4 out of 5

Label: High Dive Records

Produced by: Bummer, Justin Mantooth

I’m a little miffed.

Here’s my habit: I’ll read a review or follow a daisy-chain of RIYLs to a band I haven’t heard of previously, check out a few songs, and nod approvingly; I’ll check out a few more songs to nod enthusiastically; and then I’ll sample across (if available) a catalog to confirm I’m not hearing an isolated take of what I’m digging.

Such was the case with Bummer, and in the above equation, though I floated between Holy Terror and Dead Horse, the enthusiasm – most of the songs I checked out- came from Holy Terror. I own a fair share of hardcore rock and punk, and it’s hard to break through that wall of heard-it-before, but Bummer was doing it for me.

Once I’m convinced, my habit has a pretty expensive outcome: if I see Sold Outs in your discography, and I’m pretty convinced I’m on board by this point, I’ll by several albums in one go, i.e. most of what’s available. When I received my pack of Bummer material, I grabbed what was on top – Dead Horse – and… well, damn, it’s good, but I had heard this kind of stuff before, and it wasn’t really as grabbing as I’d recalled. It sucks, but that happens sometimes, for various reasons. I gave it a few days – mood definitely affects how I hear something – and tried again, but Dead Horse was still landing in a semi-generic register: a mix of, like Nails all-out assault and Unsane-esque metal. This led to a pause in my overal enthusiasm.

Flash forward to a while later, and I’m trying out the next album in my Bummer pile, Holy Terror. And, well, damn, cause this is what I recalled: exactly the intensity of those bands mentioned, but with an extra layer of range that top tier bands like Converge know how to work into their hardcore, implementing breaks and melody and tweaks to when to shout versus growl; when to chugga chugga versus play some chords; when to mix the bass in more. Meanwhile, Bummer isn’t Converge – that time signature ain’t flip-flopping around as much – but rather of a somewhat more laborious, sludgier style, and with a more targeted and visceral lyrical style that manages to strike an emotional, personal string while still perfectly matching the kind of stuff that reads like it should be screamed.

Here and there are elements of what I was hearing on Dead Horse: tracks like Total Recall favor volume over everything: it’s just straightforward, one-level, everyone playing and singing hard. These tracks aren’t a huge detractor on an otherwise amazing disc, but it’s when the group sounds – as prattled on about in my long lead-in – like a handful of other hardcore groups, so when the album is full of those (and I went back to Dead Horse again to confirm), the band’s distinctions get lost.

Holy Terror, though, is, and remains, accurately named. But now I’m miffed – I’ve only got one more Bummer release in my collection to check out, and given that the band hasn’t dropped something in a few years (at this point), I may be stuck with a horrible decision of how to evaluate a band with what could turn out to be one great album and other okay ones. What ever will I do?? Future me will know, but Now me has to sit here in limbo, Holy Terror on repeat except for the times I flip back to Dead Horse and try to further convince myself of its charms.