It's always so cool when two likeminded DIY bands from different places find each other and join forces. En Love are from Columbus, Ohio, and Rabbit are from Brooklyn, but the two bands are kindred spirits. They both play messy, gnarly, basement-ready hardcore punk, and they both do it like they've got something at stake, not like they're just following the example of the bands that they like. Today, both bands drop two songs apiece on a new split 7", and it goes hard.
En Love have been on a real run lately. They released the excellent EP Fled in 2022, and they followed it last year with a kickass promo tape -- five songs, none of them reaching the two-minute track. This summer, they'll head out on a short tour with Gumm and Prevention, and that should be something to see. Their two songs on the new split, "Fur Coat" and "Tethered Corpse," feel a little more expansive than their previous material, and both tracks vibrate with fury. Rabbit, whose most recent release was the 2023 EP Bardo, steer into more outwardly evil, metallic territory. The whole EP goes crazy, and you could comfortably file it right next to the recent Pain Of Truth/Sunami split, even if it has none of that same goon energy. Hear it below.
The En Love/Rabbit split is out now on Delayed Gratification.
