Off!

After storming out of the gates with 2010's First Four EPs, OFF! continue to make their intentions clear with a self-titled album that picks up right where their last collection left off. Delivering 16 tracks in just under 16 minutes, the album is a blast of the kind of raw hardcore that seemed like it was all but lost from the world, serving as an important reminder that, as long as you have plenty of volume, attitude, and anger in excess, everything else will fall into place. Using these three elements to their fullest, the album is a sonic smash and grab that bursts through the front door, wrecks up the place, and gets out long before the dust settles and you realize your television is missing. This kind of concise attack allows OFF! to show off their collective experience as they keep things water tight while they cruise from track to track in a frenzy of guitars and frantic shouting. For lovers of classic hardcore, OFF! will be a welcome blast that'll remind you of a simpler, angrier time as you're being pummeled by 45-second tracks about nuclear war, drugs, and the state of punk. Definitely an album that's worth listening to on repeat, not only out of necessity, but because it's a refreshingly simple, straightforward album in an increasingly processed and affected era. ~ Gregory Heaney