Live Review: No Redeeming Social Value 7/5/19 @ St. Vitus Brooklyn, NY

No Redeeming Social Value

Killer of Sheep & Silence Equals Death

Live 7/5/19 @ St. Vitus

Brooklyn, NY

On a steaming July night over the 4th of July weekend some of Hardcore's best took to the dark stage at St. Vitus in Greenpoint Brooklyn. The sweat was already soaking all of the black t-shirts in attendance before opener Silence Equals Death plugged in and kicked things off.

Coming from various other outfits, the band, (Scott Earth on vocals, Fred Delacruz and Wade Culleny on guitars, Brett Holloway on bass and Ryan Bertone on drums) have been at it with their bruising attack since 2011. The tunes switched between slowed down stomp sections and straight ahead punk as the group slammed. Highlights were the screaming from Earth on "End Times" and the bands knockout set closing cover of Inside Out's "Burning Fight".

Next up was Killer of Sheep and the four piece from Pittsburgh, PA delivered a more off-kilter attack with their short blasts of fury and angular riffs all supported by some amazing drum work. The group (Oyo Ellis : guitar Ollie McClellen : vox Keith Smallwood : bass Greg Mairs : drums ) used their hyper thrash style to attack the crowd who were watching more than dancing. The precision strike of "Lose Control" was one hot spot as was the thundering bass of "Thought Police" which dropped into a heavy groove propelled by the fantastic Mairs. The warbling electric riffs of "Firewater" and "The Jig Is Up" were both also chaotic as McClellen was a whirlwind; next time the pits will hopefully explode for this band. 

The slam dancing kicked off in earnest for punk rock party favorites No Redeeming Social Value as the band kicked off it's old school ways with "More Tattoos" containing the only lyric rhyming scarification with bacitracin in the history of music. Classics like "Beer ='s Fun" and "Chicken" caused the crowd to slam from side to side in the tight club. "The New 64" found front man Dean Miller reminding the crowd about beers past while drummer Glen Lorieo slammed heavy on the drums for a new tune titled "Wasted 4 Life" which is a prime singalong.

The group got the whole crowd worked up for the ripping "No Regrets" as Kent Miller inserted new solo's into the old standby before the set closed around John Franko's heavy bass work in the pile-on anthem "Skinheads Rule". 

Apologies to both Ramallah and Subzero as RtBE caught up with old friends at the bar during their sets and while they were certainly moving the crowd, too many drinks were consumed and not enough notes taken to review their sets properly.

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