In Crust We Trust: Vol 27

Kia ora, comrades. Welcome to In Crust We Trust. This regular round-up of noisy releases focuses on the harshest strains of punk, hardcore and metalpunk. Tune in for crust, d-beat, stenchcore, raw punk, noisecore, and every other Dis-charged micro-genre. Enjoy the ruckus, and as always, thanks for stopping by. Kia kaha.

A quick note:

We all bear witness to the agony of endless wars as the impact of a humanity-induced climate crisis escalates. The devastating effects of systematic oppression and late-stage capitalism show little sign of abating, and as someone who identifies as queer, the increasingly violent attacks on my community are beyond alarming.

Most days, I want to weld my laptop shut, throw my phone into a fucking well, and never step outside again. But I don’t. Because surrendering to tyrants and bigots or willfully ignoring the causal links of climate change isn’t an option anymore. The world’s burning, and I can’t do much about that. But remember, together, we can put some of those fires out.

All it takes is to step up rather than look the other way. If you’re feeling unsure or unsteady about doing that – which is entirely understandable, given nothing is without risk or potential cost nowadays – perhaps a little morale-boosting music will encourage you over the line. Who knows, right? But here’s to keeping the idea that music is a force for change alive!

Punk, metal, jazz, noise-rock… whatever gets you through. Here’s to the songs that help to bolster our strength of character, and here’s to those bands that open our hearts and spark crucial conversations.

Here’s to you too, my friend. You rock.

Thanks a million for paying another visit to ICWT.

Hugs, riffs, and ‘noise not music’ forever.

Step to Freedom – S/T

Gruff, tough, and rougher than a rhino’s nads, Step to Freedom weld the brute-force belligerence of Bolt Thrower’s In Battle There Is No Law! to the oppressive darkness of Antisect’s Out From The Void. The Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, band’s new self-titled album follows on from a trio of releases packed with fierce metallic crust, with 2019’s The Rotten Era being the best of that bunch. Step to Freedom’s latest album follows a similar ‘keep it dark, keep it mean‘ trajectory. The heavy gauge crust within crushes all challengers, and the album’s über-stench cover art mirrors the axe-wielding uproar perfectly.

Obviously, it’s a tense time for Russian punk bands and their fans. Dissent is fraught with risk, and things look dystopia-level bleak. However, at the very least, Step to Freedom’s latest album has allowed the band to purge some psychological pressure via a stack of raucous tracks. Ultimately, exorcising significant stresses is one of heavy music’s key directives, right? Emotional liberation via audio eruptions … something like that.

As usual, Step to Freedom inject traces of chugging old school thrash into their rage-driven stenchcore. (If you want a few ‘how stench?’ reference points, see the punishing salvos of Swordwielder, Fatum, Warkrusher, or Sanctum.) There are definite hooks here, too. But Step to Freedom drag those same melodies through the sewers, adding a welcomingly thick layer of crud.

Maximum filth and aggression spearheaded Step to Freedom’s previous releases, and their new album leads with the same intimidating intensity. Ferocious anger powers “Chasms of Soul”, “Control Therapy”, and “Pseudo Reality”, while the scorching “Bad Karma” sits alongside gloomier and doomier dirges like “Deadly Fortress” and “New Life Format”. Primal songs arise from the ashes of catastrophic ruin as guttural vocals and gravelled riffs careen into churning bass and drums. The breadth and depth of the monstrous epic “Revengeance Altar” underscores a crucial point; namely, that Step to Freedom’s creative strengths have never sounded stronger.

Step to Freedom serve up a grim feast with squalor and decay sitting at the heart of the meal. Their new album’s wretched atmosphere reflects a world where conflict endures as disparities increase, and the most vulnerable among us are invariably left to suffer. Step to Freedom speak of an ugly reality where misanthropy metastasizes in many of us. But here’s the good news; the band are here to drain the pus. We’re all infected with myriad ills and awash in psychic pain, but here’s your medicine. Take a double dose thrice daily – your torments will soon be trampled into dust.

(Blown Out Media)

Cancer Spreading – Deeper Down Once Again

It’s been several years since Italian stenchcore titans Cancer Spreading have unleashed a full-length release. However, as their new album, Deeper Down Once Again, confirms, the passing of time hasn’t sapped Cancer Spreading’s strength, and their tales of enmity and self-destruction remain as nihilistic as ever. Cancer Spreading’s music has grown steadily heavier over the years, with their last full-length, 2016’s Ghastly Visions, being a first-rate slab of stenchcore. Deeper Down Once Again is another mammoth-sounding release, delivering equally destructive blasts of negative noise.

Cancer Spreading’s down-tuned communiqués utilize the heaviness and rawer edge of old-school death metal, with scores of chugging riffs and guttural vocals on full display. On the crust side of the equation, you’ll hear echoes of Axegrinder, Antisect, and Deviated Instinct (tussling with Bolt Thrower and Nihilist’s influence). Some stenchcore bands dig deeper into death and doom metal, while others favour crust’s growling accent. Hefty Deeper Down Once Again tracks like “Systematic Delusion”, “Bloodsucking Maze”, and Dying Martyrs” demonstrate that Cancer Spreading often ride the line, with death metal’s weaponry and classic crust’s artillery having shared roles in bombarding your eardrums.

I’m a stenchcore junkie – through and through – and Cancer Spreading’s mix of hulking metal and putrid crust hits the sweet (albeit rotten-as-fuck) spot time and again. Deeper Down Once Again is a ten-tonne behemoth, and fans of Sanctum, Stormcrow, and Limb From Limb – or any similarly malodorous heavyweights – should secure a copy immediately.

(Future Gloom)

Geld – Currency // Castration

Every time I write about Australian band Geld, I say the same thing: the band’s fusion of off-the-chain musicianship and brain-frying creativity is phenomenal. In the past, I’ve also noted that Geld’s mix of hallucinogenic and howling hardcore sounds like Confuse covering Poison Idea covering Les Razilles Denudes covering Krömosom. Both of those statements ring true on Geld’s third full-length, Currency // Castration, which is the band’s first release for heavy-hitters Relapse Records.

Geld often wander off the expected path, but no matter how far they roam across an invariably chaotic soundscape, the band remain plugged into the nucleus of incendiary hardcore. Geld’s idiosyncratic music is as mind-expanding as it is mind-shattering, and the band’s previous inspirations – “pills, booze, weed, hate, betrayal, fear, love, depression, denial…” – still boil in Currency //Castration‘s schizophrenic core.

The album’s throat-gripping tracks underline Geld’s skill at delivering blistering fast – and, in this case, often more metal-edged – hardcore. At the same time, Geld’s adept talent for twisting psychedelic weirdness around hardcore’s bleeding-raw pyrotechnics is more than evident on Currency //Castration‘s acid-spiked tracks. The album is unhinged and violent, conjuring fevered visions, with the deranged vocals and fuzzed-out instrumentation colliding in a psy-ops maelstrom.

Currency // Castration is as weird and wild as Geld’s previous releases. The album’s paranoiac tracks mix adrenaline-fuelled experimentalism with gut-punching hardcore, resulting in another dimension-splitting triumph. Once again, Geld deliver the best in demented psych-punk.

“Japanese hardcore fed through the broken brain of someone on a years-long Rrröööaaarrr-era Voivod spin-out” – sounds about right.

(Relapse Records)

Life Expectancy – Decline

Life Expectancy’s 10-track Decline cassette is a brain-twisting beast. Easily one of 2023’s most challenging (i.e. best) punk releases, Life Expectancy mixes G.I.S.M.’s corrosiveness with Anti Cimex’s obnoxiousness and drowns the result in a boiling vat of acid. Recorded in a ‘secret bedsit somewhere around the vital organs of England’, Life Expectancy’s blown-out hardcore is awash with radioactive static and lashed by copious amounts of industrial noise. Speed-injected songs like “Eggz”, “Scalped”, and “Born Rotten” aren’t remotely listener-friendly – nor are any of Decline‘s other air-raid-siren tracks – but therein lies the album’s strength.

Life Expectancy’s songs are demanding, and when was the last time a band genuinely tested your mettle? The trial is the reward right here. Punk is supposed to be rebellious – and sonically, Decline is a riot. Life Expectancy’s music is both blowtorch-like in its intensity and as cold as a corpse on a slab. (And it’s filthy as Fungus the Bogeyman’s kecks, to boot). Best of all, there’s a concussive dissonance here where vortex-like tracks trigger disordered sensations, disorientating one minute and nauseating the next. Fucking horrible, fucking brilliant, get amongst it.

(Iron Lung Records)

Fairytale – Shooting Star

New York City outfit Fairytale’s Shooting Star LP offers the best of both worlds. Recorded by Joe Nelson at D4MT Labs, you get a taste of the off-kilter artistry of D4MT co-conspirators like Tower 7, Straw Man Army, or Kaleidoscope, which means Fairytale’s creative potion has a more lingering aftertaste. That’s most audible in Fairytale singer Lulu Landolfi’s vocal range, which runs from abject howls to an almost Siouxsie Sioux-esque etherealness. Squat crust legends Nausea have been mentioned as a comparison, too, both vocally and musically, and parts of Fairytale’s sound bear hallmarks of Nausea’s influence.

Shooting Star tracks “Bluer Skies”, “Submerged in Water”, and “Possible to Grow” are jam-packed with energy, stampeding like a herd of rabid wargs. The lacerating guitars and crashing drums on “Brick Flowers” and “Shooting Star” are also committed to pursuing pure sonic savagery. However, for all of Shooting Star’s mayhemic moments – of which there are many – the album’s real magic is revealed the more (and the closer) you listen as the nuance and catharsis deepen. Shooting Star is a step up from Fairytale’s self-titled 2021 EP, which, to be honest, was a certified orc-slayer too. Fittingly, Shooting Star is all-fire.

(Toxic State Records, Quality Control HQ)

Rat Cage – Savage Visions

“Despite all my rage, I’m still just a rat in a cage”… amirite? Who knows if UK band Rat Cage’s head-honcho B.Suddaby is a secret Pumpkins fan, but he probably agrees with Billy Corgan on one point – chiefly, “the world is a vampire, sent to drain”.

Folks have been raving about Rat Cage for some time, but with additional musicians on board and a darker yet often catchier cadence, the band’s Savage Visions LP is their best work yet. Previous Rat Cage releases have seen the band mixing Burning Spirits-like sizzlers with d-beat thumpers and UK82 wallopers. But Savage Visions goes all in on sonic annihilation, focusing on full-bore, mangel-styled rippers.

Of course, like everywhere else, the UK is falling apart at the seams, with a political circus and industrial-scale social problems providing abundant fuel for Rat Cage’s creative engine. White-knuckle tracks like “Expensive Bombs”, “Scapegoats Of Fear”, “Sinister Town”, and “Spitting On The Ceiling” mix UK hardcore’s bolshiness with Scandi punk’s ferociousness, resulting in some of the hardest and most biting tracks Rat Cage have released thus far. All of the rapid-fire noise constructs a bastion of resistance and resolve. Alone you might falter, but together we are legion, and with albums like Savage Visions to galvanize our defiance, who knows what we can overcome or, more importantly, survive.

(La Vida Es Un Mus)

Bloody Flag – S/T

The self-titled debut from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania crew Bloody Flag is the latest release from the always-interesting North Carolina label Bunker Punks. The five chainsawing tracks on Bloody Flag’s first release stick to the Disclose/Disbones/Disaster arc of raging d-beat. However, that wicked-looking goat on the cover of Bloody Flag’s cacophonous cassette is also a nod to our lord and saviour Hideki Kawakami’s harsher noise project, Goatworshipper.

Bloody Flag’s debut is a triumph of ear-piercing noise. Admittedly, all the acidic fuzz and blown-out distortion is also dissonant shitshow, and you might find Bloody Flag’s searing abrasiveness entirely off-putting. Of course, it’s the aesthetic intensity of tracks like “Slaughters”, “Gleaming Noxious”, or the noise-fucked “Temporal Mask” that secure their victory. Bloody Flag’s death-dealing debut is supposed to hurt. It’s supposed to leave a mark. And it’s supposed to burn like a UTI. In six months, Bloody Flag’s corrosive EP will be sitting high on my end-of-year list – guaranteed.

(Bunker Punks)

Hez – Panamaniacs

A couple of years ago, Panamanian band Hez’s Guerra Interior 7″ grabbed a lot of well-deserved attention. The self-appointed ‘kings of chaos and destruction’ deal in super-dark hardcore where pogo-punching (i.e. 1-2, 1-2 percussion) beats the living daylights out of raw punk. Add in echo-distorted vocals, jagged bass, and scrappy but sharp guitars, and you get a whirlwind sound that’s as catchy as genital warts.

Hez’s latest release, Panamaniacs, injects more guitar pedal action and squealing synth into the band’s sound. The prime attraction here is listening to Hez unleash hell on tracks like “Confusión (Destrucción)”, “Miseria”, or “Desconectado” whilst simultaneously ensuring there are hooks to grab (and hold) your attention. Even better, Hez have dialled up their already impressive energy levels, with Panamaniacs‘ tracks bursting with pressure-keg punk. Rather than easing off the gas, Hez are getting more in your face as they age. The band’s latest tracks are their noisiest, nastiest, and most passionate sounding yet.

More A-grade Latin American punk that proves, once again, that there’s plenty of excellent noise lurking just over the horizon.

(Discos Enfermos)

Imploders – S/T

The self-titled 12″ from Toronto crew Imploders holds fast to a sonic course that taps into the primordial potency of early 80s hardcore. There’s not an ounce of fat on Imploders full-length debut, with lean and mean scorchers like “Scared Stupid”, “Pest Control”, and “Piss it all Away” featuring spitting vocals and shrapnel-sharp (and downright Ginn-worthy) riffs. Everything here is #olddog approved; see Damaged, Group Sex, and Vicious Circle. Think – a baseball bat to the forehead. Or an out-of-control basement show. Think – the real fucking deal. With zero affectations. Imploders’ pummelling punk threads muscular melodies into tight (but somehow still ragingly loose) tracks that’ll get you through the daily grind. Everything that killer cover art for Imploders’ latest release brings to mind is here. Some things are eternal, like the definitive fist-raising tropes of North American hardcore. Imploders drink from that well, time and again.

(Static Shock Records, Neon Taste Records)

Electric Chair – The Beat Sessions Vol 11

Shout Recordings’ Beat Sessions feature an ever-growing list of great bands (see Impalers, Public Acid, Warthog and more) banging out live sessions in record time. Shout’s ‘reclusive production savant’, Mike Kriebel, handles the studio bells and whistles on Electric Chair’s recent session, leaving the band to get on with what they do best; delivering exhilarating track after exhilarating track. The Beat Sessions series aims to capture bands in the heat of battle, firing on all cylinders, which Vol 11 does exceptionally well.

Electric Chair are at their redlining best here, and if you’re a fan of the band’s Act Of Aggression album or their earlier EPs, you’ll no doubt approve of the frantic/frenzied happenings and the blood-on-the-floor sound of this live session. The Beat Sessions Vol 11 is another breathless onslaught from Electric Chair that’ll leave you craving more adrenaline-charged action. (FYI, Vol 11 is only 9 minutes long, making repeated plays a dead cert.)

(Shout Recordings)

Entry – Exit Interview

Another month, another red-hot release from Convulse Records. This time it’s the turn of Los Angeles band Entry, whose blisteringly Exit Interview EP follows on from their Detriment LP (which was released by big guns Southern Lord). Entry pluck influences from a host of renowned bands – see Discharge, Tragedy, Minor Threat, Fugazi, (insert your pick right here) – before distilling their favourite elements from each into a sizzling concoction. Exit Interview‘s tracks are 60-second blasts of stripped-down, hyperventilating hardcore, with Entry’s vocalist, Sara G, howling about injustices aplenty. Crunchy, concise, and ferocious, Exit Interview‘s tracks are purpose-built for those who believe in the unifying power of punk.

(Convulse Records)

B.L.I.S.S. – Ignorance is​.​.​. B​.​L​.​I​.​S​.​S.

Hey, ho, another banger from PDX-ville. Two-piece B.L.I.S.S. (aka Blindly Led Into Systemic Slaughter) are here with their Ignorance is​.​.​. B​.​L​.​I​.​S​.​S. debut. Of course, ignorance sounds like bliss, and who doesn’t want to take a break from all that doom-scrolling, but hiding our heads in the sand won’t solve the issues plaguing the environment or society. We live in a world assailed by problems, and B​.​L​.​I​.​S​.​S. dig into a raft of hot-button issues; see police brutality, racism, deprivation, a loss of hope, and the brutal trials in life that many endure. Musically, B​.​L​.​I​.​S​.​S.’ steel-clad d-beat features plenty of stenchcore’s rumble and stink, and if you enjoy the flavour of red-raw Pacific Northwest hardcore, then the band’s even-song debut will more than state your appetite.

(Self-released)

Decommand – Exit Wounds

Sledgehammering New York band Decommand deserves due credit for maximizing the heaviness of their pulverizing five-song EP, Exit Wounds. I’d love to tell you more about Decommand, but bio details are scant, although, no doubt, one of you cool NYC cats knows the scoop. In any case, we’re not here to fluff individual egos. It’s more than enough to tell you that Exit Wounds tracks like “Falling From The Sky”, “Broken Left Hand”, and “Blast Radius” are legit head-splitters, packed to the rafters with brutal raw punk riffs and barking vocals that are far heavier than the standard fare. Scores of obscure releases are uploaded to Bandcamp daily, and the majority get lost in all the noise. Trust me; you’ll not want to overlook this colossus. Decommand are heavy as Hell… in every sense.

(Black Earth Industries)

Thatcher’s Snatch – White Collar Man

Naarm (Melbourne)-based cheeky chaps Thatcher’s Snatch are back with more UK82 hooliganism on their White Collar Man 7″ (out via the always on-point Australian label Hardcore Victim). Thatcher’s Snatch’s new cider-fuelled tracks are a two-fingered salute to ye olde days of UK street punk when labels like Riot City, Clay Records, and No Future sold gazillions of records to hordes of unwashed guttersnipes. With members drawn from similarly ill-mannered outfits like Blockade, Nö Class, Reaper, and Conniption, Thatcher’s Snatch’s put their deep knowledge – and dare I say, their profound love – of classic boots and braces punk to excellent use on White Collar Man. Tune in for more unruly mischief-making.

(Hardcore Victim)

Tàrrega 91′ – Fill De La Merda

I completely missed Spanish band Tàrrega 91’s Fill De La Merda EP when it was self-released in 2022. Thankfully, UK label La Vida Es Un Mus has recently re-issued Tàrrega 91’s debut on 7″, thus alerting me to its existence. La Vida Es Un Mus suggests (and I wholeheartedly agree) that Tàrrega 91′ wouldn’t sound out of place on classic punk compilations like Maximumrocknroll’s Welcome to 1984 or R Radical Records’ International P.E.A.C.E. Benefit. Tàrrega 91’s stripped-down sound forgoes any adornments, with the instinctual punch of early 80s hardcore sitting front and centre. Fill De La Merda transports you to an overcrowded Berlin squat, surrounded by a sea of sweaty rabble-rousers, with Tàrrega 91′ on stage and upping the heat and energy with every passing second. Fill De La Merda is solid as a rock; short, sharp, and packed with spiky hooks.

(La Vida Es Un Mus)

Distrust – Under the Knife

Five-piece crusties Distrust reside in El Salvador’s capital San Salvador. Abundant social tensions underpin Distrust’s first full-length, Under the Knife, with the album’s rough-hewn tracks emphasizing the diehard DIY ethos inherent in plenty of Central American hardcore. It’s not about audio fidelity – it’s about raw fucking honesty – and it’s always great to hear a band like Distrust filtering hardcore’s influences through their own cultural lens. A lot of crust bands end up favouring burliness over filthiness, and admittedly, it’s often a tricky balancing act. Distrust’s primitive chug ‘n’ churn is encrusted with multiple layers of grit and dirt, but it’s also shot through with sizzling solos and features thundering drums and throat-slit growls. Under the Knife‘s tracks burn like battery acid and, for all their crudeness, still hit like a battering ram. If you like it ugly and love it raw, Under the Knife awaits.

(Self-released)

Appäratus – From…To the Land of the Dead

The fifth track on Malaysian band Appäratus’ From…To the Land of the Dead EP is a cover of Swedish band Bombanfall’s “Mot En Strålande Framtid”. Bombanfall’s influence far outstrips their output, with the band’s sole release being their classic 1987 EP, Åsiktsfrihet. Bombanfall’s unvarnished råpunk has consciously (or unconsciously) inspired scores of contemporary bands, and while Appäratus are a 100% South East Asian band, their music is 100% powered by vintage Scandinavian hardcore. Like the band’s previous releases, From…To the Land of the Dead‘s songs are drenched in distortion. However, while filthy crust coats Appäratus’ songs, their music is also produced incredibly well, meaning the barbs within are wickedly jagged, the drums hit hard, and there’s plenty of muscle to Appäratus’ tracks. From…To the Land of the Dead is bleeding raw, but Appäratus will still kick your teeth in.

(Self-released)

Tystvar – S/T

I don’t know why London, UK, outfit Tystvar called it quits, but the group’s demise has stopped the band from recently remastering and re-releasing their self-titled 2021 demo. Whoever tinkered with version #2 of Tystvar’s 14-song demo should be congratulated because the d-beaten raw punk within sounds notably crustier and gnarlier than before. Don’t get me wrong, Tystvar’s original demo will suit your needs if you’re looking for ear-piercing punk, but version #2 is significantly weightier. A good way to explain it would be that version #1 of Tystvar’s demo resembles Fight Back-era Discharge, while version #2 evokes Discharge’s denser and heavier work. It’s a shame Tystvar broke up, given how good version #2 of their demo sounds. Still, here’s hoping the musicians involved learned some valuable creative lessons to apply to future endeavours.

(Self-released)

Guff – Frontal Lobe Fuckyfuck

Norwegian hardcore band Guff’s third release, Frontal Lobe Fuckyfuck, sounds exactly like a recording with the words ‘Fuckyfuck’ in the title should sound like.(It also features the irreverence that a band named after a particularly unpleasant fart would include.) You get maxed-out blasts of reverb-drenched hardcore and plenty of troglodyte punk. Plus, the anxious, scab-picking undertone here will leave a nasty rash. Pummeling is the keyword throughout, but there are subtle variances too. Guff go super-hard on tracks like “Stay Vigilant” and “Braincell Sacrifice”, while “Too Much” features an undercurrent of bass-driven post-punk. Elsewhere, the more-evil-than-evil riffage and venomous vocals of “Manlyman” hark back to black metal’s original Scandi sorcerors. Guff’s fucky-fuck ways are fuckin’ fun.

(Sjakk Matt Plater)

Demolishing Demos

Below are a bunch of demos that caught my tinnitus-ravaged ear recently. I’ve kept the blurbs short ‘n’ sweet so that I can cram in a little more noise. Thanks for visiting ICWT. Fingers crossed, I’ll see you next month. Be excellent to one another.

Dust Collector – Demo 2023

I LOVED Dust Collector’s self-titled 2022 EP, and the Los Angeles band’s 7-song Demo 2023 is equally adorbs. Dust Collector feed Disorder’s Under The Scalpel Blade into the maw of Confuse’s Spending Loud Night, and the resulting uproar is a mega-distorted (but pogo-friendly) display of primitive punk. Raw punk nerds take note; another filthy gem in Dust Collector’s noisecore crown.

(Self-released)

Scäretactic – S/T

Crank the volume, and the pressure wave from Scäretactic’s self-titled demo will pretty much burst your eardrums. The North Carolina band hurl bruising d-beat and garbage dump crust onto a raw punk bonfire. Full-throated, fucking filthy, and obnoxiously lo-fi –– ✔, ✔, ✔.

(Subsidiary Technology Industry Electronics)

Zeal – Demonstration 2022

Pro tip: you should always sit up and take notice when Canadian label Runstate Tapes’ name is attached to a release – see Zeal’s Demonstration 2022 cassette. The Ottawa band’s “Svart Parad-esque crust” is a concussive brew of king-hit riffs, bellowing vocals, and an always-be-mangling tempo. Awesome stuff!

(Runstate Tapes)

Flask – Demo

Hardcore duo Flask call Duval County, Florida home. The band features members from Exaltarist, Unregistered Weapon, and Manifest In Filth (the latter having recently released an EP). Fidelity-wise, Flask’s self-titled demo is vicious and viscous, all distorted vocals and filth-choked riffs crawling through a lo-fi swamp.

(Dark Image Records, Bellicose Records)

MÄÄRÄYS – Demo

My Last Rites comrade Andrew Edmonds messaged me about the recent demo from Chiang Mai-based four-piece MÄÄRÄYS. (FYI, if you enjoy the range of music that ICWT covers, you’ll likely dig Edmonds’ ongoing Blast Rites column at Last Rites, which spotlights recent grindcore releases.) MÄÄRÄYS features members from Thailand, Finland and the US. The band pump out thickset crustcore and their brief demo is driven by vocalist Alisa’s emotive howls and growls as much as the iron-clad riffs within. Passionate, political, and punchy. Everything you want in a demo.

(Self-released)

Zelta Laiki – Demo

Every song off the self-titled demo from the Swedish band Zelta Laiki would sit comfortably on a global compilation of vintage hardcore. The instinctive primitivism of hardcore’s earliest years is all here, with Zelta Laiki’s self-stated “International Hardcore Attack” backed up by songs sung in Russian, Spanish, Polish, Danish, Italian, and more. See within for raging songs executed with raw punk’s gusto and plenty of d-beat oomph.

(Self-released)

Organ-ism – Demostración 2023

The three tracks on Organ-ism’s Demostración 2023 are a trailer for the band’s upcoming 7″. The Milwaukee, Wisconsin band might dwell in the Midwest, but there’s a lot about Organ-ism’s music that sounds like it could have emerged from Bogotá, Colombia’s famed Rat Trap collective. Demostración 2023 follows on from Organ-ism’s excellent 2022 EP, Naci Muerto, and much like that release, Demostración 2023 features blistering d-beat and hardcore played at warp-speed with plenty of neck-wrenching rhythmic swerves within.

(Unlawful Assembly)

MEM//BRANE – Demo

The LGBTQ+ community is currently under attack like never before. In the US, state and county legislatures have introduced close to 500 (and counting) anti-LGBTQ+ bills in 2023 alone. Trans people are the focus of much of that legislation and are the targets of endless political and personal abuse. The impact of all that bigotry is top of mind for Bellingham, Washington, band MEM//BRANE. The group’s visceral 2023 demo captures punk’s true spirit. It’s a riotous call to arms urging listeners to question authority and challenge prejudice in an era blighted by record levels of online and in-person attacks.

MEM//BRANE’s sound is constructed from heavyweight d-beat and crust, and you can look to the best song here, “No Satiation”, to witness the band’s most vital attributes in action. MEM//BRANE exemplify punk rock’s eternal mission; to provide shelter for the vulnerable, to speak truth to power, and to offer catharsis and liberation via deafening music.

(Self-released)

Crone – Demo

Crone’s demo starts with a little acoustic action, which soon devolves into a pool of noise. Then, half a dozen songs later, the Floridian band’s demo ends with another dollop of noisenik action. In between, Crone dish out abrasive raw punk, which features nail-on-a-chalkboard vocals that run from shrieks to barks to ghoulish growls. Crone’s butchering tone mutilates their songs with abundant glee, and if there’s any justice in this world, some red-hot label will pick up Crone’s demo for a wider release.

(Self-released)

Posted by Craig Hayes

Old man from Aotearoa New Zealand. I write about dadcrust for d-beat dorks, raw punk nerds, and metal dweebs.

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