‘Your cross for me to bear, Your burden for me to wear, This violence has been ordained, I won’t be forced to live in shame’ (Sadistic)

Chicago’s Stress Positions are back, and their latest album is very much one of two sides, both vividly intense, yet very distinctly textured.  Side One is Stress Positions doing exactly what we expect Stress Positions to do and, if anything, their already unbridled intensity has been dialled up another vicious notch.  The band continue to unleash politically charged hardcore that revels in blistering speed and bruising stomp in equal measure.  They also continue to subtly integrate a more experimental edge, with flares of jazz-tinged psychedelia adroitly laced throughout their unforgiving fusillade.

From the harrowing roar that opens the album, the utterly rabid vocals unleash another level of sonic violence as they tackle themes of abortion rights (Sadistic), the systemic dehumanisation of migrants (Human Zoo), the violent horrors unfolding in Palestine (Nakba), and the poisoned fruits of militarised capitalism (Blood Money).  The searing title track and Blood Money perfectly embody the album’s uncompromising virtues.

Then things take a different turn on the flip side.  It opens with the instrumental track Kaddish, which braids together mournful chanting with reportage from Palestine.  The microphone is then passed to three remixes, two from Planet B (Justin Pearson’s and Luke Henshaw’s electronic project), and the other from Made By Human Hands.  Each brings intriguing new perspectives to bear, but Planet B’s reinterpretation of Human Zoo is the stand-out – the darkly ominous electronics and industrial beats add a ferocious new dynamic, and the moment when everything drops out bar the percussion as the words ‘Watch how they can read and write, Just like you and I’ is absolutely killer.