HEKTIKS

I used to make a point of highlighting blown out guitars and bombastic distortion every Monday. Listening to HEKTIKS.....I kinda think I should get back into the habit. Can't really think of a better way to put this shit life into perspective than the complete destruction of your senses. 

OBLITERATION

DEHIDRATÁLT FEJEK

 

You remember twenty-ish years ago when EDDY CURRENT SUPPRESSION RING dropped in from heaven and changed the way a (punk) generation of hardcore (punk) listeners approached listening to blatantly simply and simply brilliant punk music? Well, DEHIDRATÁLT FEJEK are like that but they are from Budapest and the sounds owe as much to awkward UK post punk the indescribable intersection of dark wave and '80s college/alt as they do to '10s NWI freak punk and/or NEON PISS. Essentially what I'm saying is that DEHIDRATÁLT FEJEK, much like EDDY CURRENT SUPPRESSION RING, sound like a thing that you already love and feel connected to.....before you even realize it. "Térkövezett Hala'l" is perhaps the single best example, but literally every track on this tape hits and Szégyen Kazetták wins again. 

GONDOK

PEACE VAULTS

 

It's a cool thing when a homie hands you a few tapes in a taqueria on Mission Street...it's especially cool when every. single. one. of those tapes is a straight killer. Prisoners Of Time is one of those straight killers. UK anarcho, modern DIY goth and '90s dorm experimentation (they gloriously clash with raw bleak metal by way of screamo) vocals and vibes that take me back to "discovering" alternative goth/alt bands in 1980s Oklahoma. PEACE VAULTS hit that way, and if you know what I mean when I talk about them....I hope you know what I actually mean. "The Young Kite" deserves a very (very) special place in your rotation.   

PRISONERS OF TIME

AUFLAGE 100

 

What a.....what a sweet collection of songs. You could really stop listening after the opening track from GHOST AMBULANCE and feel satisfied - one of the most innocent and sincere love songs I can remember hearing. What follows is a perfectly curated mix of '90s proto-shoegaze and harmlessly mellow indie cuts from TRAUMA GLOW, MANIC YOUTH, COMBAT BEACH, LAUNDROMAT CHICKS, a surprisingly addictive groover by SWELLE and an airy epic from SAKURA.....basically a grip of modern Austrian bands I would never have crossed paths with if I didn't have a well connected pal who likes to meets for burritos on occasion. He says "you're welcome."

AUFLAGE 100

PRIMITIVE

 

Sister band of the equally uhhhhh....primitive DENIM posted a few months back. PRIMITIVE (and I dare say there are fewer bands more aptly named) dish out six minutes of utterly ignorant Oi! that's more than a little (and very intentionally) rough around the edges. Say what you will, but when you want to turn it off and just stomp around a bit....well, this shit hits the spot. 

PIGS FOR SLAUGHTER

BACKYARD

 

A savage dose of old school primitive grind/crust worshipping at dual altars. West Bay Doomryderz and CROSSED OUT. Dank violence and sonic misanthropy. This is beyond an homage, BACKYARD are lighting the way with a fire from the old/er guard....six minutes of pure disgust. 

LOWER INCOME DRESS CODE

DENIM

 

What happens when smart punks play ignorant Oi!? DIY mutants have been answering this question (repeatedly) for a solid decade and if they don't stop soon I might start shaving my head. Wait - I already do. Might shave my beard but also probably won't do that....but I might start listening to skinhead music with some (more) frequency. Because DENIM do the thing that so many "traditional" skinhead bands don't seem to be able to pull off - DENIM do the thing that smart punks do when they play skinhead music; they make the shit sound punk. Knuckle dragging skinhead music with a knuckle dragging hardcore sounding singer? I'm fukkn here for it, punk.

NO REMORSE • SKIMASK JUSTICE

.....and I need to clarify: "Ignorant," "Knuckle Dragging" and "Skinhead" are all terms of endearment in the context of this post. These descriptors are meant to contextualize the sounds, not the caliber or qualities of the people making them...

C.A.M.O.

 

Remember the early 2010s when it seemed like every raw punk and their distortion-damaged cousin started making hard driving DIY goth punk? It was a magical era to be sure - a (brief) blip in time when FUNERAL PARADE grabbed everyone by the throat and I had an epic drive to Portland. VAASKA gave way to DESKONOCIDOS and every DBeat show had a band with lots of delay pedals on the bill. You see, C.A.M.O. isn't just a sound - C.A.M.O. is a fucking moment. If you missed it (and there's no shame whatsoever if you did), that moment is here now. Live it with me. 

COMBATIVE ANTHEMS MOTIVATE OUTCRY

OPIOD CRISIS

 

This is the kind os post that could end up as one declarative sentence or a stream of drool and babble while I fall over myself trying to explain and/or define every nuance - logically it will end up somewhere in the middle but the point will be the same: Do. Not. Skip. This. There's something in the water in Vienna these days, and there are some kids there who rival 2000s Boston in their ability to take a thing, emulate it, and make it their own. First it was BACKYARD, who worshipped at the altar of PLUTO/NO LESS/DOOMRYDERZ. Then I heard TONAL SHIFT and I couldn't stop thinking about that show in Pomona a lifetime ago (mostly TOTAL FURY though). And then there was this....three pieces of low end distorted filth that bridge a gap between DYSTOPIA and hell. I implore you to focus on the way OPIOD CRISIS use distortion and recording limitations to make "Prenatal Exposure" (particularly the beginning) sound as demonic as anything I've heard - the song itself feels possessed. And then there's the title track "Favelas De Brutas," a seven-plus minute opus that left me absolutely stunned. These kids take their craft so much further that simple worship, and I can only imagine what it will be like when they make their next move. 

FAVELAS DE BRUTAS

BACKYARD

 

More Doomryderz worship from...Austria?
Yes it is.
Yes it is amazing.
There's something about BACKYARD that I can't put my finger on (much less describe) and I think it's about a level of brutality. Like...a marker on the brutal-o-meter or something, because the shit is just brutal. BACKYARD are the definition of primal inn the best possible way - take a deep breath and steel yourself before you grind......because you're gonna grind.You like grinding because grinding is so fukkn good and downtuned DIY hardcore is even better. 

RODENT'S BURROW

TONAL SHIFT

 

Remember twenty five years ago when TOTAL FURY kicked North America in the ass by reinterpreting '80 DCHC and making it sound impossibly familiar and completely original at the same time? The hardcore they were drawing from was twenty years old when they were doing their shit (or by the time that shit made it to us), and they were doing it without the benefit of immediate digital access to all punk. Vienna's TONAL SHIFT are doing the same thing, but they're pulling the meat off of a forty-five year old bone and fuuuukkkk does it sound juicy. I haven't heard a band use this formula this well since 13 Songs, and they use the distance and perspective to their extreme advantage. "Act The Big" is quintessential early Dischord leaning into Rev Summer sounds, "Mentally Checked Out" has the adolescent strain that made (makes) the pure pre-internet hardcore feel....different. Even if this is a band who stepped into the world and looked at all of their options and decided, "we're going to do that" instead of making something 'new,' what they've done is take the 'that' in question and make it new. They've made it theirs. And now it's ours. 

THE E.P.

BACKYARD

 

I swear upon the moon and stars that an angel dropped this into my life. I don't deserve these sounds, not in 2025 I don't...and yet here these sounds are, lacerating my eardrums and filling my soul with hope. Viennese West Bay obsessed grinders BACKYARD deliver eight doses of brutally lo-fi rehearsal pain on Questionable Practices, a five minute master class in PV/Grind Mastery that kneels at the altars of gods. Logo ripped from IMMORTAL FATE, font meticulously adapted from Mr. Ripple's countless visual credits, and a sound that would not raise an eyebrow if BACKYARD were played alongside PLUTO, UTTER BASTARD, DBE....you get the fukkn drill. My jaw fell open and my heart swelled when I played Questionable Practices for the first time, and there have been so many more times since that moment. This is beautiful, life is beautiful. 

QUESTIONABLE PRACTICES

DISCLONE

 

First Question: How can there only be one band named DISCLONE? It's so damn obvious that I think I need to start a second one just to demonstrate the point.

Second Question: How the fuck can hearing "yet another dis-clone band" for the first time hit so damn hard and sound so damn good?

•••••

So there I was sitting in El Buen Sabor with Spencer a few weeks back, poring over the bounty he hauled back from his most recent trip to Europe and marveling at the simple genius of a dis-band called DISCLONE. It was the first tape I popped in when I got home that night, and even with maximum expectations I wasn't prepared. Harsh Raw Affront collects four separate releases with disparate recordings that keep the ears on edge and the heart pounding. DBeat mania distorted to absolute oblivion, which is exactly what I want out of this life: to be distorted to the point of being unrecognizable. Success.

HARSH RAW AFFRONT

•••••

A short tour with SUBHUMANS continues today with a stop in Fresno, California. 

Interested parties are encouraged to attend - guest list spots in exchange for cassettes. 
I'm the old guy slinging shirts. 

RUIDOSA INMUNDISIA

 

From the SOLLID DECLINE split you knew that Austria's RUIDOSA INMUNDICIA were the real deal, but I went back and blasted that shit after IRA dropped a couple of years ago and...I swear it's even better than I remember. And this record...? These Austrians didn't just maintain over time, they have gotten better (and better) - this is essential hardcore punk, and they deliver with an energy rarely equalled. An energy that's simply hard to find in a lot of the squirmy post-mysterious guy stomps of the modern era. I like those stomps, but this record (presented here in cassette for, naturally) just fukkn rages. And sometimes that's actually what I need. I need to rage, because I have a lot of it. 

IRA

GG ALIEN

 

It's really the relentless pursuit of simplicity that makes Austria's GG ALLIEN so damned interesting. Every song has essentially the same four on the floor drum beat with (very) slight alterations. Every song has sharp, barked, in your face vocals that sound like they're coming out of a human who is about to hurt you...but is scared to hurt you. The whole demo listens like a beating - no nuance, no preparation, just a slow motion assault before the assailant continues walking to work at Little Caesar's pizza pizza. He's probably the guy who cleans the grease trap. 

GG ALIEN

 

AUTOR

 

This thing is so good. Austria's AUTOR are dark and weird in all of the creepy ways that the punks go bananas for....but they are different. And they are so fukkn good. I'm not gonna drop any comparisons because I truly feel like AUTOR exist on an island they've built themselves. I'd like to visit that island...perhaps live there.

NEKTAR

CATHOLIC GUILT

 

The first offering from CATHOLIC GUILT is an all out five minute dark hardcore assault spread out over three concise bursts. Guitars and vocals ripped from the clutches modern day goth punk and forced to play relentless hardcore stomps...forced by a rhythm section teeming with '80s USHC energy. They cranked out a couple of small slabs and two stellar big slabs during their few active years, but it should come as no surprise that I recommend starting with the self titled demo...that's just how I am.

CATHOLIC GUILT

 

GRANDEUR

 

Halo Of Flies dropped this in my lap a while back, and I've listened to it (a lot) and I kinda can't get enough. Four doses of beautifully melodic and relentlessly savage black metal from Austria...there's more to be said, to be sure. But you'll say those things after you listen to Aurea Aetas repeatedly...won't you? 

AUREA AETAS

PAROLE 80

 

No important observations today. No great context. Nothing important...just punk.

Punk is important. 

PAROLE 80

D.I.Y. CONSPIRACY VOL. 1

The DIY Conspiracy folks spent the year of Covid cranking out some serious mix tape heat, and I was happy to get the first six installments in one hefty batch. Hardcore, crust, DBeat, punk, doom from Bulgaria, Brasil, Italy, Austria, Chile, Greece, Russia, Australia, Singapore, Portugal...this is the kind of conspiracy I can get behind. 

 

DIY CONSPIRACY VOL.1

Defend DIY Punk indeed - especially from thieves and charlatans. 

But that's for a different post.