If you have any love in your heart for the chunky, angular post-hardcore that came out of Washington, DC in the late ’80s and early ’90s, then you owe it to yourself to check out the Baltimore band Truth Cult. Baltimore is not DC, and all the members of Truth Cult are presumably way too young to remember the bands that came from that scene, but they draw on all the fire and urgency of those bands to great effect. Truth Cult are named after a song from Baltimore OGs Lungfish, and they’ve made a couple of records with Jawbox leader J. Robbins producing. More importantly, Truth Cult bring the sort of immediate, explosive change-the-world energy that’s been rare in the world since that DC scene’s heyday.

Truth Cult have only been around for a couple of years, and they released a self-titled EP about a year ago. The band features former members of groups like Give, Pure Disgust, and Red Death. Today, Truth Cult release Off Fire, their full-length debut, and it rips. As with the EP, the band recorded Off Fire with J. Robbins, who’s exactly the guy you want when you’re trying to capture the energy and the dynamics of a band like this. And Truth Cult have a ton of charisma on their own; singers Paris Roberts and Emily Ferrara find room for melody in all the maelstrom, and the band’s riffs are both jagged and huge.

Off Fire is one of the best punk debuts I’ve heard in a long time. It’s a real spirit-lifter. Stream the album below.

Off Fire is out now on Pop Wig! Records.