Culture Abuse

Spray Paint The Dog [7-inch] (2015)

C.M. Crockford

Culture Abuses's new 7-inch is a major leap forward for this band. I last saw them in the hallway of a house I was living in and they were fun as hell live- melodic, intense, and exciting even cramped in a room the size of a large closet, but they were also just a cool punk side project. Spray Paint The Dog feels like a big leap forward for them, the two songs on here feeling like a nice combination of Ceremony's chilly abrasiveness and lunkheaded skate punk.

"Nicotine" is a perfect four minute A-side, with the band slowly fading in with feedback then exploding into alienated California hardcore, complete with backing vocals echoing that "I was running from my mind" then a slow Ginn-like breakdown leading back into the original "melody". It's dramatic, accomplished (they worked hard to make the sound what it is), and perfect for skating, running, or walking around NorCal with an angry stare. Then "Perfect Light", a fast-paced, even hookier rocker highlighting the lead singer's droning, heightened vocals commanding us that: "If love's not the answer/get high to the radio". Both songs have a nice sense of timing, variety, and they don't sound like each other, a major, major plus in punk rock.

If you want a fun hardcore party record, this is the one for your self-destructive, hateful friends. It's smart, nasty, and mosh-worthy; This is a band going beyond Dead-to-Me-side-project status and going for the teeth.