Hardcore punk from Paris.

Our take: Self-released debut vinyl from this new hardcore band from Paris, France, who has released two cassettes over the past three years. I haven’t heard those early releases, but Azovstal sounds fully formed and powerful to me. The record starts with a glitchy, industrial-sounding intro that grows denser and more intense as the seconds pass, incorporating samples from Guimauve’s vocalist to set the stage for the rest of the EP. When “Cotard Tango” finally kicks in, it’s a hardcore stomp with a tinny, G.I.S.M.-y guitar sound, but as Guimauve segues into the breakdown, the guitarist switches on a chorus pedal and lays into some gnarly, black metal-style tremolo picking while the rhythm section drags you through the mud. Guimauve keeps the listener off-balance in this manner throughout Asovstal, adeptly shifting between jabs of strangeness and powerful blows of crunchy, straightforward hardcore. It’s a dense and powerful ten minutes that will satisfy anyone with a taste for boundary-pushing hardcore.