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SCAB EATER: ‘Ultra Vires’: A relentless offering of slam-centric hardcore from one of Australia’s 
most uncompromising groups. Uncompromising not just in sound and style, but in their breakneck tour schedules, extreme DIY approach, and their absolute dedication to the underground. Completing countless circuits of Australia including locations far off the beaten track, as well as comprehensive European and South East Asian tours…. Battling immigration, far right aggressors, white nationalists, run ins with police and more…… SCAB EATER have blazed a trail through these regions, establishing themselves as one of Australia’s most vital underground groups! 
Sonically ‘Ultra Vires’ presents 9 tracks of desperate and ferocious hardcore, not out of place alongside the likes of BOSTON STRANGLER, SADIST, SICKOIDS, THE NIHILISTICS and more. However what makes this record somewhat unique to my ears is the influence of 90s and early 00s rock in the riffs. Perhaps long hours on the road blasting early SOUND GARDEN and QOTSA left a subconscious imprint on the leather jackets and chains of the group’s collective psyche, resulting in a record far more melodic and groove focused than your standard affair. Don’t get me wrong, this is a HARDCORE record first and foremost….. but there’s something else raging just below the surface……. 
Without a doubt their most fully realized offering to date, SCAB EATER members will be returning from around the globe to support the release of ‘Ultra Vires’ on Nopatience and Symphony of Destruction Records in Australian in June. DON’T MISS IT. 
Our take: Debut 12” from this Australian hardcore band that has been kicking around for a while now. Ultra Vires has been getting hype, and with good reason… it’s an intense and desperate-sounding record. Scab Eater remind of early Agnostic Front in that they write mid-paced parts that are total earworms, but when they kick into the breakneck tempos, they’re a little looser, giving those parts that dangerous, close to the edge feeling that I love. Ultra Vires wouldn’t have been out of place on Youth Attack Records; like a lot of the bands on that label, Scab Eater seem equally interested in hardcore’s power and (black) metal’s grainy textures and dark vibes. Brew yourself up a pot of black coffee, put this on, and hate the world.