News

Vivisected Numbskulls: Swine in Chains 7” (Chaotic Uprising Productions) With their debut vinyl release, Vivisected Numbskulls have achieved the rare Sorry State hat trick, with three consecutive releases getting the Record of the Week nod. Aside from getting five songs instead of four this time around, not much has changed with Swine in Chains compared to the Numbskulls’ previous cassettes, and that’s a good thing! A big reason we’re so smitten with Vivisected Numbskulls is that they have a sound we’ve never heard before. The songwriting backbone comes from anthemic UK82 punk a la the Exploited, with simple 1-2 rhythms and choruses that beg you to raise your fist and chant along. The songwriting is straightforward yet impeccable, but the real magic happens in the production. Vivisected Numbskulls’ recordings are thick with atmosphere, exuding a creepy and gritty aesthetic that lies somewhere between the most vibe-drenched early 80s Japanese hardcore and Blazing Eye’s evocation of creepy, mid-20th century monster movies. Imagine Bela Lugosi fronting GBH with Randy Uchida producing the session and you’re somewhere in the ballpark. While the seamlessness of the aesthetic grabs you right away, it’s the songs that keep me coming back, and if Vivisected Numbskulls ever play live, I don’t think there will be any shortage of people singing along to “Bloody Face” and “Die in New York.”

Nightfeeder: S/T 7" (Black Water Records) We loved Nightfeeder’s first cassette here at Sorry State, so we were eager to hear this vinyl debut on Black Water Records, which offers re-recorded versions of two tracks from the cassette alongside two new ones. The comparisons I threw out for Nightfeeder’s cassette were Judgement and Criminal Trap-era Anti-Cimex, and those both still feel spot-on, though the two new tracks lean a little more toward Judgement’s grandiosity. I love the way “1491” comes to a full stop before building to its epic guitar lead, and the rocked-out main riff to “Havin a Hard Time” could have been penned by Zigyaku himself. “Rotten,” though it also appeared on the tape, is a great closer, alternating between blistering early Cimex-style rippage and catchy metallic riffing. Avoiding the self-consciously raw sound favored by a lot of current bands, I’m glad to hear Nightfeeder put their skill and power in the foreground, since the fuller production works great with their anthemic, fist-pumping sound. Too many bands with a sound that was too slick and too metallic made a lot of us sick of this style in the 2000s, but Nightfeeder gets everything right on these four tracks.

Urin: Afekt 7” (Iron Lung Records) One night a few weeks ago, I was making dinner and had Life During Wartime playing in the background, as I often do. Life During Wartime introduces me to cool stuff I didn’t know about all the time, but I can’t remember another occasion when a track was so good I had to stop what I was doing and consult the show notes to figure out who the band was. Turns out it was a track from this latest EP from Germany’s Urin. We really liked Urin’s first EP here at Sorry State (it was Record of the Week back in August 2019) and we were lucky enough to see them live on their last jaunt to the US, but none of that prepared me for Afekt’s ferocity. The sound is dense, knotty, and noisy punk that sounds like a piece of dying industrial equipment having a panic attack. While it exists in the same universe as the Kyushu-style noise punk we all know and love (Confuse, Swankys, Gai, etc.), it’s also different. The rhythms are knottier and the riffs (well, what you can make out of them), are more complex. While a lot of bands of this ilk are solely about the noise, there is ripping hardcore lurking at the core of Afekt. The noisy parts dominate, though, not just providing texture, but annihilating the more conventional punk sounds. It’s chaotic in an over the top way, but there’s still an electric sense of energy to the recording. (It doesn’t hurt that Urin recorded at Bogota’s Casa Rat Trap and mastered these tracks at Tokyo’s Noise Room, two establishments that know how to make a killer-sounding punk record.) Afekt is so abrasive that it’s likely to scare off all but the most hardcore, but those of us who treasure our D-Clone, Confuse, and Horrendous 3D records will have no problem finding space in our listening diets for this.

Yleiset Syyt: Umpikujamekanismi 7" (Open Up and Bleed Recordings) Umpikujamekanismi is the third vinyl release by this hardcore band from Finland. Yleiset Syyt's first LP from 2007 flew under our radar, but we raved about 2019's self-titled EP when it came out. As good as that record was, though, for me Umpikujamekanismi blows it out of the water. A contemporary Finnish hardcore band with an 80s aesthetic is pretty much catnip to us here at Sorry State, but this EP is so much better than simply a good example of its style or a flavor of the week. You know you're in for something special right from the first track, "Opportunistin Alkuilta." It starts with big, rhythmic punches, establishing right away that this record will have a perfect 80s tone. After that, rather than going straight for the throat with something nasty, the bass introduces the song's main riff, which has a subtle touch of melody, more "Nervous Breakdown" than Discharge. It only gets better from there, as you hear the totally pissed-sounding vocals, the rhythm section reveals its Minor Threat-esque nimbleness, and the guitarist experiments with more complex chords a la Articles of Faith. I'm sure that, given Yleiset Syyt is Finnish, they'll garner plenty of comparisons to bands like Appendix and Lama, and they certainly resemble those bands. However, in terms of production and energy level, it sounds just as much like the first handful of Dischord or Touch & Go singles to me. Those records changed many lives, and while it remains to be seen how many lives Yleiset Syyt change, Umpikujamekanismi gives me goosebumps in exactly the same way.

Hez: Guerra Interior 7” (Discos Enfermos) Guerra Interior is the latest record from this hardcore band from Panama, carrying forward the sound they developed on their previous 12” and 7”, but with even more explosive results. The core of Hez’s sound is a heavy pogo rhythm with dark but catchy hardcore riffing and maniacal, distorted vocals. When I wrote about their previous records, I compared Hez to Blazing Eye, and while they still have some similar elements, they’re really developed their own sound on Guerra Interior. I’m particularly enamored with the catchy lead guitar lines and the brief but exciting explosions of electronic/synth noise, either of which makes the already-intense music bubble over into a froth of wild energy. Hez is great at those kinds of dynamics; see the first track, “Ruina del Hombre,” which tempts you to settle into the groove of the mid-paced parts only to blindsid you with ripping fast hardcore. This is one of those records where just listening to it makes you feel you’re in the middle of a mass of bodies, limbs and beer cans flying in a pressure cooker of energy.

Vatican Commandos: Hit Squad for God 7” (Radiation) Once you’ve scratched the surface, the 80s US hardcore era is a deep rabbit hole of discovery with plenty of deep cuts. The Connecticut scene in particular produced a healthy contingent of great, yet under-appreciated hardcore punk bands. You might think of 76% Uncertain, Reflex From Pain, or White Pigs. Another of CT’s major gems was Vatican Commandos. The band’s debut EP, Hit Squad For God, features some badass tattoo flash-style cover art, which is an early work by Vince Rancid, who also did artwork for Raw Power and MDC. Vatican Commandos had some interesting affiliations with a few pop culture figures. Most notably, their guitarist (credited as “M.H.”) is electronic music superstar Moby. Moby’s sole songwriting credit on this EP is the 35-second track, “Wonder Bread,” which astute punkers will remember as the track Vatican Commandos contributed to the Big City compilation. The song starts off with the silly notion of Wonder Bread being fun to eat, but then takes a dark shift in tone and becomes a comment about the danger of processed foods that will kill off everyone in your neighborhood. Most of the songs on this EP share a similar dark sense of humor through the lens of suburban existence, with other ripping tracks like “Housewives On Valium.” Musically, Vatican Commandos play with energetic urgency at the ripping fast tempos we all crave, but with a sense of musicality not unlike their peers CIA. The slower paced tempos are heavy, and it’s possible the Commandos were influential on the mosh-inducing hardcore in the years to follow. Italian-based label Radiation took on the job of getting this record reissued, and thankfully Hit Squad For God is back in print. If you need a dose of long-lost, ripping US hardcore, then make sure you snag this 7”.

Unidad Ideológica: S/T 12” (La Vida Es Un Mus) Bogotá, Colombia’s Unidad Ideológica is the latest band to emerge from the hardcore hotbed that brought us Muro, Uzi, and Systema. Like those bands, Unidad Ideológica has a magical talent for capturing energy on record, with these eight tracks leaping from the speakers like they’re breaking loose from a high-pressure container. While the sound is visceral and immediate, it’s also layered and dynamic, encompassing everything from black metal-style melodic tremolo picking (“Metadata”), Broken Bones-esque metallic d-beat “Tercer Hito Del Desarollo” and full-on Discharge worship (the “A Look at Tomorrow”-ish “Vidas Controlidas”). Unidad Ideológica’s ability to work these elements into such a seamless and distinctive style reminds me of those people who look stylish no matter what they’re wearing, whether it’s a sweatsuit or head-to-toe lycra. With eight tracks in only 14 minutes, there isn’t room for anything that doesn’t pierce straight to the heart, and by the end my heart is pounding and I’m itching to hear it again. A certified ripper.

Anti-Machine: S/T 7” (Toxic State Records) The latest and greatest from Toxic State is the debut EP by Brooklyn, NY’s Anti-Machine. As we’ve come to learn about Toxic State releases, you can always expect the unexpected. Records on the label can range from noisy raw punk to peculiar arthouse pop, but are always presented with captivating and elaborate packaging. Anti-Machine isn’t antithetical to the Toxic State milieu, but this EP is about as close as they’ve come to releasing a bare-bones, street-level US hardcore band, and the feel is different. Sure, there’s a beautifully screen-printed poster included, but no artsy graphic design. Instead, you get a photo of the band looking cool in leather with beers in hand. Anti-Machine features seasoned veterans from the NY scene, with familiar faces from bands like Sister Anne, Crazy Spirit, Extended Hell, and a lengthy list of others. It sounds like the band walked into the studio already dialed and ready to play at their hardest and meanest. Each track is a cold and venomous powerhouse of wall-to-wall energy. The chaotic intensity, frantic but rocked out riffs, and Walker’s snarling vocals remind me of early Accüsed—not to mention their grindhouse, “driller killer attacked by demons” aesthetic. The bonehead punk on the cover with brains being decimated by a drill is a pretty spot on depiction of how listeners will feel after blasting this EP. If you’re looking to rage full-on Splatterhead style, look no further than Anti-Machine.

Hologram: No Longer Human 12” (Iron Lung Records) Hologram’s first EP from 2018 got a lot of play around here, so my expectations for No Longer Human were high. While the weight of expectation can color my first experience of a new record, No Longer Human is such a phenomenal release that this isn’t a problem. When I wrote about Hologram’s first EP, I noted they were one of the most progressive and forward-thinking projects in the hardcore scene, but this record goes beyond genre-bending and into mind-bending. It’s hardcore devoid of cliche, rebuilt from the ground up and taking the least obvious, more difficult route at every fork in the road. The rhythms, while blistering fast, reach well outside hardcore’s confines for inspiration. Critics would describe the morse-code guitar leads in “Bite the Smoke” or the insane mid-paced intro riff for “Deprivation Fantasy” as complex and inventive if a noise rock band executed them at a quarter the speed, but Hologram rips into them with the wild energy of Neos or Deep Wound. It’s not all herky-jerky rhythms, either. Album-closer “See a Pale Light” starts with a dense, creepy sounding melody that reminds me of Sonic Youth at their most sublime, but finds its way into a nasty mid-paced hardcore riff. For all their strengths, these mid-paced hardcore riffs might be where Hologram shines the brightest. The breakdown is possibly the most cliche-ridden aspect of hardcore, but on No Longer Human, Hologram approaches this convention with a freshness I wouldn’t have thought possible, warping classic hardcore through a fractured, acid-drenched prism. As on their EP, Hologram deploys synths and noise sounds too, sometimes on their own (as in “Untitled”) and sometimes combined with the full-on hardcore (such as on “Innate,” where synth whirring occupies the space where you might expect a guitar lead), and these parts are just as inventive and exciting as the music performed on the more conventional (for hardcore) instruments. If you like the forward-thinking hardcore that Iron Lung Records specializes in, No Longer Human should be at the top of your list of things to check out.

Quarantine: Agony 12” (Damage United) If you read last week’s Sorry State newsletter, you’re not surprised to see Quarantine’s Agony LP is Record of the Week. We fucking love this record at Sorry State. We flipped out about their demo tape a while back, and when the band slipped Usman a test press this summer, he dubbed tapes for all of us. I’ve been listening to mine regularly, impatient for the vinyl to drop. And now the day has come! Quarantine’s sound is tailor-made for the SSR crew, furious and unrelenting, but finding space in the cacophony for creativity and craft. You might recognize the vocalist from his previous band Chain Rank, and Jack carries into Quarantine his ability to write a memorable vocal hook. For all the bands who garner comparisons to the Abused or Negative Approach, few of them can craft hooks as memorable as the originators… Jack can. The rhythm section is crushing, anchored by Chris Ulsh’s masterful drumming, which combines inhuman power with a speed and dexterity that will leave your jaw on the floor. The guitars, while locking into the rhythm like any good hardcore band should, frequently veer off course, injecting an acid-fried spontaneity that brings to mind United Mutation. There’s so much going on in these fourteen tracks that it’s almost too much, and I spent my first couple of listens staring blankly at the speakers, my brain fully occupied with parsing the chaos. Now that the initial catatonic astonishment has worn off, I chant along, air guitar, and air drum, my body powerless against Quarantine’s relentless rush.