4 out of 5

Label: Happy Couples Never Last

Produced by: ?

Racebannon’s contribution to this 7″ was essentially the first taste we had of their “new” sound on the then-forthcoming (and a few years out!) Acid or Blood: a wickedly boiled down, more rocking version of their noisy brew of hardcore. And ‘The Killer’ is an amazing example of that, focusing moreso on their guitar / bass grooving interplay, and upping the stop / start breakdowns, Mike Anderson forever flipping in and out of manic vocals. I do think this is maybe a distinct recording of the AorB version, though without credits I can’t say for sure; the album version feels a bit slower in some parts and has a whole extended ending. That ending aside, this one isn’t so distinct that you necessarily have to track it down, but if you picked it up before the album, well, I spun this a lot.

The Majhas are a super interesting act, crossing over somewhere between experimental rock and hardcore punk, but, like, with Botch vocals. ‘Without Malice We Grow’ is somewhat misleadingly “generic” due to that last bit: there are stretches where it’s hitting particular chord progressions and with the yelly vocals that you kind of can qualify the track as a knockoff. But then there are a ton of really cool sidesteps, with a kind of southern rock twang to the guitar, or open chord riffing that feels more like alternative rock, and it’s not like Botch vocals are exactly easy to do…

A 7″ that absolutely does the job of getting you interested in hearing more from each act.