“We’re nothing like you!,” Jerkova assails on “Nothing”, a commanding highlight from Punitive Damage’s debut full-length, This Is the Blackout. While the band includes three members of Regional Justice Center, the politically torched powerviolence band led by Ian Shelton, the Vancouver band’s breakout effort dares you not to compare their motives or experiences to anyone but their own. This is personally confrontationally hardcore for those who prefer its ugliness kept intact, with the effort being produced by the tough-as-nails God’s Hate guitarist, Taylor Young, and putting an emphasis on life from the margins, smashing power structures, and devouring the rich with a bladesaw aggression. Experimental ambitions occasionally rise to the surface with drums trails, riffs with their direction, and blazing rock pianos, but it only serves to highlight their own agenda to set themselves apart loudly.

Highlights: “Nothing”, “Bottom Feeder”, “¿Que? ¿Me Tienes Meido Ahora?”

Punitive Damage’s This Is the Blackout is available now on Atomic Action Records.

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