MAXIMUM PENALTY’S NEW VIDEO IS EXACTLY WHAT YOU EXPECT FROM A NYHC ACT

If you’re a fan of metallic hardcore like Terror or Madball then you’re probably already into Maximum Penalty, an underrated but still respected NYHC group that has been around for over two decades. The music video above comes off last year’s Life & Times (not to be confused with former Husker Du frontman Bob Mould’s 2009 solo album of the same name). What the promotional clip lacks in originality, it makes up for in familiarity, with New York street scenes complementing frontman Jim Williams’s back-in-the-day reminiscing.

Like many long-running acts, Maximum Penalty has not retained much of its original lineup, though I had hoped to catch the current incarnation (which includes former Terror bassist Jonathan Buske) perform live this past weekend at a show at some sort of “humanist” community center out on Long Island, one of the dates on a tour with Reaper Records’ labelmates Trapped Under Ice and Forfeit. Unfortunately the band had to cancel as Williams tore his hamstring a few days ago during their set at a New Years Day hardcore matinee in Syracuse. Hopefully he’ll be all healed by their scheduled show opening for Killing Time at Brooklyn’s Knitting Factory on February 27.

-GS

[Gary Suarez helps manage Shadows FAIL. Say, why don’t you follow him on Twitter?]