‘Preying on hate, exploiting their fear…Stoking blind anger, thriving on tragedy…Manufacture hate, to satisfy your greed’ (Mass Produced Hatred)

The band name and cover art give you a pretty good handle on what to expect as you drop the needle for the first time on For Progress….  What does immediately sharpen your attention, however, is just how venomously well executed it is.

Yes, this is Discharge-inspired d-beat, but with an unyielding focus on distilling these influences to their basest form.  Yes, this is raw punk, but force fed through a rigorously disciplined lens.  Even the solos are defined by a fierce precision.  So, while those initial instincts will have been pretty much spot on, the Richmond, Virginia trio hit home with an impressively fresh velocity.

The rhythm section locks in with methodical precision allowing the waves of relentless riffage to build an unstoppable momentum.  And, despite the intrinsic rawness, there is a surprising sense of space and clarity to the fusillade.  Meanwhile, the throaty, guttural vocals explore the forces and motives that cultivate the seemingly endless cycle of modern warfare and militarised oppression.  Stand out tracks include the groove fuelled What Right?, the searing title track, and the rhythmic fury of the closer, Hymn For A Burning World.