I admit it. It was the name of the band that first drew me in. The black, white and pink cover art with the female wrestler about to body slam a cop helped too. The very death metal looking logo was an added bonus. I was also told by a reputable source that singer Ami Lawless is pretty awesome. When I finally heard the raging opening track, “Looking For the Answers”, I was sold.

Cliterati is a Portland , OR based hardcore band that contains former members of Poison Idea, Voetsek and Murderess. They describe themselves as queer, straight, people of color and white. What matters most to this old, straight, white male is that they tear shit up. You can definitely hear the Poison Idea influence on the guitar riffs. Imagine the fastest Poison Idea stuff with a female singer yelling her head off, and you’ll have a pretty good notion of what this sounds like. Cliterati was originally recorded as a demo before Tankcrimes decided it needed a proper release.

Cliterati is five relentless tracks in just over ten minutes. The songs kind of blend together at first, but after a couple of spins they start differentiate themselves. On “Make America Hate Again”, Lawless shoots for her best southern accent. On “Virtue”, her delivery is closer to a demonic shriek. All the songs are fast, but some are definitely faster than others. “Burn” is an insane tempo, and is basically 35 seconds of blast beats. Closing track, “Marked By God”, is the longest at three minutes. It incorporates almost all the harshest elements of the previous songs.

The lyrics are angry and biting, and are perfect for the hostile delivery. There's definitely a radical political element here, but you don’t have to understand what the hell they’re talking about to enjoy it. Lawless was quoted as saying, “Hopefully these songs will make you wanna get your clit in the pit”. I suspect they will do just that. Cliterati is what punk is supposed to sound like.