With a cacophonous crash, Beach Rats waste no time in blazing through a classic hardcore sprint in opening track “Lonely for the Night” on their new EP Wasted Time. The whole cavalcade then collapses into a delectable breakdown with Ari Katz’s barely decipherable snotty vocals pounding the chorus in the ground. The whole EP incinerates 5 songs in less than 10 minutes, offering a succinct introduction to the considerable talents of these scene veterans. “Stay All Night” follows a similar structure to its preceding track and an even more infectious melody with an incendiary guitar solo igniting the breakdown as Katz encourages us to hang around and requests to “play it for you one more time.”

The band comprises Katz (Lifetime), Brian Baker (Bad Religion, Dag Nasty, Minor Threat), guitarist Pete Steinkopf and bassist Brian Kienlen (both of The Bouncing Souls) and local Jersey drummer Danny Windas. Katz, Steinkopf, Kienlen, and Windas had convened for a Vision tribute show and felt rejuvenated with the urge to create some classic hardcore. Katz discovered Baker was living nearby and recruited him; thus, Beach Rats were born.

The dogpile of guitars and drums on “Sports Stink” follows in the tradition of 7 Seconds’ “I Hate Sports[‘]” disdain for the cult surrounding organized games for adult men, opting for the chaotic melee of a mosh pit at a punk show with “no teams, no rules, no sides.” Title track “Wastd Time” has verses that ride a nauseous riff into a minor key chorus all punctuated by Katz’s mush-mouth mumbling before ending on a rather bright outro.

Although there is no new ground broken on this headrush EP, Katz and company have tapped into something vital, which is best exemplified in the entreaty from “Skins, Brains, and Dubs:” “Better hold on to a good thing.”