Personal Damage: Atrophy And Entropy 12″

Description

Debut LP from the Los Angeles hardcore band.Thisalbumincludes 14brandnewtracks (nosongsre-recorded)witha double-sidedrisoprintedlyricsheet, pro-printedcover,innersleeve,andposters.

Our take: Here at Sorry State weve been huge fans of LAs Personal Damage since they released their demo tape back in 2021, carrying that and their two subsequent EPs and giving them strong recommendations in our newsletter. Its hardly surprising that we like them so much because Personal Damage plays a style of music thats close to our hearts here raw, fast, and snotty hardcore in the tradition of the Circle Jerks, Angry Samoans, Adrenalin OD, and even early Screeching Weasel. Personal Damage was great from the jump, but it feels like theyve done something special with their debut album, Atrophy & Entropy. Musically, there arent any left turns from the earlier EPs its a little more diverse in terms of tempo and structure, but moments like their cover of Peter Toshs reggae classic Steppin Razor on their Ambush EP already proved that Personal Damage had a deep bag of tricks. I think the real genius of Atrophy & Entropy is the care and precision with which they put it together. Its difficult to make a ripping fast punk album that sustains the energy all the way through, but Personal Damage has a masterful command of dynamics, deploying moves like Circle Jerks-esque rhythmic changes, hooky melodies, and infectious call-and-response gang vocals (their real trademark I cant think of another band that does this as well as they do) so the energy level seems to rise without end, like one of those MC Escher drawings of an infinitely ascending staircase. It all fits together like fine joinery, grabbing you from the opening hook of Head First and not letting go until End of the Last, the epic closer that borrows a couple of tricks from Rikk Agnews Section 8. That sense of everything being in its place extends to the albums audio productiona master class in crisp, present, and natural-sounding punk recording from Mike Kriebel of Shout Recordings Beat Sessions fameand its visual presentation, including multiple inserts full of awesome illustrations and design to pore over while youre listening. The depth and power of Atrophy & Entropy makes most of the punk records I own seem half-baked by comparison. If youre intrigued by the band comparisons I dropped above, then you should give this a shot, but this record is exciting enough that you dont have to dress like a Shawn Kerri drawing come to life to get into it anyone whos even considered getting a mohawk will get a buzz from Atrophy & Entropy.