ANIMATED VIOLENCE - The First 4ish Years
Compilation tape of two previous releases from Orange County's ANIMATED VIOLENCE. Looney Tunes hardcore punk. The front cover says "1,000 YEARS OF VIOLENCE", the spine says "The first 4ish years", so who knows actually what this release is called. When in doubt go with the spine. Crudely drawn art of someone getting their neck snapped by a blurry pic of Michael Jordan. Perfect.
The first 5 tracks come from the demo tape and simply kinda fucking rock. Fun and furious hardcore, no mosh part pandering or overly distorted instruments. Cool ass riffs and upfront clean vocals. The type of demo you can perfectly place yourself in the middle of the practice space this was recorded in with minimal mics, minimal mixing, and zero re-dos. "Self-Made" is the standout here, starts with playful guitar riff mid tempo riff into a classic guitar and bass switch off to fast part. Come on, I'm simply pumping my fist in ultimate satisfaction.
The second half of this tape comes from a crudely recorded 2024 Tour tape. The drums sound like nonsense. Take that as a compliment or diss, you decide. The Tascam 4-track was putting in work on this batch of tunes. "Super Toys Last All Summer Long" is an all timer. That guitar riff has been stuck in my head ever since I first heard it. Fast punk bands don't play riffs like this and I wish they did, this shit rules. Vocal mix in your face. Props to any hardcore punk bands willing to put vocals forward in a mix and not hide behind reverb and delay like some cowards.
Smoke on the street is there's an LP coming soon from this band. Combine the intensity of the second half of songs, with a slightly better recording quality of the first batch then we got a real deal award winning combo. Refreshing hardcore punk outta California with this one, just what I needed. No lyrics sheet and my tape was snapped and poorly dubbed. -1 points for that. I did some DIY tape surgery and dubbed my own tape from the bandcamp files.
Bandcamp - https://animatedviolence.bandcamp.com/
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Archive.org upload with correct tags and cover art https://archive.org/details/animated-violence-the-first-4ish-years
