Album Review: Total Con - Who Needs The Peace Corp?

Total Con 

Who Needs The Peace Corp?

***and1/2 out of *****

This kick in the teeth album from the Leeds UK based punk/hardcore outfit Total Con is a furious unleashing of aggression as Who Needs The Peace Corp? harkens back to the stripped down early sounds of the genres. Even before the music charges out, the album cover from Karim Newble, gives that retro punk/hardcore visual feel, matching the tunes contained within. 

An impressive solo project by Bobby Cole (Annihilated, Churchgoers, Brainrotter Records, and more) he wastes no energy as the slamming "Hope They Die" rips out raw with revved up guitars and angry vocals while follow up "Never Understand" keeps the blistering vibe going. Recorded in one day in Milwaukee for the Unlawful Assembly label, the lo-fi production masks a screaming anti-capitalist militancy with smoking riffs and thundering drums. 

The twenty eight seconds of "Death To Capitalist Hardcore" is a literal blast as feedback and anger explode with a great guitar solo to wrap up the brief winner. The best of the bunch here is the title track as feedback announces the tune before blasting drums get a great groove going. The exciting tune is completed with a scorching guitar solo as the overloaded friction crackles in speakers with palpable angst. 

"Repugnant Slime" crashes through at a speed metal pace before "Crucifix" uses blast beat drums and chaotic noise to perfection. The lo-fi production doesn't always work out great as the vocals are often buried such as on "You Don't Exist" whose punk drums and drill like guitars drown out the singing. 

One tune whose lyrical message fully gets through the dissonance is "Common Enemy" as Cole sings the line, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend!" repetitively and in anthemic fashion before the tune explodes into hardcore slamming like the rest of the songs. The album ends with a small surprise, a bass driven slamming cover of The Doors "Riders on the Storm" which puts a new spin on the old tune. 

The brief tracks on the thirteen minute long Who Needs The Peace Corp? all use the raw hardcore formula provided like by bands like Bad Brains, White Cross and Minor Threat as Total Con's kick ass approach to fervent punk/hardcore sounds just as urgent today as when it first rolled out almost 50 years ago. 

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