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Acute from Aichi, Japan are back with 6 new, inventive tracks of unchained hardcore punk. Those familiar with the 2012 "Murder Notice" EP will be ready for this extra dimensional musical assault.
Our take: New six-song, 45rpm 12” from this Japanese hardcore band that has been kicking around for at least a decade now. The tracks remind me of back in the early 2000s when Hardcore Holocaust was importing every title on Blood Sucker Records and I was buying as many of them as I could afford. A lot of it was ripping, but some of it was off the wall, especially to a young person who just wanted everything to rage at maximum capacity all the time. Acute can rage, but they have that oddball quality that I love about so many Japanese hardcore bands. These six tracks are full of quirky rhythms and changes, odd and unexpected vocal performances (a la what Crow was doing on some of their later records on Prank), and interesting production touches such as haunting backing vocals lurking low in the mix. While it’s not as confrontationally eclectic as something like Paintbox’s Trip, Trance, & Traveling, it’s on the quirkier end of Japanese hardcore. However, if you’re a fan of that style I’d check this out.