Crisis Alert’s 2013 Debut LP, Urban dEcay is a blistering throwback to the sounds and themes of early Washington D.C. hardcore. The Adelaide band have made a name for themselves among punk fans by playing honest, unpretentious hardcore around Australia. The song “Seizures” has a heavy Minor Threat influence especially with the lyrics and phrasing, for example “seizure only in my head.” Their sound although is more in line with S.O.A. or the Void, while the guitar style is heavily indebted to Greg Ginn. “Aggression” is the longest track on the LP and shows the bands diversity, melding the aforementioned early D.C. sound with a slowed down, almost sludge metal influence reminiscent of Black Flag’s My War.

The band follows the convention of early eighties to the letter, the album really sounds as though it could have been recorded and released in 1982. The songs are short fast and loud with only a couple of tracks stretching over one minute. Crisis Alert is not trying to break new ground rather pay homage to the music they love, obviously Black Flag and S.O.A. The band manages to deliver the songs with integrity and real anger without ever sounding as though they are just imitating the style. The lyrics are bleak, lines like “Shallow thoughts have left you blind / All because your narrow mind” express the negative tone of the album.

The lyrical content of the album features themes of depression, frustration and stress. The songs sound aggressive with a disdain for society. “Out of Control features the lines, “All this stress is just too much / Feel my body losing touch” emphasising an inner struggle to cope with everyday life. The simple yet emotive lyrics lift the album from being just another hardcore album. Many bands over the past years have made promises of returning to an early eighties straight up punk sound although few have been able to. This is where Crisis Alert succeeds pulling of the sound with evocatively personal lyrics.