Right now, there’s a whole lot of great punk and hardcore coming out of Australia; bands like Geld, Speed, Primitive Blast, and Jalang have been making some truly excellent music. The Chain, from Perth, absolutely belong on that list. The Chain have been around for a few years, and they released a 7″ called Bitter Pill in 2019. Today, they’ve back with a new self-titled EP, and it will stomp your face into a mushy puddle.

The Chain’s style is a squalid midtempo crunch, and it’s supremely old-school in sound and presentation. Singer Thomas Sweetman has a great veins-popping-out bellow; he does not sound like a sweet man. The band puts just enough reverb on everything that they sound mysterious and fucked-up, but the songs themselves are down-the-middle ass-beaters, and it’s pretty easy to imagine a room erupting when they’re playing. Below, listen to this six-song, 10-minute banger.

The Chain is out now on Last Gang Records.