Expect the Worst could be the title of just about every hardcore record ever, but some how it took until 2020 for one in particular to claim it. Modesto, California goon-squad These Streets have been rolling a wrecking ball of sound around the gorges of the Cali punk scene since 2013. Beginning with the melodic leaning hardcore of the
Life From the Gutter EP, they’ve aged into a more aggressive and distinguished style of metallic hardcore that, through many successful (and possibly illegal) experiments, has managed to twine the RNA of hip hop and death metal into its genome in a way that feels like the product of a natural, if malevolent, evolution. The
Expect the Worst EP may be under fifteen minutes in total length, but These Streets don’t even need a tenth of that runtime to completely lay your ass out. This shit starts churning from the drop with “Stay Awake,” which rides a punch-drunk groove into a deathwish crest that topples over the edge of
Hybrid Theory proving breakdown that serves as a landing pad from which the song uses to refuel and relaunch on acid tipped, steel-cast butterfly wings. The point where hardcore diverged with nu-metal is an instructive point of reference for this album, at the bass drops and anthemic choruses of “Misery” and “Irreversible” are very Linkin Park-esque in their aural elocution. As mentioned before, these elements are by no means distracting. In fact, they are masterfully synthesized with hip hop flow enabling rhythms and churning death metal grooves, a summoning of tempestuous violence that animates these songs with a force and fluidity known only to the gods of dead pagans. It's the kind of sonic execution that will scoop you up, toss you twenty feet into the air, and then bring you crashing down into branches a neighbor’s dead tree, like an insurance policy voiding act of god. Track after track, you won’t know what just hit you or where to expect the next blindsiding blow to come from, and if you’re anything like me, you’ll be so impressed that you won’t care either. Expect only the best from These Streets, even when they’re doing their worst to break every bone in your body.
Get a copy of Expect the Worst from Upstate Records.
