Swine - Bad Blood - Tape (2013)

Labels: Solemn Records
Review by: Alex Deller

Fast, raw, hateful hardcore punk from out of Galway comprising six brisk tracks and a somewhat ominous intermission. Riffs are hatcheted coarsely out and lobbed this way and that, the bass moans out leaden thunks and the singer sounds like a bulge-eyed maniac who’s not so much vocalising as digging words from his throat with the business end of a broken bottle. While most tracks blast by at a ferocious pace, closer ‘Dirty Knees’ slows things down a jot with a series of menacing lunges before tumbling arse over tit into a pained, throat-slashed oblivion. Being a simple sort this is my favourite moment, but there’s enough crazed bile and carnage elsewhere to make this one well worth the effort if you like your punk frill-free and with plenty of muck beneath its nails.