Silver Screams dropped a new EP this year and I'm regrettably only getting to it now. Alive In The Afterlife, out now, is a superb slab of American hardcore. That it contains a Government Issue cover is only one more reason to recommend it.
Sean Koepenick was in Sleeper Agent! with John Stabb so that should draw others to this band, the way it did me, but, really, the riffs here are appealingly brutal, with the title cut roaring like Iron Cross or Youth Brigade. It is an excellent reminder of the power of this sort of music, as well as a surprisingly tuneful bit of business. "Stitches Up" is less harDCore and more early Black Flag, punishing beats and hard riffs colliding in the aural pit, while Alive In The Afterlife closes with an excellent cover of "Understand" by Government Issue. The track blasts past like a juggernaut, the players here positively on fire.
Alive In The Afterlife by Silver Screams is out now.
For more on Silver Screams, follow via the band's official Facebook page. To read band-member Sean Koepenick's nice, heartfelt tribute to John Stabb, click here.
[Photo: Uncredited band pic from band's official Facebook page]