[engl] Featuring members of Philly heavyweights like Fuckin’ Lovers and Poison Ruin, ICD10 sounds like they’ve soaked up 40 years of hardcore history and are sweating it out into a battered denim jacket covered in rusted studs and faded band logos. Swirling around ICD10’s tornado of noise, I hear the anthemic anarcho-hardcore of Final Conflict and the Iconoclast, the total noise approach of 80s Kyushu punk, the off-kilter artiness of early 2010s New York, and Gudon’s marriage of heaviness and musicality. ICD10’s vocals are bathed in noise and effects, but rather than the uniform delay effect most hardcore bands employ, there are a range of effects that sometimes cascade across the manic riffing and sometimes lock in with it, creating jagged looping effects that evoke a crumbling technological dystopia. Lyrically, ICD10 combines Crass’s political astuteness with Poison Idea’s nihilism; the world is fucked, the system is rigged, and the only momentary respite is in tasting the void. Faith in Institutions is an unrelentingly bleak record, but it channels its hopelessness into an original and compelling take on hardcore punk.

[engl] Sealed Records release the complete remastered ICONOCLAST Discography including the immense self released 1983 Demo, The Flipside 7? from 1985 plus Two Compilation tracks. It’s a small but perfectly formed discography and one that 36 years after it was first recorded still has power, intensity and rage. ICONOCLAST were part of the early 80’s American peace punk scene that included CRUCIFIX, BODY COUNT, AGAINST, ANOTHER DESTRUCTIVE SYSTEM, DIATRIBE, ARMISTICE and A STATE OF MIND. Idealistic bands highly influenced by CRASS which shined amongst the heavily nihilistic California Punk scene of the era. ICONOCLAST sound was in tune with DISCHARGE, early ANTISECT or WRETCHED while lyrically the songs were political and to the point. They played benefits for animal rights, anti nuclear, anti apartheid, anti police brutality, and Big Mountain. The demo was followed by their only vinyl release on Flipside which has two ragers and the more mellow In These Times which has a touch of THE MOB and OMEGA TRIBE about it. The band had tracks on various compilations including the seminal International P.E.A.C.E. Benefit LP on R Radical in 1984 which had the cream of the crop of international hardcore punk of the heyday.

[engl] After a demo and three seven inches ILEGAL finally unleash their debut full length. 12 songs clocking in at just about 30 minutes. Heavily influenced by early Italian and Spanish hardcore bands like WRETCHED or ANTI-DOGMATIKSS their sound brings to mind a time in hardcore where you could still understand what the band was singing about while sounding ferocious. Lyrics dealing with their status as illegal immigrants in Canada as well as the horrors of modern society, all sung in Spanish. Recorded analog in Quebec Canada with vocals added digitally later in Germany. Mastered by Joel Hatsat in Florida and housed in a beautiful wraparound sleeve designed by Eugene from CRAZY SPIRIT.

[engl] Well, look who's back? Yes, they're our favorite gold harvesters, INGRATES, and as promised, they're back as a full band, able to give us two more huge new nuggets dug out of the torrid sands of the Mojave Desert in Joshua Tree, which in addition to a glamorous pure gold rock, are alloyed with that unique blend of untamed primordial power-pop and wild '77 old-school punk, irresistible even to the most deranged punk freaks like us.

[engl] "IT! doesn't need too much of a description. Third album of this UK anarcho-dub/reggae-punk group. Being on the road for a mere of 15 years now the INNER TERRESTRIALS deliver 14 new tracks devided on two 12"" LPs wrapped in a thick gatefold and 21x21 12 Page Booklet... Back in 2009 the Inner Terrestrials whetted everyone’s appetites by releasing an excellent four song pre release EP to Tales of Terror. After 3 years of anticipatory salivating, the album is finally ready and it was definitely worth the wait. It’s hard to believe that their first LP iT! was released sixteen ago in 1996 but the Inner Terrestrials have remained impressively faithful to their original sound. Satisfyingly thick distortion sandwiches prickly ska on nearly every track and the album is peppered with welcome descents into the experimental realms of dub. Jay has a real knack for fiddling about with upstrokes, managing to squeeze in quirky flourishes and cheeky slides which keep chord sequences lively and interesting. Fran and Paco keep everything in check, providing solid bass and pounding drums throughout the album. Aside from “Battlefield” which features Jay’s haunting tin whistle and Cheggers’ bouzouki, the band’s folk influences are perhaps less overt than they were in iT! with “Free the Land” or X with “Mountain Of Led”. Tales of Terror does however maintain a fairly healthy balance between the more hardcore and the lighter songs. “Run Tings” is cheerful, despite its dour subject of social control, and is sprinkled with soundbytes, while the choppy distorted upstrokes of “Progress” are guaranteed to get any crowd skanking furiously. “Heaven’s Wrath” is possibly my favourite track which glides effortlessly between hardcore punk, dub and ska and is everything an Inner Terrestrials track should be: angry, dubby and thoroughly stompable. (...)Tales of Terror perfectly captures their unsettled, miserable quality which is as if Jay is singing through a sigh; accentuated by downtrodden harmonies in the fantastic “Law Dealers” and punctuated with contrasting gruff, angry snarls in “Dark Scar”. The lyrics are brimming with political disdain; passionately decrying outmoded laws, speaking out against the UK’s dubious foreign policy and rejecting aspects of society few have barely questioned. Environmentally conscious songs such as “Progress” reinforce the Inner Terrestrials’ deep concern regarding man’s relation to the land; an issue explored in earlier releases in tracks such as “Earth Must” and “Middle Oak”. Despite its bleak subject matter, Tales of Terror contains subtle messages of solidarity together with a rationale for change, encouraging people to stand up for themselves in order to make a difference. The Inner Terrestrials have well and truly delivered on their latest release; inspiring, triumphing and making you want to have a bloody good dance as well. (Shuffle Core) Includes 12 Page Booklet!"

[engl] Ragdoll Dance is the 4th album by New York-via Texas punks Institute. Most underground punk bands don’t make four albums, but it makes sense for Institute. Even on their earliest releases, Institute’s sound teemed with possibility, drawing from a long history of anarcho-punk, post-punk, and hardcore, and fusing those aesthetics with great, classic-sounding songwriting. Ragdoll Dance finds Institute back with their original lineup (including Albert from Nosferatu and Altar of Eden on drums) and returning to a DIY approach to recording, working both at home (using the same setup as singer Moses Brown’s solo project, Peace de Résistance) and with Joe and Owen of D4MT Labs, whose gritty yet vital recordings have documented some of DIY punk’s best contemporary bands. Institute also chose to work within the international hardcore community to release the record; Brown plays drums in Secretors alongside Joe from Roach Leg Records, whose label is known for releasing some of the noisiest, most fringe recordings in the punk sub-underground (across the pond they’ve gone with the iconic La Vida Es Un Mus). While Ragdoll Dance is culturally embedded in the world of DIY hardcore punk, musically it tends to move back toward the more eclectic sound of Salt and Catharsis. The album’s title is a nod to Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Brown also cites arty post-punks Magazine as an influence on the record, which shows on tracks like “City” and “Where’s It Go,” energetic, left-of-center pop songs that challenge but also gratify. If you’re looking for the savage young Institute, though, “Uncle Sam’s Hate” and “Plateau of Self” crackle with raw rock and roll energy that few groups can summon, particularly groups with Institute’s inimitable style, musical chops, and lyrical weight. While so many punk bands peak early, Institute has continued to refine these qualities, and Ragdoll Dance’s assured tone makes it as vital as anything they’ve recorded so far.

[engl] Full unreleased album by this legendary minimal synth band from Germany out now on our friends from RED LOUNGE RECORDS, faithfully remastered by Tim Warren for Superior Sound! Housed in a deluxe gatefold sleeve, containing the band story, family tree and more information. A true KILLER RELEASE!

[engl] The new album! Imagine a mash up of Devo, Geza X, ISM and Screamers framed by the manic start/stop pace of Koro. Demented synth skronk. Paranoid visons. Inverted futurism. They're Scandinavian teens. Edition of 300 copies.

[engl] Spikes+ is an expanded edition of ISS’s pandemic-themed 2020 cassette, whose uniquely packaged, self-released edition came and went before most anyone could hear about it. With some of ISS’s best songs—like the anthemic title track, the unexpectedly touching "Cellmate,” and the blistering “Facemask”—Sorry State couldn’t bear to let Spikes pass as a mere blip in the zeitgeist. Besides the five tracks from the original Spikes cassette, Spikes+ includes “Puttin’ on the Blitz” from 2016’s Studs cassette, 2018’s self-titled 7” on Sorry State, ISS’s three tracks from 2019’s American Idylls compilation, and the 2020 single Too Punk for Heavy Metal. Highlights abound here too, from the cowbell-infused “One-Sided Triangle” to the Agent Orange-inspired lead guitar on “I Wanna Be Dated” (courtesy Scarecrow’s Jef Leppard). Like the best odds-n-sods compilations, Spikes+ sounds great whether you’re revisiting old favorites or making new ones.

[engl] A year characterised by a pandemic, lockdowns, political ineptitude and oh, so much staying the fuck at home is enough to make anyone want to blow off a little steam. One overused piece of glib idiocy at the start of the Trump era was ‘at least punk will be good’, as though punk can only be good when it flips the bird to right-wing, authritarian shit-headery rather than amplifying anything else. Sure, there’ve been plenty of great records over the last four years, but sometimes (across the whole of 2020, for instance) the levels of anger, fear and frustration can be overwhelming and you need a little space to goof around. For some of us, though, goofing around is serious business - and here’s a record to illustrate that perfectly. Smirk is the solo project of Public Eye’s Nick Vicario, and while you’ll hear similarities to his main outfit across these 12 excellent tracks (from the off, you can imagine how PE might refine garage-carved nuggets like ‘S Construction’), here there’s less sang-froid and more… well, fun. The reference points you might expect are still there (Killed By Death comps and Wire, especially their 80s period, to name a couple), but with added scuzz and something even approaching joy - the whirling synths of ‘Eyes Conversing’ feel ominous, but they also convey a sense of delirious excitement. And dammit, it’s all fucking cool too. With a name like Smirk, your first instinct might well be to wonder whether Vicario is laughing at us. The first line of the album (a defiant ‘it’s not funny’) should tell you that this isn’t the case, but the album certainly finds him in playful mood. The tasteful acoustic instrumental ‘Lude 2’ descends deliberately into farce as it speeds up and slows down like a turntable alternating speeds, or a record warping in real time. Obviously you’re gonna play this on vinyl, dear reader, purchased directly from Drunken Sailor or Feel It Records, but we all know that those other listeners - not us, the other guys - are gonna chiefly listen on phones or through laptop speakers. It’s a 37-second sketch, but it prompts questions of what it means for technology to fail nowadays - can a record warp when it’s all bound up in digital files? Where does the disconnect lie between the player and the record; when the objects exist only virtually? Am I overthinking this? Oh, almost certainly, but it’s a record that’ll kick that noggin of yours into overdrive. Get involved, get addicted and laugh along.

[engl] Total Punk is proud to present the debut 7" from Minneapolis supergroup IV (featuring members of Joust, Citric Dummies, Color TV, ). A four song fist pumping face pummel. A band well aware of the power of punk simplicity and wielding it with perfection. Buzzsaw guitars, quick chords changes, and the occasional stop/ start all propelled forward by huge vocal hooks. I first saw these guys at an American Legion last year and the songs were still stuck in my head when they sent these recordings four months later.

[engl] JANELLE from Philadelphia is a duo that mixes up genres since 2013. After putting out two tapes on SUICIDE BONG TAPES it's time for them to get their first proper vinyl release. It's kinda hard to describe the defining sound of FAULT LINES, but here ya go: Put a little bit of synthies and Indie into a glass bowl and stir it up with a nice portion of Shoegaze until it cracks. Now sprinkle the tangled mass with some catchy melodies and enjoy dark sounding titles like "HATE" or "DESTROY". Sounds contradicting to you? Well, give it a listen and you'll know! Released in cooperation with FDH Records (USA). Limited to 150 copies.

[engl] 12 Motor city punk tracks : 50 years of rock & roll in this, For fans of Stooges, Rocket From The Crypt, MC5, Radio Birdman, Hellacopters, Saints, Turbo Negro

[engl] You know as a musician if you ever supported Wat Tyler you really should consider giving up. Luckily for you Jesse ignored that non-existent rule and despite a European Tour together, they ploughed ahead and recorded this LP. It never sold in massive numbers but that’s neither here nor there. it still holds a special place in my heart. Sean Forbes (Wat Tyler / Rugger Bugger Discs - Gypsy Hill, London Town)