Review: Caustic Christ “Government Job” 7”

On this one Caustic Christ throws down five quick tracks of hardcore/punk with pissed off vocal shouts and lots of quick changes that keep things interesting and also rather unique compared to a lot of what's out there. It's still in the vein of classic hardcore, such as their prior work, but there's something more creative going on. There are plenty of shifts in tempo and a few riffs that have more of a twisted rock (via Black Flag) kind of thing happening (see the title track), while a few tracks are faster and more straightforward in attack. "Protest" slows down unexpectedly with an awesome break that sounds very much unlike any of the band's other work. And I love the recording, it's really clear and very forceful. The only setback is that the vocals are almost absurdly loud and can really overpower the music on occasion as a result. But otherwise it sounds good, using a nice level of dirtiness over a killer bass tone, etc. The 7" comes in a simple sleeve with black and white illustrations and green lettering, with the lyrics and whatnot in handwritten text. The topics deal with the sort of general fucked up state of the world, focusing on pressures and frustrations with hints at the political realm, that kind of thing. "The ultimate form of protest is just being alive, They force feed you poison until your brain just dies..." That's about it for this brief set of tunes. This is good stuff. A nice batch of songs with a great energy level makes for a short but effective EP.