Skeletal Twins is a release from two great California hardcore bands that come from two very different punk scenes. From the SoCal/Orange County area we have Rats In The Wall who have seasoned and notable punk musicians Eva Hall and Brad Logan. And from the NorCal/924 Gilman Street scene we have the up-and-coming band Heartless Folk.

Though they are pretty much a hardcore band, Heartless Folk do tend throw some melody and crust punk characteristics into their songs. You definitely can’t call them predictable. The track “Hemingway’s Last Call” shows Heartless Folk’s ability to incorporate melody into the more crusty songs of theirs. The vocalists have this way of sort of yelling the melody in a raspy tone as opposed straight up singing it. The band also pushes the boundaries of the sub-genres that they embrace and mix together with their instrumentation. In the same song and others such as “Do You Even Care?,” they aren’t afraid to throw in some guitar fills in between lyrics and play big, palm muted build-ups.

Rats In The Wall continue to do what they do best on their side of this EP -- make dark sounding, disgruntled, politically-charged hardcore. Battalion of Saints cover track “Cops Are Out” pretty much encapsulates what Rats In The Wall has brought to the table with their side of this split. Eva Hall is at the top of her vocal game as well. Even though this is a cover tune, Halls sharp and piercing screams really personlize the lyrics like, “They say, ‘Oh no! We’re here to help”/You must be joking/They think we’re blind.” Brad Logan’s guitar riffs are heavily fuzzed and they really radiate that sense of urgency in the songs in a classic hardcore fashion – fast, bare bones, and hard-hitting. Fans of the Rats In The Wall’s first release Dead End and/or any of the F-Minus discography will be more than pleased with this effort.

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