‘Anti-social cruelty, Mind is broken, no empathy, It’s a choice, Cities choose every day, They don’t care, There’s no will, so there’s no way’ (Ruins)

Hailing from Iowa City, I was rather excited to see that Bootcamp’s ranks include members of Beyond Peace, whose two EPs I must confess I was rather partial to.  And this new venture is equally enticing.  Following up on to last year’s debut 7-inch, Controlled Burn, they now return with a truly venomous first full-length, Time’s Up.

Imagine a straight up, blisteringly fast US hardcore base, fuelled by furious d-beat rhythms, with a healthy dash of rock’n’roll swagger to finish, and you’ll start to get the picture.  And while the base elements are relatively straightforward, the sheer unbridled intensity of the delivery as the band rampage through ten tracks in just fourteen minutes is utterly invigorating.  The surging Freak Show, the deliciously catchy Ruins, and the bruising despair of Decision all land with a particularly lacerating velocity.

The rasping vocals inject another layer of ferocity as they passionately deconstruct the malaise of contemporary America.  The propping up of overseas dictatorships, the ravages of financialised healthcare, the disdain for the homeless rather than the causes of homelessness, the dehumanising attitudes towards immigrant communities, and the tyranny of the car are all firmly in the crosshairs.  But there is also an undeniable fury at ourselves, at our own complicity in allowing these forces to shape our world for so long.  Even now, with ‘the waters and fascism rising’ (Decision), we seem frozen in denial.