Blood Menace are a Philadelphia hardcore band led by Shin Guard’s Jake Yencik, who performed, mixed, and mastered the entirety of their debut EP, the perfectly titled Threat.
If you dig hardcore and live in the midwest, you should probably already be aware of Shin Guard, whose sound acts like a rope bridge slung across the cannon that divides metallic hardcore from screamo. They’re sort of like an envoy for the aesthetic pursuits of The Chariot and Alexisonfire, and countless other interminably talented, emotionally intelligent bands. Blood Menace retain some of the elements of Shin Guard’s practiced attack, but only the most extreme and chaotic ones.
With how consciously extreme and explosive Blood Menace are, it’s particularly difficult to compare the band to others who have gained any sort of notoriety for the sake of reference.
In terms of sheer energy, Blood Menace are most comparable to the disk-displacing whiplash of Boston’s Vein. But the band’s overt death metal vocals and skronky, unconventional guitar work sees them backwards summersaulting into a position that would make even Gojira nervous, but would likely elicit applause from Cynic. I wouldn’t be surprised at all to learn that Jake was listening to quite a bit of The Contortionist while making this record as well.
At just over ten minutes in length, you can drop into Threat, get your heart rate amped, and then windmill-kick through the rest of your day. Just try not to crowd-kill your Mom’s Christmas Village display. She worked really hard on it this year.
You can stream the entirety of Threat via Bandcamp below:
Get a copy Blood Menace’s Threat EP here.
