Emerging like a bile fuelled viper, Poison Everything (Southern Lord) is the third release from Californian based hardcore four piece Obliterations is a frenetic, dirty and all round in-your-face release that doesn’t let go from the second it sinks its teeth into you.
Taking influence from across the hardcore genre, from the organised precise chaos of Converge to the back to basics approach of classic Henry Rollins fronted Black Flag. To even some hooks and groovy riffs that is reminiscent of the first two The Bronx albums.
The record flies by with its run time of just over half an hour with its old school Black Flag influence running through the albums run time from its first second to its last. The Hardcore fury is nicely countered with a large slice of doomy Black Sabbath riffage in the albums more groove orientated moments, as well as its rumbling bass sound which chugs its way through the album making the record sound like a hardcore punk Motorhead.
The vocals are where the album steps into its stride, switching between Henry Rollins snarls and barks to Jacob Bannon shrieks and screams almost instantaneously. Front man Sam James Velde pulls off these vocals seamlessly, sounding as if for his album preparation he gargled glass for a decade beforehand in order to transfer as much savagery into his delivery as possible.
Overall, Poison Everything is a great hardcore release from the band and is easily their best record to date. With all the snarl and aggression that you would want from bands such as Converge or Black Flag, Poison Everything does exactly what the band set out to do. The Sabbath riffs and Motorhead rumble and pace add all new depth to the release and lift it amongst most hardcore releases.
7.0/10
DAN O’BRIEN