Because D.C.'s independent titan Dischord Records has released so many genre-defining records, it can be easy to gloss over the consistent and wide-ranging history of DIY in the nation’s capital. From post-punk to hardcore to metal and beyond, there have always been active, overlapping house show/small club scenes in D.C. that owe their basic ethos to punk. The bands on the recently released and truly exciting Red Line Comp, declaring themselves the "New Wave of D.C. Hardcore," shift the spotlight from historical D.C. punk to what’s happening now, and so far, both the comp and the other releases of the bands it features have proven that you should, indeed, pay attention to what this crew is up to. They’re not releasing grab-you-by-the-collar records, they’re releasing grab-you-by-the-throat records.
Red Death, one of the bands featured on The Red Line Comp, step up, demanding their place in this stellar still-forming legacy with Permanent Exile, their first full-length. Members who contributed to this album play in more traditional hardcore bands like Sectarian Violence, but Permanent Exile is a full-on crossover thrash record, less in the speedier L.A. tradition (think Cryptic Slaughter) than in the heavier New York tradition (think D.R.I.). The band roars, gnashes, howls, and divebombs its way through 16 minutes and 47 seconds, and when it’s over, the listener is left with the kind of bone-tired exhilaration that follows the best hardcore shows—if you’ve ever sat on the stoop with your friends after an incredible set, soaked in sweat with glowing cheeks, too tired to speak much but with new determination to start a band of your own, you know the feeling.
Permanent Exile never feels relentless or too formulaic, two easy traps for hardcore and metal records to fall into. There are thousands of mundane releases out there that in under 20 minutes can cause a listener’s eyes to glaze over—what song is this one again? It sounds exactly the same as the last three. With taut, well-written songs that vary in tempo and even stray into noise-ambience in places ("Atomic Howl"), Red Death expertly avoid these pitfalls. The record blazes the whole way through, but the fire flickers in different patterns—the difference between a pretty good record and a great one.
My one small quibble with Permanent Exile is the mix, and this is really a matter of taste; I tend to prefer a more layered hardcore-style mix in which the bass and guitar are slightly disentangled and the vocals just under the surface rather than a more metal-style mix in which the bass and guitar lay thick in the middle and the vocals sit directly on top. There are plenty of records from the original crossover thrash mini-boom of the mid-'80s that are mixed exactly like this one, so it’s not that it’s not the right sound for the subgenre. It’s just that crossover thrash is a continuum, and I tend to prefer recordings that lay closer to the set of hardcore production aesthetics than the metal ones.
Whatever your particular sonic subgenre production style allegiance is, though, there’s no denying that this is an excellent record with enough crushing riffs, precise but powerful drumming, and spot-on vocals that are a perfect homage without being a parody, to make even the oldest, crabbiest scene vet sit up and take notice.
