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Ultimate Disaster: For Progress... 12” (Grave Mistake Records) Richmond’s Ultimate Disaster released an excellent demo last year, but they really up the ante with For Progress…, their debut 12” on Grave Mistake Records. While there are plenty of reasons to compare Ultimate Disaster to Disclose—their heavily Discharge-inspired sound, their three-piece setup, and their strangled-sounding vocals—they don’t let that influence box them in, not so much expanding on Disclose’s sound as whittling it down to something even more elemental. It helps that Ultimate Disaster recorded at Minimum Wage Studios—the same spot as Richmond hardcore classics like Wasted Time’s Futility, Government Warning’s No Moderation, and Direct Control’s Farewell—which gives For Progress… a crispness you rarely hear on a raw punk record. Not only does the record sound huge, but also details like the furious guitar strumming really shine through and make the recording come alive. Typically, I like this sound when it’s flying off the rails, but everything feels very considered here… the drums stay locked in to the tempo, and even when something crazy happens like a paint-peeling guitar overdub, the tone of the guitar and the way it’s played feel very dialed in (there’s none of Kawakami’s trademark “nuclear rain”-style chaotic soloing). Ultimate Disaster’s riffing and songwriting is as elegant and uncluttered as a piece of Japanese calligraphy, where each brushstroke is deliberate and functional. For Progress... is also endowed with a hookiness that’s all but unparalleled for this style of music… I know I already mentioned it above, but the way Ultimate Disaster fuses building-leveling power with anthemic choruses is strongly reminiscent of Wasted Time’s Futility. This is a phenomenal hardcore punk record, and another jewel in the Richmond hardcore punk scene’s heavy crown.

Lifeless Dark: Forces of Nature’s Transformation 12” (Side Two Records) Boston’s Lifeless Dark released a killer demo tape of Sacrilege-inspired hardcore back in 2018, then took their sweet time with their vinyl debut, waiting six long years before they sprung it on the hardcore punk faithful. While Forces of Nature’s Transformation’s long gestation period might have been frustrating for fans, if that’s what it took to create an LP this killer, then it was worth it. With over 40 minutes of music, the album dwarfs the running time of most contemporary hardcore records, yet it hardly feels redundant or bloated. Ripping metallic hardcore a la Sacrilege is still at the core of Lifeless Dark’s sound, but as you might expect given the record’s ambitious scope, you really can’t dismiss them as mere Sacrilege worship. Even when Lifeless Dark sounds the most like Sacrilege, it feels like they’ve gone deeper, pulling from the early Metallica and Discharge records that clearly influenced Sacrilege (and peers like English Dogs and Varukers) rather than directly from Sacrilege themselves (the main riff in “Cryptic Remains” bears some resemblance to Metallica’s “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” for instance). And then there are entire regions of Lifeless Dark’s sound that are wholly their own, in particular what I hear as a doom metal influence that runs throughout the album. Most of the time when crusty-sounding bands play slow and heavy they’re gesturing toward Amebix, but songs like “Medusa” and “Fear No Evil” have this woozy, bluesy feel that reminds me of Candlemass or even Sleep, and the way the guitarist glides melodically over the sludgy foundation is way beyond what I’d expect from most punk records. Who knows if that’s actually what Lifeless Dark is pulling from, but whatever their inspiration, their sound is unique. The vocals, much like the music, will satisfy any member of Tam’s fan club, yet carry a distinct charisma of their own, with standout moments including the huge chorus in “The Forgotten” and the chant at the end of “Radiation Sickness.” While contemporary hardcore punk is rife with very good bands, Lifeless Dark’s ambition to deliver more puts them in a class of their own.

Putkipommi: Tuhottu Tulevaisuus 7” (Nobody 99 Records) Putkipommi (Finnish for “pipe bomb”) is a young band from Oulu, Finland. Last year when Scarecrow toured Scandinavia, Putkipommi played our show in Turku and blew us away. Who were these teenagers decked out in punk gear playing stripped-down songs that so closely recalled the early recordings of Finland’s first wave of great hardcore bands? Usman was particularly obsessed, keeping in touch with the band and ensuring that when they released their first vinyl, copies made their way to Sorry State. Tuhottu Tulevaisuus (“Destroyed Future”) is here now, and it’s a 10-song distillation of timeless punk anger and energy. I think one thing that everyone in Scarecrow really responded to about Putkipommi is that their music doesn’t sound contrived; rather than emulating someone else’s sound, they’re tapping into something real and eternal. The distinctive sounds and rhythms of the Finnish language mean that any band playing raw, Discharge-inspired hardcore is going to sound at least a little like Kaaos and Riistetyt, but Putkipommi sounds just as much like classic Swedish d-beat like Shitlickers. That’s particularly true of the drums, which are driving and groovy rather than jagged and manic. The riffs are simple and arrangements are trimmed to the bone, so when Putkipommi does something slightly unexpected—like the way the rhythm breaks in the chorus to “Elämä” or how the drums and vocals lock together on “Pyhä Sota”—it really stands out, and there are just enough of these moments on the EP to keep things fresh while ensuring the sound stays straightforward and minimal. Those of us with a particular soft spot for Finnish hardcore will especially love the gang choruses on songs like “Massamurha” and “Politikka,” when Putkipommi sounds most like their country’s forbears, but anyone who has been entranced by young punk bands like the Teen Idles or the Necros is likely to fall under their spell of these honest-to-god teenagers and their 10-song hardcore punk 7”.

X2000: Gótico Tropical 12” (Symphony of Destruction Records) France’s Symphony of Destruction brings us the debut full-length from this Swedish hardcore band fronted by a Colombian… a real international cooperative effort. Like so many other recent hardcore bands featuring Colombians (both resident and expatriate), X2000 seems to have a direct line to levels of passion and intensity that elude most bands. The snarling vocals and bruising tupa-tupa drumbeats will grab your leather jacket by the lapels and toss you right into the pit, but for me the intricately melodic lead guitar is the star of the show. The guitarist’s sound is bathed in chorus and has a strong death rock flavor, but it’s not so much the sound as the way the guitarist plays, weaving webs of sinewy melody through the rhythm section’s blunt attack. I love moments like the breakdown in “El Linaje” and the intro for “Fragmentar El Futuro” where the lead guitar really shines, but it’s not the only trick in the X2000’s playbook. “Casa Tomada” finds the band bringing down their intensity just a hair to spotlight the vocals, which reach a crescendo of demonic slather on this track. Gótico Tropical has it all… a great, original sound, powerful songwriting, and a fierce and punk as fuck performance.

Olho Seco: Botas Fuzis Capacetes 7" (Morrer Discos) The new label Morrer Discos brings us a pitch-perfect reissue of this raw hardcore monster from early 80s Brazil. While Olho Seco debuted alongside Inocentes and Cólera on 1982’s Grito Suburbano compilation LP, 1983’s Botas Fuzis Capacetes is their first stand-alone record, and if you like raw, Discharge-inspired hardcore, there’s a good chance you consider it the best record ever to come from Brazil. Olho Seco’s vocalist Fábio Sampaio ran the influential record store Punk Rock Discos and was deeply plugged into the international hardcore scene, forging connections with scenes as far away as Finland (you can see “Tampere SS” painted on his leather jacket in a photo on this record’s insert), and while the first generation or two of Discharge-inspired hardcore must have been hugely influential on Olho Seco, what strikes me most about Botas Fuzis Capacetes is how alive with discovery it feels. The a-side, “Nada,” in particular just fizzes with energy, and while its three-chord riff is almost absurdly primitive, the performance conveys a similar excitement level to Minor Threat’s first EP or Discharge’s Decontrol. It feels impossible for me to sit still while it’s playing. The two tracks on the b-side are no slouch either, with “Muito Obrigado” leaning toward the savage aggression of Shitlickers and the title track closing things out on an ever-so-slightly more tuneful, UK82-inspired note. Botas Fuzis Capacetes is a clear highlight in the history of hardcore punk, and this reissue does exactly what it should by getting out of the way and letting the record speak for itself. I don’t have an original to compare it to, but the sound is clear, loud, and powerful, and the sleeve reproduction so dead-on that it almost looks like dead stock (that pocket sleeve on thin goldenrod paper is drool-worthy). If you’re an 80s international hardcore manic, you need this one in your collection, so kudos to Morrer Discos for bringing this stylish and affordable new pressing to the punx.

Misanthropic Minds / Häpeä: Split 7” (Sewercide Records) The latest release on Canada’s Sewercide records is this international hardcore punk split EP matching one band each from the chilly northern latitudes of the North American and European continents. Misanthropic Minds is up first, and they’ve only grown more feral since 2021’s Welcome to the Homeland EP, delivering three more blasts of hardcore venom soaked in fuzz and static. The squealing guitar sound might make you think of Urban Waste (particularly on “Falling / Failing”), while the unhinged energy recalls the H100’s at their most primal. There’s literally no letup in tempo on MM’s side of this split… it’s just fast, fast, fast, with the only variation provided by the occasional rhythmic accent. This is hardcore for the hardcore, with no easy on-ramp and no concessions to the uninitiated. Oulu, Finland’s Häpeä is a perfect match for MM, with a similarly fried and aggressive sound. Thanks to the Finnish-language lyrics, occasional gang vocals, and strange intervals in the riffing, Häpeä’s sound is distinctively Finnish, with something about them that reminds me of Kaaos, but put through the ultra-hardcore meat grinder. As with Misanthropic Minds, there’s a minimalist streak in the composition (I love how the “chorus” part of the first song, “Myrkky,” doesn’t even have any lyrics) that puts the focus squarely on the wild energy of the performance. And unlike MM, Häpeä tosses a mid-paced bone to the moshers with “Kello Käy,” whose hooky riffing and gang vocals make the Kaaos comparison feel even more apt. If you like your hardcore punk wicked fast, ultra-primitive, and flying off the rails, both sides of this split are mandatory listening.

Cicada: Wicked Dream 7” (Unlawful Assembly Records) Jeff Young has already proclaimed Cicada the best hardcore band in America, and who am I to argue? For me, Cicada stands head and shoulders above so many contemporary bands because they’re so in tune with the ugliest, weirdest, most underground aspects of classic hardcore punk while still determinedly progressive, dead-set on pushing the limits of their own sound and the genre as a whole. Wicked Dream is crammed with ideas, and while five of its nine songs don’t even reach the one-minute mark, each one feels like it contains a symphony worth of music. Cicada doesn’t give ideas room to breathe and they don’t milk riffs; they get in, make their point (or ten of their points) and get the fuck out, usually within the space of seconds rather than minutes. While you hear nods to the pillars of outsider hardcore—G.I.S.M., Die Kreuzen, Cheetah Chrome Motherfuckers—Cicada is on their own trip. The main riff in the first track, “Epiphany,” strikes an uncanny balance between the tightest, most agile hardcore and woozy psychedelia, while the 51-second “Suicide Fuel” launches from another dense, agitated riff, hurling itself through some insanely brief metallic lead guitar runs and into a thrilling bass-and-drums break. The musique concrete / noise piece at the end of side A and the more metal-influenced “Much Worse” might remind you of their fellow Richmonders Public Acid for brief a moment, but it’s quickly followed up by the title track, whose ethereal lead guitar and quirky but mosh-able mid-paced riff make it one of Wicked Dream’s most memorable tracks. And there’s plenty more excitement before the free jazz pig-pile at the end of the ninth track, “Desperation Ceremony.” Despite Wicked Dream’s density, it doesn’t feel like some kind of academic math-core exercise. I love following all these little threads in their music, but Cicada weaves them into a cohesive tapestry that’s just as enthralling from a wider perspective. You can disengage with this record on a micro-level, just letting the vibes wash over you, and you’ll enjoy it just as much. Wicked Dream is just a phenomenal record, and if you want your hardcore punk to deliver all the genre’s trademark speed and intensity while still serving up something new, you’ll agree this is the cream of contemporary hardcore’s crop.

The Massacred: Nightmare Agitators 12” (Active-8 Records) After two scorching 7”s, Boston hardcore punk band the Massacred brings us their debut twelve-song LP. The Massacred’s two EPs are some of the strongest, most memorable punk records of the past several years, and anticipation was sky high for this record. As expected, it’s a total monster, but it took me a few listens to warm up to it. When I first sat down with Nightmare Agitators, I felt like the Massacred de-emphasized some of the strongest cards in their hand. One thing that sets the Massacred apart from legions of other hardcore bands is their speed and precision. They aren’t the fastest band in the world, but they may be the tightest, each note delivered with deadly precision and the bass, drums, and guitar locked together in a way that multiplies their impact exponentially. While that sound still forms the backbone of Nightmare Agitators, it’s fleshed out with more mid-paced material, and the different instrumentalists’ parts often complement one another subtly rather than remaining in rigid lock-step. There’s a lot of variation in tempo on this album, with three fully mid-paced songs and lots of other half-time sections within songs, even getting downright slow and sludgy on the intro to “Lie in Ambush.” The Massacred’s other big calling card on the EPs was their huge vocal hooks (“schizophrenic… in-saaaaaaanity!”), but those are also less prevalent on Nightmare Agitators. The chorus for “Lie in Ambush” stood out as great on first listen, but the vocals seem more submerged in the mix on Nightmare Agitators, and it took a few listens for the rest of the record’s choruses to lodge themselves in my brain. Those may sound like criticisms, but by de-emphasizing these more immediate aspects of their sound, the Massacred opens up opportunities to develop other strengths. The title track is a standout in this regard, a mid-paced song that builds tension through the verses, then goes through this wild chorus section that starts with a catchy lead guitar hook, builds to a climactic gang chant, then abruptly downshifts into a rolling tom part. It’s unexpected, but it’s my favorite part on the record. “Extermination” ends the album with another standout mid-paced track, the menacing march erupting in squeals of abstract noise guitar that scald your eardrums before settling into an eerie, phaser-drenched melody as the song fades out. As much as I love the blistering speed picking on “The Gash You Can’t Close” or “Detest,” they hit even harder as tactics employed within a more comprehensive assault. This kind of stripped-down punk often doesn’t survive the transition from 7” to 12” vinyl, but the Massacred stepped up to the challenge here, delivering a solid 25-minute full-length that not only avoids repeating itself, but is dense and imaginative enough to propel you through many repeated plays.

Mob 47: Tills Du Dör 12" (Beach Impediment Records) By now, most of you probably know the story with Tills Du Dör, but here’s a quick recap if you don’t: Stockholm, Sweden’s Mob 47 formed in 1982, dropped a stone-cold classic 7” EP in 1984 (along with some scattered cassette-only releases and compilation appearances), popped up with another 7” in 2008 that was surprisingly strong, and in 2024 they finally released their debut full-length, Tills Du Dör, to near-universal acclaim. I’ll join that chorus… this is a scorching record. Most people take pains to point out that Tills Du Dör isn’t just better than expected, or merely good for a bunch of older guys. Maybe it’s the strange path they’ve taken as a band, but both the band and the audience seem unburdened by Mob 47’s older material… it doesn’t stalk them like an albatross in the way it can for some “legacy” bands. Tills Du Dör sounds like that 1984 EP in a lot of ways, but it sounds just as much like that band with 40 more years’ experience. Mob 47 has toed this line where their legacy informs them without smothering them. Tills Du Dör has all the things that make Mob 47 great—the blistering speed, catchy riffing, impassioned politics—but the band is also tighter and the recording is certainly clearer. Mere mortals can only aspire to such supreme levels of self-awareness and actualization. No matter who made it, I think Tills Du Dör would have been lauded as one of the best hardcore punk records of 2024, so the fact that it extends the legacy of Sweden’s most legendary punk bands is merely a bonus.

Plektani: Kallitechnikés Anisychíes 12” (Cháos & Antikomformismós) Kallitechnikés Anisychíes is the debut record by this hardcore punk band from Athens, Greece, and it’s a total onslaught of top-notch käng. Musically, Plektani (ΠΛΕΚΤΑΝΗ in Greek… it’s worth having a look at the word’s definitions on Wikipedia as they’re quite evocative) reminds me a lot of Deletär, with a similar two-guitar attack and a riffing style involving left hands dishing out power chords at insane speeds and bursts of metallic leads, all delivered with total precision. While the guitars are nimble, the rhythm section is the perfect balance of agile and heavy. The vocals also give Plektani a lot of their character, the singer’s hoarse shout sounding more desperate than ferocious. The production is pitch-perfect, and I also love the artwork, which keeps a toe in the classic aesthetic while steering wide of cliches. I can’t imagine anyone not getting a buzz from songs this energetic and exciting, but folks following ever expanding threads of Totalitär’s influence will get the most out of this one.

Tiikeri: Tee Se Itse 7” (self-released) I fell in love with Turku, Finland’s Tiikeri when they released their first album, Punk Rock Pamaus!!! in 2023, and now they’re back with a new 4-song EP, Tee Se Itse, on their own Tiikeri Records. While Tiikeri’s members are active in the hardcore scene, their music takes inspiration from the more melodic side of 70s punk, both Finnish groups like Koroosio and Vaavi and UK bands like the Boys and the Buzzcocks. Tiikeri’s songs are well-constructed and melodic enough that one might classify them as power-pop, but their target audience seems to be middle-aged punk record collectors rather than casual listeners just looking for a melody they can hum and/or a rhythm they can tap their toe to. Falling so firmly in that “middle-aged record collector” demographic, it’s hard for me to imagine what Tiikeri’s music might sound like from outside it, but I just love it. I can’t understand many of the lyrics so this may be a projection, but it sounds like Tiikeri writes love songs to punk rock itself. When I listen to their music, I’m brought back to a time when punk rock was the only thing that made me feel understood, when screaming along to Screeching Weasel or the Buzzcocks or whatever band I was obsessing about at the moment was just about the most pleasure I could feel. I still listen to a ton of music (perhaps I’m always searching for that feeling), but very little of it hits me in the same as those classics. Tiikeri is an exception. The gem of these four songs is “Rokenrollia” with its chiming, Nerves / Flaming Groovies-style guitar hook that’s so classic-sounding it should appeal to anyone who loves Tom Petty or Blondie, but we punks get to keep it for ourselves. I’m sure there are plenty of people who would listen to 20 seconds of Tiikeri’s music and dismiss it as pop-punk, or be flummoxed by their cutesy imagery, but this speaks to me in some deep way that I can’t even understand, much less explain. Check it out and see if you’re in the same camp, and if you’re not, I sincerely hope you can find some music you love as much as I love this.

Rudimentary Peni: Pope Adrian 37th Psychristiatric 12” (Sealed Records) Sealed Records’ Rudimentary Peni reissue campaign arrives at Pope Adrian 37th Psychristiatric, the band’s third album from 1995, regarded by many as the strangest and most difficult record in the band’s catalog. Never having been able to locate a vinyl copy of Pope Adrian in my twenty-five years of Rudimentary Peni fandom, it’s the Rudi P record I’ve spent the least time with, and consequently I was looking forward to this opportunity to appreciate the full artwork and packaging alongside a deeper dive into its music. The lore is that Pope Adrian was conceived during one of Nick Blinko’s most severe bouts of delusion, when he believed he literally was the pontiff from the album’s title. While Blinko’s mental state clearly colors his music and artwork throughout his career, there’s something unique about the way Pope Adrian engages with the landscape Rudimentary Peni’s music inhabits. Repetition is one of the key themes on the album, and the way Pope Adrian leans on repetitive motifs makes it a unique entry in the band’s canon. There’s a looped chant of “Popus Adrianus” that runs through their entire album, not only between the songs but right through the mix, and while you can occasionally tune it out and focus on something else, it’s always there and impossible to ignore for more than a few seconds at a time. The songs themselves are also extremely repetitive, totally hostile to the musical development or resolution upon which all pop music (punk included) is based. Most songs are just one or two parts repeated over and over, with perhaps some slight improvisation on the theme, but never in any sort of clear direction. While the droning repetition might be difficult for some hardcore punk fans to acclimate to, Pope Adrian’s music is some of Rudimentary Peni’s most straightforward and catchiest. The lack of blistering tempos (the exception being “Vatican’t City Hearse,” which might actually make you think you’re listening to Death Church for a second) means the memorable riffs and melodies that made Rudimentary Peni’s early music so seminal shine even brighter here, with tracks like “Pogo Pope” and “Regicide Chaz III” being downright hum-able. But to appreciate those moments, you have to accept Rudimentary Peni’s embrace of repetition, letting go of the desire for the cathartic middle eight or breakdown that gives a song its sense of shape. In contrast, Pope Adrian is like a Dali landscape, stretching out to infinity, built on its own inscrutable logic. But despite all this talk about how strange the music is, I never find Pope Adrian difficult to listen to. It’s not like Nick Blinko is abstruse… he’s not attempting to hide what he’s saying or make it difficult for you; it’s just really fucking weird. That’s part of what you come to Rudimentary Peni for, and Pope Adrian delivers in spades. And even if the music is too out there for you to jam on the regular, the packaging on Sealed’s reissue is phenomenal, with a full-size booklet packed with large, beautifully reproduced images of some of Blinko’s most captivating illustrations.