Debut LP from the Los Angeles hardcore band. This album includes 14 brand new tracks (no songs re-recorded) with a double-sided riso printed lyric sheet, pro-printed cover, inner sleeve, and posters. 

Our take: Here at Sorry State we’ve been huge fans of LA’s Personal Damage since they released their demo tape back in 2021, carrying that and their two subsequent EPs and giving them strong recommendations in our newsletter. It’s hardly surprising that we like them so much because Personal Damage plays a style of music that’s close to our hearts here… raw, fast, and snotty hardcore in the tradition of the Circle Jerks, Angry Samoans, Adrenalin OD, and even early Screeching Weasel. Personal Damage was great from the jump, but it feels like they’ve done something special with their debut album, Atrophy & Entropy. Musically, there aren’t any left turns from the earlier EPs… it’s a little more diverse in terms of tempo and structure, but moments like their cover of Peter Tosh’s reggae classic “Steppin’ Razor” on their Ambush EP already proved that Personal Damage had a deep bag of tricks. I think the real genius of Atrophy & Entropy is the care and precision with which they put it together. It’s difficult to make a ripping fast punk album that sustains the energy all the way through, but Personal Damage has a masterful command of dynamics, deploying moves like Circle Jerks-esque rhythmic changes, hooky melodies, and infectious call-and-response gang vocals (their real trademark… I can’t think of another band that does this as well as they do) so the energy level seems to rise without end, like one of those MC Escher drawings of an infinitely ascending staircase. It all fits together like fine joinery, grabbing you from the opening hook of “Head First” and not letting go until “End of the Last,” the epic closer that borrows a couple of tricks from Rikk Agnew’s “Section 8.” That sense of everything being in its place extends to the album’s audio production—a master class in crisp, present, and natural-sounding punk recording from Mike Kriebel of Shout Recordings’ Beat Sessions fame—and its visual presentation, including multiple inserts full of awesome illustrations and design to pore over while you’re listening. The depth and power of Atrophy & Entropy makes most of the punk records I own seem half-baked by comparison. If you’re intrigued by the band comparisons I dropped above, then you should give this a shot, but this record is exciting enough that you don’t have to dress like a Shawn Kerri drawing come to life to get into it… anyone who’s even considered getting a mohawk will get a buzz from Atrophy & Entropy.