Rough day at the office? Maybe the commute was extra long, maybe the boss was giving you the business for the most mundane reason in existence? Tired of reading and hearing propaganda passed off as news? Extra annoyed with all the armchair historians laying claim to who should bomb who in 140 characters or less? Tired of being working class poor, struggling to pay your bills, struggling to get ahead, struggling in general? If you answered yes to any of those questions or any questions like it you might want to avoid the new album from Connecticut’s Intercourse. There’s a very good chance the vitriol contained on this thing will push you right the hell over the edge.
Connecticut has a long and storied past when it comes to hardcore/punk rock. Forget Hatebreed for a second, this tiny state filled with conservatives masquerading as liberals has been churning out the social venom through musical ventures en masse since the late 80’s. The newest and best in a long line of Nutmeg State hardcore fury is Intercourse, a four-piece wrecking machine from New Haven apparently hell-bent on getting some of you arrested by giving you that final push off the proverbial ledge. Ignore the band photo of four, smiling, normal looking dudes. There’s no telling what the inside joke was before that photo was snapped but I can promise you that when the Record button was pressed on this beast that no one was smiling. To say their self-titled, debut EP is full of angst would be a massive understatement. This thing is a full-on prison riot.
Like all the best bands Intercourse is actually not as easy to define as you think. Yes, various eras of hardcore come to mind. The earliest hardcore punk from down the road in NYC is present, as is the phenomenal infusion of metal and hardcore that took place in the 90’s with bands like Deadguy, 108, Disembodied, Botch, and Coalesce, to name a few. (That is to say, before “metalcore” became the dirty word it is today.) But there’s also the noise rock and post hardcore elements that bands like Unsane and Today is the Day perfected at certain points in their careers. Take all of those various forms of sonic hostility and shake vehemently until all ingredients are evenly dispersed and then maybe you have a ballpark idea of where this band is coming from. Vocalist, Tarek Emad Ahmed, gives a rabid dog-like performance, spitting lyrics like he’s tearing apart a kill with nothing but his teeth and bare hands. Guitarist, Kevin MF King, slings riffs like a madman, seemingly scatter-shot yet in reality with brutal precision. Meanwhile bassist, Connor Lambert Dabbs, and drummer, Bill Crystals, are out front setting the tone with low-end punishment.
This may not be the heaviest or most technical album you will hear this year but it certainly may be one of the angriest and is definitely one of the most forceful. Intercourse is out now and can be experienced through the band’s Bandcamp page.
