The Richmond, Virginia bass-and-drums duo White Beast are a very new project; they just released their debut single “Fencewalker” a few months ago. If you’ve never heard of them, don’t feel bad; I didn’t know anything about the band until drummer Sam Roberts, also of the excellent metal-punk band Private Hell, told me about them at a Gorilla Biscuits show. But White Beast have already put out their full-length debut Suffering Time, and that shit goes hard.

White Beast’s whole sound is noisy and fuzzy, but they also bring serious alt-rock hooks to the table. A brand-new DIY band is not supposed to sound this fully-formed, but White Beast’s burly intensity is already giving me Torche flashbacks. The first half of Suffering Time is full of mean, compact sludge-pop bangers. The second half gets looser and wilder, but it never goes off the rails. The whole thing sounds remarkably clean without losing its fundamental scuzziness. Check it out below.

On Friday night, White Beast are playing a record-release show at Bandito’s Burrito Lounge in Richmond with National Photo Committee, Hard Copy, and Sweeties.