After the grave diasppointment that was the too-slick-for-its-own-good, overly sanitized second Poison Ruïn LP recently, i’m glad to have come across this neat substitute drug created by a Philadelphia group, scratching some similar itch of strongly ’80s heavy metal-influenced, dungeon-adjacent punk, even if the overall style here feels more at home in the wider hardcore and d-beat landscape. Nonetheless, if you take a closer listen these tunes reveal an abundance of sophistication, attention to detail and tons of highly captivating hooks to both anchor and elevate these seven bursts of breakneck-speed ecstasy.
The second EP of these Oslo metalhead punks is yet another rippin’ affair of NWOBHM-inspired hardcore thrashin’ that feels a bit too old-fashioned to fit into the dungeon punk category, a bit too thrash-heavy to fit the motörpunk mold. There’s also a bit of a ’90s postcore quality goin’on in the closing track Shallow Grave. Sitting comfortably in the middle between a good number of adjacent niches, this is a record that scratches many itches at once and i’m all here for it.
The third EP of this Montreal group is yet another irresistible candy seemingly inspired by the more melodic strains of eighties punk somewhere inbetween, say, Fastbacks, late-era Naked Raygun and Hüsker Dü, but also previous-decade revivalist indie punk rockers like Milk Music, California X, Milked and Kicking Spit ain’t too far off either. This time they keep us waiting a bit – until the very last track to be precise – before they fully lean into their trademark heavy metal shredding which has also been the secret ingredient of their brilliant previous EP, but that shall in no way distract from the bucketloads of catchy joy we had along the way leading up to that point too!
This Montreal group’s spectacular debut EP pulls off a pretty neat trick and does so flawlessly and at exactly the right time in our collective cultural consciousness. Ultra-catchy punk rock kinda bridging the gap between classic eighties acts like mid-career Hüsker Dü, Dinosaur Jr., Dag Nasty, Embrace or the later works of Naked Raygun and Government Issue on one hand; previous-decade noisy punk and indie rock groups á la earky Milk Music, Kicking Spit, California X, Milked and Happy Diving on the other, gets blended here with flourishes of decidedly ’80s-sounding heavy metal shredding and solo-ing which, in tandem with the heavily dungeon-themed artwork, is sure gonna strike a chord with friends of Steröid or Poison Ruïn, with this shit at times coming across a bit like a catchier, immediably approachable spin on the latter group’s work so far.
It’s been another couple of incredible weeks for more-or-less hardcore-related noises so here are four more picks i find particularly notable, in a spectrum progressively moving from the more punk-ish ends towards the unapologetically metal-embracing realms of the genre. For starters we have a brand new tape by Dublin, Ireland group Flower Power who deliver five forceful punches of rough-ass lo-fi ruckus that appears to stand with one foot in the legacy of left-field hardcore shit á la early Flipper, Broken Talent, Noxious Fumes or more recently, Soupcans, Stinkhole and Vulture Shit, with the other firmly planted in oldschool KBD-style artifacts of the Mentally Ill, Endtables and Executives breed, combining hardcore energy with garage punk drive. A much more grim mood then emanates from the tunes of Leeds, England group Mother Nature, whose punk attacks have plenty of a post punk-ish, death rock-y, noise rock-ing vibe to them that reminds me of such acts as Acrylics, earlier Bad Breeding and the australians Arse. Cheap Heat of Schenectady, New York had already made quite an impact with their excellent 2022 demo and on their new EP, they pick up the threads right where they left them off, with a sound that mixes hardcore with a generous plundering of motörpunk, sleaze rock and speed metal, resulting in an overal aesthetic not entirely dissimilar to such groups as Cülo, Cement Shoes, Tarantüla and Polute. Last but not least we have the most metal-leaning group of the whole bunch, Dart from Oulu, Finland, who are the latest entry into a developing canon of bands working on rehabilitating the reputational damage of sounds on the intersection of hardcore and metal by recognizing the punk rock inside of metal, rather than clumsily forcing generic metal elements upon punk rock. The result, as you might have guessed, is drenched in tons of straightforward, oldschool NWOBHM energy and may please oldschool metalheads as much as it will fans of punk acts á la Poison Ruïn, Punter, Ninth Circle, Polute, Hög and Steröid.
Finally! Here it is, the first longplayer of Sydney’s Gordo Blackers a.k.a. Steröid who’s previously also had a hand in groups like Draggs and Gee Tee among others. A good three years after their debut EP blew a brand new hole into the castle walls of lo-fi egg- and dungeon punk, their sound remains a completely singular and yet strikingly simple affair, mixing the quirky fun of garage- and eggpunk with the catchy hooks and riffing of early eighties metal and arena rock. The result is a potent and intoxicating concoction so addictive it shouldn’t be legal really. As usual with anything even remotely metal-related, i’m kinda ill-equipped to make any specific assumptions about musical roots and influences at least on the metal side of things, so i’m gonna stay in my lane here and just say that these tunes fuckin’ rip without exception and the second half of this record is a welcome change of pace after the more straightforward, breathless hit marathon of side a, when the stylistic parameters become a good bit more varied, elaborate and adventurous, all of which is presented here in an ultra-dry no-frills mid-fi recording aesthetic that clears and tightens things up considerably compared to the earlier EP without watering anything down. Yup, that shit sounds absolutely fucking perfect if you ask me!
Incredible new Dungeon Punk-related material from a mysterious group operating out of some unspecified dark forest located somewhere in the US. These folks approach the whole blackened punk thing from a heavily post punk- and goth/death rock-leaning angle, shrouding their fully developed, well-rounded song architecture in a beautifully fucked-up, blown-out Lo-Fi aesthetic, altogether reminding me of a couple of fairly recent genre entries by the likes of Conifère, Unsheather and Bloody Keep.
The time between the years is – as far as punk rock is concerned – usually defined by those rather tiny and more obscure nuggets, scraps and crumbs that randomly pop up. Same thing this year, so here’s a little roundup of some of the curious little short-playing treats that washed up in the last few weeks.
London’s Rifle already delighted with two excellent EPs before and their newest one is another full-on blast inbetween the worlds of garage punk, postcore and old KBD-related noise somewhat reminiscent of groups as diverse as Ascot Stabber, early Golden Pelicans, Mystic Inane, Launcher and Rolex. Madrid group Raya, whose debut EP a couple already left me impressed a couple months ago, has another two-track single out now and guess what, it’s yet another excellent burst of quirky garage-/eggpunk most reminiscent of other spanish acts like Pringue, Finale and Prison Affair but also international bands like Beer, Set-Top Box and Gremlin. Vacation from Cincinnati have long proven to be a treasure trove of high-octane songcraft in the realms of Power Pop, oldschool Indie Rock, Garage- and Fuzz Punk and their track on a new split single is another high-caliber weapon in their arsenal. The other track by Madison, Wisconsin post punkers Whippets is also really fucking good, reminding me a lot of canadian groups Dead Cells and that recent Psychbike LP. Another high-class gem comes to us in the form of a new 7″ by Perth group Pleasants who set off another two explosions of simple and confident power pop that admirers of the likes of Teen Line, Bad Sports, Tommy and the Commies, Mr. Teenage or Corner Boys shouldn’t miss. Speaking of catchy tunes, english group Cream Soda have two more of those on their debut 7″ via Spinout Nuggets. They have equal amounts of both a Buzzcocks- and Television Personalities-energy to them or alternately, you might name old US underground acts like Broken Talent or more recent shit like Britain’s The Suburban Homes and Silicone Values, Australia’s Nasty Party or earlier stuff of canadian greats Neutrals as reasonably valid references. And finally, there’s another high quality bit of heavy metal-infused fun from Austin’s Ninth Circle. It’s been an interesting last few years as i actually wouldn’t have thought – having lived through the embarrassing, metalcore-infested period from the late ’90s to ’00s – that the marriage of punk and metal-related sounds would ever produce any more offspring i could get behind, being forever tainted by the era’s blunt moshing and cringy display of hypermasculine rage. But here i am in the 2020s, regularly finding much delight in metal-ish sounds from bands that aren’t necessarily named Poison Ruïn. Having ignored the metal industrial complex for a long time, i’m severely impaired when it comes to naming any references so i’m just ganna say these two songs fucking rip and that’s all you need to know anyway.
So, that’s it for this year. As usual i’m gonna take a 2-3 weeks long vacation from blogging and you’ll hear back from me when next year’s release machine gets into gear again. See you in whatever depressing abomination the year 2025 is shaping up to be.
In a somewhat unexpected but, all things considered, perfectly sensible move, the Philadelphia group on the cutting edge of the still kinda vaguely defined and developing dungeon punk genre release their first full length effort on the well established, rather metal-leaning label Relapse Records. Thankfully this has precious little influence on their sound, aesthetics and production values, with their newest batch of songs even presenting the group at their grittiest and most Lo-Fi so far, their still absolutely singular, elaborate sonic constructs made up of post- and garage punk, noise rock, postcore, a very slight hint of Oi! and only the most ancient ingredients of proto- and old-oldschool metal remaining obscured by in a thick layer of tape hiss all the time. Yeah, the whole thing sounds glorious i gotta say!
Punter came up with an excellent demo in 2020. Their new EP on Drunken Sailor Records elevates their sound to a whole different level though, combining the strengths of “heavy” metal- and hard rock-infused garage acts á la Polute, Cheap Heat, Cement Shoes or Stiff Richards, the hard rockin’ hardcore attack of, say, Cutters and Cülo, postcore of the Dollhouse, Acrylics, Flea Collar variety and all the drama, rage and melancholy of Pist Idiots, Jackson Reid Briggs & The Heaters.
