Artist: DREGS
Austrian hardcore band DREGS’s Built To Rot EP follows fresh off the back of their widely-applauded Watch Out EP (2019), both released through Refuse Records. Much like that release, Built To Rot features fast riffs and heavy mosh parts that blend blistering hardcore punk (think of a band like No Statik) and crossover thrash with ’90s-influenced chugging hardcore akin to Strife and Morning Again.
Across the six tracks on display (not counting the instrumental intro), DREGS’s vocalist Julie Hill is in furious mode as she tackles capitalist exploitation and the lack of empathy for others. While the lyrical theme on the band’s debut EP revolved around the topic of mental health and Julie’s own journey through dark times, this new record is more about the struggles we feel collectively, dealing with the feelings of isolation, alienation, addictions and intoxication in a system built to rot.
DREGS are, in my opinion, one of the best European straight edge bands at the moment. Their unrelenting and unapologetic, in-your-face queer feminist hardcore punk is exactly what our community needs right now. This material is nothing less than twelve minute attack on the senses delivered with a maximum attitude where there isn’t an inch of fat to trim. Add to that the brilliant artwork of Russian artist Dima @raisondetre, and you’ll get the soundtrack that sparks the complacent either off their asses, or into the void. 
