Loose Nukes – Cult Leaders LP (Mutant Sounds Records)

Despite the situation with the global crisis caused by pandemic, 2020 looks promising for hardcore punk music. You can stumble upon on piles of the great new releases by promising upcoming bands, who are using already proven formula to satisfy the hunger of the tireless underground scene. These kinds of circumstances were always the fertile field for remarkable hardcore punk groups, and that’s eventually the case with Cult Leaders, a brand new record by Loose Nukes. Judging by the look of their cover artwork, Loose Nukes has dedicated their album to the rotten politicians, corrupt administration, false policies, and the bend mock current men in power as pretentious cult leaders. Of course, these cult leaders have been accompanied by Orwell’s or Huxley’s dystopian imagery fulfilled by the death penalty, modern slavery, armed nukes, corruption, manipulation, and CCTV cameras all around. The cover artwork mimics autocratic society hidden behind the values of modern democracy. Loose Nukes continues in the same tradition as with their previous recordings. Cult Leaders provides a healthy dosage of politically charged hardcore punk rollercoasters empowered by various implementations. Perhaps their music can be characterized as pure hardcore punk, but the band has so much to offer besides plain and simple riffages. Each composition carries some additional elements of d-beat, crust punk, fastcore, powerviolence, and crossover music. These ferocious maneuvers have been decorated by persuasive vocal dualities and singalongs, mainly located at intense choruses. Loose Nukes continues at the same tradition as their previous records, so guitar shreddings are entirely accentuated by the late-eighties to mid-nineties riffages, followed by additionally distorted basslines. Highly energetic drumming performance acts like chaotic driving machinery behind these catchy riffages, and complete rhythmical segments have been thoughtfully arranged to accommodate the dynamics of the entire group. The raging orchestrations of the complete band resulted in a comprehensive collection of ferocious hardcore punk compositions that threaten to become instant classics in a matter of seconds. Their music resembles the sonic mutation of Attitude Adjustment, Infest, Capitalist Casualties, Caustic Christ, Aus-Rotten, MDC, but the complete material is even more compact and serves as an excellent example how the hardcore punk band should sound on the contemporary scene. Cult Leaders have been published as 12” vinyl record by Mutant Sound Records.