TRAUMATIZER – s/t 7″EP

While I associate Neon Taste Records with the punkier sounds of bands like Chain Whip and the Imploders, they have a pretty solid sideline in gnarlier sounds, of which this debut 7″ from the Dutch band Traumatizer is a fine example. The core of Traumatizer’s sound is rampaging, everything-in-the-red d-beat, with at least a toe in the corner of this sound where it meets tougher, graffiti-letter type hardcore. The pedal is on the floor for the entire first two tracks, but when they get to their theme song “Traumatizer,” the style widens with a cool, John Carpenter-through-a-fuzzbox synth intro and some Death Side-esque lead guitar histrionics. The straightforward parts will peel paint, but it’s the subtler moments in these six rippers that really catch my ear.