NUCLEAR SPRING DISCOGRAPHY

The complete discography of overlooked US snots Nuclear Spring, released on cassette by Doomtown. Members of this band played in and went on to join CREEM, Ajax, La Misma, NOMOS and others, their pedigree sound capturing a perfect nexus of influence between very early Punk Rock and US Hardcore that makes for irresistibly simple songcraft and burly, hard edged fury. Single note Guitar lines scramble for consonance, crusher chords minimalist and brimming with slashing power, Bass and Drums interlock and rock in march stepping, melodious haste, each mostly mid-paced song covered in dude croons, wails and yowls from one male/one female voice, both possessed of sophomoric rage and youthful enthusiasm. Virulently catchy, loud and vituperative, burning with life and incensed at unequal social outcome, and informed by scenes like UK82 and even a little streak of Oi, Nuclear Spring is positively ion charged with Punk Rock power. Rips beginning to end.

Doomtown Records

FAUCHEUSE SELF TITLED

Faucheuse delivers a falcon uppercut to the jaw with their self titled demo, a bruising serenade of masterful Hardcore Punk. Bloody streaks of violent Rock & Roll guitars peal out outrageously uplifting, blazing consonant melody, slashing atop a steel horse of absolutely battering tumbling drums and torqued Bass rhythm section in extra-tight lockstep, and energised to everlovin’ fuck with furious vocal of desperation and power, with banging, bright, scruffy production. Faucheuse manages to explore lots of ideas here, playing with some more spare dynamics amid the torrent of fury, squeezing these tracks full of memorable hooks, mid-to-fast tempos and intriguing, uplifting melody, detouring into R&R mayhem drenched in dulcet lead work before plummeting back into ‘adult oriented d-beat’ aplomb. Makes me want to throw cops off a building. This is yet another band I’ve checked out from hearing them on Demolisten, recommended to hosts Grey and Nate by Tyler Hammer of the Kings Of Punk Podcast. Both pods are completely indispensable, bastions of correct opinion and perspective amidst a sea of Punk/Metal cultural ‘commentary’ youtube neophyte bullshit. I recommend subscribing to both immediately.

Bandcamp

C.O.F.F.I.N. – ‘AUSTRALIA STOPS’

The latest full length album from Children Of Finland Fighting In Norway. C.O.F.F.I.N plays a firebrand shitstorm of Garage Rock, Punk, Hardcore and Rock & Roll, potent beyond decency and seriously combustible. They combine these elements with masterly drunken aplomb, songs careening through Oi stomp to Blues to dusty ol’ piano Glam and back, presenting a cohesive boogie bogan gumbo of redneck power! Catchy as fuck, bright and burning Guitars with wicked licks, impressive and dare I say subtle Bass work imbuing power and harmony to the already greasy gorgeous axe work, and hard as fukk workhorse drumming with loads of swagger, topped with throaty and gruffly melodious vocal delights, a brash bastardry of all manner of hard rock styles resulting in toothless grinning mayhem. Ultra Posi, ultra pissed up and ready to dance or fight, your choice cunt. My mind is far too disordered to usually commit to a best of the year type deal, but I can fucken tell yous now that ‘Cut You Off’ is the best single I’ve heard this year, and probably last year too. Oath.

Bad Vibrations Records

RAT CAGE – ‘SAVAGE VISIONS’

Rat Cage follow up their incendiary 2020 full length ‘Screams From The Cage’ with rancor and vim, ascending their Hardcore Punk to a plateau of powerfully potent, anthemic riff soaked perfection. An utterly head kicking, tory lumping, chainsawing cut of catchy as fukk Kang mayhem, UK 82 knuckle-up bounce and brusque, teeth rattling Mangel, D-Beat & Anarcho Punk, and Punk Rock &Roll each represented within the face smashing mace strike of desperate, furious Hardcore, a barnstorming hosanna to the dispossessed and downtrodden inmates of brexit Britain, terrified drunken rats with callous smirks in the fukking pit of despair. Darkly anthemic throttling chords and soaring, brazen, blazing 4 note blues crusted leads slammed out with murderous intent, wallowing in thuggish harrying melody, a torrent of saturated drums leaping from fast to fucking fast to doomed plod to stomping mid-paced tumble enmangled with total bulldozer mid bloody Bass, and full throated super pissed violent vocal outcry, a voice of wounded despondence and outrage amidst the fire sale capitalist meltdown of england’s post tory social abattoir. ‘Savage Visions’ careens from fist banging Punk Rock chorus consonance to blank eyed Hardcore chord wall with the verve and swagger of champions, an indispensable masterwork of modern Hardcore Punk. This is England ’23.

La Vida Es En Mus

BRODY’S MILITIA – ‘NAPALM ZEPPELIN RAIDS’ E.P.

Hardcore mountain-dwellers Brody’s Militia have always worn elements of Classic Rock and Southern Rock sewn onto their collective Grindcore/Hardcore battle vest, informing the leads and Guitars in their superfast Hardcore/Fastcore blitzkrieg, and even beyond that lead inebriate and Backwoods Butcher Records mastermind Doug Long (also of Fastcore masters Hellnation) has long had a perverse penchant for the combination of these musical elements, across his various projects from Spastic Amoebas to Erectile Dementia; this EP is the Militia’s most brazen, ballsy combination of said styles. 5 tracks of rednecked and painlessly inebriated Southern Rock and rollicking storming Hardcore, absolutely drenched in mastercrafted moonshine licks and riffs, deeply melodic gorgeous leads, and borne of some traditional rock structure with barnstorming loud gritty vocal and groovy stacked drumming light on the blast beats, sun-shining wistful acoustic intervals and fairly clean, bright production. Antiseen and Rupture dialed to 10. Drunken, barechested, good ol’ violent fun. As of this moment, SPHC still has two of these 7″s in stock at their bandcamp page. Get one!

SPHC-27

CACASÓNICA – ‘LAS PRIMERAS BULLAS 2006-2012’

Ecuador’s Cacasónica get the early discography treatment, released on double CD and free to download by estimable obscurity archive and lo-fi label extraordinaire Mortville Noise, in collaboration with Canchis-Canchis Records. Ill tempered, insane, occasionally musical ‘Psicotropicomorbogrindinsanocore’ in the hardcore punk on inhaled solvents tradition ala South American Noisecore. 142 tracks of uncontrollable grinding Noisecore fury and incensory outrage blurred out Hardcore perfection. Brutally lo-fi boombox recordings and excessive volume. Tracks shift from simplistic 3 chord Punk Rockers to fleet footed debilitating Noisecore speed blast and back in the space of seconds, yelping bloody throated maniac vocal attack over demented guitar and bass throttling, yelled song titles in between songs, lots of silly interludes, repeat ad nauseam! Haphazard, mean-spirited and fun, over the top and ecstatically energetic. Fucken total slop rocket fuel. Essential.

Mortville Noise

ZOLOA / FOZA COMÚN SPLIT – ‘ESCUADRÓN DE LA MUERTE’

Split release between two of Eduardo Rodriguez’ (he of the indelible Volahn et all) Hardcore Punk bands. Zoloa is a long-standing Crust project, having existed in some form concurrently with Rodriguez’ better known Black Twilight Circle activities. Here they deliver 3 tracks of blasting anti-kommunist Crustcore with an aesthetic similarity to War Metal in certain respects. Filthy delay war Vocal command, wailing acid-fried terrorist leads swarming across terminal chords, terrifying storming Bass and smashing, strongarm drumming relying heavily on stiff, stacked War blasts rather than D-Beats, and meltdown synth shockwave interludes. Reminds me equally of Acrostix and Blasphemy’s ‘Gods of War’. On the flipside is Foza Común, ANOTHER of Eduardo’s affiliated projects, dealing in a marauder Blackened Punk/Hardcore sound with a RAC edge. 3 more tracks – stomping Rock ‘n’ Rolling lashings of Guitar dripping with UK ’82 licks, King Kong Bass violence carrying thuggish melody and a fiendish streak of Oi! within the rhythmic stamp and the barked yobbo Vocal assault. Barbaric and arrogant, a black flick knife of aggression and hostility. Killer split.

Bandcamp

GUERRA FINAL SELF TITLED

Debut 7″ from scene veterans Guerra Final. 7 cuts of outraged crusading Crust Punk with a fat Anarcho Punk streak in the songwriting and vibe  – slashing, angry Guitar forms rudiments of chord rage reminiscent of classic Punk Metal glory like English Dogs, with fierce, slick, short/sweet solos ablaze, lithe Bass prominent within the mix and extending the furious melodies beneath the Guitar work, swinging drums with plenty of heart and sweat and gruff vocal outcry – gnarly, hellacious, hard-charging d-beat bangers delivered in a furious froth, swollen with urgency and heroic despondency. Falls more on the Hardcore Punk end of the Crust spectrum, songwriting supercharged with fervent, simplistic gut punch intensity the order of the day. Fucking pissed!

Bandcamp

DIRECT CONTROL – ‘FAREWELL’

Released in 2011 on Feral Ward, ‘Farewell’ is Direct Control’s nasty, gnarly Skel masterpiece(piss) stamped in 12″ wax – furious skate thrashing Hardcore for freaks only, an acid cruster rager deranged and off the rails. Super raw guitar scratch riffs tearing across mad manic thrasher Bass twang with perfect punchy blown out sound, careening drums just on the right side of in-time and super sick aggro kid vocal dripping with demented energy! Channels the mutant waste of Cryptic Slaughter and Excel’s early melted Crossover Thrash sound right into the eye of their DC Hardcore, and draws from the spirits of old Heavy Metal and Hard Rock too, with little Surf  passages and jams here and there, warped from some rad dimension and psybeamed into Richmond VA. 15 minutes of far out fast-as-fukk Hardcore/Thrashcore perfection, deep fried in shitty blasting in-the-red production where the drums sound serrated and the vocal booms like a motherfucker. I don’t often throw a link to youtube on here but I had to revisit this record and it’s not on bandcamp. But who cares, it looks like it’s still available on wax – get one and hesh the fuck out! RIP Brandon Farrell.

Grave Mistake Records

Sorry State

youtube

HESITATION WOUNDS DEMO

An alkaline blast of melted Hardcore fury and Fastcore kung fu force from the US – hyper fast drumming on speed, gurning noise rocking riffs and mangled chord shuffle in ear-shredding treble extremity, vocal derision and insensitivity encased in hissing noise, tape echoes bounce like ricochets, lithe yet punchy Bass impenetrable. A perfect demo, totally overblown violence! I downloaded this thing off of TERMINAL ESCAPE years ago, and it’s remained one of my favourite Hardcore demos of all time, one that I return to again and again. Incidentally if you’re unaware of the above mentioned blog, click the link immediately and check it out. THE best tape blog ever in my humble opinion. The amount of KILLER shit on there is just insane, each post involves lots of scans of J-Cards and inserts, memories and recollections of live events from up and down the west coast, and insights into the sounds within that I wholeheartedly steal from in style and execution. The Wizard is doing the fuckin’ lords work over there. Long may he reign!

Bandcamp

THE CHISEL – ‘DECONSTRUCTIVE SURGERY’ EP

The Chisel’s first 7″, released on wax by the inestimable La Vida Es Un Mus. Gnarled, spiteful bootboy Hardcore Punk for the dark times. Come friendly bombs! Toe-cutter slashing guitar licks, lithe power bass and storming, stomping drums, angry bastard vocal, wickedly catchy and brutal UK ’82 influenced Hardcore Punk ragers whipped up in an Oi Boy lather, storming the streets, hunting for turncoats! Venomous lyrics conjure images of class crime outrage, economic famine and violent clashes in the streets, hardcase cunts and Blackpool lights, deprivation and desperation. Miserably angry but with a no-good smile plastered on it’s face. An absolutely savage 7″ – once it tastes blood and locks it’s jaws, you’ll never get the fucking thing off! Total power.

La Vida Es Un Mus Disocs

Bandcamp

FASHION CHANGE – ‘COWARD’

Sorry goregrind goobers & mincecore meatballs, but scary lo-fi murder punk is the sexy hot flavor those dang underground bandcamper kids wanna suck down this season. Hell, take a gander at Iron Lung Records/Youth Attack/ect’s latest crop of stuff & you’ll see what I mean. And when digging through the proverbial fruit bucket of similar bands you’re bound to find a supremely juicy one. Here I present this plumper:
Fashion Change blast out 10 minutes worth of grating intense Negative Approach style hardcore mixed with Flipper-infested groove with a dash of Crossed Out on this tape. Mix it with an almost hypnotic feedback & background hiss that makes it feel like you stumbled across some gross ancient hardcore demo tape made by bad people & you have a most memorable listening experience. The six songs seem longer than they are, each one having their own specific vibe. It’s not fast. But it also kind of IS in a weird way, with the almost tribal-like drums & building waves of distortion crashing like rusty cars being demolished. And after it’s over you’ll wish it kept going because it’s also extremely catchy. You won’t get out of this without listening to it at least twice. Heavy, gross, depressing, but also super fucking energetic & groovy as all hell. Track this tape down & pray to your weird Henry Winkler bedroom shrine that they put another release out some day because this rips. This feels like a 1 and done but you never know.

STREAM @ RSM

TARGETS – DEMO & ‘FIRST BLOOD’

Ultimate Hardcore Fury! One gunman from Denver, Colorado, just a half hour outside Columbine – Righteously noisy, indignant, storming Hardcore Punk on fire, snarling bloodthirsty kill music, teeth grinding negativity and minimalist psychological meltdown. A rampage through the innocent, cracked postal worker-style, with another masterfully noisy mastering job by Will Kill. The two tracks on ‘Targets’ expand on the demo’s vibe and ratchet up the white guy violence up to eleven, seething with alienation and crammed with hate chords, militant mid paced clenched fist slime Punk. Supreme!

Bandcamp

 

AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED / TOTAL FUCKING DESTRUCTION SPLIT – ‘FRONTSIDE NOSEGRIND’ EP

My favorite split 7″ from this era of Agoraphobic Nosebleed, released on Bones Brigade in 2007. An extra-ordinarily acidic collision of nihilist hysteria riffer Thrash skate Grind and broken Grind psychedelia anarchist mindbleed, with some of Florian Bertmer’s finest adorning the cover. ANb’s side features three of their very best tracks, for my money – ‘Self Detonate’s’ caustic spite could melt through a fuckin engine block, an ode to mindless drug abuse and demented knowledge-of-self set to mutant groove Thrash riffs at half speed, mid paced Hardcore skate cruise HATE and vocal just dripping in laconic indecency and unknowable disgusts. Then ‘Degenerate Liar’ and ‘Alcoholocaust’ lampoon and amuse with total Speed Metal riff feast, Thrash as fukk pre-drumkit from hell complex blast beats and tar-black lyrical causticisms, merciless witticism and sardonic inscrutability. Pete Benumb’s deranged vocal dribbling fury and the pinch-accented haggard riff playing out over the breakdown part at the close of ‘Degenerate Liar’, the long excruciating narcosis howl that beckons the second half of Self Detonate’s laughing kamikaze thermonuclear meltdown, the jazzy drum fills and details beneath the mean, mutating riff in ‘Alcoholocaust’ punching your stupid fuckin’ teeth out of your head – absolutely gnarly! Liable to rip and smash that nose right off your ugly mug (talk about fuckin’ ‘gore grind’). Then Total Fucking Destruction rip a bong, drop in all stupid crooked, bust a third eye on the coping and fall jammin’ into a free-associative grinding state of unconsciousness. ‘Last night I dreamt we destroyed the world’ unfurls a THC free-flow with drifting blast beats, warped sonic delirium and proselytizing of the inalienable truth of total PEACE, searing Bass jams with punchy yet pliable yogic blasting, overjoyed strumming, a stoned enigma under the half pipe, leading screaming and crazed into a possessed cover of The Exploited’s ‘Sid Vicious Was Innocent’. Peace Is, of course, the Victory. Some of TFD’s best shit, too, despite the brevity. Crucial 7″.

Bones Brigade Records

GAS RAG DISCOGRAPHY CASSETTE

Gas Rag’s complete discography (I think), released on cassette by the excellent Pissed Off! Records in Malaysia. Volatile, unstoppable Hardcore bulldozer shit, scummy and fucking crummy. Gas Rag’s aplomb for fist-smashing, wild rocking chords and burning simple lead lines makes their particularly filthy brand of Punk totally pissed up on cheap alcohol substitutes, leather-gloved and morally decrepit – Fuzz encrusted Swedish D Beat and mangled US Hardcore hate, stomping rager anti-art school irreverence, vicious, cruel and fukken mindless. Lickin’ slashin’ white hot Guitar sounds, mid-range Bass strangle rumble with foot-down-fast and hard drumming, storming rounding toms and nihilist aggression sleaze grunt and yell vocal. A prurient delight of minimalist Hardcore nihilism and 2 chord Rock N Roll hubris. Score.

Pissed Off! Recs

PROTOCOL – ‘BLOODSPORT’

Overdriven noisy Hardcore Punk, burly, savage and unruly. Very effects-heavy, Protocol drench their nihilist fury in dissonant echo and gloaming filth noise, full of hammering heavy handed drumming, furious string attack and reverbed to fukk vocal snarl and yell – it’s moody and fucking pissed, simplistic and powerful. There’s tempo variation and switch ups to pull the rug out and knock you straight on your arse. Breathlessly angry, noisy and aggressive shockwave Hardcore Punk. Cool.

11 PM Records