If you miss the fastcore flush of Punch and if the knuckle-to-jaw-line, melee of Judge grazing your ears reminds you of summer, than buckle up, because have I got a record for you. Punitive Damage hail for the Pacific Northwest and play a cathartic, kick-in-the-guts style of hardcore, that will careen around your head-space, devil-may-care fashion, like a car about to jump the barricades at a demotion derby, and their debut EP
We Don’t Forget leaves a lasting impression from its outset. The first track “Baited” opens with an ominous feedback pool that feels like its just waiting of Mike Ferraro to cannon ball into it with a bellicose splash, but instead singer Steph emerges with a growling shriek like Bloody Marry from a bathroom mirror to skin your face like an overripe orange. In the tradition of many great hardcore bands before them, the next track “Smug Rat” rages against scene police and self-appointed gatekeepers, with a slamming mosh-missile groove and crossover-tipped breakdowns. “Imposter” is a clawed machete wildcat, shimmying up a brick wall to snatch it's suspecting dinner out a fifth-story window. “Nothing” looks to shake some sense into you with whiplash grooves and roadrash-peel percussion, a combination that lures you into the ravaging grip of “No Compromise.” The EP ends on a high note with “Enough” winding up the energy into a sputtering picket of adrenaline and exhausted, sweaty angst. Getting your ass kicked never felt so good.
Get a copy of We Don't Forget from Convulse Records,
here.
