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The T-55's

Power Up EP

Written by: PP on 24/02/2014 23:42:39

Umeå, Sweden based old school hardcore group AC4 featuring Refused's Dennis Lyxzén called it a day a few months ago, but members of the band obviously weren't done making music just yet so inevitably new projects were going to spawn from the ashes. One of these is T-55's, which features Karl Backman from AC4 on guitar, and a relatively unknown Umeå female behind the pipes: Lisa Linder.

On "Power Up" EP, Linder takes us back to the 70s roots of punk and hardcore with her retrospective vocal approach that draws from the likes of Circle Jerks and Black Flag. Fierce, brief bursts of clean yells are coupled with ridiculous amounts of groove in riffs that make OFF! consider whether they should opt for a smoother production on their next effort to get the same effect. It's old school in every way, and literally sounds like you've just popped on the wrong disc by accident from the original roots of the genre and not something that was released only weeks ago in 2014. The focus is heavily on the groove, and together with the piercing vocals the end result is almost surprisingly catchy. "As Dead As Religion", and especially "Fire In The Hole" are about as good as any retro punk/hardcore tracks you hear these days.

But at the same time it does, unfortunately, sound extremely dated and thus slightly irrelevant in today's musical landscape. This is unavoidable when going for such an old school approach, and while the songs aren't bad per se, it's hard to see what impact they could possibly have on the music scene that has long since moved on to something else in both punk and hardcore, and the grade subsequently reflects this. That said, genre purists will find much to like on T-55's debut EP.

Download: Fire In The Hole, As Dead As Religion
For the fans of: OFF!, Circle Jerks, Black Flag, Nervous Breakdown, U.K. Subs
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Release date 07.02.2014
JanML Records