Fuck! The new Heaven EP is a pummeling hardcore rager that has them spreading roots in slightly crustier soil this time out. With a slight shuffle in personnel and whole lotta time spent in the sweaty hell of Texas rehearsal bunkers, the band emerges with a grimy yet succinct spotlight on their distaste for the lives they’ve been forced to endure. When we asked why, they came back with pure venom: “The inspiration for this record is the hopelessness we often feel in our survival as the cogs in a vile and inhumane machine of capitalism. Our hatred for all systems that oppress is what unites us and gives us strength that fascists, racists, and all the other cowards in blue will never know.” Powerful words and powerful noise. Their best by far.

Our take: Iron Lung Records brings us the second EP from this hardcore band from Texas. As the label’s description notes, these four tracks have a crustier sound than the band’s more straightforward debut, with low, guttural vocals and a monolithic, wall-of-sound production informed by masters like Framtid and Physique. The first track, “Stagnant Dream,” is a full-bore bruiser, but other songs conjure eerier and more demented sounds, like the demonic interval in “S.C.U.M.” and the closing “Peace Lies,” which winds itself up into a real frenzy. The band writes that “The inspiration for this record is the hopelessness we often feel in our survival as the cogs in a vile and inhumane machine of capitalism,” and that rings true when I listen… these four songs feel vital in a way mere genre exercises don’t.