INCH SCRAPER: HARDCORE 7″ REVIEWS OF APPALACHIAN TERROR UNIT, LOSIN’ IT, AND OVERLOOKED

I approached Losin’ It‘s Danger Zone (Life To Live) immediately after an interminable spreadsheet slog that left me numb and potentially volatile. From the eponymous intro track, this debut was chicken soup for my hardcore soul, though delivered via waterboarding. “Fuck Off” chokeslammed my negativity’s fat face, cracking my skull open to receive what seemed like motivational messages (“Check Your Head”). Don’t let the weirdo cover art turn you off.

If you’re going to be audacious enough to call your band Appalachian Terror Unit, you’d better have a sound to back it up. Accordingly, Black Sands (Profane Existence) showcases thrashy D-beaten tunes that I hardly need to describe more than that. “Lost In The Darkness” grapples with betrayal, that all-too-common hardcore trope, and “The End Of Complacency” fingerwags at our downfall. Then again, what else do we expect crusties to sing about?

Overlooked‘s Someday Never Comes (Brad’s Gang Records) is precisely what this column is all about: taking the restrictive format of the 7″ record to say what needs to be said and then getting out of the way. The North Carolinians nail it with two spitfire cuts that narrowly scrape either side of the one-minute marker. No gratuitous intros or extraneous breakdowns; just the soundtrack to a brusque beatdown. B-side “Collateral” closes with a sizzle that may or may not be my fried brain.

-GS