Opening with The Civil Disobedients’ “Car Seat” - a track about a woman murdering her two children - this 14 song comp from local label Elephant Bell is intense, heavy and free on Bandcamp. Featuring upbeat killers from radio-ready rockers New Renaissance, The Secrets and Senor Dinosaur, the disc has some diversity courtesy of Warplane (the more subdued “Morning View”) and J. Williamez (the drum machine’d hilarity of “Fluffy Burrito”). It’s also got some “bonus tracks” from classic punkers Les Sexy (“Backstabber”) and ‘90s regressors Wazooka (“Wait”), but the standout comes from the always dependable Dreadnaut with “Rise,” which delivers enough pounding sound to kill a small country.

Published in Volume 69, Number 16 of The Uniter (January 14, 2015)