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The WAR EFFORT is at your door with six tracks of contemporary hardcore punk with a fist raised in the DISCHARGE sphere-of-influence and a scuffed boot kicking an empty Old Style can through the entire recorded history of Rust Belt, USA hardcore. Fueled on cynicism, a distrust of the Simulated Stimulation Industrial Complex, and the lose-lose precipice of laboring for others’ reward, on the job or on the battlefield. The machine needs blood to run. Will you answer the call?
Our take: We carried a demo from Chicago’s War Effort a while back, and I remember the band said they wrote and recorded the entire tape in a single day. Path to Glory, while still straightforward and uncomplicated in its approach, sounds more composed and refined, at least by comparison. Something about this sounds midwestern as fuck to me… maybe it’s because the singer resembles John Brannon in places, or maybe it’s because War Effort also makes me think of Punch in the Face’s brand of “dumb hardcore” (that’s really not that dumb). But, as a few writers have noted, there’s also a distinct Discharge influence; just listen to the way the verse riff in “Connection Severed” alternates between Broken Bones chug and Negative Approach swing. I love the production too, which has a fuzzy but beefy sound and captures a confident but unfussy performance. A six-song 7” of purist hardcore like this is a format close to my heart, and War Effort does it proud here.
Our take: We carried a demo from Chicago’s War Effort a while back, and I remember the band said they wrote and recorded the entire tape in a single day. Path to Glory, while still straightforward and uncomplicated in its approach, sounds more composed and refined, at least by comparison. Something about this sounds midwestern as fuck to me… maybe it’s because the singer resembles John Brannon in places, or maybe it’s because War Effort also makes me think of Punch in the Face’s brand of “dumb hardcore” (that’s really not that dumb). But, as a few writers have noted, there’s also a distinct Discharge influence; just listen to the way the verse riff in “Connection Severed” alternates between Broken Bones chug and Negative Approach swing. I love the production too, which has a fuzzy but beefy sound and captures a confident but unfussy performance. A six-song 7” of purist hardcore like this is a format close to my heart, and War Effort does it proud here.