Peter Pan Speed Rock - “Buckle Up And Shove It!” CD

Rough & tumble punk metal rawk shit!

Dutch punk act PPSR don’t mess around. They’ve been around for 20 years, and this new album is a seriously intense burst of energetic and frenzied punk metal madness. “Get You High” starts things off with a sound reminiscent of Motorhead and Black Flag’s bastard love-child. Pretty damned sweet. And speaking of damned — the band’s superb cover of the Damned’s classic “New Rose” is instantly recognizable and most welcomed. Influences like these don’t lie — Peter Pan Speed Rock know their shit. “Whatever Man” sounds like a maniacal Henry Rollins-era Black Flag, which isn’t a bad thing, either. The rest of the album is just as unrelenting, too.

This album is PPSR holding their influences on their sleeves while making some heavy, balls-out rock and roll without pretense. I can get behind that. Great stuff!

PPSR site

Self Destructo Records Bandcamp

Accion Mutante - "Worse Than A Virus" CD

Brutish grind-punk from German thugs

Accion Mutante is a veteran grind metal/punk act from Germany who's been around since the late 90s, but they haven't released a proper album since 2002. Well, they make up for that with this 17-song gutter-grind-punk barn-burner.

Opening with the spoken word intro, "Narcissism of Mankind", the band launches into the primitive punk/metal of "Stop FGM". The remainder of the tracks are equally as barbaric -- steamrolls of classic  grindcore chug and vomit-style vocals. With bands like Accion Mutante, the tracks nor their subjects matter. After all, this could be political, or it could be about the pain of an ingrown toenail. The gutteral grunts are competent, but hardly unique, and the bare-bones music is, well, really quite forgettable. 

Power It Up Records Germany / Give Praise Records USA

Accion Mutante site

Accion Mutantespace

Post Mortem - "Message From The Dead" CD

Hailing from Boston, this classic and early death/gore/punk metal band returns anew with this 11-song release (plus bonus unlisted tracks). But as new as this material may be, vocalist and founder John McCarthy passed away during the recording, so several cuts are present with guest vocalists respectfully finishing up in his absence. Despite this discontinuity, the album works well as a whole.

Tracks like "Human Pinata" slow it down to almost doom-metal levels, but still with throat-scratching vocals. "Pray Before You Die" echoes this sentiment...a churning metallic riff with more than a nod to classic punk ala Black Flag. "Field Trip" rages with a thrash-punk tempo, like if Megadeth covered Minor Threat. This is old-school crossover that just isn't heard much anymore, and a shame that is, as "Message From The Dead" is a killer album.

Post Mortem's punk-metal was never too well-known, but their legacy lives on, and here's to hoping this posthumous release garners them some well-deserved notoriety. (Taboo Productions)

Post Mortemspace

Post Mortem website