Here’s a ripper. LA’s Slaughterhouse has undergone a few lineup changes the last few years but they appear to have solidified with Sick and Tired. The band flips between full on hardcore smashing and goth-lite spookiness. It works really well.

What the band is particularly good at is keeping the sharp edge of punk and hardcore and posturing that into a classic pop structure. “Gimme something else1 Gimme something else! Gimme something else!” is repeated on “DNA,” the lead track and it’s almost like an 80s pop hit has been dropped onto a circle pit slammer. It feels clever, throughout out, and honest.

Oh also, there’s a cover of “My War.” Many bands have attempted the monolithic track and most have failed. Slaughterhouse does not fail. In fact, it’s one of the best covers of that track to date. It’s a little bit more swinging than the jolty original, but it keeps the white hot ferocity in the track.

Over the past five years or so, there has been a fair amount of rising and falling and rising and falling and rising buzz about Slaughterhouse. Well, the buzz was and is deserved. After a slow burning start, Slaughterhouse has arrived. If they keep this energy and honestly, a modern landmark punk full length is well within in their grasp… and considering the handbreak stop that ends the EP, perhaps even destined.