Where they from?
Melbourne, Australia. Man, that’s two Australian bands in a row! The land down under has always had a pretty stellar grind/powerviolence scene so it’s honestly no surprise. I remember being 22 and torrenting Kill A Celebrity’s split with Krupskaya and convincing I needed to fly to Sidney just to see them play that breakdown in that one song. You know the one, it’s heavy as shit.
Why the hype?
Extortion has been one of my favorite powerviolence bands since I learned what powerviolence was during my peak Adderall years. If I were to make a top five list of my favorite powerviolence songs of all time, at least three of them would come from the band’s 2005 LP Sick and number one would be Medication, which combines one of the greatest two-steps of all time with some of the most warbly dystopian Agents of Abhorrence chords of all time as the intro. Truly a master-stroke. I was unreasonably excited when I saw they had a new album out and knew I virtually HAD to write about them here.
Latest Release?
Seething, self-released. Somehow, some way, this band has gotten even better. The song writing feels like it has matured from it’s previous releases and the production is some of the best I have heard on a fast hardcore record in a minute. The vocals, in particular, feel incredibly powerful. The screams of “CALLOUS, CALLOUS, CALLOUS” feel like they will ever be wretched onto my soul. This band straight up rules and I’m just gonna preemptively say this is the best powerviolence record of the year. Let’s have a vegemite sandwich to toast to it.
