Coliseum

The nicest man you never want to fuck with (don’t touch his Black Flag records), the hulking Ryan Patterson (of the National Acrobat, Black Widows/Cross infamy) and company return with an eight-song EP of desperate, frayed, frenetic, crusty Motörhead-tainted hardcore punk that attempts inner-demon exorcism through sheer vocal maltreatment. With the future of Black Cross up in the air (but, hey, how about an Acrobat reunion?), Coliseum seem to have become Patterson’s primary unit, and their heavy touring schedule has refined the band’s hostility to a even more raw but compelling concoction of speed, abrasion and pissed-off honesty. Produced by Sebadoh’s Jason Lowenstein (yeah, you read it right), Coliseum may be the U.S.’s answer to Cursed, even though they’re not as heavy, trading in the Sabbathian wallop of Canada’s volume pigs for punk’s velocity. Still, Ryan, goddamn is right.