The Denver band FAIM play hardcore punk so fervent and impassioned that you can practically see the beads of sweat forming on the wall of some concrete basement somewhere. They’re a politically driven, hard-left band, the kind of band who sampled James Baldwin speeches, and that stuff does not come off as an affectation. Instead, they sound like they need to get this shit off their chests right now. It’s exhilarating.

FAIM have put out a few records in the past few years — a demo in 2017, a 7″ EP in 2018, a split with Oakland’s Discourage and Connecticut’s Lift last year. Next week, FAIM will release their full-length debut Hollow Hope. The band recorded the album with Deafheaven/Gulch producer Jack Shirley, who is exactly the person you want producing your album if you want it to sound both huge and properly grimy. FAIM laid down the LP at Shirley’s studio in Oakland over a single weekend this past February. It kicks ass.

FAIM can play fast, fundamentalist hardcore, and they can also do epic, emotive shit. It always sounds urgent and angry and intense, and it always hits with real physical force. The bass is always evil and ugly, and singer Kat has a convulsive full-body scream that refuses to let the band ever fade into the background. The album crams 10 songs into just over 20 minutes, and it’ll light your whole shit up. Stream the whole album below.

Hollow Hope is out 8/28 on Safe Inside Records/Version City Blues.