Review: Overlooked Tacoma, Washington-raised metalcore icons Botch release a live album of what's being claimed as their final ever gig. Recorded at Showbox in Seattle on June 15, 2024, it was exactly 22 years to the day after their original farewell show at the same venue, so hopefully they'll continue the habit of going back on their word because they sound on this evidence like a band at the peak of their powers. 'To Our Friends in the Great White North' is exactly the kind of track that's worth getting a broken rib in a mosh pit for - aggressive music at its finest. You can hear the crowd roar with enthusiasm as they break into the mathcore jerkiness of 'Transitions from Personal to Object' and after a mid tempo intro it's not long before they're all guns blazing with guttural growl interlocking with the most ferocious rhythm section. There are moments of calm and reflection and a speech in the middle of 'Afghamistam', which conveys what a beautiful, emotional night it was. Really hope this isn't the end.
Review: While it was 2022's debut full-length God's Country that first put Oklahoma sludge metal-indebted noise rock absurdists Chat Pile on the tattered map, the four-piece had already been hard at work in the underground with their first two EPs: This Dungeon Earth and Remove Your Skin Please. Both released in 2019, the material illustrates just how fully formed and realised their anxiety-inducing, horrific soundscapes and unsettling narratives based around middle-America were from the first note. Touching on everything from the questionable sourcing of processed foods on 'Rainbow Meat' to the deeply depraved tale of a man driving aimlessly with the body of his child in the boot of his car on 'Dallas Beltway', it's rare for a band to have this much clarity with regards to their vision so early on, making it no surprise than many of these cuts still regularly make appearances during their live sets, or that demand for this earlier material continues to expand along with the group's popularity, only further elevated by 2024's sophomore triumph Cool World. Reissued by their label-home The Flenser, this compilation pressing offers both EPs one side apiece of this singular LP.
Review: Previously unreleased to the unwashed masses, What Once Was serves as a live album from the Los Angeles kings of punk rock shitheadedry The Dickies. Captured just one year on from the release of their iconic 1979 debut full-length The Incredible Shrinking Dickies, the chaotic set boasts several of the album's most quintessential bangers including 'Hideous', 'Give It Back', 'Poodle Party' and 'Waterslide', while also making rooms for their reliable batch of absurdist cover versions such as Black Sabbath's 'Paranoid', Simon & Garfunkel's 'Sound Of Silence', and of course their rendition of the 1968 children's show theme song 'Banana Splits'. Arriving more than four decades since this unhinged set was first captured, the original cover painting comes from pop-surrealist master KRK Ryden, who has previously designed artwork for the likes of Michael Jackson, Aerosmith and Tyler The Creator.
Review: Originally written shortly after Margaret Thatcher was elected Prime Minister in Britain and when Ronald Regan was in the White House, Patrik Fitzgerald 's 'Punch' - released in 1983 - offered a sharp riposte through folk punk poetry genius. What's remarkable, however, is how the lyrics have not only remained relevant, but have arguably evolved to become an even more accurate critique of power. Square the Trump caricature on the cover with the following stanza and it's clear to who he feels these words now speak to: "He's a joke figure, taking himself serious/a gravedigger, pretending he's mysterious/a harmless little creep/who keeps on telling you he's great/some madman masquerading as a head of state." The A-side is Fitzgerald's own 2021 re-recording of his original, whilst B-side sees Dead Kennedys' former lead singer Jello Biafra team up with Norwegian rock group Motorpsycho to offer their take.
Review: Released in 2020, Impenetrable Cerebral Fortress would serve as the sole full-length from Santa Cruz, California hardcore extremists Gulch. Following on from their much-adored Burning Desire To Draw Last Breath EP in 2018, the band's cult following would explode with this release, often credited as being one of the major lynchpins in the expansive revival of the hardcore scene. That being said, the material is far more feral and unhinged than most of their contemporaries; combining elements of mathcore, screamo, grindcore, D-beat and extreme metal motifs to conjure a sound utterly abrasive, unwelcoming and as the album title suggests, impenetrable. Disbanding in 2022 as was always their mission statement (everyone knows the best hardcore acts break up before getting too popular), many members remain active in the scene with bassist Mike Durrett handling guitar duties in Sunami whilst drummer Sammy Ciaramitaro serves as frontman for Drain.
Review: South London radical post-punks Italia 90's new release contains their first three EPs (2017-2019), originally released on limited cassette runs and now remastered and available on vinyl for the first time. There were only 50 copies of each EP and alongside gaining a reputation for being one of the fiercest live acts in England it helped set the hype for what became their only studio album to date so far, Living Human Treasure (2023). Some of the songs, like 'New Factory', for instance, were reworked for the album, but hearing the rougher EP cut you get more of an old school post-punk aesthetic that makes it somewhat more timeless. Elsewhere, 'Road To Hell' is a brilliant call to arms for direct action with the line: "disrupt the capital/agents of antagonism", whilst 'Against The Wall' has a spangled psychedelic lead guitar that epitomizes how brilliant they are at dialing in mind-bending tones.
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