Our favorite heroes from Haarlem are back. Traumatizer returns with a second EP after their blistering debut from last year. Five new tracks continue to ooze pure violence and destruction based on pure D-beat rhythms and touches of punk thrash, along with some hints that might remind us of bands like Sacrilege, but without leaving aside the relentlessly explosive drum rhythms, razor-sharp riffs that allow themselves to play more, and a direct, raw, and devastating voice. The artwork, once again by guitarist Randy, comes on a silkscreened cover and an insert with the lyrics. Without a doubt, a clear example of the future of punk in Europe that is coming.

Our take: After an excellent 2024 debut EP co-released by Neon Taste in North America and Discos Enfermos in Europe, Haarlem’s Traumatizer returns with a scorching new 5-song EP. The first thing you’ll notice when you drop the needle on Nuclear War Machine is the off-the-charts energy level. Some bands just have that knack for capturing punk’s essential energy on tape, and Traumatizer definitely does; their recordings burst with energy and make it impossible to sit still while you’re listening. After I recovered my senses from the initial pummeling and got into multiple listens, though, I started to appreciate how dialed-in everything about Traumatizer is. The recording is noisy and messy-sounding, but not so much that it obscures the hookiness of the riffs. The songs are fast, but tempos actually vary quite a lot, never letting your ear experience that sense of fatigue that can make the energy level lag even for a fast band. Style-wise, there’s a lot of Cimex / Shitlickers-informed go-for-the-throat d-beat in the mix (particularly on the first track… with a vocalist shouting “nuclear war machine” over a frantic d-beat, you’re gonna get those vibes), but there’s also a lot of that Totalitär-esque flurry-of-power-chords thing happening and other little touches that give each song a unique vibe, like the Tank-esque chords in the standout “Dead End.” Yet these slight stylistic wrinkles never detract from the overall sense of Nuclear War Machine as a blistering hardcore record… like I said, Traumatizer are experts at finding those sweet spots between noisy and articulate, straightforward and daring, etc. It also helps that they have a great vocalist with one of those voices you want to hear yell at you. If you love high-energy d-beat hardcore, don’t miss this one… it’s a scorcher.