Under Pressure

Once again, Winnipeg breeds another band that crushes competitors with a simple power chord. The fact that they follow it up with a relentless onslaught of guttural bellowing, punk rock’n’roll/hardcore beats and even more guitar riffing is like grinding said opposition’s face into the dust. An ephemeral gem, Black Bile features eight solid songs that amalgamate the meaty confrontation of Agnostic Front with Fucked Up’s occasional raunchiness and an underlying appreciation of crusty rock’n’rollers such as Zeke and, naturally, Motörhead. It makes for a delightfully bumpy ride that feels like you’re about to get into a bar brawl at one moment, then take off in some mid-’70s muscle car and terrorise the countryside Death Proof-style the next. Not exactly crossover due to the limited amount of bona fide metal but certainly brutal enough to counter its deadliest forces, Black Bile proves that sometimes, in order to make unforgettably bombastic music, one must live in a place with nothing but two drearily inspiring seasons: winter and mosquitoes.