Blistered – Soul Erosion EP

PrintI’ll be the first to admit we’ve been really slack on the music coverage this year and frankly there’s not been much that’s really inspired me enough to commit opinion to page. That all changed however when Blistered’s new Soul Erosion EP on 6131 records unexpectedly landed in my inbox and proceded to kick my back doors in.

Blistered are new to me but I have a dim recollection of Darke at Atonement records telling me to check them out a while ago. More fool me for sleeping on that advice because Blistered are EXACTLY what I’ve been looking for. Furious with purpose and boiling over with the kind of righteous indignation and scathing wrath that defined sincere 90’s hardcore, this is the type of crunching metallic hardcore I grew up with.
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Each song is perfectly crafted to drive an auditory spike straight into the reptilian neocortex of washed up hardcore kids in their 30’s and reignite mosh synapses that haven’t fired since Strife broke edge. There’s no filler, no long winded attempts at creating apocalyptic ambience by layering played out samples over amateur-level acoustic intros, nope, with Rusted Blistered start out exactly as they mean to go on, with blast furnace vocals preaching a gospel of vehement rejection over pounding war drums. And that E-chord chug? Holy shit, it is getting WORKED mate. I love how genuinely angry and passionate this record feels, seems like a lot of hardcore is written with the sole intention to provide a soundtrack for entitled turds to feel hard to, but Blistered stir up the embers of my angry youth to the volcanic point where I might just try and clear a dancefloor one more time.

Still not convinced? Need to be spoonfed some comparisons? Let me direct you toward the crushing barrage of Buried Alive in their prime, One King Down’s use of angular harmonics to create brooding tension and the kind of bare knuckle lyrical defiance that made Detroits Earthmover so vital1517618_604682906253750_1195173766_n

Soul Erosion is mastered by Tragedy’s Brad Boatwright, a man who knows a thing or two about angry punk rock Blistered manage to sound insanely heavy whilst still remaining ragged and gnarly just like a proper hardcore record should.

If you are one of those embarrassing old guys who constantly tries to validate themselves and their own pathetic slump into inertia by whining that ‘Hardcores not as good as it was in my day wah wah wah’ firstly, shut up you are boring. Secondly go listen to Blistered and be reminded of a time in your life when you actually gave a fuck and had some fire in your belly. Absolutely essential.

You can check out the record for yourself over at the 6131 records bandcamp HERE