The Sheffield hardcore punk crew return with a stunner of a second album!
After seeing Sheffield hardcore quartet Shreds utterly lay waste to a small London venue last year, I bought their excellent debut album ‘Step Back’ right then and there. Yep, it was one of those gigs, and Shreds are undoubtedly one of those bands. Now they’re back with second record ‘Floorshow’, which is no great departure from the aforementioned debut – and that’s absolutely fine with us.
The band fall firmly on the punk side of hardcore, barrelling through 15 tracks in less than half an hour. There’s the odd twist of muscular NYHC-style crunch here and there, most notably on the juddering breakdowns of third track ‘Selling False Hope’ and the Gaza-focused ‘Genocide’, but for the most part they belt along at 100mph in a manner that should have fans of classic 80s US hardcore (Minor Threat, Black Flag, 7 Seconds, all that good stuff) wetting themselves with joy.
There are plenty of brains to match the musical brawn, too. Lyrically, this is mostly Shreds taking a good hard look at the world, and – understandably – not particularly liking what they see, but is also intended as something of a love letter to the UK DIY hardcore scene, the latter perhaps best exemplified on the raging ‘Bond’.
The highlights come thick and fast – very fast, in fact. ‘Laboratory Conditions’ is replete with great gang vocals (one of Shreds’ secret weapons, for sure); you can close your eyes and picture a frenzied circle pit for the minute-long ‘Insomniac’, and the way the A.I.-baiting ‘Machines’ transitions from warp speed hardcore punk to mosh-worthy riffing (and then back again)…ooh, it feels too good. Oh, and ironically, ‘Give Myself A Heart Attack’ is absolutely brimming with vitality. In truth, there are no weak links on show here – just solid banger after banger.
Put simply, this is Shreds doing what they do even better than they did before, and they weren’t exactly slouches in the first place. As a snapshot of just how healthy UKHC is right now, you could do a lot worse than ‘Floorshow’, and as hardcore albums of the year go, it will take some beating. Anyone with even a passing interest in the genre should check them out now – you couldn’t possibly regret it.
‘Floorshow’ is released on 1st August via Engineer Records – pre-order it HERE.
Main Photo Credit: SCOTT BRADLEY/PHUKIN PHOTOS
- Freeloader
- Friend Or Foe
- Selling False Hope
- Genocide
- Bond
- Laboratory Conditions
- True Story
- Insomniac
- Machines
- Idiots Run The Show
- Everyday Itch
- Give Myself A Heart Attack
- Maggots
- Number One
- Deadweight
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I spend my days teaching English to foreign students, and my evenings attending as many gigs as possible. Raised mainly on a diet of 90s third-wave punk, my tastes have grown to include just about anything from trad ska to thrash metal. The Ramones are my musical gods.
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