Back catalogue: Punk/Hardcore

Review: Returning from a near-decade long hiatus with their first album in eight years, At Peace marks the eighth full-length from Manitoba punk heroes Propagandhi, serving as their follow up to 2017's Victory Lap. Channelling an anti-fascist ethos of skate punk meets thrashcore since 1986, their latest effort showcases a band doing their utmost to come to terms with the despondency they've been warning about since their inception. Recorded shortly before the re-election of Donald Trump and his assertion that the band's home country of Canada become the U.S.'s 51st State, the messaging here is as earnest and vital as ever, yet admittedly more worn out and exhausted following three decades of the same oppressive system, with vocalist Chris Hannah somewhat accepting defeat and altering what we can about our outlook - "Now it's the existential dread of eking out a life worth living in this completely failed society."

Review: Hailing from The Gret White North's Toronto, PUP (Pathetic Use of Potential) are your favourite current punk band's favourite current punk band. Originally formed in 2010, the past decade and a half has seen the group deliver one consistent album of bangers after the next, with their new fifth full-length Who Will Look After The Dogs? arriving three years on from 2022's The Unraveling Of PUPTheBand, proving that prior titular statement to be mistaken information. Expanding their sonics as far as their musical palettes, the LP showcases the debaucherous yet earnest Canadian troubadours pulling simultaneously from both more radio-centric college rock as well as more intense hardcore this time around, while modern punk legend (and once Bomb The Music Industry lynchpin) Jeff Rosenstock makes a standout appearance on the latest single 'Get Dumber'. Gritty, melodic, and sincere, all within the same breath (or verse), it's a tough year for any punk band to compete whenever PUP rear their grimy head.

Review: Toronto's PUP are your favourite modern punk band's favourite modern punk band. Over the past decade, they've delivered one consistent album of bangers after the next, and now they return three years on from 2022's The Unraveling Of PUPTheBand to prove that title as mistaken information. Who Will Look After The Dogs? serves as the fifth full-length from the debaucherous yet heartfelt Canadians, stretching their sonics as far as their palettes, pulling from both more radio-centric college rock and simultaneously much heavier hardcore this time around, while once Bomb The Music Industry lynchpin and nowadays punk rock troubadour legend Jeff Rosenstock makes an appearance on latest single 'Get Dumber'. Not so much the "Pathetic Use of Potential" that PUP still claim to be.