Featured Releases: March 31, 2025

Puñal: Buscando La Muerte 12” (La Vida Es Un Mus) I was just writing about how Lifeless Dark’s debut vinyl arrived so long after their demo, but Mallorca’s Puñal took even longer, waiting seven years between their tape and their first wax. However, I imagine most of you, like me, will hear Puñal for the first time on Buscando La Muerte (“Searching for Death”). What you’ll find is a stripped-down punk record with a lean, vicious approach and a crystalline recording that hits with maximum impact. I’m reminded of the mid-period records from higher-profile bands like G.B.H. and the Exploited who, as they grew in popularity, developed as players and saw their studio budgets rise, yet never wavered from their desire to make punk rock that’s as simple and direct as possible. Certainly if you love records like Troops of Tomorrow and Let’s Start a War, then tracks like “J****o Personaje” and “Carrera Criminal” are going to be right in your sweet spot. While most of Buscando La Muerte is in this vein, Puñal spreads out a little on the two tracks that bookend the record, with opener “Odio” bringing a more anthemic sound that has shades of Eskorbuto, while the closer “Jipis” incorporates some hard rock riffage and a longer, slow-burn intro. I should also mention Puñal’s vocalist is super charismatic, his tone an evil-sounding snarl with a side of Johnny Rotten sneer. There’s no reinventing the wheel here, but there’s more than enough power and passion here to elevate Puñal well above the also-rans.

Grand Scheme: EP 7” (11PM Records) 11PM brings us the second 7” from this DC band with a strong NYHC influence. Grand Scheme is adept at playing several different styles within the NYHC / straight edge milieu, with “Think Twice” kicking off the record with a blistering thrill ride of Straight Ahead-style rippage, “Counter Culture” and “Click Buy Consume” sounding like outtakes from the New Breed compilation, “Outlook” leaning toward more melodic youth crew a la In My Eyes, and “Marketing Budget” wrapping up the EP with a heavier take on youth crew a la Floorpunch. Grand Scheme also reminds me of their hometown heroes 86 Mentality on “Black Blox,” which has a driving beat and a chorus where the vocals lock in with the drums playing big, dramatic punches, which I’m always a sucker for. While all these styles are a little different, Grand Scheme is adept at all of them and makes them sound cohesive, aided by an excellent recording that’s clear but with the perfect amount of grit. A total ripper, and pretty much exactly what you want from a retro-style 7-song hardcore EP.

ROGO: In Un Mundo Senza Violenza 12” (Symphony of Destruction Records) ROGO is from Rome, Italy, features former members of Iron Lung Records band Sect Mark, and plays a dark and nightmare-ish style of hardcore punk. The songs are built around propulsive pogo beats and catchy, off-kilter riffing that reminds me of Hoax, but with a kind of overloaded mainframe / Bladerunner-type production full of digital distortion that reminds me of A.I.D.S. and L.O.T.I.O.N. (both of whom, like ROGO, spell their names in all capitals). The label’s blurb mentions Mecht Mensch and United Mutation as points of reference, and while I don’t think ROGO sounds particularly like either of them, they share a similar quality of ominous darkness that can turn twisted and psychedelic. The production on In Un Mundo Senza Violenza is both in the red and in your face, and it really doesn’t let up in intensity for the entire record, with both slower, stomper tempo tracks like “Salvador Blanco” and Give Notice of Nightmare-style blazers like “La Tua Condanna” operating at full intensity. If you’re looking to get pummeled, this will definitely do the trick.

Dumbells: Up Late with Dumbells 12” (Mind Meld Records) Total Punk Records offshoot Mind Meld brings us the debut vinyl from Sydney, Australia’s Dumbells. I gotta say, Up Late with Dumbells feels like a pretty special record, even for someone like me to doesn’t listen to a lot of melodic indie rock-type stuff in this vein. When I first listened to the record, it reminded me of the handful of 90s indie rock touchstones I really love, like Pavement’s Slanted and Enchanted, Guided by Voices’ Alien Lanes, and Sebadoh’s Bakesale. As with those bands, Dumbells make a melodic jangle that sounds like the Byrds and Big Star filtered through REM and sprinkled with a pinch of classic rock absorbed from a childhood spent riding around in the back of mom and dad’s minivan. The hooks are uniformly big, whether the song has a stripped-back punky rhythm a la the Number Ones (see “Seeds” and “Bubbles”) or something gentler and/or more complex. Up Late with Dumbells sounds fucking great too, with crisp tones assembled into an imposing wall of sound that gives these songs a psychedelic depth… bands used to need a recording budget in the tens of thousands of dollars to sound this good. While Up Late with the Dumbells is meaty enough for a track-by-track analysis, I’ll keep it short and just say that if you’re looking for an ambitious, multi-faceted indie rock record with punk energy and concision, I strongly recommend checking this out.

Private Lives: Salt of the Earth 12” (Feel It Records) Feel It Records brings us the second album from Montreal’s Private Lives, whose energetic and melodic sound could be classified either as punky power-pop or power-pop-y punk. Private Lives’ vocalist sounds a lot like Kathleen Hannah to me, with a sneering delivery that can take a sturdy melody and imbue it with enough charisma to make it leap out of the mix. And while the music’s presentation is lean and energetic, there’s a studied quality to the songwriting and arrangement, with the band building and releasing tension skilfully. They have a habit of starting songs with simple, four-on-the-floor drumbeats and building toward more density and complexity in the chorus, and when the central hooks arrive on “Feel Like Anything” or “Dealer’s Choice” the feeling is exhilarating. Private Lives’ guitarist gets in just as many good shots as the vocalist, too, whether it’s with more delicate-sounding riffs like the Tom Petty-ish “Wrong Again” or chunky blocks of power chords (see “Disconnected,” which reminds me of the Elastica track of the same name, which of course famously ripped off Wire’s “Three Girl Rhumba”). This adept fusion of pop hooks and garage rock grit makes Salt of the Earth tough to dislike.

Prison Affair: Demo IV 7” (Under the Gun Records) It’s been a while since I’ve checked in with Barcelona’s Prison Affair, but not much has changed on Demo IV, which features the same warped, Coneheads-inspired egg punk I remember from their previous records. Prison Affair has become a hugely popular band, and we sell their records by the bucketful here at Sorry State. I find this interesting because, while most bands that reach Prison Affair’s level of popularity have charismatic and singalong-ready vocals, Prison Affair’s sound is murky and the vocals are usually bathed in effects and buried at the bottom of a dense and chaotic mix. That’s still the case with Demo IV, but god damn those riffs sure are catchy. Actually, while listening to Demo IV, I had the revelation that these are basically rockabilly songs, centered on shuffle beats and twangy guitar hooks, but wrapped in that distinctive egg punk-style production that makes you feel like you’re trapped in an episode of Spongebob Squarepants. The production style is clearly based on the Coneheads template, but the songwriting here is totally different and very much Prison Affair’s own thing. I know a lot of people totally write off this style of music, but I’m a firm believer in the wisdom of the crowd, and the numbers don’t lie… Prison Affair has something here, and it’s apparent on Demo IV.