Coke Bust – Degradation (Grave Mistake Records)
The cover of Coke Bust’s newest release could go a long way towards conveying to those unfamiliar with the band’s music the impression that the band falls in with the ever-increasing ranks of generic straight edge hardcore bands – there’s the narcotic-disparaging name, complete with intimations of force; the stark black-and-white cover image of a crowded soup line (not the most extreme example of punk’s reliance on stock photos of human misery, but a solid entry into the canon nonetheless); the title shared with a Gorilla Biscuits song. But a wise listener, recalling the lesson typically imparted in youth vis-à-vis books and covers, would be rewarded for giving Degradation a listen, as the band has concocted a release possessing a fierce, relentless energy that other hardcore bands would be lucky to conjure.
Coke Bust – Degradation (Grave Mistake Records)
The cover of Coke Bust’s newest release could go a long way towards conveying to those unfamiliar with the band’s music the impression that the band falls in with the ever-increasing ranks of generic straight edge hardcore bands – there’s the narcotic-disparaging name, complete with intimations of force; the stark black-and-white cover image of a crowded soup line (not the most extreme example of punk’s reliance on stock photos of human misery, but a solid entry into the canon nonetheless); the title shared with a Gorilla Biscuits song. But a wise listener, recalling the lesson typically imparted in youth vis-à-vis books and covers, would be rewarded for giving Degradation a listen, as the band has concocted a release possessing a fierce, relentless energy that other hardcore bands would be lucky to conjure.
This isn’t to say that their music is the most startlingly original, but the ferocity and speed with which they tear into their material is considerably more convincing than the strings of breakdowns most hardcore bands pass off as songs these days. Along with bands like Vaccine and Sick Fix, Coke Bust have spearheaded a recent resurgence of straight edge hardcore that utilizes a thrashier sound, more akin to Infest or Neanderthal than the glut of youth crew and metalcore bands that tend to be identified with that particular subculture. Theirs is a whirlwind approach, six songs in about five minutes, that’s almost frustratingly short. But what they do in that brief window of time is notable. They use not a single unnecessary note, and provide just enough variations – a quick breakdown in the first song, a relatively mid-tempo closer (the only song that exceeds a minute in length) – to keep the record from seeming one-dimensional.
As is the case with the best hardcore, Coke Bust’s lyrics are pretty resoundingly critical and contentious. This assumes different forms – there’s “Keep Out,” the obligatory swipe at drug addicts, “No Authority,” a dismissal of the recycled lyrical content utilized by so many of their contemporaries, and especially “Another Fucking Problem,” a paean to desperation and workaday stress that really epitomizes the band’s appeal. With lines like “Work, death, bills, debt, time, life, stress / Fuck, when will it end? / I am just a simple man / I do everything I can to keep the peace, make ends meet, make it work, make you see,” the band gives the impression that, unlike so many of their coevals who use an exaggerated sense of negativity as a sort of pose, their stance is more cathartic. Coke Bust are not dwelling on pessimism per se, but acknowledging the world’s problems and attempting to push through them with the sheer force of their music. It’s eminently relatable, and prevents the band from falling into what, in lesser hands, might seem like trite machismo or disingenuous nihilism.
Coke Bust doesn’t really reinvent any wheels or rewrite any books with Degradation, but that’s nowhere near the worst thing that could be said about a hardcore album. Both the ferocity with which the band approaches their music and the skill with which they execute it underscore the band’s intensity and relevance, a combination from which the vast majority of current hardcore bands could learn some desperately-needed lessons.
