Skip to content
New Jersey mad men offer their 3rd slice of hard wax with this pummelling new record. 8 songs of ripping hardcore punk spitting venom at the world they're forced to exist in and the social bullshit we're expected to go along with. This time round Thought Control have armed the record with a cool Oi / UK street punk number in the title track Sick & Tied Of The Talking Heads in the vein of a jacked up east coast version of Sham 69, with the same clenched jaw frustration and spitting vocal grit you expect. I don't think they're talking about the band Talking Heads but I could be wrong, Talking Heads could be giving Thought Control shit for all I know. I like the idea of that lore spreading, so tell your friends.
This is music to make you feel good about being pissed off to, like good hardcore should.
Our take: The UK label Crew Cuts Records brings us the 3rd EP from this New Jersey band, and these eight new tracks continue along the same pummeling path as their earlier records. This is basically hardcore punk with a slight street punk influence, along the lines of S.O.A., Negative Approach, Negative FX, and all the bands they inspired. Thought Control particularly reminds me of the bands from the No Way Years who leaned into those influences: Dead Stop, Violent Minds, 86 Mentality, etc. Like those bands, Thought Control has the aesthetic down pat, from the songs to the performance to the perfectly gritty recording. I particularly love the anthemic title track, the mid-paced banger that really leans into the oi! / UK82 influences. It’s a timeless sound, and Thought Control does it proud here.