Crime Spree – Windy City Hardcore and The Debut Self Titled.
Crime Spree – Chicago, Illinois, USA.
Formed in 2014, Chicago based Crime Spree are a very simple band. They play Hardcore Punk in a loud, fast and abrasive manner that not only does the old days justice but lives and breathes the community that Punk and Hardcore have always strived to keep at the forefront.
Speed, anger, criticism, defiance, this is old-school Hardcore at it’s rawest. The band’s debut full-length was released in 2015 via Crowd Control Media and boasts sixteen tracks clocking in at just under nineteen and a half minutes, with the album’s longest track at 2:57 and the shortest at a mere 0:26.
The self titled wastes no time in make its voice heard, known and feared. We are all being watched in ‘Focus’, where the real-time issue of everyday surveillance in modern life surfaces and rightly so, how much of what we do is watched or documented?
‘Waste of Space’ is old-school Punk set through a Sick Of It All filter, whilst ‘Sock Full Of Quarters’ heads down that exact root of brutal NYC-style Hardcore, before giving way to the shortest on the album ‘Alabama Fortune Cookie’. A track much akin to a lot of Punk songs under thirty seconds, somewhat redundant but standing defiantly as what it is.
‘South Side’ briefly crosses over into Oi! territory, a Punk offshoot clearly an influence on them as a band, while tracks such as the above – ‘In Our Blood’ and ‘Workhouse’ up the aggression.
As a whole, this debut does what it says on the tin and is what you’d expect, discordant, fast and tightly wound Hardcore with something to say. The recording could be better and the vocals feel a bit subdued at times but as a release, you could see it following on from an Agnostic Front, Sick Of It All or Madball number on your Hardcore Gym playlist while you’re hitting up the chest press.
Find them below:
- For updates on Crime Spree head to their Facebook.
- For music head to Spotify and iTunes and the Crowd Control Media webstore which can be found below.
- Crowd Control Media: Facebook, Official Website.
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