ABSOLUTE GARBAGE – Chef’s Kiss album

garbage appreciation society

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Middle aged punks blasting into the last years of our lives, with a fatalism perfectly pitched for aging Gen X’ers and like-minded younger generations, who all see the same bleak future. (from band bio)

Hailing from New York, ABSOLUTE GARBAGE knock out authentic, old-school US hardcore like the last 40 years never happened. With a refreshingly unvarnished execution, sarcastic vocals make satirical points through amusingly crude lyrics. Released digitally in 2022, this recently received a vinyl outing, so it qualifies for inclusion here. Seconds-long snippets of ultra-fast jokecore aside, the rest of these songs clock in around the two-minute-plus mark. Steven Tyler Won’t Care When You Die is straight-up, 80s political hardcore, Jello-warbling vocals occasionally slipping into spoken. The spiky female vox peppered throughout are a cool addition; see the catchy Jeff Epstein’s Sex Plane (He Was Just Indicted And Now He’s Dead), the superlative fastcore of Garbage Mouth (be warned: the video below this review is fucking horrible), and the title track highlight. A dead ringer for FLAG OF DEMOCRACY, it includes a bizarre middle with disturbing sounds of people appreciating food with lip-smacking creepiness. Buying A Book On Amazon Makes You A Billionaire’s Toilet oozes DEAD KENNEDYS charm, as does the sarcastic Yank punk of We’re All Going To Jail, and The Mambo Man Seeks Justice, the latter featuring a great spoken section. The lean, hardcore burst of Kampus K.O.P.S. is killer, and the supremely catchy When The Economy Collapsed makes greater use of those crucial female vocals. Get Fucked Up! is nothing short of a modern genre classic, and following a chilling spoken part, the song builds to a demented denouement.

Chef’s Kiss will take you back to a time when bands like FALSE PROPHETS, THE CRUCIFUCKS, and DEAD KENNEDYS made political points through pitch-black satire, personality, and zero trace of metal. That you don’t hear this kinda thing too much only serves to highlight how utterly refreshing it sounds. A disturbingly lip-smacking chef’s kiss to ABSOLUTE GARBAGE.

Released 20th May 2024 on vinyl

https://absolutegarbage.bandcamp.com/album/chefs-kiss

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THE DOMESTICS – East Anglian Hardcore LP – review (Kibou/TNS/Cimex/Kangaroo)

domestic finds time for domestics

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It’s been six years since THE DOMESTICS last full length (2017’s Cherry Blossom Life) though they’ve kept their hand in with various splits and compilation tracks, most notably the fine No Life split with PIZZATRAMP.

With fourteen punishing tracks in under fifteen minutes, there’s no denying this new album is brimming with razor-sharp, fat-free hardcore for those possessed of a short attention span. Brief they may be, but room is made for a mid-paced bridge here, a mangled guitar solo there, a blatant snare drum obsession everywhere. Konichiwa Fuckers! is the closest they get to an instrumental, ‘cos Domestic can’t stop himself from sticking in a 1234!, an oof! and a yaaargh! Oh, James. The vocals occasionally take on a throatier, Rush Hour Of The Gods-era DOOM gargle, as on the incredible Falling Apart, with it’s dissonant intro, hyper-snare assault and rudimentary solo. See also the brutally efficient (and brilliantly titled) A Filthy Fucking Business. Did someone say snare? This album is riddled with insane levels of snappy action, most notably on Purchases‘ epic two minutes of revved guitar and varied chord changes. Dirty, raw hardcore might be the main course – exemplified by the 43-second cracker Die Like A Dog – with many a gang-shout chorus sprinkled in, but this album’s true highlight is the steadily marching HATE! HATE! HATE! The band slow it down to a troubling chant, replete with moody intensity, repetitive guitar riff, cool bassline and James’ accented roar. The lyrics speak of the paradox of hatred crushing your soul, while recognizing the inescapability of such emotions (“Well you let it be your king, and now it’s poisoned everything… maybe take a minute just to think about the people you hate“). Not likely to win any feel-good awards, even some canny song titles – Haunted Victorian Pencil (confected Victorian caricature Jacob Rees-Mogg), You Old Romantic (toxic masculinity and domestic violence), and Fuck Your Birthday (“experience is meaningless if you learn nothing“) – struggle to hide the negativity and bitterness that seeps from every pore of this album.

The bass buzzes like an angry wasp, the guitars are revved, the snare verges on overwhelming, vocals a murderous roar. Twelve years in, with a grab-bag of early 80’s international hardcore influences (Japan, Sweden, USA), picking up the milenial resurgence along the way, they’ve honed their own ferocious spitball of sound. My only nitpick would be that, in moving away from their original OUT COLD-meets-DISORDER style into snappy ADHD-core, they inch closer to the sound of James’ TOKYO LUNGS Soul Music than their own last album. Still, this is breathless, brutalising fun. Comes with a natty booklet, containing lyrics, collage art and chord progressions.

released on 1st June by Kibou Records, TNS Records, Cimex Records and Kangaroo Records, pre-order available now

https://kibourecords.bigcartel.com/

LE TUNNEL DE L’ENFER – A Tribute To Daylight EP (Minga Records)

Sly-themed French hardcore

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Members of STUPID KARATE, GUMMO and SUPERMODEL STITCHES, LE TUNNEL DE L’ENFER are from Lille in France and formed during the pandemic to pay tribute to the action movies they grew up with. Influenced by the fast hardcore of LIMP WRIST and COKE BUST as well as NOFX and SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, This is their first EP, centred around the 1996 Sylvester Stallone movie Daylight, though other references abound, from Forrest Gump to Point Break.

Only two of the seven songs break the one-minute mark but only just. Flying by at hyper-speed, blastbeats liberally sprinkled throughout, they are funny in the way of THE STUPIDS. The many little touches distance them from the runners and riders so Sly Is A Doer, the perfect entrée of scorching fastcore, is aided by a juicy breakdown and gang shouts. Lieutenant Stan has a scathingly hoarse vocal and judicious use of screaming right at the end. The band elevate Street Octogone’s lightening riffs and blastbeats with a grin-inducing gutteral denouement, before tossing in a weird theatrical vocal on Satanic Mom. See? The touches. There is restraint in Not A G Movie but just barely, while EP closer The Tunnel Of Love – clocking in at an epic 1:20 – displays a rockier vocal style and motor-throttle pace.

Thematically niche it may be, this tight n’ blazing EP of lightening riffs and inventive twists is a fun ride that leaves long before the lights come on. The bass drum sounds a little triggered but its a small niggle. Short, fast and loud with a daft grin, these guys cheered me right up.

Released 24th January 2022 but it looks like the ultra-limited edition vinyl sold out in a day. Contact the band or listen on their bandcamp page here