[engl] Sarcasm's final offering is the much-needed shot in the arm you don’t even have to queue for. Sonically their six-track EP is a potent mix of the ignorant anarcho clatter and arch post(-graduate) punk you already love them for, but moreso. Picture UK DECAY squatting the Barbican. Still eschewing distortion for a truly inspired use of phase, the cavernous production (another Falco joint) will leave you staring at a city trader until he switches carriages. Whether it's echo-laden pronouncements on our worst instincts for techno addiction (‘Digital Colony’) or odes to modernist artists Paul Nash (‘Marsh Personage’) each track is as desperate as it is restrained by the same conditions. Heavily reminiscent of FALLOUT and the more cerebral end of UK82, mercilessly taut and lyrically about as obtuse as you’d hope from punk songs about rare varieties of lichen. Some guy once said something about the need for pessimism of the intellect and optimism of the will in abject times, and this band amply proved the evergreen joy to be had in being a smart arse. Bury ‘Creeping Life’ under the rubble of the A3030 at Stonehenge when they start tunnelling, because this is one for the well-groomed future druids. Justified and ancient, ‘Creeping Life’ absolutely goes. (Bryony Beynon) 350 copies pressed on blue vinyl in a garish sleeve and with a fine looking insert.

[engl] With their debut LP, the cloak has been lifted. It is time to reclaim something that has been taken from us. Here the band rolls up their sleeves, takes to the streets, and demands recompense for a tradition of inequity that's poisoned our world. However, it is in our ability to love - our primal human right to give and receive love - that the damage of such toxicity is newly explored. Love is a choice we make. We ought not obscure, neglect, or deny that choice. Through the tumult and the pain, the camaraderie and the cause, the band continues to burn a path into that great beyond. But where are we headed? On NEED TO FEEL YOUR LOVE, they makes their first full-length declaration of light seen just beyond our darkness. Spoken plainly, without shame: It is love.

[engl] The Brighton bag-head boys are back to finally follow up their 2016 demo ‘Tory Party Prison’. Not straying far from the NWOBHC blueprint of NY83 and classic UK Oi sounds, Built For Destruction is a brick through your living room window, and it’s screaming Britain’s fucking burning mate! Snotty southern vocals that bring to mind DEAD MANS SHADOW, scrapping with brash guitars and thumping beats that kick and punch like THE ABUSED, while keeping the raw intensity that THE INSANE captured so perfectly when the Tories were picking this country apart piece by piece the last time round. Housed in a sleeve depicting a harsh modern reality with an image that burns into your retina, stating exactly what STATE FUNERAL are shouting about - there’s still no future.

[engl] The debut LP from New York and Montreal’s Stigmatism (Featuring current and past members of Omegas, Lethal, S.H.I.T, Justice and Mati) is finally upon us! Stigmatism plays a style of music that pays tribute to the Rat Cage Records era of New York City punk and hardcore without sounding like an old and stale tribute band. With their debut Ignorance In Power, Stigmatism gives fans of the genre exactly what they want, 13 intense blasts filled with hooks, heavy breakdowns, and lyrics that call attention to the consistent unending rise of anti semitism, fascism, and police corruption currently plaguing New York City. 350 copies on black vinyl with a fold out A2 poster with amazing artwork from Tavi Gibson.

[engl] Dublin's STRONG BOYS return with their first release in six years with the 'Homo' EP. With about as much subtlety as a pub fight spilling onto the street, these four tracks vent against the church, dated attitudes, predatory creeps with wandering hands and more. This is still defiantly gay hardcore with no meat on the bone for admirers of 86 Mentality and Negative Approach. The record comes housed in a fold out sleeve showcasing new artwork from legendary gay manga artist Gengoroh Tagame and lettering from Nicky Rat.

[engl] Ten years is a lifetime in Hardcore Punk. A band’s ability to traverse such a lengthy stay is a testament to their dedication to this thing of ours, which in and of itself is commendable. Remaining sonically relevant, and engaging ever younger audiences, is another beast altogether, and a far more difficult feat to achieve. Somehow, The Flex have managed both. Not only are they the defining band of the New Wave of British Hardcore movement of the 2010’s, not to mention the last band from this original wave still left (“Last Ones Left” indeed) but they continue to trudge on with unrelenting power, orchestrating live madness wherever they roll through. Chewing Gum For The Ears is the most perfect illustration of the bands raw power to date. From the opening chords of “Warboy”, it is clear that The Flex formula remains unchanged: the vitriol of Boston 82, the lumber and swagger of mid to late 80’s NYHC, the monotone thud of UK82 and the blistering urgency of 90’s Japanese d-beat. A perfectly seamless blend of their influences, the highlights on this LP are too prevalent to list, with CGFTE earning the rare accolade of a no-skips-certified-banger. “Inferno” might hold the greatest up-tempo mosh part since Antidote’s “Foreign Job Lot”, sans the crummy political baggage. Beechwood Terrace starts off sounding like Oi! on steroids before degenerating into an Impact Unit style frenzy, and the title track “Chewing Gum for the Ears” (aka “The Herd” of 2022), begins with an Outburst style intro and develops into an anthem that ensures this LP finishes in the most appropriate of fashions. However, it is the growth on display which is most astounding; a track like “Stranger” sees the band sounding like a British Death Side, while the drum-and-bass call and response, during the song’s closing mosh part, reveals a level of musicality few bands can match. These nuances add a level of intensity and urgency which propels Chewing Gum For The Ears above their previous output, making this their most concise and crucial release to date. Sonically, James Atkinson of Voorhees and Gentlemen’s Pistols fame, has captured the band’s sound perfectly; all trebly buzzsaw guitars, guttural vocals, and a perfectly tight rhythm section, whilst Tin Savage’s ever excellent art ensures a level of visual consistency that few bands are able to maintain. I finish on these two points for an important reason, The Flex have understood the assignment; produce an LP that looks and sounds like everyone’s favourite UKHC band, whilst pushing themselves to the limits of their impressive technical range and sophisticated palate. LS4 still kicking in your door.

[engl] Debut Single from TV Crime who are a new garage punk / power pop band from Nottingham who come fully formed. 'Hooligans' is a total stomper of a power pop song that starts like a classic Good Vibrations Records 7" with The Moondogs esque guitar work and the energy of 90's legends New Bomb Turks or Gaunt. Flip 'Wild One' is another pounder but with a more rock 'n' roll twist. As the band say "Killer Tunes - Shitty Attitude".

[engl] Originally released on Riot City Records in 1983 and quickly becoming one of the label's most highly sought after releases, Ultra-Violent recorded just one single before breaking up when vocalist Adie went on to front the Metal incarnation of the English Dogs. Three songs of blistering UK82, and quite possibly the best record in the genre.It's now finally back in print, with original copies regularly selling for £70+ online. An excruciating amount of thought and love has been poured into this release to make it the best reissue it could be. The accompanying insert also features reprints of original fanzine coverage, several previously unpublished photographs and also for the first time, a lyric sheet. Remastered at North London Bomb Factory by Daniel Husayn.

[engl] "All Of Them Naturals” is a fully realized, inclusive world of faux-corporation sponsored surrealist new wave punk music rife with satire and discordance. Robotically tight. Delightfully warped. Ideas as vast as Nebraska’s GMO cornfields and as lethal as the pesticides they spray on them. Did the Sunbelt Chemicals Corporation invent DDT? Maybe. Did they invent man? They think so. Did they invent the wheel? No, that was URANIUM CLUB. Truly, our generation’s DEVO. An important group.

[engl] Originally released as a cassette, the debut from Minneapolis' Uranium Club is now widely available as an LP. Uranium Club play a kind of minimalist, agitated, catchy punk rock that reminds us of Wire before they released 'Pink Flag', but with an extra snotty attitude and bundles of energy. For a more recent comparison try early Total Control or the Shitty Limits. Each of the seven tracks on here explode from the vinyl, with each track more energetic than the one before, and they'll all be stuck in your head for weeks afterwards

[engl] The Minneapolis Uranium Club Band, along with Static Shock Records, are proud to present “Infants Under the Bulb”; The Uranium Club’s fourth album and first full length since 2018’s "The Cosmo Cleaners". Recorded in Minneapolis over the course of 2023 by long time collaborator Grant Richardson and just as rampant and agitated as ever, The Uranium Club once again win their dear listeners over with eccentrically wild guitar parts, revolving voices, elastic-tight drums and the addition of their very own Saints-styled horn section. Lyrically, Under the Bulb opens up the history books of unsolved mysteries - unidentified, unsolved, unanswered subjects of suspicious acts or individuals across the last century. Who, what, when and where… but mostly, why? Ignorant humanity of earth orbits the sun once again. The Somerton Man, Bergmann, Bauby, Denton, phone phreakers, and just what is lurking behind the cosmic organ of The Wall? As always, the artwork was handled in-house by the Club and ambitious as ever. The spectacular cover shot captures a carefully coordinated event orchestrated by the Club to photograph a crowd of the local volunteers wearing ponchos standing together in an open field to make the shape of a giant spiral. The spiral pictured is 120 feet (36.5 meters) wide, photographed by drone, and was plotted out on the ground using a protractor specially fabricated for the occasion by the band with a pivoting centre and 60ft long adjustable arm.

[engl] You're being urgently, naughtily rushed up the tallest, steepest stairs you've ever climbed. Smile cautiously as the Uranium Club welcomes you into their stinky apartment. You've been here before, right? Oh, that must have been some one else. Do you have a brother or sister? One of the members mumbles some deceptively eloquent bullshit as he hands you a drink. His lips are dark red and chapped; he looks really bad. But the drink is wet, and those stairs had been tall. Sit down, lean back, sip it. There's salt in it, some pulp, some pebbles. It rolls around your tongue, hides between your teeth, a perfectly TV-worthy combination of pleasure and mischief. Swallow it. But spit it out... Spit it out now! It's supposed to go into your ears! How crazy is that? Such a sensation of taste, transmogrified for the realm of sound? Is it Sprite, or is it... music? Careful, engaging, and dare-I-say theatrical vocals over hyper bass-and-drums while other boingy-boingy instruments puke all over it, all over the whole show. That's called synesthesia. Gentle lectures, dangerous storytime, eerie fast-and-slow nightmare riffs, and a taut, bound-and-gagged rhythm section. Boingily-boingily, that's phantasmagoria. That's the Uranium Club's latest album, "The Cosmo Cleaners." So swish around some mouthwash and plug in your AirPods, kid, it's time to drop that needle!

[engl] "Uranium Club return with a brand new single on Static Shock / Lumpy Records and a taster for their second album. Who Made the Man? is like a gang of aliens landing on planet earth, finding an extensive back catalogue of Wire and Devo and deciding they want to form a band. The track builds and builds with peaks, odd noises, different parts that come out of nowhere and an instant vocal. It's five minutes plus because there are so many ideas in one song. It comes in sleeves hand stamped and embossed. This 7" features an alternate take of Who Made the Man? and an exclusive b side Small Fry."

[engl] NYC hardcore punks WARTHOG return with what could possibly be their best recorded output yet. It's been a couple years since their EP's on Katorga Works and Iron Lung Records were unleashed upon us all and in that time the members of the Hog have perfected their particular formula and have finally delivered four more tracks of pounding hardcore savagery that stands out ten fold from most of the bullshit that fans of the genre are bombarded with on a regular basis. Are you a functioning human in a functioning world? Each record comes in a glue pocket sleeve along with a two color risograph printed insert.

[engl] Chris Hansell walks into a bar in Manhattan and orders a scotch on the rocks. He rummages in his pockets and hands over a ten dollar bill. The bartender is looking him up and down out of the corner of his eye as he reaches for a dusty bottle of Cutty and kind of makes a snap judgement that he probably has no clue how much a drink costs in this place. Deciding to take advantage of ol' Han, the bartender returns with a drink and hands him ten cents in change. ""Funny seeing you here, we don't get many people who look like they sing for a band that sounds like 50,000 San Men on strike in July, all simultaneously listening to Mellaka, Sacrilege demos, lost takes of Mackie drumming on speed, Massacre 68, and just the faintest whiff of something St. Vitus might have written on their day off, in this joint"" Faster than you can get your passport stamped into the tone-zone, Hansell replies ""Yeah well at $9.90 for a glass of Cutty, I ain't comin back either!"""

[engl] WARTHOG always takes their time with releasing new music, but you know it will always be worth the wait. Marking their ten year anniversary as a band, Larry and Co finally bring you their long awaited fifth EP. Written in Brooklyn last winter, the new ep delivered three tracks of their trademark sound. Everything is fine-tuned and sounding stronger than ever. Digital Tumor might even be their best track yet. You didn’t think that they would let you down, did you? The EP comes in a pocket sleeve with brand new artwork from longtime collaborator Alex Heir and lyric sheet. Recorded by Sasha Stroud, mixed by Will Killingsworth and mastered by Arthur Rizk.