Total Abuse

Abrasive Texans Total Abuse confirm that the Lone Star State is full of the most chaotic and disorganized, yet incredibly appealing, hardcore bands with this 27-track eponymous debut. As expected, they're indirectly influenced by the likes of home state heroes MDC, D.R.I. and elements of Butthole Surfers - a touch of the weirdness pervades the occasional song - as run through a filter of three decades and the advent of post-punk's meandering aggression. For the most part, the band rely heavily on drastically under-produced recordings to ensure their overly distorted, rabid ferocity is finely captured. Keeping many songs well under the one-minute mark elicits a few comparisons to early Rollins-era Black Flag, which is a nice touch but overall Total Abuse still have enough fire in their grit-covered bellies to keep their trashy, almost cacophonous agit-punk unique.