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Hardcore punk from Virginia Beach.
Our take: Debut vinyl from this hardcore band out of Virginia Beach, Virginia. I grew up in the Virginia Beach area so I’m always interested in hearing good new music from there, but traditionally that’s been in short supply. Bato’s brand of fast and angry 80s-style hardcore reminds me a lot of that region’s greatest export: the almighty Socialcide. Like Socialcide, they take the most inspiration than the faster-than-fast 80s greats (YDI, Deep Wound, Pick Your King) but also have a whiff of straight edge hardcore in their style (particularly more early 80s-sounding bands like Straight Ahead and early Youth of Today). The songs hover around the one minute mark, heavy on the rage and light on the tough guy posturing. If Bato was around in the mid-00s I’d expect to see them on the next volume of No Bullshit.