Hellscape - Dybbuk (Guest Review By Ralph J Rivera)

  

  Well the hinting in yesterday's update worked. Over to you Ralph...

So 2024 has definitely turned into the year of "Female Fronted" bands. It could be Modern Punk/Hardcore or even New Wave, Garage Rock or Noise Rock. Women are making their mark these days stronger than ever. Pretty much ALL my favorite releases this year have a female presence. SO this amazing Demo/EP dropped on my birthday & I can't stop listening to it.

https://advancedperspective.bandcamp.com/album/hellscape

"Hellscape" from London have managed to absorb everything great about 80's Death-Rock & Los Angeles style Hardcore. After listening to this 3 times in a row I had to order the vinyl! This is going to be a future classic! Their singer "Ciara" has studied all the greats and can hold her own as one of the best new Punk vocalists. Their guitar player "Ben" has also done his homework as his riffs instantly made me want to pick up my guitar! The rythmn section is on par with vintage 45 Grave! 6 songs that you'll want to listen to over & over. Dig this song - "Dybbuk" and see if you can recognize where that intro came from!

ESSES - Little Mouse

  

  ESSES (https://www.facebook.com/essesoakland) are an atmospheric post punk quintet from Oakland, California, who formed in 2014 and feature a line up of  Miss Kel (Vocals), Dawn Hills (Guitars), Skot B (Guitars), Scout Leight (Bass) & Kevin Brown (Drums). They've just premiered their new album,  Bloodletting For The Lonely, via a Twitch TV livestream party which featured a video for each of the songs giving a visual as well as an audio experience. If you missed it, it gets rebroadcast tomorrow (check out their Facebook page for details). 

  The album is out tomorrow on coloured and standard vinyl plus cd and digital download. You can get it here : https://essesoakland.bandcamp.com/album/bloodletting-for-the-lonely

  The album "centres around the topics of mental health, memory, and trauma, roaming over the events that are internalized into an unconscious space like a lucid dream and the world around which we cannot escape. The record interprets the psychology of moving through this comatose space as two separate beings inhabiting the same body and archetypal imagery. Emerging with “The Source” and culminating in “Schism,” the record progresses with a continuous storytelling approach throughout the nine meticulously ordered numbers." 

  They promise that this sophomore release will see them gloomier and heavier than ever with the press pack throwing out words such as emotional, haunting, bewitching, evocative etc...

  If you're into lovingly crafted gothic punk than this is for you. 

  This track is called Little Mouse...

The Wraith - Warhead

  

  I was wondering what to post today and then I came across this really cool UK Subs cover and my search quickly came to an end. 

  The Wraith (https://www.facebook.com/TheWraithPunk) are a dark punk/deathrock band from Los Angeles and line up with Kaz Alvis (guitar/vocals), Davey Bales (vocals), Anatolii Lövochkin (drums) and Paul Rogers (bass/vocals). Their sound mixes up elements of 80's UK post punk (Death Cult, Killing Joke, Chameleons) with Southern Californian deathrock (T.S.O.L., Samhain) and their 2019 debut album, Gloom Ballet (https://thewraithsl.bandcamp.com/album/gloom-ballet), saw critics hurling glowing reviews in their direction. 

  

    And now they're back with a split cassette with Cheltenham horror punks, Screaming Dead, who contribute a song called Pretty Mess (https://screamingdead.bandcamp.com/track/pretty-mess). It's the first release in a series of monthly split cassingles from Plain Disguise records and it's a very impressive opening instalment. 

  So the UK Subs cover; it's a darkly delicious take on a classic. It's called Warhead... 

DEEP TISSUE - In Despair

 

  Here's a song that everyone who was listening in the chatroom on last night's Just Some Punk Songs show seemed to love. It's by Philadelphia post-punk 4 piece DEEP TISSUE and it's taken from their recent self titled ep.

  The band feature Lauren (vocals), Shaun (guitar), Brendan (bass) and Adam (drums) and the ep will be getting a physical release in January via Sydney, Australia, label Disinfect Records. It'll be limited to 100 copies so if you want one don't hang around. Digitally it's available here :  https://deeptissue666.bandcamp.com/album/deep-tissue

  I can't find any more info on them so I'll just get on with the posting of a song. This is called In Despair....

Haldol - Hasbara

  Public diplomacy in Israel (also hasbara) (Hebrew: הַסְבָּרָה‎ hasbará, "explaining") refers to public relations efforts to disseminate abroad positive information or propaganda about the State of Israel and its actions.



  Something a couple of shades darker than normal today from Haldol, a band who's music attracts labels such as goth, post punk and deathrock.

  Formed in 2011 in Nashville by Geoff Smith and Joey Cantrell, they're now located in Philadelphia and feature Smith (guitar/vocals) alongside Matt Martin (bass) and Aaron Muchanic (drums).

  They announced themselves shortly after getting together with a 6 track demo and released their debut album, The Death Drive, the following year. There's also been the Exhumed Songs ep, a second demo and a live ep but it's with the release of this years self-titled ep that they came to my notice. Attracting comparisons with band such as Rudimentary Peni and The Chameleons it seems to have the reviewers salivating. You can check out what the fuss is about on their Bandcamp :  https://haldol.bandcamp.com/album/self-titled-45-lp 

  Commenting on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and asking how many people have to die for a Jewish State, this is Hasbara.....


Experiencing bloodshed allows you to wield bloodshed, 
And the tortured surely know what shrieks can wake the dead. 
As they pinkwash themselves, they wash children in red; 
Trumpets don't tear down Jericho's walls, it's missiles, instead. 
The terrorist title is reserved for the civilian, 
While "terrorized" rarely die, genocide receives justification. 
Land is land, and land is commodity, 
And those who obstruct capital are deserving of cruelty. 

The United States raises its children by example. 

When oppressed fight oppression, you give them more oppression, 
You can shroud it in religious rhetoric obsession. 
Resistance simply painted as race hate, 
How many have to die for a Jewish state?