When live performances began to return in the summer of 2021, my first show back was a guerrilla-style hardcore punk gig in Richmond, staged outdoors at a location distant enough that revelers were still setting off fireworks in the pit without fear of everything getting shut down. The Richmond-by-way-of-Raleigh outfit Public Acid headlined that night and delivered a ferocious, almost insane set, and I’ve felt a lifelong loyalty to them ever since. I’m thrilled to report that their latest record captures a good portion of that intensity.
This is nothing new for Public Acid, whose 2024 LP Deadly Struggle ranked among my favorite hardcore albums of the year. Their new record Pay No More is a sloppy, chaotic basement-punk assault. There’s nothing routine about it. You could try dissecting it for influences from Japanese or Scandinavian hardcore or whatever you like. But I’d recommend letting it wash over you as a raw, primal blur. You can hear it below.
There’s another release today that should scratch a similar itch, too. Invertebrates are a Richmond hardcore punk band who share a few members with Public Acid and who release records on Beach Impediment. They’re on the bill a lot of the same nights, too. Invertebrates’ approach is a touch more direct and straightforward, and I might actually lean toward them by a hair, but the two bands clearly complement one another. Today, Invertebrates follow their 2024 LP Sick To Survive with a fresh EP of their own, an urgent but seriously fun seven-song blast called Accosted. Check it out below.
Pay No More and Accosted are both out now on Beach Impediment.
