Thursday, January 23, 2020

Pressure Pact - "Scared Off the Streets" (Wolves of Hades Records, 2019)

Band: Pressure Pact
Title: Scared Off the Streets
Genre: Hardcore Punk with many different influences
Time: 20.23 min
Release date: 6th December 2019
Vote: 80/100












Hey brutalbangers,
this is the new fantastic review of Marta Rose!
This time she had to do with "Scared Off the Streets", the debut album of a very interesting and also intense band from the Netherlands called Pressure Pact. Released by Wolves of Hades Records, a particular Dutch label that ranges from the most brutal black metal forms to post-punk, and sent me by the Italian promotion agency Anubi Press, "Scared Off the Streets" offers many surprises and it isn't a case if Marta enjoyed it a lot! In addition, some of its songs seem to homage bands of the past since one of them is curiously entitled as "Stark Raving Mad", as just one of the first fastcore acts of all times.
But now let's see what she has to say!

This band, Pressure Pact, is fast, pissed off and raw, as a real punk hardcore band should be! But here we’re not simply listening to a classic punk hardcore band. In fact, their sound is a fusion of different genres, more particularly of the American punk hardcore from the 80’s, oi!, d-beat and metal. It could seem a little bit tricky to merge these genres all together; and yet, if you carefully listen to their album, "Scared off the Streets", you can feel that their bloody sound goes smooth from the beginning till the end and every detail is perfectly set in order to create an infernal harmony within the chaos!
Their beauty comes from this savage mix of rough punk-hardcore, oi!, metal and d-beat. Someone could say that these genres are way too different from each other to be together. But I disagree. It’s a return to the origins, and we love it!
So, the first impression is very positive, it seems like I’m listening to a good old band from the east-coast (just listen to the compilation New York City Hardcore "The Way It Is", Revelation Records, 1988) with the exception that this album was released at the end of 2019!
Bravo to this quartet that comes from Tilburg/Eindhoven, in the Netherlands, and to their label, Wolves of Hades Records.
As I said before, the sound is so primitive and dirty, and yet you can feel so many influences that makes it so unique in today’s underground music! Since our scene needs unity, and unfortunately there are too many discrepancies, why don’t we try to overcome them by starting from music? This is a perfect example of liaison, a common ground for punks, skins and metalheads!
But now, let’s talk about the album in more detail!
The album cover is black and white, with a skinhead all alone and a few “monsters” behind him. Are they a vision? Or a projection of our deepest fear? Who knows! What is certain is that, as it happens when you judge a book by its cover, this one could be tricky and make you think that this album is a classic oi! album. But it’s not!
Scared Off the Streets” is fast and power, like an electric discharge. That’s what I thought when I listened to the first seconds of the first track, “New Skintro”.
The second track, “Waste of Boredom”, doesn’t even last one minute, but there’s everything you need inside: the voice is sharp as a knife and the sound is harsh.
Weight”, the third track, starts with a “longer” intro and it’s definitely slower comparing it to the previous ones. It reminded me of the Wolfbrigade’s sound (just think about the album called “In the Darkness You Feel No Regret”).
T.I.” the sixth track is more punk-hardcore with a few oi! nuances and a final hammering guitar solo!
Death or Glory” the Clash sang, but this is Pressure Pact not Clash (let’s see if some of you will grasp the quote!) [too easy for me, girl hehe! - Flavio]. "Death for Glory" has a power and violent oi! sound, like the 4-Skins had!
Stub It Out” and “Small Talk”, the ninth and the tenth tracks, are pure punk hardcore diamonds. Their sound seems to be an evolution of the first raw hardcore bands like the Asocial or the Negative Approach.
The eleventh track, "Mob Stalking", is still faithful to the punk hardcore line, but with a more developed guitar virtuosity.
After an accurate analysis of this album, I can say that this band is original, and I personally love this lethal mix of genres. “They got the attitude!”. So…listen to "Scared Off the Streets", enjoy and, if you want, let me know what you think!

Tracklist:

1 - New Skintro
2 - Waste of Boredom
3 - Weight
4 - Gestapo
5 - Stark Raving Mad
6 - T.I.
7 - Death for Glory
8 - No Hope
9 - Stub It Out
10 - Small Talk
11 - Mob Stalking
12 - Underclass
13 - Scared Off the Streets

Line-up:

Len - vocals
Niek - guitars
Joep - bass
Rens - drums

FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/pressurepactfoad/
BandCamp: https://wolvesofhades.bandcamp.com/album/scared-off-the-streets
Wolves of Hades Rec: https://wolvesofhades.com/

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