The Short List is a periodic dive into EPs, Splits, Reissues, Comps, Live Records, etc
EPs:
Escuela Grind – DDEEAATTHH MMEETTAALL (MNRK Heavy)
January 12, 2024
After a savage ful-length in 2022, Memory Theater. The Pittsfield, MA band unfurl a third installment in their genre EP series. Last year, Memory Theater exhibited the band’s brutal blending of extreme genres to crush critics in the underground and mainstream. While many revered metal and hardcore platforms such as Revolver, No Clean Singing, Lambgoat, and Decibel lauded the album, they can also add Spin and The New York Times. But to kick off 2024, the band return to their EP series, stretching their muscles and whipping out exquisite chops even when confined. The prior two were PPOOWWEERR VVIIOOLLEENNCCEE and GGRRIINNDDCCOORREE. The band dwell in between those too genres. And while their music embraces elements of death metal, here, the band unleash an unfettered attack.
DDEEAATTHH MMEETTAALL has Escuela Grind share four new tracks. One of those tracks boasts the guest vocal talent of the glorious and heralded Barney Greenway of Napalm Death. They have released a video for that song with a fitting title, Meat Magnet, for the well-known vegan guest. At the last minute, Escuela Grind were content with the three songs which they ad written and recorded. But, they decided that they wanted to have a track with a “huge buildup,” states vocalist Katerina Economou, for DDEEAATTHH MMEETTAALL and to incorporate into their live set for an indulgent wall of death for the crowd. Economou continues, “Lyrically, it references death metal tropes of murder and revenge, but with a decidedly feminine angle.”
Hit up MNRK for the limited edition.
VINYL:
Pressed on 180g glow-in-the-dark green, 300 (worldwide).
Follow Escuela Grind on instagram.
Silver – Bullet Ballet (QCHQ)
Out Now
It is never a surprise when QCHQ drops great hardcore. Silver is now added to that extensive list with their new EP, Bullet Ballet. The band had released a two track cassette back in July. Now we get a 12-inch MLP. Those tracks are included here, with five other new tracks on the proper medium. Bullet Ballet is garnished with a late ‘80s sound in the production. This hammers home the authentic adoration they have for that era of music.
We are seeing more and more hardcore bands brazenly infuse heavy thrash into their music. And luckily, we are spared the fun, drunken pizza party schtick. This is serious, tough, crossover-adjacent hardcore. Silver starts with the late ‘80s NYHC sounds of “Outburst,” “Breakdown,” and egregiously nodding to “Killing Time” (check the intro riff and stomp to “Burning Question”). Then they add flourishes of Testament and Exodus. The feeling of that time is even embedded in the negative space of the music, with dive bombs, guitar squeals, and enticingly taut riffing. Killer mosh parts make plenty of appearances. Fantastic energy (one track is called, “Hardcore Energy Forever”) through the seven track which spans just past two minutes, save the opener at three minutes. This is a banger, steeped in vitality.
Vinyl
Regular: smoke silver, 500
LTD ED: screen-printed outer plastic sleeve with a bullet belt obi; Comes with full color card sleeve, riso-graphed insert, inner sleeve, 100
Buy the record at QCHQ Website.
Follow QCHQ on instagram.
Comeback Kid – Trouble (Sharp Tone Records)
March 15, 2024
Admittedly, I had fallen off the Comeback Kid train after Wake the Dead. They just began playing music that didn’t grab me. When their 2003 debut, Turn It Around, dropped in 2003, I was hooked. It was on Facedown Records and was adorned by cool, violent art by Mike Bukowski, who was killing it at the time with covers for R.A.M.B.O., Stab and Kill Vol. I comp, Dragnet, Shark Attack, Down In Flames, DFA, Outbreak, Misery/Toxic Narcotic and many others. Then, 2005 birthed Wake the Dead. The album was on Victory Records, allowing CBK to work with a bigger budget and deeper production. Infectious and passionate, that record opened them to a wider audience without compromising. Then, I didn’t keep up.
Move to 2022. It was only as I was perusing albums for the end of the year, did I see CBK had dropped Heavy Steps on Nuclear Blast (while releasing legendary metal releases since 1987, in the ‘10s Nuclear Blast have worked with Municipal Waste, Madball, Agnostic Front, Destruction, Ringworm, Biohazard, and many other legends). And to my pleasant surprise, after five albums of integrating catchy hooks, emo parts, clean singing, and simply a lighter approach, Heavy Steps eschewed all of those elements and brought a heavy hardcore record. It was straight forward songwriting and less of an attempt to harness a grandiose sound.
Following up for 2024, CBK continues while the iron is glowing red. The incendiary four tracks embrace an urgency and brash delivery. The lead single is “Trouble in the Winner’s Circle.” The chorus is catchy, the riffs are thrashy hardcore as we have seen elevate the scene in recent years. The rhythm section provides a punky backdrop with a slight nod to NYHC. The band recorded this back in Winnipeg with John Paul Peters at Private Ear Recording. Then Trouble was mixed and mastered by golden boy. Will Putney. You can hear his influence, while retaining an abrasive edge. The music has meandered and varied through two decades, but that DIY ethic remains engrained.
Regarding this anthemic offering, vocalist Andrew Neufeld states:
“‘Trouble In the Winner’s Circle’ is about public meltdowns. Having the world crashing down on you on display for the masses to see like peering into a fishbowl. It’s a tongue and cheek rock anthem driving its point to the bitter end.”
VINYL:
Purple + Yellow Splatter, one-sided 12″ EP with etched B-side, 1000.
Pick up the record at Sharptone Records
Stay Up to date with Comeback Kid on their website.
