Aren’t we all? But hey, if you gotta go, go down swinging like — and with — these Cleveland punks. Get the pit started while you read their blah-blah:
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Sorry State Records (U.S.) and Drunken Sailor Records (U.K.) present a new self-titled five-song EP from Cleveland’s The Hell.
The four to-the-point rippers on the A-side pick up where their 2023 album left off, fusing big riffs (see: Liabilities and Circling The Drain) with agile rhythmic shifts (Cut The Cord) and executing all of it at hardcore tempos.
While these tracks have a similar energy to nihilistic punk-on-the-edge-of-hardcore like The Lewd or Zero Boys, Dirt Nap, which occupies the entire B-side, takes The Hell’s sound to new places, soaking in eerie tension for several minutes before erupting into a brilliant, Buzzcocks-esque chiming chorus.
Atop it all, The Hell’s vocalist sneers like a weary, middle-aged Darby Crash whose woes have only compounded as life has unfurled. The Hell speak to the dismay and cynicism we all feel as part of a species in decline, but they also deliver the jolt of energy we need to face another day.”
