hardcore with perfect production and all the energy and anger you need.

Personal Damage: Ambush cassette (1753 Recordings) This new LA-area band is back with their second tape, the first of which was turned into a flexi last year. Personal Damage knocked me out the first time I heard them, and I think this new tape might be even better than the first one. Personal Damage’s style is in that “snotty punk at hardcore speeds” mode I associate with current bands like Chain Whip and White Stains, but a bit less hardcore and more punk rock than those bands. The band that always comes to mind when I listen to Personal Damage is the Circle Jerks. Like the Jerks, Personal Damage’s songs are compact (ranging from thirty seconds to about a minute and a half), but pack that small space with a lot of melody and tight arrangements that make the songs sound explosive. Again, like the Jerks, Personal Damage isn’t afraid to get a little poppy when the moment requires, as they do on the (very unexpected) cover of Peter Tosh’s “Stepping Razor” that closes out Ambush. If you like it short, fast, and catchier than omicron—Angry Samoans and early Gang Green are two more solid reference points—get on this train quick.

Dissekerad: Inre Strid 12” (Desolate Records) God damn, the new Dissekerad is a scorcher! This Swedish hardcore band, which features Poffen from Totalitär on vocals, released their first record back in 2013 and has continued pounding out 7”s and 12”s ever since, with new records appearing at a frequency that belies their brilliance. This new one, Inre Strid, might be the crown jewel, or maybe it’s the one I’m most excited about it right now because it’s fresh to my ears… either way, it’s a ripper! There are a lot of bands in the world who attempt this style of Swedish mängel (I might even be in one…), but Dissekerad’s take is just perfect, traditional with the furious d-beats and sinister riffing you expect from the style, but with enough flourish and personality that you know it’s them from the first note. I like that Dissekerad isn’t afraid to mix in a little metal, with a midrange-y guitar tone, a lot of fast tremolo picking, and the occasional wild guitar solo, but there’s none of metal’s grandiosity… everything serves the relentless, bashing rhythms. While highlights abound, my favorite moment is the straight up bonkers riff that drives “Idioter,” a hideous barrage of slides and pull-offs that perfectly combines savagery and precision. Inre Strid is all fire, though, and a must-hear for anyone who likes their hardcore mean and nasty.

Reckoning Force: Broken State 12” (Not for the Weak Records) A lot of bands make their way by catering to a micro-scene or a clique, but every so often a record appears that tramples all over those quibbling divisions, tapping into deeper, more primal wells of energy and power. The Slant LP Iron Lung released in 2021 was one of those records, and Broken State, the debut 12” from Virginia’s Reckoning Force, strikes me as another. Reckoning Force pulls elements from several corners of hardcore history. I hear some straight edge hardcore in the vocals and build-ups, but most songs are built around quick-fingered riffing from the Totalitär school, and several tracks have catchy, early 80s SoCal punk-style guitar leads (see “Foul Company” and “Last Stand”). I get the impression Reckoning Force isn’t working from anyone else’s template, though, just grabbing whatever tools are most appropriate in their pursuit of total rippage. And boy, does Broken State rip! After a brief ten-second buildup, Reckoning Force slams the gas pedal to the floor and doesn’t let up. Like their fellow Virginians Wasted Time, Reckoning Force’s songs are intricate but not labored over, expertly crafted yet brimming with spontaneous energy, and performed with a jaw-dropping precision that, rather than zapping hardcore’s trademark in-the-moment intensity, ratchets it up to impossibly high levels. If you’re after a pure jolt of energy, I can think of few records that deliver it as effectively as Broken State.

Karma Sutra: Be Cruel With Your Past And All Who Seek To Keep You There 12” (Sealed Records) Karma Sutra was an anarcho-punk band from Luton, England that formed in the early 80s (their first cassette, compiled here, came out in 1983) and dissolved somewhere around 1988. I’d seen the band’s name before and never heard their music, but this collection LP on Sealed Records reveals them to be a buried treasure of the anarcho scene. With a long tenure as a band and a lot of lineup changes, Karma Sutra’s sound covers a lot of ground on Be Cruel With Your Past, which takes in everything from the band’s earliest work, which has a heavier sound akin to Amebix’s early singles, to their final recordings, which remind me of post-punk-informed anarcho bands like Zounds, Hagar the Womb, and Chumbawumba. Despite the stylistic shifts, these tracks are marked by strong songwriting, with catchy choruses (particularly on “Intelligent Life” and “It’s Our World Too”), nimble and energetic playing, and more adventurous moments like the flute-infused “Poll Tax.” The more I listen to this collection, the more I’m astounded that something this good has remained under the radar for so long. Perhaps that’s because the band’s best-distributed release was their LP, which isn’t included here, presumably because the members feel it was rushed and was their weakest work. I can’t speak to that, but Be Cruel With Your Past hangs together remarkably well as an album, and if you’re a fan of that old anarcho sound—particularly the more melodic end of the spectrum—you’ll love it. Even better, it comes with a massive booklet that compiles what seems like every scrap of ephemera relating to the band, including photos, flyers, fanzine interviews, the many informational pamphlets, booklets, and inserts that were de rigeur in the anarcho scene, and Lance Hahn’s excellent article from his series of anarcho punk histories that appeared in Maximumrocknroll. With excellent music you almost certainly haven’t heard before, eye-catching packaging, and a booklet that fills out the record’s history and context, Be Cruel with Your Past has everything I want from a punk reissue.