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Foundation Vinyl Newsletter

11 March 2025

Welcome

Hello and welcome to the latest Foundation Vinyl newsletter! On Friday, I popped along to the first night of Damage Is Done 4.5, this year’s festival having been arranged as a charitable fundraiser in solidarity with the event founder, Ola of Quality Control HQ. Second Death kicked off my evening, and their set was as intensely discordant and fiercely percussive as could be reasonably hoped for. They were followed by bruising sets from two inter-related Denver bands, The Consequence and Direct Threat, the latter revelling in unleashing some killer, floor-filling bass lines.

The evening’s headlines were Chain Cult and the Athens band will always have a special place in my heart, having been the first band that I went to see as we came out of lockdown. So, it was great to have the chance to catch them again and their darkly stirring post-punk, equal parts melancholic trepidation and defiant hope, provided a fitting climax to the evening.

And so, what do we have lined-up this week? We have four cracking featured new arrivals to get stuck into for starters. First up, we have two new arrivals on Protagonist Music – the tautly dynamic self-titled debut album from Spiritkiller and then a 30th anniversary reissue of Groundwork’s seminal album from 1994, Today We Will Not Be Invisible Nor Silent.

Haunted Horses then deliver another crushing exhibition of post-punk shrouded industrial hardcore on Three One G with their fourth full-length, Dweller. Before, Frenzy bring things to a suitably frenetic close with their latest release, Beyond The Edge Of Madness on Distort Reality.

As always, we also have an updated London gig listing, which includes Helsinki’s Ignorance this weekend (16/03) plus a just announced date for Tokyo’s Blow Your Brains Out (06/05). We end with a quick rundown on some of the fine records heading our way in the near future. Next week, this includes releases from Bad Breeding, Benzin, Laura Agnusdei, and Tv Dust!

*Columns Of Impenetrable Light by Bleach Cross and The True Faith / Softcore and Irrational Habits by Cosey Mueller (clockwise)*

And also, just a quick heads up that the bleakly euphoric split album from Bleached Cross and The True Faith, Columns Of Impenetrable Light, on Protagonist Music is back in stock, as are both of the irresistible dark synth-punk albums from Cosey Mueller on Static Age, Irrational Habits and Softcore.

Featured New Arrivals

*Dweller by Haunted Horses / Beyond The Edge Of Madness by Frenzy / Today We Will Not Be Invisible Nor Silent by Groundwork / Spiritkiller by Spiritkiller (clockwise)*

GroundworkToday We Will Not Be Invisible Nor Silent

12 Inch

‘We are your poor and huddled masses, Forgotten servants, The streets we built have become our homes, Why, why do we give up our lives?’ (Birds Of Passage)

Groundwork were a hardcore band from Tucson, who were active between 1991 and 1994. Following four EPs, the band released their only full-length and final release, Today We Will Not Be Invisible Nor Silent. It proved to be one of the defining releases of 1990s’ hardcore and has now been reissued on its 30th anniversary.

That the band’s touring counterparts included Chokehold, Struggle, and Unbroken, provides an accurate handle on the band’s pedigree. They emerged at the very nexus of where hardcore’s fast emerging metallic evolution was consciously reconnected and invested with the politics and ethics of DIY hardcore punk. From the moment the darkly ominous opening riff to A Prayer For The Dead unfurls, the influence that Groundwork were to have on many bands that followed is immediately evident. But this should not distract from just how powerful a work it is in its own right.

Leanly discordant guitars are marbled with dissonant melody and underpinned by a sparingly limber rhythm section. Chaos-tinged eruptions serve to highlight the disciplined velocity of the wider battery. Indeed, the band’s willingness to let their songs breathe, to build momentum is, undoubtedly, one of the album’s defining features. There is a sparseness to their sound, one that sees a constant push-pull between unfiltered aggression and controlled ferocity. It is arguably best captured by Question Me and Birds Of Passage.

This is matched by the vocals as they braid the viscerally raw with passages of solemn spoken word and flourishes of more melodic reflection. The bleakly poetical lyrics have lost none of their potency as they explore colonial legacies (A Payer For The Dead), the cultural violence of misogyny (Question Me, Hungry), American exceptionalism (Daily Bread), economic exploitation (Birds Of Passage), and our wider consumerist complicity (Willing Victim, Channel One).

Unfortunately, the band dissolved shortly after the album’s release in 1994, and members went on to play in Absinthe, Bury Me Standing, and Four Hundred Years. As legacies go mind, Today We Will Not Be Invisible Nor Silent is none too shabby.

SpiritkillerSpiritkiller

12 Inch

‘Harmless animals, trained for restraint, to fear our pain, it’s worse to know, worse to see it. Pursue bliss through ignorance, and never stare too long through the bars of our cages’ (Animal Resistance)

My attention was first drawn to Albany’s Spiritkiller through the involvement of multi-instrumentalist Tom Schlatter, who has been previously involved in numerous outstanding projects, including You And I and Black Kites as guitarist. Spiritkiller’s debut release sees his trademark work – tautly melodic, tantalisingly serpentine, unerringly catchy – deftly refracted through the lens of mid-1990s’ hardcore.

This is fiercely dynamic hardcore that is fuelled by a relentless groove, and while not lacking in muscularity, the emphasis is on the spryly bouncing rather than the brutally crushing variety. The notably supple rhythm section locks in tightly with the effervescent riffage as the band craft an onslaught defined by tension ratcheting builds and furiously cathartic climaxes.

The breathlessly urgent vocals are equally high energy. The lyrical focus is primarily a self-reflective one. The intent is positive, but not blindly optimistic, recognising that life can often be a question of heightening self-awareness and making the most of less-than-ideal situations. From the searing opener Prana, the intensity never dips even for a moment across the eight tracks, peaking with the emotionally charged Falling Man and the savagely spiralling Animal Resistance.

Haunted HorsesDweller

12 Inch

‘Let the apparition consume me in the harrowing light of leviathan’s eyes, now I am beyond life, I am beyond death, now I am master of all that exists’ (The Spell)

Hailing from Seattle, Dweller is the fourth full-length from Haunted Horses and their follow up to 2022’s The Worst Has Finally Happened. The band is now a trio, having added Brian McClelland (Filth Is Eternal) to their ranks, and they continue to forge industrial hardcore that is shrouded in a beguiling post-punk sensibility.

The band’s starting point is densely percussive, at times, drivingly propulsive, at others, a clanking, juddering onslaught. Slabs of noise-infused riffage, darkly insidious melodies, and eerie flares of discordant electronics are deftly woven together in synchronicity with this relentless rhythmic barrage. The result is a darkly unsettling yet mesmerising soundscape, arguably best embodied by the fulminating fury of Grey Eminence and the utterly claustrophobic Temple Of Bone.

The gothically drawled vocals, competing parts ominous warning and desperate urging, add a further disquieting dynamic. The album’s conceptual focus is the notion namechecked in the title of the opening track of the Dweller On The Threshold. The literary invention of 19^th century English novelist, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, it is essentially the idea of a malevolent spectral form that attaches itself to us, the literal devil on our shoulder, seeking to inhibit our progress as individuals. Welcome to a world of malevolent shadows, fevered delusions, and thunderous rhythms.

FrenzyBeyond The Edge Of Madness

12 Inch

‘Deaden thoughts indoctrinate, Brainwashing kept sedate, Molded to robotic sludge, Blind to what you’ve become’ (Deathmask)

Portland’s Frenzy have been honing their own particular brand of noise-fuelled hardcore for well over a decade now, and Beyond The Edge Of Madness is their second full-length following 2019’s self-titled album. Drawing with relish on influences from late 1980s’ UK hardcore, the band continue to fashion these inspirations into something very distinctively their own.

The defining aspects are, perhaps, the semi-shouted, hoarsely rhythmic vocals together with a relentlessly morphing rhythm section that injects a constantly shape shifting, barrelling dynamism to the band’s delivery. Meanwhile, the rapid-fire guitars prove partial to recklessly exuberant solos and even flourishes of enticingly off-kilter melody.

Lyrically, the album takes a bleakly humorous view of our current malaise spanning social media contagion (Collective Psychosis), economic exploitation (Deathmask), climatic breakdown (Poison World, Zero Population) and sub-standard beverages (Sewer Cider). My personal highlights are the utterly infectious Poison World and Urban Alienation, with its swirling vortex of anarcho-punk tinged vocals, scorching solos, and martial drumming punctured by ferocious blast beat eruptions.

Shows And Tours

*Blow Your Brains Out play The Grace on 6th May*

This section lays no claims to being a definitive listing! It is simply gigs coming up in London that catch my eye and that I think people who read this newsletter might be interested in. I will always try and highlight where a show forms part of a wider UK tour.

March

12^thArkangel, 50 Caliber, Bodybag, Life Of One (New Cross Inn)

14^thTorena, Tempers Fray, Detriment, Low Life (New River Studios)

15^thIroned Out, Hometown Crew, Mob Handed, Frail, Skrapper, Supernova plus more (Signature Brew Haggerston)

16^thIgnorance, Victim Unit, Mincer, Sublux, Dead Name (New River Studios / UK Tour)

20^thHaywire, Mindless, Real Domain, Power Failure (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

27^th Bad Breeding, Scab, Middleman, Catastrophe (The Lexington / UK Tour)

30^thCœur À L’Index, Middleman, Secrecy (The Waiting Room)

April

2^ndLife Force, Moral Law, Escalate plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

14^thFranz Nicolay, Forever Unclean, Chloe Hawes (Signature Brew Haggerston / UK Tour)

15^th Thou, pageninetynine, Moloch (Scala / UK Tour)

17^thDeath By Stereo, Counterpunch plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

18^th Cowboy Hunters, Eelmen, Zeropolis (New River Studios)

18^th Shelter, Dynamite, No Relief (The Underworld)

19^th Disaffect, Haavat, Leashed, Catastrophe (New Cross Inn)

19^th Sunday School Weekender featuring, Belgrado, Sanctuary Of Praise, Traidora, Lash (New River Studios)

20^th Sunday School Weekender Operant, Beau Wanzer, The Shits, Urin, Brood x Cycles, Hellish Torment, Skintern, and Spine Portal (New River Studios)

20^th Comeback Kid, Shooting Daggers, Last Wishes (The Dome)

23^rd Blind Girls, Stress Positions , As Living Arrows, I’m Sorry Emil (Moor Beer Vaults / UK Tour)

25^th Final Dose, Läbrys, Ekstasis (Helgi’s)

May

3^rd Condor, Tramadol, Hitmen, The Dogs (The Shacklewell Arms)

6^thBlow Your Brains Out, T.S. Warspite, Always Watching, Hellscape (The Grace)

7^thAgnostic Front, Crown Court plus more (The Underworld)

14^thMuro plus support (New River Studios)

17^thBoom Boom Kid, Traidora, plus more (The Shacklewell Arms / UK Tour)

19^th Time Heist, Uncertainty, Equals What? (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

20^thWhores, Help, Ritual Error (New Cross Inn)

25^thOnelinedrawing, Secondary Education (The Waiting Room / UK Tour)

31^stShove plus support (Prince of Wales / UK Tour)

June

3^rdUltras, Xiao, Aku (New Cross Inn)

9^thMoral Bombing, Blossom Decay, Diall (Blondies / UK Tour)

14^thP.A.I.N, Hiatus, Zero Again plus more (New Cross Inn)

July

3^rdDestiny Bond, Big Laugh plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

4^thFentanyl, Kute plus more (New Cross Inn)

5^thAll Out War plus support (New Cross Inn)

7^thXibalba, Extinguish, Mutagenic Host (New Cross Inn)

19^thGel, Anxious, Chastity (The Dome / UK Tour)

October

30^thGodflesh plus support (Scala)

November

3^rd City Of Caterpillar, Incaseyouleave plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

Coming Soon

18/03

Bad Breeding ‘Blood Manifest’ 7-inch (Standard Processes)

Benzin ‘Treibjagd’ 12-inch (Static Age)

Laura Agnusdei ‘Flowers Are Blooming In Antarctica’ 12-inch (Maple Death)

Tv Dust ‘Transition’ 12-inch (Maple Death)

Later In March

Exo ‘Exo’ 12-inch (La Vida Es Un Mus)

Languid ‘Shove Their System Up Their Ass’ 12-inch (D-Takt)

Los Crudos ‘Discografia’ 2×12-inch (La Vida Es Un Mus)

Mob 47 ‘Tills Du Dör’ 12-inch (D-Takt)

Puñal ‘Buscando La Muerte’ 12-inch (La Vida Es Un Mus)

Siyahkal ‘Days Of Smoke And Ash’ 12-inch (Static Shock)

April

Bombardement ‘Dans La Fournaise’ 12-inch (Symphony Of Destruction)

Bondage ‘El Fin! El Demo’ 7-inch (Discos Enfermos)

Cicada ‘Wicked Dream’ 7-inch (Unlawful Assembly)

Corrective Measure ‘Not For You, Not For Anyone’ 12-inch (Refuse)

EVA ‘II’ 7-inch (Andalucia Űber Alles)

Habak ‘Mil Orquideas En Medio Del Desierto’ 12-inch (Alerta Antifascista)

Infra ‘Vida Violenta’ 12-inch (Discos Enfermos)

Innuendo ‘Peace And Love’ 12-inch (Unlawful Assembly)

Judy And The Jerks ‘Total Jerks’ 12-inch (Refuse)

Mutated Void ‘Tarnished’ 7-inch (Unlawful Assembly)

Oust ‘Rather Be A Fuck Up’ 12-inch (Discos Enfermos)

Point Of No Return ‘The Language Of Refusal’ 12-inch (Refuse)

Post Regiment ‘Post Regiment’ 12-inch (Refuse)

Promaja ‘Bravo Brava’ 12-inch (Symphony Of Destruction)

Sect ‘Sect’ 12-inch (Discos Enfermos)

Utopie ‘Virage’ 12-inch (Symphony Of Destruction)

Foundation Vinyl Newsletter

4 March 2025

Welcome

Hello and welcome to the latest Foundation Vinyl newsletter! We have a stacked line-up to get stuck into this week with five featured new arrivals.

First up, we have a belter of a new album from Punter – Australienation – on Drunken Sailor and Televised Suicide. Next, we have two fresh arrivals from Kick Rock Records – Deletär’s absolutely unrelenting second self-titled album and Chant De Ruines, a thoroughly atmospheric live album from Syndrome 81.

To round things off, we have two new releases from General Speech. The first is a raucous raw punk split featuring Vaxine and The Last Survivors. Then, a reissue of an intriguing slab of hardcore punk history in Undesirable Guests courtesy of 1980s’ anarcho-punks, The Legion Of Parasites.

As always, we also have an updated London gig listing, with Damage Is Done 4.5 fast approaching this weekend – it looks like Friday is sold out, but there are still some tickets available for the Saturday show.

We end with a quick rundown on some of the fine records heading our way in the near future. Next week, this includes releases from Frenzy, Groundwork, Haunted Horses, and Spiritkiller!

*Just back in stock from Mendeku Diskak Records*

Also, just a quick heads up that a tasty restock from Mendeku Diskak has just landed. It includes More War from Armor, Catalunya En Blanc I Negre from Enyor, Zonder Title Deze Keer from Impotentie, and Years In Permafrost: Recordings 2021-24 from Killing Frost. Definitely worth checking out.

Featured New Arrivals

*Australienation by Punter / Deletär II by Deletär / Chant De Ruines by Syndrome 81 / Undesirable Guests by The Legion Of Parasites / Split by Vaxine and The Last Survivors (clockwise)*

PunterAustralienation

12 Inch

‘All your Labor votes bought yas; drones in the sky, Dead end culture – circles like a fucken vulture, Mad Max paying off speeding fines, It’s less like prison, more like being in fucken primary school for the rest of your life’ (Australienation)

Punter’s 2023 self-titled debut album was a raucous whirlwind. And yet beneath this rollicking exterior, there was an uncompromising dissection of the social inequity that was riven through Australia’s pandemic response, its privileging of corporate interests while punitively punishing already marginalised communities.

Now, of course, we were all told that that our communal efforts to fight the pandemic would herald a rebirth of the social democratic values that have been vanquished over the past forty years. Yeah, right. The failed economic ‘common sense’ has not only endured but become even further embedded, despite the decaying public services and poverty ravaged lives in clear view. And Australienation provides us with the perfect soundtrack to this spiralling descent.

The Melbourne band continue to unleash bracingly angry punk that is injected with a brazen rock’n’roll swagger, laced with killer melodies, and delivered with a bristling, at times, surprisingly burly hardcore intensity. A further dimension is Punter’s ability to deftly integrate a myriad of musical inspirations. Bagpipes, Hammond organ, piano, and saxophone, all flare up to rich effect throughout the album. Similarly, the backing vocals introduce swells of melodic layering and detailing in quite unexpected ways. There really is some terrific ‘ooohing’.

Meanwhile, the lead vocals sweep from densely rhythmic, sarcasm saturated snarls to howls of despair, and even occasionally carry a hint of melody. They drip with disdain and no little black humour as they dive into the landscape of contemporary Australia, from the soul sapping suburbs of Turflayer (‘Please tell me your opinion on the immigrants and gays’) to the blazing outback on No Normal (‘They’re gonna smoke us all out in the end’), by way of the technological hollowing-out of life on Rise Of The Technocrat (‘You wouldn’t shoot up at the dinner, so how’s about some eye contact?’), and the sheer existential dread of Ask The Community (‘How can we hope to create change when we can’t even be fucked with the washing of the dishes?’).

The title track is a stormer but there so many great moments. Ask The Community’s bewildered monologue, the vibrantly layered finale to The Golden Hour, the contagious chorus of Purgatory Is The Pub, and the enraged, organ fuelled diatribe that concludes Chinstroker to flag but a few that will make sure you keep coming back. We may be heading headlong into the abyss but Punter are determined to make sure that we do so with our eyes wide open and a tune in our hearts.

DeletärDeletär II

12 Inch

‘Un carton dans les mains, Personne ne retient ton regard, L’indifférence devient ton quotidien’ (Un Carton Dans Les Mains) ‘A cardboard box in your hands, Nobody holds your gaze, Indifference becomes your daily life’ (A Cardboard Box In Your Hands)

Deletär hail from St Etienne and feature members of Bleakness, Bombardment, and Litige. This is their second self-titled full-length, and follow-up to their 2019 debut. The band continue to take their cues from classic Swedish hardcore and to mould them into something rather unique to themselves. The result is absolutely unrelenting yet also thoroughly well-crafted and satisfyingly nuanced.

Their onslaught is centred around wave upon wave of fierce riffage, the lead guitars unleashing searing solos from every direction. Meanwhile, the gruff French vocals and the utterly bruising rhythm section lock-in together, with the infectious shout along choruses injecting a decidedly boisterous energy. And everything hits home with a striking velocity that is perfectly captured by the surging Pandémonium and rampaging Il Ne Reste Qu’une Ombre (Only A Shadow Remains).

The lyrical concerns match this musical intensity as they grapple with themes of social inequality (Un Carton Dans Les Mains / A Cardboard Box In The Hands), colonial legacies (Vaterland), democratic deficits (Pandémonium), and climatic collapse (Échec / Failure).

Syndrome 81Chant De Ruines

12 Inch

Chant De Ruins (Song Of Ruins) is a live album from Syndrome 81 and forms part of a series of such recordings, which also features Bleakness and Destruct, co-ordinated by Kick Rock Records.

The album captures Syndrome 81 at the aptly named Superbowl of Hardcore in Rennes in July 2022. The ten-track set spans the band’s discography, including four tracks from the brilliant Prisons Imaginaires (Prison Imaginaries), which had been released just a couple of months earlier.

The sound quality is very good indeed – raw enough to convey the live essence of the band without compromising the identity of the songs themselves. The rhythm guitar is lower in the mix, the rhythm section rather higher. The band’s trademark smouldering melodies cut through with piercing clarity yet are invested with a certain brittleness. The lead vocals remain powerfully impassioned, the backing vocals fizz with an authentically unfiltered energy.

The stand-out moments are, perhaps, the barnstorming opener Vivre Et Mourir (Live And Die) and the darkly rowdy Seul Contre Tous (Alone Against All). The French between song chat adds further texture to a thoroughly atmospheric and engaging recording.

Vaxine, The Last SurvivorsSplit

7 Inch

A split from two bands, one from New York, the other from Tokyo, who draw inspiration from the same raw hardcore punk well but then take things off in two quite distinct directions.

‘Curate a scapegoat, twist the average mind, Tolerated violence by those who stay blind, Scrambled, narcissistic, ego ideals, Conform for safety, losing empathetic feel’ (Thread Of Hate, Vaxine)

Brooklyn’s Vaxine, who feature members of Scalpel, Porvenir Oscuro, and PMS 84, are following up last year’s debut full-length, Frontal Lobotomy. Their fierce refashioning of the classic UK82 sound continues to brim with an anarchic energy that is then honed through a tautly aggressive lens. War Criminals and Thread Of Hate hit home with particular velocity. Across their three tracks, the rasping, snotty vocals focus on the continued horrors in Palestine and the wider world’s complicity in the conduct of the Israeli government.

‘Here comes another gloomy day, Kick in the door and get on the way, I feel blood in my veins, We can do it all over again’ (Teenage Days, The Last Survivors)

Tokyo’s The Last Survivors have been active to varying degrees of intensity for just over 20 years. In contrast to Vaxine, their sound is a notably looser, more determinedly melodic one. It also pulses with a discernible rock’n’roll sensibility, especially on their own track, Teenage Days. Their other contribution is a riotous cover of Dead And Gone by Wigan punks The Insane, taken from their 1981 EP, Politics.

The Legion Of ParasitesUndesirable Guests

12 Inch

‘Around my neck there is a rope, the government is at the top, the arm is pulled, the people drop, we jolt around so desperately, the music fades – perhaps we’re free?’ (Eroded Freedom)

The Legion Of Parasites were an English anarcho-punk band who were active throughout the 1980s and briefly reformed in the late 1990s. Undesirable Guests was the band’s debut vinyl release in 1984, a year prior to arguably their most well-known release, The Prison Of Life!

It represents an intriguing insight into the evolution of hardcore punk in the mid-1980s. For while the band were firmly rooted in the anarcho-punk scene, they had a notable appetite for sustained eruptions of hardcore speed. This imbued their sound with a flavour of early crossover thrash that the band deftly blended with their more traditional anarcho-punk elements.

The riffage is woven through with catchily understated melody and is matched by some notably feverish drumming that favours uninhibited vigour over precision. The vocals segue from the semi-shouted to a more rapid-fire snarl as demanded, supported by plenty of group chanted choruses. A blend that works particularly effectively on Savages and Party Time.

Promises, Eroded Freedom, and Hypocrite all lyrically focus on Thatcherism’s bleak grip on the country, while the horrors of war and the nuclear threat are the preoccupation of the balance of the tracks. So, while The Legion Of Parasites may never have quite reached the heights of recognition enjoyed by some of their contemporaries, this is a fascinating slab of hardcore punk history.

Shows And Tours

*Misantropic at New Cross Inn this Saturday*

March

5^th Touche Amore, Trauma Ray, Chalk Hands (Electric Ballroom / UK Tour)

7^th Damage Is Done 4.5 Weekender featuring Chain Cult, The Consequence, Direct Threat, Second Death, Total Con, and Traidora (New River Studios / Sold Out)

7^th Delivery, Fruit Tones, Spike (Moth Club / UK Tour)

7^th Napalm Death, Crowbar, Full Of Hell, Brat (Brixton Electric)

8^thDamage Is Done 4.5 Weekender featuring Blade, Cannonball, Cold Decay, Collateral, Dominate, The Flex, Forced Humility, Grand Scheme, King Street, Life Of One, Real Domain, Straight To Hell, Temple Guard (Colour Factory)

8^th Misantropic, Nujorvik, Traidora, System Of Slaves, Wreathe (New Cross Inn)

15^thIroned Out, Hometown Crew, Mob Handed, Frail, Skrapper, Supernova plus more (Signature Brew Haggerston)

16^thIgnorance, Victim Unit, Mincer, Sublux, Dead Name (New River Studios / UK Tour)

20^thHaywire, Mindless, Real Domain, Power Failure (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

27^th Bad Breeding, Scab, Middleman, Catastrophe (The Lexington / UK Tour)

30^thCœur À L’Index, Middleman, Secrecy (The Waiting Room)

April

2^ndLife Force, Moral Law, Escalate plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

14^thFranz Nicolay, Forever Unclean, Chloe Hawes (Signature Brew Haggerston / UK Tour)

15^th Thou, pageninetynine, Moloch (Scala / UK Tour)

17^thDeath By Stereo, Counterpunch plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

18^th Cowboy Hunters, Eelmen, Zeropolis (New River Studios)

18^th Shelter, Dynamite, No Relief (The Underworld)

19^th Disaffect, Haavat, Leashed, Catastrophe (New Cross Inn)

19^th Sunday School Weekender featuring, Belgrado, Sanctuary Of Praise, Traidora, Lash (New River Studios)

20^th Sunday School Weekender Hellish Torment, Urin plus more to be confirmed (New River Studios)

20^th Comeback Kid, Shooting Daggers, Last Wishes (The Dome)

23^rd Blind Girls, Stress Positions , As Living Arrows, I’m Sorry Emil (Moor Beer Vaults / UK Tour)

25^th Final Dose, Läbrys, Ekstasis (Helgi’s)

May

3^rd Condor, Tramadol, Hitmen, The Dogs (The Shacklewell Arms)

7^thAgnostic Front, Crown Court plus more (The Underworld)

14^thMuro plus support (New River Studios)

17^thBoom Boom Kid, Traidora, plus more (The Shacklewell Arms / UK Tour)

19^th Time Heist, Uncertainty, Equals What? (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

20^thWhores, Help, Ritual Error (New Cross Inn)

25^thOnelinedrawing, Secondary Education (The Waiting Room / UK Tour)

31^stShove plus support (Prince of Wales / UK Tour)

June

3^rdUltras, Xiao, Aku (New Cross Inn)

9^thMoral Bombing, Blossom Decay, Diall (Blondies / UK Tour)

14^thP.A.I.N, Hiatus, Zero Again plus more (New Cross Inn)

July

3^rdDestiny Bond, Big Laugh plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

5^thAll Out War plus support (New Cross Inn)

7^thXibalba, Extinguish, Mutagenic Host (New Cross Inn)

19^thGel, Anxious, Chastity (The Dome / UK Tour)

October

30^thGodflesh plus support (Scala)

November

3^rdCity Of Caterpillar, Incaseyouleave plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

Coming Soon

*Spiritkiller’s debut album lands next week*

11/03

Frenzy ‘Beyond The Edge Of Madness’ 12-inch (Distort Reality)

Groundwork ‘Today We Will Not Be Invisible Nor Silent’ 12-inch (Protagonist)

Haunted Horses ‘Dweller’ 12-inch (Three One G)

Spiritkiller ‘Spiritkiller’ 12-inch (Protagonist)

Later In March

Bad Breeding ‘Blood Manifest’ 7-inch (Standard Processes)

Benzin ‘Treibjagd’ 12-inch (Static Age)

Corrective Measure ‘Not For You, Not For Anyone’ 12-inch (Refuse)

Exo ‘Exo’ 12-inch (La Vida Es Un Mus)

Judy And The Jerks ‘Total Jerks’ 12-inch (Refuse)

Languid ‘Shove Their System Up Their Ass’ 12-inch (D-Takt)

Laura Agnusdei ‘Flowers Are Blooming In Antarctica’ 12-inch (Maple Death)

Los Crudos ‘Discografia’ 2×12-inch (La Vida Es Un Mus)

Mob 47 ‘Tills Du Dör’ 12-inch (D-Takt)

Point Of No Return ‘The Language Of Refusal’ 12-inch (Refuse)

Post Regiment ‘Post Regiment’ 12-inch (Refuse)

Puñal ‘Buscando La Muerte’ 12-inch (La Vida Es Un Mus)

Siyahkal ‘Days Of Smoke And Ash’ 12-inch (Static Shock)

Tv Dust ‘Transition’ 12-inch (Maple Death)

April

Bombardment ‘Dans La Fournaise’ 12-inch (Symphony Of Destruction)

Bondage ‘El Fin! El Demo’ 7-inch (Discos Enfermos)

Cicada ‘Wicked Dream’ 7-inch (Unlawful Assembly)

EVA ‘II’ 7-inch (Andalucia Űber Alles)

Habak ‘Mil Orquideas En Medio Del Desierto’ 12-inch (Alerta Antifascista)

Infra ‘Vida Violenta’ 12-inch (Discos Enfermos)

Innuendo ‘Peace And Love’ 12-inch (Unlawful Assembly)

Mutated Void ‘Tarnished’ 7-inch (Unlawful Assembly)

Oust ‘Rather Be A Fuck Up’ 12-inch (Discos Enfermos)

Promaja ‘Bravo Brava’ 12-inch (Symphony Of Destruction)

Sect ‘Sect’ 12-inch (Discos Enfermos)

Utopie ‘Visage’ 12-inch (Symphony Of Destruction)

Foundation Vinyl Newsletter

25 February 2025

Welcome

Hello and welcome to the latest Foundation Vinyl newsletter! I must admit my mind is still buzzing from a blisteringly intense Love Letter show last night. I’ve shared a few thoughts on it in A Beautiful Monday later in the newsletter.

And what else do we have lined up this week? We have five featured new arrivals to get stuck into. We kick things off with three new releases from Massachusetts’ No Norms Records. First up, the darkly gothic post-punk of Gossip Collar on their debut album, Spinning Silk For Parasites. Next, the snarling fury of SOH on their first full-length, Cost To Live, and this is then followed by the desperately urgent hardcore of Wet Specimens on Dying In A Dream.

Next, on Convulse Records, we have the searing return of Punitive Damage with Hate Training. And to round things off with a bang, Apocalypse Hits, the bleakly inventive second album from Trenchkoat on No Front Teeth.

As always, we also have an updated London gig listing, with new shows from Onelinedrawing (25/05), Shove (31/05), and City Of Caterpillar (03/11) just added. We end with a quick rundown on some of the fine records heading our way in the near future. Next week, this includes Deletär, Frenzy, Punter, Syndrome 81, The Legion Of Parasites, and Vaxine / The Last Survivors, plus a healthy restock landing from Mendeku Diskak Records that features the latest releases from Armor and Killing Frost.

Featured New Arrivals

*Spinning Silk For Parasites by Gossip Collar / Cost To Live by SOH / Hate Training by Punitive Damage / Apocalypse Hits by Trenchkoat / Dying In A Dream by Wet Specimens (clockwise)*

Gossip CollarSpinning Silk For Parasites

12 Inch

Gossip Collar’s debut release entices us into a deliciously realised, gothic draped embrace as the Boston band deftly layer post-punk and death rock inspirations to darkly infectious effect.

The rhythm section sets a satisfyingly propulsive base, while the guitars segue seamlessly from hypnotically serpentine melodies to more robust riffs amid the eerily swelling synths. But it is, perhaps, the vocals which seal the deal. Stridently melodic with a playful archness, they unfurl dark fairy tale imagery of foreboding forests, spectral apparitions, and pursuing bloodhounds. Even Dorian Gray makes an appearance. A keen sense of the macabre manifests itself lyrically in expressions such as ‘I’m breakfast for the baby’ and ‘Why does he have no head?’.

A richly haunting atmosphere is conjured and, in tandem with the spectral artwork, it serves to evoke a sense of feverishly plunging back to Victorian times. Indeed, the lyrics to Midnight Ride are based on the writings of 19^th century English writer Sabine Baring-Gould. This sense is further amplified by the band’s name, gossip collars having been, I believe, another name for bridal scolds, an iron muzzle used as punishment in the workhouses, mostly for women deemed to be too outspoken.

Personal highlights are the surging opener Breakfast (for the baby) – the moment just before the climatic chorus when everything drops out bar the bass drum and pulsing synths gets me every time – and the ineffably contagious Shallow Eyes, with its killer chorus line of ‘He found the devil on the sideline’ soaring above a crystalline lead guitar and cymbal awash drums.

SOHCost To Live

12 Inch

‘Where I’m from, These wounds, Made to be numbed, We’re seasoned to die, Exiled from our own sky’ (All Heart)

SOH (System Of Hate) hail from Los Angeles and Cost To Live is their debut album, and follow-up to 2022’s 7-inch EP, Life On Edge. The band’s sonic fundamentals remain a fierce blend of metallic crust riffage, breakneck d-beat rhythms, and a snarling punk attitude. However, the full-length format has offered the opportunity for greater invention and it’s one that SOH have grabbed with both hands.

The key, perhaps, to this is the manically virtuoso vocals. Rasping shouts, semi-spoken word, melodic incantations, and hellish growls can erupt in the space of a single track. Thoughts of a hyperactive, shapeshifting demon are elicited as the oppressive forces of colonialism and religion are confronted. The musicianship succeeds in matching this restless energy as dark melodies and surf fuelled solos are liberally laced through the wider onslaught, underpinned by spryly bouncing bass lines and an impressively relentless drummer.

The result is an album that brims with both raw intensity and agitated invention. Its invigorating volatility rarely ends where you might anticipate as it surges from the Filipino language rage of Walang Paglaya (No Release) to the contagiously rhythmic tirade of Annihilate, by way of the raucously melodic All Heart.

Wet SpecimensDying In A Dream

7 Inch

‘I’ve skinned both my knees praying for sleep, I’ve bled years off my life to earn my keep, I’ve worn my fingers down, chewed off my tongue, Seen the crack in the sky, shouted out my lungs’ (Dying In A Dream)

Dying In A Dream is Wet Specimens follow-up to their 2023 first full-length, Over Pale Bodies. By drawing on Japanese hardcore and death rock influences in equal measure, the Albany band succeed in imbuing their harsh, rhythmic sound with both a surging intensity and a notable aura of gothic drama. The raw, semi-shouted vocals inject a desperate, urgent energy throughout, as the bleakly allusive lyrics explore a relentlessly dehumanising world hurtling inexorably towards its own destruction.

The slow burn escalation of the opening title track is built around a remorseless, menacing riff, ominous spoken interludes, and martial anarcho-punk rhythms, before sweeping into the darkly melodic, feverishly unsettling Curtain Call, haunting synths fuelling the chorus. The flipside kicks off with the more stripped back galloping d-beat of Where Light Refracts, before the howling solos of Tomb Sentinel ignite a crushing finale.

Punitive DamageHate Training

12 Inch

‘Find comfort in their chains, Basic needs, a cause for shame, Something less than human beneath the rubble’ (Chains Of Hate)

With members spanning Seattle and Vancouver, Punitive Damage return to Convulse Records for the first time since their seething 2020 debut EP, We Don’t Forget. The band’s sound has been ever more tightly honed over this period and continues to adroitly harness rapid fire eruptions and bruising breakdowns around a groove-laden hardcore heart. In essence, old school influences given a fiercely taut, punchily assertive refresh. Stand out moments are, perhaps, the stomping fury of Baptism Of Fire, the scorching climax to Humanity Upon Request, and the visceral closer, Blight Of Apathy.

The vocals are, as ever, utterly rabid, pulsing with a raw, unyielding anger. Lyrically, Hate Training focuses on the horrors that have been unfolding in Palestine. The band explore political attempts to justify military action against a civilian population, people’s ability to disengage their humanity from the plight of those being relentlessly assailed, and how these combined elements have fuelled a deep-seated apathy among many to the realities of the situation.

TrenchkoatApocalypse Hits

12 Inch

‘You crave a restricted life where freedom fades and dies, Your body and mind you’ll submit, We nurse the wounds that we inflict’ (The Cult Of Oblivion)

Apocalypse Hits is Trenchkoat’s follow-up to their 2023 debut full-length, Pulling The Plug On Humanity. As it unfolds, you are hit by two contrasting feelings – one is a pleasing immediacy, and the other a nagging sense of disorientation arising from a sonic balance that defies simple categorisation. The starting point of the band’s sound is relatively straight-up hardcore punk, but they have warped these fundamentals into something quite distinct.

The rhythm guitar sits surprisingly low in the mix, the blackened vocals notably higher. Bleakly ominous melodies feed into spiralling NWOBHM stamped solos. The rhythm section has a punchy elasticity to it, yet there is also a primitive element to the drums that at times calls back to proto-thrash metal. The venomous opener The Cult Of Oblivion, the swaggering bass-led Doctrine Of Discipline, and the frantic oscillations of Mistaken Identity, perhaps, best capture these competing dynamics.

So, a pretty unique proposition then, but it is one that Trenchkoat, whose members are based in London and Freiburg, are delivering with ever greater confidence. Arguably, the vocal delivery is the binding glue. Blackened vocals can often prove rather monotone, but Marco Palumbo (also of Iris Paralysis and Zuletzt) injects his with both a rhythmic intensity and an arresting sense of dark theatre. It is not too hard to imagine the skull-faced character from the cover art behind the microphone as the disconsolate lyrics map an atomised society drained of hope and easy prey for predatory capital and political manipulation.

A Beautiful Monday

*A discography of Love Letter’s Quinn Murphy, featuring Love Letter, Bad Swimmers, Death Of A Nation, Verse, and Violent Sons*

I’ve always been quite partial to Sunday night gigs as the end of the weekend simply gets agreeably lost in squalling feedback. The case for Monday nights has always proven rather less persuasive. But the chance to catch Love Letter, who feature Quinn Murphy (formerly of Verse), was more than enough to entice me down to the New Cross Inn last night.

Verse were active between 2003 and 2013, bar a brief hiatus between 2009 and 2011, and remain an important influence for me, a potent blend of musical and political inspiration. They released four albums across Rivalry and Bridge Nine, of which perhaps 2006’s From Anger And Rage, was the definitive release. They were also a fierce live proposition, and I had the pleasure of seeing them lay waste to The Underworld on three occasions, all rather remarkably in 2008 if I recall rightly. After the band calling it a day for the second time, I have followed Murphy’s subsequent projects with relish, from Bad Swimmers to Death Of A Nation, by way of Violent Sons.

But it wasn’t until Love Letter more recently emerged that you sensed that Murphy had found a band with which to truly build on Verse’s legacy. Their debut LP, Everyone Wants Something Beautiful, is immense – hauntingly beautiful, at times, almost post-metal instrumentation, riven through with searing slabs of groove fuelled hardcore ferocity. Love Letter, as with Verse, craft their arrangements with the clear intent of pushing the vocals to absolute front and centre. And Murphy’s delivery carries this weight impressively, braiding as it does uncompromising rhythmic fury with passages of solemn spoken word, while deftly dissecting the violence, both slow and immediate, endemic to the mire we now find ourselves in.

*Love Letter at New Cross Inn, 24th February*

The show was utterly intense with the harrowing Unhousing Projects, the slow-burn Settlements, and the savage Meds And Taxes, perhaps, the set stand-outs. ‘I want to feel your breath, to share your sweat’ – enveloped in a tight horseshoe in front of the stage, Murphy remains an absolute force of nature, commanding the room with a rare passionate intensity and a palpable emotional sincerity. Between songs, Murphy continues to speak eloquently on class, identity, geopolitics, and personal self-worth – always thoughtful and self-reflective, forging important connections, never straying into platitude.

When the last snare beat snapped shut, so immersive had the show been, it was hard to believe that the set had lasted an hour. Amid the buzzing ears and hoarse voices, I suspect very few people left the room without having formed some new insight or reflection on their own life and on that of those around us. And to be honest, that is a lot more than I normally achieve on a Monday night.

Everyone Wants Something Beautiful by Love Letter is in stock here.

Shows and Tours

*Zeropolis play Mascara Bar this Saturday*

March

1^st Zeropolis, Lacquer, Static Palm (Mascara Bar)

5^th Touche Amore, Trauma Ray, Chalk Hands (Electric Ballroom / UK Tour)

7^th Damage Is Done 4.5 Weekender featuring Chain Cult, The Consequence, Direct Threat, Second Death, Total Con, and Traidora (New River Studios)

7^th Delivery, Fruit Tones, Spike (Moth Club / UK Tour)

7^th Napalm Death, Crowbar, Full Of Hell, Brat (Brixton Electric)

8^th Misantropic, Nujorvik, Wreathe, System Of Slaves, Traidora (New Cross Inn)

15^thIroned Out, Hometown Crew, Mob Handed, Frail, Skrapper, Supernova plus more (Signature Brew Haggerston)

16^thIgnorance, Victim Unit, Mincer, Sublux, Dead Name (New River Studios / UK Tour)

20^thHaywire, Mindless, Real Domain, Power Failure (New Cross Inn)

27^th Bad Breeding, Scab, Middleman, Catastrophe (The Lexington / UK Tour)

30^thCœur À L’Index, Middleman, Secrecy (The Waiting Room)

April

2^ndLife Force, Moral Law, Escalate plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

14^thFranz Nicolay plus support (Signature Brew Haggerston / UK Tour)

15^th Thou, pageninetynine, Moloch (Scala / UK Tour)

17^thDeath By Stereo, Counterpunch plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

18^th Cowboy Hunters, Eelmen, Zeropolis (New River Studios)

18^th Shelter, Dynamite, No Relief (The Underworld)

19^th Disaffect, Haavat, Leashed, Catastrophe (New Cross Inn)

19^th-20^th Sunday School Weekender featuring, Belgrado, Hellish Torment, Sanctuary Of Praise, Traidora, Urin plus many more (New River Studios)

20^th Comeback Kid, Shooting Daggers, Last Wishes (The Dome)

23^rd Blind Girls, Stress Positions , As Living Arrows, I’m Sorry Emil (Moor Beer Vaults / UK Tour)

25^th Final Dose, Läbrys, Ekstasis (Helgi’s)

May

3^rd Condor, Tramadol, Hitmen, The Dogs (The Shacklewell Arms)

7^thAgnostic Front, Crown Court, plus more (The Underworld)

14^thMuro plus support (New River Studios)

17^thBoom Boom Kid, Traidora, plus more (The Shacklewell Arms / UK Tour)

19^th Time Heist, Uncertainty, Equals What? (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

20^thWhores, Help, Ritual Error (New Cross Inn)

25^thOnelinedrawing, Secondary Education (The Waiting Room / UK Tour)

31^stShove plus support (Prince of Wales / UK Tour)

June

3^rdUltras, Xiao, Aku (New Cross Inn)

9^thMoral Bombing, Blossom Decay, Diall (Blondies)

14^thP.A.I.N, Hiatus, Zero Again plus more (New Cross Inn)

July

3^rdDestiny Bond, Big Laugh plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

5^thAll Out War plus support (New Cross Inn)

7^thXibalba, Extinguish, Mutagenic Host (New Cross Inn)

19^thGel, Anxious, Chastity (The Dome / UK Tour)

October

30^thGodflesh plus support (Scala)

November

3^rdCity Of Caterpillar, Incaseyouleave plus more (New Cross Inn)

Coming Soon

04/03

Armor ‘More War’ 12-inch (Mendeku Diskak / Restock)

Deletär ‘Self-Titled II’ 12-inch (Kick Rock)

Frenzy ‘Beyond The Edge Of Madness’ 12-inch (Distort Reality)

Killing Front ‘Years In Permafrost: Recordings 2021-2024’ 12-inch (Mendeku Diskak / Restock)

Punter ‘Australienation’ 12-inch (Drunken Sailor)

Syndrome 81 ‘Chant De Ruines’ 12-inch (Kick Rock)

The Legion Of Parasites ‘Undesirable Guests’ 12-inch (General Speech)

Vaxine / The Last Survivors ‘Split’ 7-inch (General Speech)

Later In March

Bad Breeding ‘Blood Manifest’ 7-inch (Standard Processes)

Benzin ‘Treibjagd’ 12-inch (Static Age)

Bleached Cross / The True Faith ‘Columns Of Impenetrable Light’ 12-inch (Protagonist / Restock)

Corrective Measure ‘Not For You, Not For Anyone’ 12-inch (Refuse)

Groundwork ‘Today We Will Not Be Invisible Nor Silent’ 12-inch (Protagonist)

Haunted Horses ‘Dweller’ 12-inch (Three One G)

Judy And The Jerks ‘Total Jerks’ 12-inch (Refuse)

Laura Agnusdei ‘Flowers Are Blooming In Antarctica’ 12-inch (Maple Death)

Languid ‘Shove Their System Up Their Ass’ 12-inch (D-Takt)

Mob 47 ‘Tills Du Dör’ 12-inch (D-Takt)

Point Of No Return ‘The Language Of Refusal’ 12-inch (Refuse)

Post Regiment ‘Post Regiment’ 12-inch (Refuse)

Siyahkal ‘Days Of Smoke And Ash’ 12-inch (Static Shock)

Spiritkiller ‘Spiritkiller’ 12-inch (Protagonist)

Tv Dust ‘Transition’ 12-inch (Maple Death)

April

Bondage ‘El Fin! El Demo’ 7-inch (Discos Enfermos)

EVA ‘II’ 7-inch (Andalucia Űber Alles)

Habak ‘Mil Orquideas En Medio Del Desierto’ 12-inch (Alerta Antifascista)

Infra ‘Vida Violenta’ 12-inch (Discos Enfermos)

Oust ‘Rather Be A Fuck Up’ 12-inch (Discos Enfermos)

Sect ‘Sect’ 12-inch (Discos Enfermos)

Foundation Vinyl Newsletter

18 February 2025

Welcome

Hello and welcome to the latest Foundation Vinyl newsletter! I enjoyed a busy week on the gig front last week. First up, I popped along to Corsica Studios in the railway arches down at the Elephant, or rather what’s left of the Elephant, to catch Detroit electronic punk duo, Adult. I first discovered Adult through their collaborative EP with Planet B, Glass In Trash b/w Release Me, and have been happily working back through their discography ever since. I must admit I didn’t contemplate the show kicking off with the band scratching taut, miked up masking tape to set the scene, but thereafter they were very much true to form. Fervently percussive beats, cranium shuddering bass lines, and eerily animated vocals soon completely possessed the room. A thoroughly banging night.

And then on Saturday, I headed up to New River Studios to see Sydney’s Negative Gears. Their recent album, Moraliser, was one of my absolute favourites from last year – anarcho-punk fuelled post-punk with an acerbically poetic lyrical take. It was also one of those albums you listen to and think, ‘Blimey, I bet they absolutely kill it live’. And, I’m pleased to say, so it proved. It was one of those all enveloping sets when the world outside might as well not exist. Every aspect of the band’s sound from the limber rhythm section, by way of the tautly melancholic guitars, to the polemical vocals locked into vibrant unison. A couple of enticing new tracks also whetted the appetite for the future, before the likes of Pills and Ants brought the night to a sweaty, euphoric finale.

Right, what do we have lined up this week? How does an Iron Lung Records special sound? We have five cracking featured new arrivals. We kick things off with three very distinct 12-inch releases. First up, perhaps, the most aptly titled album ever with the utterly pulverising Bestial Hardcore courtesy of Perth’s Gaoled. Next, we have Sphere of Service, the late 1970s’ punk fuelled, first full-length from Reno’s Rotary Club. Before, Portland’s Atomic Prey deliver a furious dose of psychedelia soaked d-beat on their self-titled debut.

Then, we have two fresh 7-inch releases. A self-titled barrage from New Orleans’ Paprika, all killer riffs and acid observations. And to round things off in style, the darkly desperate hardcore of Helsinki’s Ignorance on Nothing Changed.

As always, we also have an updated London gig listing, with imminent shows from Cosey Mueller/ Stingray (22/02) and Love Letter (24/02). Plus, just added shows from Franz Nicolay (14/04), Belgrado (20/04), Muro (14/05), Moral Bombing (09/06), and Destiny Bond / Big Laugh (03/07). We end with a quick rundown on some of the fine records heading our way in the near future, including next week’s haul featuring Gossip Collar, Punitive Damage, S.O.H., Trenchkoat, and Wet Specimens!

*Unrelenting Forced Psychosis by Suffocating Madness / To Stop The Conflict by Life and Destruct / Nuevo Dogma by Muro / Sick To Survive by Invertebrates (clockwise)*

Also, just a quick heads up that a rather tasty restock has just landed featuring Sick To Survive by Invertebrates, To Stop The Conflict by Life / Destruct, Nuevo Dogma by Muro, and Unrelenting Forced Psychosis by Suffocating Madness. All definitely worth checking out if you haven’t had the chance yet!

Featured New Arrivals

*Atomic Prey by Atomic Prey / Bestial Hardcore by Gaoled / Nothing Changed by Ignorance / Sphere Of Service by Rotary Club / Paprika by Paprika (clockwise)*

GaoledBestial Hardcore

12 Inch

‘Becoming something I never thought could exist, Evolving and transforming into beast, Becoming, Becoming pure hate, Demonic, A demonic invocation’ (Becoming)

The album’s title rather aptly sets the scene. This is undoubtedly a bestial debut full-length from Perth’s Gaoled. It is also undeniably hardcore, but hardcore that is savagely warped through a raft of darkly metallic influences. The fierce buzzsaw riffage and absolutely scorching solos call back to the early 1990s’ heyday of European death metal, while the sludge-fuelled breakdowns and brutal blast beat eruptions harness the visceral attributes of power violence.

Gaol is, of course, the old-fashioned English term for jail, which operates on a couple of levels. On the one hand, it is a nod to one of the band’s formative influences, Boston’s Scapegoat, Gaoled having covered the track Jailed on their 2022 demo. And on the other, it speaks to the psychological themes of mental imprisonment, both socially and personally constructed, explored by the malevolently roared, effects saturated vocals.

Squalls of sinister, industrial-tinged noise bind the tracks and only further fuel the suffocating atmosphere of unrelenting hopelessness and hard-earned bitterness. The bleakly potent onslaught unfurls in myriad forms, from Thundercap’s bruising, cathartic climax to the utterly viscous fury of Waiting, and from the venomously crafted Tempt to the more bleakly expansive Voices. The album closes on a crushing cover of Khanate by late noughties’ Sydney hardcore band, Taipan. And it is all rounded off with stunning medieval styled cover art. The beast has truly been unleashed.

Rotary ClubSphere Of Service

12 Inch

‘Efficient at birth, but now a disease. Convenience was a luxury and it’s grown to enslave me. The thirst, the lust, the need for progress’ (Progress Calling)

Probably best to cut straight to the chase on this one. Rotary Club sing about telephones and only telephones. Yep, just telephones. Now, clearly in the wrong hands, this could be deemed to be somewhat limiting. But the Reno band use their thematic obsession to weave an almost sociological narrative of the evolution of the phone and our interaction with the technology, even increasingly possession by it.

This is the band’s debut full-length and follow-up to their 2023 7-inch, American Tower. They continue to fuse a boisterous late 1970s’ punk base with a certain post-punk angularity and a decidedly off-kilter pop sensibility. And it is all wrapped up and delivered with an irresistibly upbeat energy as arrestingly nasal lead vocals, energetic call-and-response, and melodically layered backing, revel in the ridiculousness of our plight.

Some of the tracks are firmly tongue-in cheek, such as the ode to the tactile pleasures of rotary dial phones on Touch Tone, and the simple pleasures of My Landline. The majority though, such as Convenience Attractor and Progress Calling, are a jovially thoughtful deconstruction of how a device designed with progress in mind has, in its mobile form, come to dominate our lives. It is often more a constraint than a freedom, one that frequently serves to isolate rather than connect. Yet, even though, we are eminently aware of this, we continue to embrace the technology ever more closely. A self-inflicted death knell delivered with a gleaming smile a mile wide.

Atomic PreyAtomic Prey

12 Inch

‘Fear is the reason, for mass delusion, fear is the reason, for self-destruction, fear is oppression, not a solution’ (Fear)

Hailing from Portland, and featuring members of Daydream, this is Atomic Prey’s debut release. And across its six-tracks, it is as unremittingly intense as it is intriguingly layered. The band’s rhythmic base is a fusion of martial anarcho-punk and galloping d-beat, which is then overlain with swirling psychedelic-tinged guitars.

This juxta posing of agitated fervour with spaced out atmospherics is further amplified by the semi-shouted, delay drenched vocals. The lyrics, delivered in both English and Spanish, reflect the uneasy tension that permeates the album. They focus on how the financialised imperatives of modern society relentlessly cultivate anxiety, which in turn breeds the fear that is harnessed to fuel division and oppression.

Thanks to the band’s ability to so deftly braid flourishes of invention throughout their furiously dense fusillade, each track emerges with its own clearly distinctive persona. Personal stand-out moments are the sinuous unfurling of Glue, the bellicose stomp of Blood, and the utterly rampaging climax to Human Expression, which is kicked off by cleaner vocals rasping ‘I have too many feelings’ over the swinging bass line.

PaprikaPaprika

7 Inch

‘Where the fuck is my package, It was supposed to arrive two hours ago, I need that fucking baggage, Deliver me faster, deliver me first’ (Supply Chain Wallet)

Following up on their debut 2024 full-length, Let’s Kill Punk, New Orleans’ Paprika swiftly return with a new six-track self-titled EP. You can’t help but continue to be struck by the band’s full-bore approach. Everything feels as if it is dialled up to 10 and, if it is there to be hit, it is being hit as hard as humanly possible. Quite literally a sonic bulldozer.

However, as you recover your senses after the initial onslaught, the band’s inventive song writing dynamics begin to compete for attention with the sheer velocity of the delivery. The guitars have a satisfyingly mid-range buzz and the riffage is as nimble as it is muscular, while the rhythm section proves as dextrous as it is uncompromising. This blend of brawn and brain is particularly successful on the rhythmically rabid Catonic Pisser and the bludgeoning Claw.

The snarling, echo doused vocals complement perfectly as they unleash a searingly clear eyed, sardonically observed assessment of our bleak predicament. Unblinking Eyes takes aim at surveillance capitalism (‘no time to breathe, no time to feel’), before Catonic Pisser examines micro-plastics polluting our bodies (‘petrochemicals seep into my skin, dull my brain’). Wasting Time, with its killer climatic solo, then belligerently tucks into workplace drudgery (‘sure let me get that for you, the pleasure is all mine’), while Supply Chain Wallet laments the relentless stoking of our unquenchable consumerism.

IgnoranceNothing Changed

7 Inch

‘Horrifying acts masked in the pursuit of profit, Feeding this destructive man-made machine’ (Breed For Need)

Ignorance return with a six-track follow-up to their 2023 self-titled debut EP. This is darkly desperate hardcore. It binds raw, noise infused riffage, and intricately lacerating solos together with a precisely pounding rhythm section, and filthily feral vocals. Flares of Japanese influence can be detected, but the Helsinki band are not indebted to any specific tradition, emerging with their own urgently organic intensity.

The band’s primitive fury is matched by their lyrical focus. The title track explores the remorseless bloody cycle of military aggression, with the dehumanising march of late-stage capitalism, the distorting frenzy of social media, and the restless anxiety that propels much of contemporary society also in focus. The blistering Echo Chamber and the unhinged swagger of Breed For The Need hit home with particular venom.

Shows And Tours

*Ignorance play New River Studios on Sunday 16th March*

February

22^nd Cosey Mueller, Stingray, Läbrys, Moist Crevice, Spine Portal (The George Tavern)

22^nd Deathfiend, Vultur plus more (Helgi’s)

23^rdBulldoze, Bun Dem Out, Apothecary, Lowlife, Infinite Wisdom, Regress (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

24^th Love Letter, Heavy Hex, Hell Can Wait, Supernova (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

March

1^st Zeropolis, Lacquer, Static Palm (Mascara Bar)

5^th Touche Amore, Trauma Ray, Chalk Hands (Electric Ballroom / UK Tour)

7^th Damage Is Done 4.5 Weekender featuring Chain Cult, The Consequence, Direct Threat, Second Death, Total Con, and Traidora (New River Studios)

7^th Delivery, Fruit Tones plus more (Moth Club / UK Tour)

7^th Napalm Death, Crowbar, Full Of Hell, Brat (Brixton Electric)

8^th Misantropic, Nujorvik, Wreathe, System Of Slaves, Traidora (New Cross Inn)

16^thIgnorance, Victim Unit, Mincer, Sublux, Dead Name (New River Studios / UK Tour)

20^thHaywire, Mindless, Real Domain, Power Failure (New Cross Inn)

27^th Bad Breeding, Scab, Middleman, Catastrophe (The Lexington / UK Tour)

30^thCœur À L’Index, Middleman, Secrecy (The Waiting Room)

April

2^ndLife Force, Moral Law, Escalate plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

14^thFranz Nicolay plus support (Signature Brew Haggerston / UK Tour)

15^th Thou, pageninetynine, Moloch (Scala / UK Tour)

17^thDeath By Stereo, Counterpunch plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

18^th Cowboy Hunters, Eelmen, Zeropolis (New River Studios)

18^th Shelter, Dynamite, No Relief (The Underworld)

19^th Disaffect, Haavat, Leashed, Catastrophe (New Cross Inn)

19^th – 20^th Sunday School Weekender featuring, Belgrado, Hellish Torment, Sanctuary Of Praise, Traidora, Urin plus many more (New River Studios)

20^th Comeback Kid, Shooting Daggers, Last Wishes (The Dome)

23^rd Blind Girls, Stress Positions , As Living Arrows, I’m Sorry Emil (Moor Beer Vaults / UK Tour)

25^th Final Dose, Läbrys, Ekstasis (Helgi’s)

May

3^rd Condor, Tramadol, Hitmen, The Dogs (The Shacklewell Arms)

7^thAgnostic Front, Crown Court, plus more (The Underworld)

14^thMuro plus support (New River Studios)

17^thBoom Boom Kid, Traidora, plus more (The Shacklewell Arms / UK Tour)

19^th Time Heist, Uncertainty, Equals What? (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

20^thWhores, Help, Ritual Error (New Cross Inn)

June

3^rdUltras, Xiao, Aku (New Cross Inn)

9^thMoral Bombing, Blossom Decay, Diall (Blondies)

14^thP.A.I.N, Hiatus, Zero Again plus more (New Cross Inn)

July

3^rdDestiny Bond, Big Laugh plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

5^thAll Out War plus support (New Cross Inn)

19^thGel, Anxious, Chastity (The Dome / UK Tour)

October

30^thGodflesh plus support (Scala)

Coming Soon

*Spinning Silk For Parasites by Gossip Collar*

25/02

Gossip Collar ‘Spinning Silk For Parasites’ 12-inch (No Norms)

Punitive Damage ‘Hate Training’ 12-inch (Convulse)

S.O.H ‘Cost To Live’ 12-inch (No Norms)

Trenchkoat ‘Apocalyptic Hits’ 12-inch (No Front Teeth)

Wet Specimens ‘Dying In A Dream’ 7-inch (No Norms)

04/03

Armor ‘More War’ 12-inch (Mendeku Diskak / Restock)

Benzin ‘Treibjagd’ 12-inch (Static Age)

Deletär ‘Self-Titled II’ 12-inch (Kick Rock)

Frenzy ‘Beyond The Edge Of Madness’ 12-inch (Distort Reality)

Killing Front ‘Years In Permafrost: Recordings 2021-2024’ 12-inch (Mendeku Diskak / Restock)

Syndrome 81 ‘Chant De Ruines’ 12-inch (Kick Rock)

The Legion Of Parasites ‘Undesirable Guests’ 12-inch (General Speech)

Vaxine / The Last Survivors ‘Split’ 7-inch (General Speech)

Later In March

Bad Breeding ‘Blood Manifest’ 7-inch (Standard Processes)

Bleached Cross / The True Faith ‘Columns Of Impenetrable Light’ 12-inch (Protagonist / Restock)

Corrective Measure ‘Not For You, Not For Anyone’ 12-inch (Refuse)

Groundwork ‘Today We Will Not Be Invisible Nor Silent’ 12-inch (Protagonist)

Haunted Horses ‘Dweller’ 12-inch (Three One G)

Judy And The Jerks ‘Total Jerks’ 12-inch (Refuse / 2nd Press)

Laura Agnusdei ‘Flowers Are Blooming In Antarctica’ 12-inch (Maple Death)

Languid ‘Shove Their System Up Their Ass’ 12-inch (D-Takt)

Mob 47 ‘Tills Du Dör’ 12-inch (D-Takt)

Point Of No Return ‘The Language Of Refusal’ 12-inch (Refuse)

Post Regiment ‘Post Regiment’ 12-inch (Refuse / 2nd Press)

Punter ‘Austalienation’ 12-inch (Drunken Sailor)

Siyahkal ‘Days Of Smoke And Ash’ 12-inch (Static Shock)

Spiritkiller ‘Spiritkiller’ 12-inch (Protagonist)

Tv Dust ‘Transition’ 12-inch (Maple Death)

April

Habak ‘Mil Orquideas En Medio Del Desierto’ 12-inch (Alerta Antifascista)

Foundation Vinyl Newsletter

11 February 2025

Welcome

Hello and welcome to the latest Foundation Vinyl newsletter! Sunday night, I popped down to New Cross to catch Bent Blue and Major Pain. Both bands hail from California and are exponents of a brand of melodic hardcore that consistently thrives on the West Coast, but is a little out of vogue over here at the moment. This, perhaps, accounted for a relatively light, if enthusiastic, crowd, which was a pity as both bands are touring with excellent debut albums – So Much Seething and Intent respectively – in tow. But those who did brave the lashing rain and bitter wind were treated to a fine show.

Bent Blue’s sound is woven through with a sensibility that draws on both Revolution Summer and mid-1990s alternative rock inspirations with relish. And full marks to their vocalist for managing to wear a quilted winter jacket for almost the entirety of their high energy set. Clearly a man in love with the English winter. This was followed, after an impressively swift soundcheck, by an absolute bulldozer of a set from Major Pain. Their style is leaner, more metallic in inclination, with a thoroughly satisfying rhythmic synchronicity between drums and vocals. Not a bad Sunday evening at all.

And so what do we have lined up this week? We have four cracking featured new arrivals. We kick things off in Bogota with the darkly melodic, Histeria, from 1186. We then head to Göteborg, while retaining a Colombian focus, courtesy of X2000 on the discordantly spectral Gótico Tropical. Next, we make the short trip down to Copenhagen and the thoroughly welcome return of The War Goes On with their third full-length, Death Wish. We round things off in style in Milan with the first vinyl pressing of Golpe’s debut EP, Subisci. Conformati. Rassegnati.

We also have a short feature taking a look at Haram’s influential 2017 album, – بس ربحت, خسرت = When You Have Won, You Have Lost. The album has just been repressed by La Vida Es Un Mus Discos and the piece draws on an excellent article by Max Easton of Barely Human exploring the background to the band.

As always, we also have an updated London gig listing, with shows this week from Adult (14/02) and Negative Gears (15/02). We end with a quick rundown on some of the fine records heading our way in the near future, including next week’s Iron Lung Records special, featuring new releases from Atomic Prey, Gaoled, Ignorance, Paprika, and Rotary Club!

Featured New Arrivals

*Histeria by 1186 / Gótico Tropical by X2000 / Subisci. Conformati. Rassegnati. by Golpe / Death Wish by The War Goes On (clockwise)*

1186Histeria

12 Inch

‘Estamos condenados a los gritos perdidos, el camino oculto al pasado oscuro, como los trenes atraviesan las ciudades, y huye la gente de todas sus verdades’ (Ataque Sistemático) ‘We are condemned to lost screams, the hidden path to the dark past, as trains cross the cities, and people flee from all their truths’ (Systematic Attack)

Hailing from Bogota, 1186 have emerged from the city’s Rat Trap punk collective, which incubated the likes of Muro, Alamabrada, and Ataque Zero. Indeed, the band share their vocalist with the latter, as well as building their sound around a similar kernel of darkly melodic hardcore punk on this their debut release, Histeria (Hysteria).

1186 then skilfully amplify these melancholic inclinations, conjuring a darkly gothic atmosphere that draws in equal measure on both death rock and anarcho-punk sensibilities. The cymbal awash rhythm section locks in with vigorous precision, while the powerful clean sung Spanish vocals are utterly forlorn as they explore an inescapable sense of society’s systemic failure through tales of grinding day-to-day slow violence, prison riots, and environmental degradation.

The key to Histeria’s enticing aura though lies in the inherently mournful yet undeniably vibrant guitar. The unfurling melodies are darkly captivating, the wildly inventive solos even more so. Personal highlights are, perhaps, the surging Ataque Sistemático, the frenetically escalating Hoy (Today), and the dramatically see-sawing Encerrados (Locked).

X2000Gótico Tropical

12 Inch

‘La mercancía devora la carne, la esencia devasta, Capitalismo es gore’ (Morbo y Fascinación) ‘The commodity devours the flesh, the essence devastates, Capitalism is gore’ (Morbidity And Fascination)

Gótico Tropical (Tropical Gothic) is X2000’s debut full-length following on from their 2020 self-titled debut 7-inch. It plunges the listener into the bloodied history of the Colombian vocalist’s home country, ‘the land of tropical gothic’ as evoked by the band’s liner notes. Exploring the notion of ‘gore capitalism’, the Göteborg-based band plunge the listener into a web of violence that spans state sanctioned murder to criminal cartels, and from colonial legacies to neoliberal economic exploitation.

Rabidly blackened anarcho-punk inspired Spanish vocals are unremittingly urgent, while the primitive drums call back to the classic pounding rhythms of 1980s’ Latin American punk. Discordant melody flares amid the relentless abrasiveness of the chorus-saturated guitar. A deeply unsettling atmosphere spectrally unfurls and is, perhaps, best exemplified by the desperation drenched El Linaje (The Lineage) and the primeval anxiety of Azul Culpa (Blue Guilt). And the meaning of X2000? A high-speed Swedish railway apparently, but one that is taking you straight to the heart of darkness.

The War Goes OnDeath Wish

12 Inch

‘When all is swept under the rug, When everything of value seems to be abandoned, Left to rust, Kids are managed with drugs, A nightmare vision of a future and of a people, Without trust’ (Without Trust)

Copenhagen’s The War Goes On return with their third full-length, Death Wish, and continue to hone the bleakly melodic, fiercely catchy hardcore punk that defined their 2016 self-titled debut and 2020’s Assisted Armageddon. The band tautly braid their innate, contagious sense of melody with an unshakeable shroud of melancholy. An air of powerless anger and bitter resignation pervades, as if in recognition that as bad as things are now, they are very unlikely to be getting better any time soon. Still fighting but knowing that the war is all but lost.

Each of the tracks is adroitly assembled, equal parts polished craft and agitated grit, as the propulsive rhythm section underpins the insidiously enveloping guitars and gruff, gravelly vocals. The rhythmically compelling Knife’s Edge, the ominously forlorn cornerstone riff of The Fear, and the euphoric fervour of The Good Ship Murder are particularly powerful cuts. The album also includes the desolate title track from the band’s 2022 EP, Discount Hope, which is no bad thing at all, as it’s an absolute banger.

As you find yourself singing along with the undeniably infectious choruses, it is easy to forget the rather more sobering lyrical themes that explore the relentless atomisation of late-stage capitalism. Death Wish is an album that deftly draws on the pop sensibility of say Social Distortion and infuses it with the rather more bittersweet impulses of late 1980s’ / early 1990s’ UK punk. Dark melodies for desperate times.

GolpeSubisci. Conformati. Rassegnati.

7 Inch

‘Le masse in rivolta, l’orrore è sovrano, il terrore al potere. Ma nessuna vittima. Censura e consenso, progresso e reazione, il terrore al potere’ (Golpe) / ‘The masses in revolt, horror is sovereign, terror in power. But no victims. Censorship and consensus, progress and reaction, terror in power’ (Coup)

Golpe are the one-person recording project of Tadzio Pederzolli (formerly Holy and Komplott). The Milan-based project expands to a fully formed band for touring purposes, which Golpe do pretty relentlessly. Subisci. Conformati. Rassegnati. (Suffer. Conform. Resign.) was, in fact, the band’s debut cassette-only release in 2019, preceding the band’s 2021 full-length, La Colpa È Solo Tua (It’s All Your Fault), and it has now been given a first vinyl pressing.

The fundamentals of Golpe’s fiercely bristling, d-beat fuelled hardcore are already firmly in place, as groove orientated, metallic leaning riffage is underpinned by a relentlessly pounding rhythm section and leavened by flashing, squalling solos. Meanwhile, the burly, guttural Italian vocals begin to explore the anarchist framing that runs through the band’s recordings, central to which is the cumulative power of our own individual actions to drive social change.

The first five tracks are taken from the original recordings, with the stomping fury of Non Piegarti (Don’t Bend Over) a particular stand out. The sixth track is freshly recorded and is a scorching medley of four songs from seminal Italian hardcore acts, Wretched, Indigesti, The EU’s Arse, and Nabat.

The War On The Other

– بس ربحت, خسرت = *When You Have Won, You Have Lost by Haram and Barely Human’s Dispatches From An Underground Music Anti-History: 2014-2024*

‘Every second, They told me Terrorist, Big, scared, Still alone, They hit me, with what they thought, who did they think I was?’ (Not A Terrorist, Haram)

I first encountered Haram (Forbidden) at Static Shock Weekend V in 2017 and it’s fair to say they made quite the impression. Their primitively pulsating, rapidly swirling hardcore sent the crowd into gyrating convulsions, while their vocalist, Nader, matched the velocity of this reaction with his own wild contortions. All while rhythmically snarling in Arabic and clad in a black bandana, white toga skirt, and boots. A bold visage designed to provoke and to confront.

We, of course, live in the age of the provocateur, but it was clear from the offset that there was real substance, both musically and ideologically, fuelling Haram’s challenge. The song themes from their 2017 debut full-length, – بس ربحت, خسرت = When You Have Won, You Have Lost, provided a clear insight to the issues that the band were seeking to tackle, not least on American Police and Not A Terrorist. This was to be further emphasised on their 2019 EP, Where Were You On 9/11?

But it wasn’t until I recently read a thoroughly engaging essay in an anthology of Max Easton’s Barely Human fanzine writing, Dispatches From An Underground Music Anti-History: 2014-2024, that the personal history that shaped Haram came into clearer perspective. The piece takes us through Nader’s early life story, his parents arriving in New York, as immigrants from Lebanon in New York, and his upbringing that bridged a conservative Muslim home and an equally rigid Catholic education. Inevitably, the horror of 9/11, and the subsequent responses to it were to dramatically reshape the family’s life. Indeed, young Nader was questioned at school as to the whereabouts and activities of his parents – his father was attending Ground Zero as a member of the first emergency response team as he was quizzed.

The dynamics of Nader’s family with their wider local community were irretrievably altered, a shift that led to a growing sense of isolation and saw Nader struggling to forge his own identity. New York’s hardcore community was to provide a lifeline, and in 2015, Haram were formed. The band released their debut EP, شو بتشوف؟ (What Do You See?), a year later. The band were touring the Midwest when Nader started to receive calls from furious family members who had found themselves being questioned by the FBI regarding Nader’s activities with Haram. Members of The Joint Terrorism Task Force visited him on his return and started to question him on the meaning of the band’s lyrics. It soon became clear that they had not even sought to translate them before investigating. The case was soon closed, the harm already done.

The recent reissue of Haram’s sole full-length release by La Vida Es Un Mus Discos is a timely one in the context of a world where systematic othering, social division, and radicalisation are being almost relentlessly cultivated by political opportunists, religious extremists, and economic grifters alike. And the music? Don’t worry you won’t be disappointed. Densely rhythmic drums and limber bass-lines lock-in with Nader’s barking invocation, giving room for the guitar to explore more abstract expressions amid the pounding onslaught, before unleashing spiralling solos. Revisiting the album afresh, it is notably more melodic and expansive than I would have recalled, with Eye For An Eye and Your President, Not A President landing with particular velocity.

Haram’s music represents an important phase in hardcore’s social evolution and, as Max succinctly puts it, ‘a struggle for peace and identity, spoken through the sonic language of contemporary hardcore punk’.

– بس ربحت, خسرت = When You Have Won by Haram is in stock now here.

Many thanks to Max Easton (www.barelyhuman.info) for allowing me to draw on his essay. Definitely check out his latest Barely Human anthology, Dispatches From An Underground Music Anti-History: 2014-2024, which includes the full Haram essay and a wealth of punk related music writing. It can be found in the UK at the Good Press (www.goodpress.co.uk) workers co-operative bookshop in Glasgow.

Shows And Tours

*Damage Is Done 4.5 at New River Studios on 7th March and Colour Factory on 8th March*

February

14^th Adult, Spike Hellis, Sacred Skin (Corsica Studios / UK Tour)

15^th Negative Gears, Grazia, Rubber, Life Forms (New River Studios / UK Tour)

22^nd Cosey Mueller, Stingray, Labrys, Moist Crevice, Spine Portal (The George Tavern)

22^nd Vultur, Deathfiend plus more (Helgi’s)