Sick Move Releases New Album: Intrusive Thoughts
So I appreciate the ability for people to hear so much amazing music because of the Internet, but every now and then I hear a digital album that just screams, “Someone please put this out on fucking vinyl! This is too damn good to just be streamed!!!” and such is the case with Sick Move’s new album, Intrusive Thoughts!
Four the last four months, I’ve been feeding on a steady diet of one single after another from this album, and each time it has left me acting like some like a BDSM loving Oliver Twist, as I beg for more please.
Well here it fucking is, and I’m stoked as fuck.
The opening track “Beshu”, starts with this bassline that just slaps and then builds into a rager. The verse features gruff hardcore vocals with the drummer riding the floor tom and dual guitars adding a layer of fuck. Then the chorus hits and it’s got that mix of youth crew a la 7 Seconds or Fat Wreck punk a la Strung Out. I love it when it all drops out around the two minute mark for that bass solo.
“One Way Out” is a thrashtastic bit of fastcore. You got rapid fire as fuck drumming in the intro with some dope ass tom work soon after as the song takes a different tempo. This totally reminds me of H20. I feel like I’m at The Capitol Ballroom (later Nation) in SE DC at the Hardcore Superbowl. Fucking rips.
“Even Skylines have their Faults” starts with a dope drum roll and rad guitar lead. This one reminds me a bit of Leatherface. It’s great that this band stays consitently sounding like themselves while also showing off so many influences. Those accents with the screams around the one minute mark of fucking gnarly.
I’m going to quote myself with “F.Y.P.” comes in swingin’ hard with that melodic hardcore of the early 2000s reminiscent of New Mexican Disaster Squad and None More Black while incorporating that 90’s skate punk sounds of Strung Out and NOFX and just a touch of more recent bands like Pears. In other words, it’s fast, it’s melodic, and it fucking rips! I can just see myself back at The Sidebar drinking a Natty Boh, singing along and occasionally jumping in the pit where I’d spill my beer on the floor, on the crowd and probably them too, but since they are from Bal-more, I doubt they’d give a shit.
“Farewell to Bannerman” has this slightly more buried vocals in the verse which is a neat effect that just makes you feel it more when the chorus comes in. This is especially true since they do the verse twice before the chorus comes in which when done well always fucking rocks, and they are doing it well. There was a brutal as fuck part right after the bridge that hit so hard that it could have ended the song right there and left me feeling all kinds of fuck. Did you make me proud? Yes motherfuckers, you did.
“Social Notworking” starts with a rad guitar intro which feeds into an extended drum roll on the snare before it just kicks the fucking door in. This one reminds me a bit of Western Addiction or maybe Smoke or Fire from Richmond. The guitar solo slays. Hardcore enough to circle pit too, and melodic enough to sing along too. Fucking righteous.
“Hey Ma” fucking rips. It’s got the intensity of Kid Dynamite or Paint it Black and reminds me a bit of the old Baltimore band, Ruiner, or the old DC band, Crispus Attucks.
It kicks right in with rapid fire music with pissed sounding vocals blistering over the top punctuated with riffs that just hint at a breakdown. The chorus has solid backing whoahs that should make any crowd sing along. After a truly aggressive set of vocal bars, it comes in a bit clean like a Youthcrew song or 7 Seconds then hits you with a visceral “I Don’t Want to Miss You!” which is followed by a sick guitar solo. This is two minutes of epic hardcore punk.
From what I can gather this song is about the singer’s loss of the grandparents who raised him and the pain and anguish that loss fills him with. It reminds me of songs from the old Baltimore band, Spikewrench, specifically the one Mike wrote about his daughter. I could really feel the emotion in this and connect with it.
The album closes with the title track “Intrusive Thoughts” which is a bit more melodic than the other ones and reminds me a lot of Off With their Heads both from the vocal phrasing of the intro and right after where the drummer pounds out eighth notes on the bass drums and the vocals. Then the shit starts to sound a bit like my old 90’s Ramonescore band The Abducted or Johnny Squid’s later band The Shakedowns.
Then the group vocals come in and just fucking bring the fuck. Love it!
Getting towards the end there is there is a bridge with this great splashy cymbal keeping beat before the vocalist comes in and scrapes the fucking pan with their voice. Followed by a rad solo that matches the vocal melody ending in more group vocals that just end all of a sudden making you wonder why the fuck do I have a beer in one hand and my around this stranger? What the fuck was I just doing?
Check them out on Bandcamp and buy this shit:
Check their shit out on their Spotify or my Punk Playlist or on their YouTube channel:
Also follow their socials: FB and IG
Also make sure to check out DCxPC Live’s store where I have vinyl release of live albums by amazing hardcore, punk, ska and metal bands! We are a small DIY record label doing our best to document the scene we love in the way we love it most—LIVE!
We have two preorders that are selling fast right now:
DCxPC Live Vol. 19 Inquisition Revolution Live
and
DCxPC Live Vol. 20 Middle-Aged Queers / Raging Nathans Live!
