Cold Brats / Gel – Shock Therapy (Split LP)

Artist: Cold Brats / Gel

Title: Shock Therapy

Release: LP / Digital

Year: 2022

Label: Convulse Records

You must be living under a rock if you haven’t heard of New Jersey’s Gel, who have been dominating the underground scene for a while now with their explosive live shows, and earlier this year released their phenomenal debut full-length Only Constant; one of the most anticipated hardcore records of 2023. I’m also pretty sure that with the release of Only Constant the band gained even more popularity and new fans across the board, so it’s still a good time to remind old and new fans alike that Convulse Records released Gel’s Shock Therapy split LP with Bucharest, Romania’s Cold Brats on this day one year ago.

On this release, Gel obliterates everything in their path with four tracks that are short, aggressive and full of stomping hardcore energy. The songs on this split are even more raw, instinctive, and aggressive than the subsequent album, and none of them exceed the two-minute mark. It’s a swirling maelstrom of searing riffs, incendiary drumming and frenetic vocals that seethe with urgency and angst.

On the other side of the split we have Romania’s coldest brats, who released a split seven-inch with Slovenia’s d-beat raw punks Pakt a few months before this release. The four songs on the split with Gel however, are probably my favorite tunes in Cold Brats’ discography. The tracks are slightly longer than their US counterparts, but the power of Cold Brats lies not in the constant ear-shattering terror, but rather in their ability to blend a wide range of influences, from noisy garage punk and rock’n’roll to some of the harshest hardcore punk out there. Cold Brats’ music is a weird mix of fuzz, razor-sharp riffing and distortion, all backed by maniacal vocals that defy all expectations. It’s also worth mentioning Cold Brats’ tongue-in-cheek song titles and lyrics, which is rare for bands that don’t speak English as a first language. If you like the driving riffs of Dead Boys, the weirdness of Filipper, and the straight up aggression of Negative Approach, Poison Idea, and Necros, this should be right up your alley.

It’s always great when hyped US bands do split releases and tours with acts from less popular places like the damn Balkans. I have been planning to write about this record for a long time, but I promised myself that I would wait until I got my hands on the vinyl. It took a lot longer than I expected because Cold Brats didn’t have copies at their shows when I saw them this past year, but the record arrived just in time for its one-year anniversary. While Shock Therapy is a great name for such a rabble-rousing release, its distinct chain-punk artwork is also amazing—thanks to grvdwllr, who is actually Cold Brats’ own drummer Volo. Cold Brats have changed their vocalist since this split release, but are still active and full of fresh new ideas, so grab one of the last remaining copies from their Bandcamp page and expect more from them in the future!

Source: diyconspiracy.net