REVIEW: Formaldehyde Junkies- Are a Total Wreck 7"

Formaldehyde Junkies- Are a Total Wreck 7”
Firestarter Records

This one really took me by surprise. I realize I’m a little bit late on a lot of the good hardcore bands of the past few years. These guys already have a previous EP under their belts on Fashionable Idiots, which I have to get my hands on. But this here EP, which I got by way of Firestarter, is an absolute gem. It’s absolutely timless hardcore punk. If I had to pin a particular “sound” down to it, I would say early DC hardcore, simply because it’s so damn tight and has such a great production. The guitar sound is very clean, but blown out, and dominates the recording. Far from being annoying, it adds to the record because you can actually hear the downstroke on the guitar. The rhythm section locks right into it, and so while the guitar will go off into a noodling lead for a bar, they start the next thrashy verse at the drop of a dime. Hearing this gives me a feeling similar to when I heard Out Cold for the first time over 10 years ago. Like I said, this is their second 7”, which is already into its third press. If they can keep this up over the course of an LP, it would vie for classic status.

Formaldehyde Junkies on myspace