Hardcore punk from Southern California, featuring a few familiar faces from the Castillo project. This is Repeat Offender and their first proper full-length album, released by Convulse Records. It contains eleven tracks packed with the energy of a beer being thrown in your face, a steel-toed boot landing between your ribs, or a table getting flipped over at a pub show that suddenly erupts into an all-out pogo frenzy and complete chaos. Eleven tracks, ranging from 1:12 to 2:43, delivering a hefty dose of darker hardcore punk influenced by the sound of 82.

This is hardcore punk that keeps moving, switches between rhythmic patterns and is driven from start to finish by dark vocals. More precisely, the singer spits out his lines in a muffled, strangled voice that sounds like a werewolf returning from a night hunt. There’s also a female vocal appearance that cuts through the title track, Weapon Fetish, adding another layer of intensity. Overall, the sound is fast, murky and bleak. It’s bound to appeal to those who prefer a darker approach and enjoy digging into the interplay between two guitars, including their little melodic runs and the way their parts intertwine. This isn’t just a mindless assault, either; there are plenty of subtle musical details that gradually reveal themselves with repeated listens.

Lyrically, everything fits the overall concept. The subject matter is dark, with many of the songs focusing on capturing immediate feelings, moods and inner states. Mood Stabilizer is a great example of this approach. Elsewhere, the band touches on themes such as admitting guilt, contempt for society and the system, militarism, mental health and violence. I like the fact that the band presents these subjects without spelling everything out, leaving it up to the listener to interpret them and decide what to take away. As a result, the album doesn’t feel like a collection of ready-made slogans but rather a raw snapshot of emotions and attitudes.

The whole band comes across as a perfectly tight unit. At the same time, I find the clarity of the recording rather unusual for this kind of music. The sound is clear enough to bring out the interplay between the instruments without sacrificing the necessary darkness or aggression. I enjoy the more rolling tracks like Shit Disturber just as much as the more hard-hitting numbers such as Crisis – that’s my personal favourite. There are also songs that lean more towards punk than hardcore punk, drawing on a more melodic side of the band’s sound, with Blood Feud being a good example. This variety keeps the album moving and prevents the tracks from merging into one impenetrable mass of noise. The record flies by, not only because of its short running time but, above all, thanks to the little touches and musical tricks the band keeps throwing into the mix.

The skull-and-bullet-belt aesthetic makes at least an appearance on the lyric sheet. To be honest, I’d have been disappointed if the album hadn’t come with this kind of genre-appropriate artefact, so I can happily tick that box. I also appreciate the fact that the lyrics to all the tracks are included. For me, details like these are an important part of owning a physical release, and it’s always good to see a band putting some effort into more than just the music itself. The album was pressed in a run of 250 copies on black vinyl, with another 100 copies on clear vinyl featuring black-and-white splatter. A solid dose of dark hardcore punk with plenty of energy, a distinct identity and enough interesting moments to make it worth spinning again and again.