Our take: 6-track demo from this new hardcore band out of Cleveland. While, according to one of their song titles, Bad Batch thinks “Cleveland Sucks,” they sound (at least to my ears) very much like a band from that city. First, the vocals have the snotty, nihilistic vibe of bands like H100s and Gordon Solie Motherfuckers. Second—and this is a subtler point—it’s always seemed from my (outsider) perspective that Cleveland has a uniquely high degree of cross-pollination between people into straight edge hardcore and people into Japanese hardcore and crust. Or maybe I’m just thinking of Tony Erba? Anyway, Bad Batch’s rhythms remind me of Chain of Strength’s fast parts; the beats are more like doot-dat-doot-doot-dat (as opposed to the “dunk-dat-dunka-dat” of d-beat… a very subtle difference). The riffs aren’t too far away from that sound either, but they also sound kind of crusty; the crusty thing comes out even more when the wah-wah lead guitar parts drop in. I feel like I’m getting in the weeds here, so I’ll redirect your attention to the fact that Bad Batch is very much part of Cleveland’s long tradition of anti-social hardcore punk bands and leave it to you to investigate further.
