YOU’RE NOT PUNK, AND WE’RE TELLIN’ EVERYONE. Justin Thunder Lager joins us to give you the skinny on two punk as fuck releases you ought to hear.

Sordid Dogs are a gnarly black metal-punk band from Athens, Greece that answer the question, “What if Midnight was a crust punk band?” Not a diss on this Greek trio, rather that’s what I wish Midnight would sound like now. This is raw metal-punk power that unchains the might of  Hellhammer, (and yeah ok, ok) Discharge, “Cult is Alive”-era Darkthrone, Venom, and Children of Technology — all shouting into the voids of the earth. Speaking of Tommy G. Warrior’s first band, there’s also a killer cover of “Massacra” which seems to highlight more than previous band’s covers the perfect mix of raw metal and hardcore (granted their d-beat sounds a tad too “click-track-y” here). The pick slides and feedback are also a nice touch. The vocals by drummer Purgatory throughout this are really solid,  while loud as fuck they don’t overtake the rest of the band. I’d like to see where they go from here but they’re off to a great start.

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Death Pill makes some really intense and heavy crossover. They start off  with the fast, rippin’ and mosh tone intro. Though not exclusively palm muting riffers they’re a self-described “riot grrrl” band. This makes sense as they come across like an update of rad bands like Smut from Minneapolis and L7 (by way of say, The Crumbsuckers). Though they’re from Ukraine a place which has a had a long history of punk and metal, I’ve never heard anything quite like this from over there. The roaring vocals remind me of a hardcore version of Sabina Claussen from Holy Moses. The last track “Die for Vietnam” uses more melodic vocals mix with the raging rasp from before. Plus, the riffs continue their their uh, “moshability” The urgency and aggression in their sound is what puts Death Pill over the top. Absolutely worth your time. 5 out of 5 Flaming Toilets ov Hell!