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Vinyl pressing of the “Ritual Death” demo, originally released on cassette by the band back in 2015. In their all-to-brief and virtually unknown tenure, the Los Angeles area trio known simply as FREAK, managed to churn out five tyrannizing tracks of surf-dirge, destruct-o thud punkers that surrender the mind to a dusty desert cave of noisy repetitive coercion. Not dissimilar to Leather Nun’s “No Rule,” if it was born out of Charles Manson's California.
FREAK members were also involved in JUMP OFF A BUILDING, RANK/XEROX, and INDEX.
Limited to just 107 numbered copies
Our take: Vague Absolutes is a “vanity label” (his words, not mine!) run by Justin from Warthog Speak Records. Their only previous release is a limited 7” by a short-lived band called Index. This 7” by Freak takes a similar tack, taking a four-year-old demo from a long broken-up band who released nothing else (as far as I can tell) and pressing it in a ridiculously limited edition of 107 numbered copies. Why would Justin do such a thing? Well, because the music fucking rules, that’s why! These four songs are raw, nasty, and punk. I could be dismissive and call this anarcho-punk, but that would be a disservice to how original and exciting this music sounds. Some parts are as catchy as the UK Subhumans, others are as heavy and powerful as Conflict, while still others are as sinister and foreboding as the first two Amebix singles. And while I’m listening anarcho bands, there’s also a touch of Dirt’s catchier, almost oi! style on the final track. Despite sounding like these things Freak doesn’t sound like a throwback at all. In fact, I wonder if they’d even be comfortable with me labeling them an anarcho band. They just sound like punk rock: raw, vital, and intense. I encourage you to become one of the 107 lucky people who will own this record.