Sorry State Records presents the debut cassette from Raleigh, North Carolina’s CTRL Group. CTRL Group’s tight playing, commanding vocals, and dense, skewed riffs made them an instant local favorite around here, and if you’ve been following the most recent wave of hardcore bands from North Carolina—including groups like Vittna, Scarecrow, Public Acid, and Mutant Strain—you’ll hear immediately why CTRL Group fits right in. CTRL Group keeps the energy level sky high through furious, jagged d-beat (“Blood Sausage”), mid-paced, Black Flag-style lurch (“L1TF”), and Toxic Reasons-style semi-melodic anthems (“Apple Store”), cramming a dizzying amount of stylistic diversity into these six tracks. And then there are the lyrics, which address the systems of control—technological, economic, social, etc.—that rule our lives, applying a PhD-level understanding of 20th century philosophy to one of punk’s foundational themes. Highly recommended for anyone who demands intelligence, intensity, and creativity from their hardcore.

100 copies on pro duplicated cassettes with full color j-card and download code.