Almost exactly six years after their debut LP, we finally get to hear some new shit from Houston’s The Hammer Party which, sadly, is also group’s swan song. Or rather, the band appears to have been disbanded years ago already and these are their final recordings which have been re-mixed and put up on bandcamp at long last, documenting the group at the height of their powers. On here, their songs have acquired more of an earthy and sinister quality imposing a new layer of muck even on the couple of tracks previously known from their first LP. There’s no lack of propulsion and compelling hooks either, as exemplified by the the 1-2-punch of Antidepressants and E.M.B.R.Y.O. in which lots of folk-y strumming lays the foundation for an impressive explosion of catchy melodies. As before i sense a similar melancholy quality to Atlanta groups Mothers Milk, Wymyns Prysyn and Uniform while in other moments, the likes of Sievehead and early Low Life don’t seem too far off either.
