Back catalogue: Punk/Hardcore

Review: Two towering labels, Alternative Tentacles and Crispin Glover, break the mould for a momentary merger on this artistic collision of rogue planets: a new split reissued 7" housing that infamous syncretic, Patrick Fitzgerald, Motorpsycho and Jello Biafra, and their twin versions of Fitzgerald's original song 'Punch'. Fitzgerald is best known as a pioneer of folk punk, famously channelling his sardonic wit into a fleeting, light but somehow also epical sound. 'Punch' first surfaced in 2009 as a one-off single released under Crispin Glover's remit; it's now heard once more in both versions, tracking incendiary denunciations of politics on Fitzgerald's part, amid a suicidal, guitar-driven ascension into the air.

Review: London punk lifer, Mal-One, grew up in the true first wave of UK punk, even having his childhood bike stolen by another local young boy, one Steve Jones (yes, Sex Pistols Steve Jones) at the age of seven in the suburbs of Hammersmith. Now, so many decades on, the debut 12" under the Mal-One moniker arrives with an EP utterly indebted to the retro infatuation with Miss Debbie Harry. The adorning artwork features a homemade collage, while the included poster has been spotted around the city, continuing the artist's street gallery saga. This piece of absurdist, classic pop-punk is worth the price of admission for the title-track's rap verse spieling of Blondie song titles alone. Get involved.

Review: Mal-One is a historian of punk rock music in many ways. From growing up on the same street as the Sex Pistols' Steve Jones and Paul Cook, to studying the culture in many aspects from the sound, artwork and people in the scene. Mal-one is a beacon to the origins of the UK Punk beginnings. Many say his artwork captures the scene and time perfectly. 'When The Two 77's Clashed' is the lead single from the full-length album Punk Rock Is Back! At first listen, you immediately hear the UK influence and Sex Pistols up, front and center. The alternate version is on the B-side is a touch more reserved and holds back on the energy of the original, focusing more on the bassline to take the lead then the all-out angst of the album version. For those interested in this period of Punk music, Mal-One is staggering figure of the culture.

Review: Before the release of their highly anticipated new full-length, 'Please Don't Take Me Back'; set to drop this October, Durham City's favourite emo/pop-punk outfit, Martha, offer a taster of what's to come with this 7" single, featuring the upcoming LP's opening cut, 'Beat, Perpetual'. While a sonically light-hearted yet earnest ode to the road and world of touring, the lyrics weigh up the isolated nature of the past two years that completely changed the core members working dynamic and livelihoods, while the b-side boasts a rapturous cover of 'Dreaming Out Loud', by Wisconsin indie group Tenement. A short sweet single to wet beaks and fan anticipation before the real deal arrives come autumn.

Review: In January 1983, Minor Threat went into Inner Ear Studio for the first time as a five-piece (Brian Baker had moved from bass to second guitar and Steve Hansgen was now playing bass). They had six new songs that would end up being the centerpiece of what became the 'Out Of Step' 12" EP. The band had also decided to re-record the song 'Out Of Step' with some extra language to try to clarify the lyrics, as well as 'Cashing In', a tongue-in-cheek song about the DC punk scene which they had only played live once. After much debate, 'Cashing In' was added as a hidden track on the original vinyl release, though not listed on the cover or label. There was still blank tape on the reel, so they decided to record an instrumental with the working title, 'Addams Family' and then recorded new versions of 'In My Eyes' and 'Filler' to hear what they sounded like with two guitars. 'Addams Family' ended up being used as a coda to 'Cashing In', but the other two songs were never mixed and largely forgotten for over 35 years until the multitrack tapes were taken into the studio to be digitised in 2021. Surprised by the discovery, Ian and Don Zientara mixed the two songs along with the complete take of 'Addams Family'. These outtakes are now released on a 7" to mark the 40th anniversary of the release of 'Out Of Step'.

Review: Logically landing on 31st October, 1981 (well, the year is far less significant than day-month), 'Halloween' was one of horror punk outfit Misfits' early singles, released through Plan 9 Records. Just 5,000 copies were pressed on black 7" vinyl, the most sought-after now are those with a full lyric sheet which was missing from many copies. It's also notable as the first time the group used their logo inspired by genre-specific US movie magazine, Famous Monsters of Filmland.

This would be the last Misfits outing with guitarist Bobby Steele, and reflects just how wild and daring some of their ideas were. Track one, 'Halloween', has cultish, chant-like qualities, but pales into comparison with the longer sequel, 'Halloween II', which features verses in non-standard Latin, just to throw petrol on the whole fire and brimstone feel.

Review: Rock dynamo Machine Gun Kelly has been busy of late. After a well received album in 2020 he is now back with another one, Mainstream Sellout, which is his sixth in all and is full of just as many big riffs. As always these are short put potent tunes and this is the second collaborative record he has made with drummer and producer Travis Barker. The record has plenty of pent up angst that fans old and new will feed off and plenty of entertainig lyrics.

Review: Philadelphia based emo-tinged indie-punk outfit Mannequin Pussy return with their highly anticipated fourth full-length I Got Heaven. Following on from 2019's critically acclaimed Will Yip-produced Patience, and the 2021 Perfect companion EP, the band have linked up with The Paper Chase's John Congleton (Future Islands, This Will Destroy You, Thrice) to craft their most sonically sprawling yet definitive statement to date. Leaning further than ever into their dream-pop meanderings and shoegazing machinations, whilst simultaneously increasing the fuzz, levelling up the gain and distorting their aggressive edges to nigh-on noise-pop-punk territory, the LP appears set to cement Mannequin Pussy as one of the quintessential voices of the modern emo/indie/alt rock wave.

Review: The duo of Therese Lanz and Casey Rogers, better known as Mares Of Thrace, deal in a ferocious, bruising blend of sludge-laden crusty noise-rock and hardcore punk. Their latest EP/mini-LP/opus, 'The Exile', limps a barefoot trudge over broken glass with violent, cacophonous results. Take the thunderous malevolence of 'Mortal Quarry' or the doomgazing of catastrophic closer, 'The Thread That Will Unravel You', as punishing examples of the unkempt vehement potential seeping its way out of the true north (that's what the Canadians like to call it).

Review: Proto-grunge/sludge metal band Melvins laid down six compelling songs on their fourth album. Lice-All was a cohesive, tightly woven trip made up of three original tunes and three fine covers. Two of them were originally written by the man, the legend, Alice Cooper, and one is by nose rock gang Flipper. The record is said to have influenced bands such as Sunn O))) and Sleep over the years because of the way it layer sup heavy, droning guitars. First release back in 1992 and something of a cult classics, this reissue comes on red wax. Back then, the album was known as a set titled LP, but also under the name Lysol.

Review: Kings of midwestern emo return on their exceptional, devastating eighth full-length Some Of It Was True. Known for putting Scranton, Pennsylvania (home to the likes of Tigers Jaw, Wicca Phase Springs Eternal, Title Fight) on the map, The Menzingers have accomplished a relatively unique feat for artists of the emo/punk variety and that's staying together. Where most acts often have a brief lifespan in which they distil malaise and emotions of that slice of life, what happens when a group continue to remain together, writing, touring and growing over multiple decades? Musically refined to the point where the band sonically toe a line closer to the likes of The Gaslight Anthem and the realms of Bruce Springsteen-inspired Americana-punk, yet lyrically as brazen, dour, uncomfortable and honest as ever, The Menzingers are rare, living proof that an emo band can make it well into thirties/forties, but according to them, it still hasn't really gotten any better.

Review: Jazz and punk's best legacies fuse together with this latest collaborative release between The Messthetics and James Brandon. Brandon is a jazz saxophonist and contemporary virtuoso from New York; meanwhile, the Messthetics consist of former Fugazi members - bassist Joe Lally and drummer Brendan Canty with guitarist Anthony Pirog. Continuing the latter's pegging as a 'jazz punk jam', the focus here is on Brandon's novel sax playing, lent to the Messthetics' cathartic, ultimate punk-riffing focus. All is instrumental, as signalled on the lead single 'Emergence', which finds pure enjoyment in variation around a singular four-by-four bass loop. In the saxophonist's own words: "The Messthetics are friends at this point and collaborating with them over the years has now brought us to another high point of musical bonding and purely unapologetic energy!"

Review: Canadian noise-rock trio Metz deliver their fifth full-length LP for their home label Sub Pop. Expressing an exponential graph of maturity, that has grown over their decade or so of recording and releasing, Metz' sound on Up On Gravity Hill veers more towards an almost black-metallic atmosphere, to counterpoise their originally stark, rageful sound. Conceptually, the album's change in sound matches its thematic content, with the band having found more peace in contrast, and the life-promising realisation that one can only experience its most joyful moments on the sole condition that one has also suffered its worst vagaries - there is no paradise without the fall. On the likes of '99' and 'Entwined', we're met with a driving, repetitious howl set against a sludgy axe-y backdrop, as vocalist Alex Edkins performatively laments and celebrates the ways of the world at the same time.

Review: Swedish cult skate/pop-punks Millencollin scorched through the nineties on the momentum of several excellent records, with their often overlooked third effort, 'For Monkeys', tiptoeing (skateboarding) a fine line between very subtle ska-punk bop and melodic hardcore gruffness.

In all seriousness though, it's unfiltered, lo-fi, unpretentious pop-punk of the rawest and realest variety, reissued to rediscover nostalgia anthems such as 'Lozin' Must', which trudges along with the same charm of early day Blink-182 or Green Day.

Review: Swedish skate punk survivors Millencolin have been doing it since the early 90s and they've scaled some great heights in their time. One such peak was undoubtedly 2008 album Machine 15, which features some of their most immediate earworms but also some of their sharpest harmonies and songwriting. 'Detox' is an irrepressible, bouncy blast of melodic punk that would have been a global radio hit in a just world, but then Millencolin do just as well as legends amongst their peers on Epitaph. Remastered and repressed on grey vinyl, it's 15 years young for this seminal slice of pop-punk-rock.

Review: The Minneapolis Uranium Club Band's Infants Under The Bulb album is an engaging journey through unbridled punk creativity and raw guitar energy. Released amidst their hometown's vibrant underground scene, the album defies categorisation in the way it blends elements of punk, post-punk and experimental rock. With relentless rhythms, angular guitar riffs and cryptic lyrics, each track unfolds in heavy and arresting fashion and the band's unconventional approach and uncompromising attitude challenge listeners to embrace the unconventional throughout this most visceral of albums.

Review: One of the most vital hardcore punk releases ever committed to record, the self-titled Minor Threat compilation took the band's first two EPs, the original self-titled and 'In My Eyes', released in June and December of 1981, respectively, and collated them into a visceral work that has only grown more essential with time. Before expanding his sonic palette and abilities with Fugazi, a younger, more disillusioned Ian MacKaye led a cathartic barrage of hyper-intense, exceptionally brief pieces that reimagined punk at its most direct and extreme values. With the iconic cover of younger, exhausted MacKaye brother Alec (now of Hammered Hulls, formerly Untouchables, The Faith), hunched over despondently, and recreated by everyone from the likes of Rancid to even Nike (yes, that Nike), it goes without saying that the name Minor Threat, the singular image, and even the inadvertent push of the straight edge message due to the track of the same moniker, are all integral, historic pieces of the hardcore punk blueprint and subsequent memorabilia.

Review: Misfits have never been ones to mince their words. Pioneers of the horror punk sub sect, their work has been relentlessly unapologetic since the band's inception in 1977, not to mention unapologetically raw, edges sharp enough to tear through a pulmonary artery within about two seconds of hearing their frantic output. The group, as you might expect from the name, also never shied away from wit either, and this particular live recording is a fine case in point. As ever, the recording is a juggernaut and almost non-stop, a rapid fire, propellant, and shouty adventure through various aspects of their back catalogue, but with elements switched up. Listen to this version of 'Teenagers From Mars', then , and you'll hear different (hilarious) words, none of which we can really print here, and the cover of Samhain is similarly smile inducing, while also the stuff of nightmares.

Review: Where do you start with Misfits? The American punks enjoyed six incredible years following their formation in Lodi, New Jersey, and between 1977 and 1983, helping increasingly sizeable crowds throw caution to the wind work themselves into a frenzy. They also pioneered the 'horror punk' sub genre, essentially tapping into the movement's most base and fundamental elements to deliver something that was truly terrifying to the mainstream. Which, in comparison with the group themselves, could be pretty much anyone. Raw and gritty barely comes close, with Misfits tracks sound like they have been pieced together from the dismembered parts of rock & roll demons in some beaten up old garage by the side of a highway that was never completed. If that sounds like an abstract analogy, this ferocious live recording sets the record straight - a wild ride through a snarlingly good set.

Review: Horror punk heroes Misfits have never sounded more raw, deranged and insistent than on their 1982 live album 'Evilive', and here, Plan 9 throw all fiends a bone with an extended edition including several previously unheard cuts, and a Henry Rollins cameo on 'We Are 138'. From the opening strains of '20 eyes' to the aforementioned closer, Misfits power through a relentless stream of fan favourites, from the anthemic 'Astro Zombies' and 'Hatebreeders' to the pummelling 'All Hell Breaks Loose', and just in time for spooky season!

Review: Thrash metal revivalists, Municipal Waste, make their ferocious return on 'Electrified Brain', their first full-length in five years, and follow up to 2017's blistering, 'Slime & Punishment'. The seventh album from the Richmond, Virgina outfit delivers on all of the violent, crass, whiplash-inducing mayhem we've come to expect, yet approached with seasoned experience and a renewed energy following their half-decade respite. Commenting on the material, enigmatic frontman Tony Foresta offered these choice words - "We're not writing any love ballads to sell records." Make of that what you will.

Review: It has been hailed as "the first great guitar album of 2023" by at least one taste making and era-spanning UK music publication. Dublin's extraordinarily good, yet still somehow not world famous outfit The Murder Capital have certainly packed this full of bold ideas, welcome surprises, and enviable musicality, making us next in line to laud over the package.

Of course, this is only their second album, which puts two things into context - we shouldn't expect groups to break the world with one LP, if they want a chance at longevity, and anyone who can make an amazing long-player-number-two clearly means serious business. Big, powerful, moving, danceable and purposefully aimed directly at the heart, this is indie rock with touches of synth and pop, not to mention a few nods to early-Killers theatricality.

Review: Hailing from Bremerton, Washington, legendary pop-punk mainstays MxPx have maintained a devout fanbase and cult-like following due to their earnest sincerity, angst and melody that they've refused to sacrifice across 12 full-lengths. Following on from the commercial success of 2003's Before Everything & After, which would mark the band's highest charting album to date, 2005 would see the release of their often overlooked gem Panic. At seven LPs in that this point, the energetic delivery and emotive material would cement the group as reliable lifers, while standout single 'Wrecking Hotel Rooms' featuring Mark Hoppus of Blink-182 on guest vocals, has gone on to become a highly lauded pop-punk crossover event in the decades since.