Can’t ever go wrong with a Sorry State / Drunken Sailor co-release. Cleveland’s The Hell create some insanely rippin’ hardcore that at first glance sounds like a fairly generically oldschool brand, combining the siginifiers of both the early ’80s east- and westcoast scenes. But at closer inspection, these tunes go way above and beyond your standard retro hardcore fare, being densely packed with catchy hooks and unexpected twists and turns culminating in the five minute closing track Dirt Nap which at first appears to abandon the propulsive energy for more of a sludge-y, Flipper-esque proto-noise rock crawl, but when it abruptly kicks into gear around the 2-mintue mak mark, the payoff is freakin’ epic.
