This is the third release already in just a couple months by this blackened-/dungeon punk act frome wherever in the US and just like its predecessors it’s yet another first-rate addition to the microgenre which approaches the stylistic signifiers of black metal from an uncommon post punk- and death rock angle to create a sound that’s in equal measure atmospheric, dense and layered while blasting a respectable crater in their own little patch of spooky dark forest all the same.
This Brooklyn, NY group’s newest EP mostly continues the breakneck pace and sonic assault of its predecessor, the Body LP released earlier this year, while still subtly evolving their sound in a somewhat more compact and approachable direction, allowing for just a tiny bit more nuance and variety compared to that aforementioned, utterly uncompromising previous slab of vinyl without sacrificing much in terms of sheer unrelenting force.
Brilliantly simple anarcho-flavored post punk is what we get on this Demo by a group from Perth, Australia, working a decidedly rough, unpolished aesthetic of minimal means towards maximum impact, along the way reminding me of a bunch groups ranging from more obvious references like Institute, Impotentie and early Rank/Xerox to a significantly slowed-down variant of either Nag or recent Pyrex.
Typically excellent new fodder from some of my favorite post punk weirdos. The first track Optimism on this new Cassingle by the Cleveland, Ohio group encapsulates all the hallmarks of their angular brand of post punk into a compact and super-catchy little package while Foot Of Pride is a somewhat more ambitious, sprawling affair which – with its mid-tempo pace and uncharactaristically expansive length of over five minutes – still doesn’t ever come close to overstaying its welcome thanks to its understated but effective slow-burn dramaturgy and a performance every bit as sharp and precise as anything this one-of-a-kind group has done before.
This Copenhagen-based group once again channels that same widescreen thrill and excitement that already made their 2023 debut LP stand out from the great bulk of ambitious post punk acts and all of it is still in place here – the desperate, existential drama reminiscent of early Iceage, Lower and other groups that cropped up in their wake, the omnipresent cowpunk undercurrents, the equally melodic and elaborate arrangements and structures that call to mind the first couple of Protomartyr EPs, coupled with the urgency and immediacy of early White Lung – while at the same time, these tunes come across as ever-so-slightly more streamlined, refined in a careful, gradual way resulting in yet another quite unique and miles-above-average punk record.
I had kind of a difficult time getting into the previous EP of Buffalo, New York punks Science Man which, with its at times kinda generic and metal-ish, mosh-y riffing, sometimes felt a bit like the the group couldn’t quite match up their great ambition with an appropriate amount of substance. Their newest LP is way more up my alley though with their mixture of noise-infused, sludgy hard- and postcore sounding quite a bit more organic and less forced, driven by inventive, catchy hooks and elaborate song structures that carry with them a sense of danger and unpredictability without ever feeling randomly thrown together. These tunes show amounts of deliberation, intent and directionality that i found missing on their last one is what i’m trying to say here.
A curious little creature, this new tape coming to us courtesy of the reliably weird and brilliant – and if you ask me, wildly under-appreciated – NY label Fuzzy Warbles Cassettes. The second tape by this act of mysterious origin is some gloriously old-fashioned minimalist synth punk action that on one hand channels some of the old ’80s underground greats like Nervous Gender, Units, Visitors, Screamers, Primitive Calculators or Marginal Man, but also the hypnotic, scrappy charm of early John Carpenter soundtracks and in the current landscape, they kinda fit in with such groups as Lost Packages, Abscam or some particular incarnations of Freak Genes.
I think the demo of this NYC group is some pretty fucking brilliant shit. The charmingly rustic Lo-Fi recording can’t do anything really to obscure the obvious qualities of their spin on equally catchy and hard-hitting fuzz- and garage punk that at first glance radiates a pronounced Wipers-meet-KBD-esque vibe with some added Saints, Buzzcocks and Dead Boys flair but there’s more under the hood than first meets the eye as some closer observation reveals some neat little flourishes and details, like a bit of a southern rock flavor, the kind we’ve recently heard on that Elvis 2 LP while the forceful, tight-ass presentation and the vocalist’s pissed of bark call to mind the likes of Split System and Punter. In other moments, you may draw some plausible comparisons to the frantic post punk of Nevosas or the rougher end of the Booji Boys spectrum.
Dallax, Texas punks Thyroids have been fucking around with different styles and vibes for quite a few years already but they really started to hit their stride with last year’s excellent EP Toppings and Droppings. Now, for their first full LP, they’ve once again shaken up and diversified their sound considerably, with only traces left of the heavy synth punk leanings of the predecessor. The opening track ABCs of Assimilation delights with a variation on angular post-meets-garage punk shit á la Reality Group, Uranium Club, Exit Group and also quite a bit of Skull Cult – even more so in tunes like Static/Dynamic or The New Poor, which also have a bit of an undeniable Knowso vibe to them. The Loot and Don’t Ask, Dumbass are no-frills borderline-hardcore gut punches. Daily Habits reimagines the group in a somewhat egg-ish guise while Enterview and Suited & Tied have something of a math-y postcore edge, vaguely reminiscent of the likes of Big Bopper, Rolex, Brandy or Mystic Inane. Check Engine Light conjures up some oldschool Useless Eaters or Ex-Cult energy. Cop Out is a hyper-focused and compact garage smasher getting maximum mileage out of an old-fashioned riff and the closing tune !!! Click Now To Claim Your Reward !!! once again goes all-in on the afrementioned Skull Cult and Uranium Club vibes to utterly hypnotic results.
A pretty fucking stunning debut LP from an Alamance, North Carolina duo excelling in a hazy and hypnotic mixture of noise rock, post punk, oldschool indie rock and the darkest alleys of the americana spectrum. The latter tendency often come across like a more vicious and propulsive take on the muddy southern gothic charm of (quite paradoxically) NYC based group Weak Signal but also, at certain points, you may find traces of the blues-y proto-noise rock of Feedtime and Scratch Acid, the swamp rock of eighties Scientists. The overarching melancholy of the whole affair then again reminds me of somewhat indie rock-leaning groups like Australia’s Kitchen’s Floor, Treehouse and earlier stuff of London’s Witching Waves on one hand, the moody, eccentric post punk of acts like Auckland/Berlin-based groups Trust Punks, Dead Finks on the other, with further similarities to the deep abysses of Atlanta’s Uniform, Glittering Insects, Mother’s Milk or the folk-ish Angst- and Meat Puppets-indebted neo-proto-grunge of Bellingham, Washington group Pig Earth and Madison, Wisconsin’s Dharma Dogs. All of that is being rolled expertly into ten all-killer-no-filler widescreen melodramas here with perfect sonic architectures marked by super effective buildups and payoffs.
