While 2012 has already proven to be another red letter year for punk and hardcore thanks to a series of excellent releases by NOFX, Gallows, METZ, OFF!, Pennywise and more, some young punks must have been hoping for an album which would come from a brand new band who didn't already have a history – that they could call their own – and make an impact so hard when it hit that it would at least loosen a few teeth – if not knock them clean out. 119 – the debut album by Trash Talk – is that record and the answer to the prayers of those punks who were hoping for a bit of fresh new blood on the scene. Even better still, they're coming out of nowhere; bucking the establishment (read: this is not a Fat Wreck, Epitaph of Vice release), 119 is the first punk record released on Odd Future and the band is the first act on the label to not feature at least one member of hip hop collective Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All.
In spite of the source from which they're springing, there is precisely nothing novel about Trash Talk. In fact 119 is about as serious and aggressive as even the most hyperactive imaginations can fathom; instantly, listeners will be able to mark similarities between this record and hardcore forefathers including Circle Jerks, Black Flag, The Refused and Bad Brains.
Those who throw this record on will feel the rush of adrenaline hit them like a spade shovel square to the back of the head from the moment “Eat The Cycle” unloads to open the record. Singer Lee Spielman proves he needs no warm-up as he shreds a lung right aways, but then keeps that ragged delivery feeling vibrant which forces guitarist Garrett Stevenson, bassist Sam Bosson and drummer Spencer Pollard to start running to catch up with their frontman rather than the other way around. That breakneck pace keeps up without pause (the album is only about twenty-one minutes long, making the songs each about a minute and a half in duration, on average) throughout the album's run-time but, listeners will find themselves actively trying to rise above and ultimately overwhelm songs like “My Rules,” “Uncivil Disobedience,” “Blossom & Burn,” “Bad Habits” and “Fuck Nostalgia,” and make them into badges of honor that they can wear or figure out how they can make these songs define their personalities. That is the sort of belief that it usually takes a punk band a couple of albums to develop and foster among those listening, but it's already set to go here and it's almost possible to see the clamor of both the band and listeners as being mutual. Not that the band makes it easy though; each track on 119 is a live wire loaded with raw energy that would be impossible to control, so Trash Talk doesn't even try to frame them on this album – the band just channels it and points it at listeners, and then leaves those listeners to clean up the mess as the band moves on. And they'll rush to do it! That is the power that classic hardcore records have always possessed, and Trash Talk has in abundance – 119 is a picture perfect presentation of new hardcore: it's young, frustrated, furious and interested in nothing but shaking listeners to their foundations. And it's great.
Artist:
www.trashtalkhc.com/
www.myspace.com/trashtalkfu
www.facebook.com/pages/Trash-Talk/
www.twitter.com/TRASH_TALK
Download:
Trash Talk – 119 – "Exile On Broadway" – [mp3]
Album:
119 is out now. Buy it here on Amazon .
