Padkarosda: Sötét Végek 12"

Padkarosda: Sötét Végek 12"


Tags: · 20s · hardcore · hcpmf · hungary
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Padkarosda has been one of my favorite hardcore punk bands for the last decade. Yes they have flanged, chorused out guitars, yes they get lumped in with death rock and goth sounding stuff. But at their core, I hear a hardcore punk band. The rest is dressing on the salad, so to speak.

I fell in love with them within the first 3 seconds of hearing the first track "Csókok" off their tape "Szabadulásom Művészete" back in 2013. That song will stand the test of time as being one of the best Eastern European hardcore punk songs ever written, no argument

Terminal Escape got it right... "they instantly got lumped in with a burgeoning scene of death rock revivalists. But listen to the tracks here and replace that flanged guitar with a JCM800 pushed to its limits, the early Finnish fuzz on the bass will fit right in, and the aggressive vocal snarl goes from some introverted proto goth mystery to fiery communist-era determination."

I applaud Terminal Escape for hearing how similar the delivery of Hungarian and Finnish are, they are both a part of the Finno-Ugric language family, with about 5000 years of separate development between the two languages.

Throughout the years and from album to album, Padkarosda moved away from the raw fury of their "Szabadulásom Művészete" tape, but never lost their edge. The venomous vocals still snarl at the world at large from a their neglected corner. The song writing and tones have still pierced as much as they ever did. Padkarosda put Hungary on the map for hc/punk that moves above and beyond the drudgery and mundanity of the western scenes

This album is finally being released with the re-election of Viktor Obran - a far-right dictator wannabe and really intense COVID lock downs where it was impossible to even access the recordings for months on end due to them being at the practice space. Padkarosda made this album in defiance of the backdrop that is contemporary Hungarian society. A scream from the depths of a cold, wet and dreary winter to come.


Our take: World Gone Mad Records brings us another gem from outside punk’s usual geographic hotspots… you might remember Siberian band Crispy Newspaper they released a while back, and now they’ve brought us the new album from Padkarosda from Budapest, Hungary. One great thing about hearing music from different places is that people who come from different backgrounds and traditions approach familiar tropes with a fresh perspective, and that’s the case with Padkarosda, who imbue dark post-punk with a more straightforward and aggressive energy. The heavy chorus effect on the guitars and the foreboding melodies fit the death rock style, but Padkarosda has a way with a lead guitar hook, and songs like the record’s title track (which sounds a lot like Second Empire Justice-era Blitz) and “Gépszij” where the band shows off that skill are immediate highlights. If Padkarosda was fronted by someone with a melodic croon (like, say, the guy from Interpol) they’d be millionaires by now, but the vocal delivery is snotty and snarling. The barked vocals and the interesting rhythmic inflections to the vocal lines remind me of Dezerter, and as with Dezerter, those vocal rhythms often interact with the musical accompaniment in interesting ways. Anyone with an ear for punky death rock or a broader interest in Eastern European punk will find much to enjoy here.