Hardcore punk band from Bandung, Indonesia playing fast and melodic tunes in the vein of Milk, Minor Threat, Amdi Petersens Armé. Our take: No Norms Records brings us the vinyl debut from this hardcore band from Bandung, Indonesia. While Bottled Violent is from Southeast Asia, their sound draws most explicitly from early 80s US hardcore, with hyperactive rhythms, shouted vocals, and a thin and scratchy guitar sound that marks them as sonic allies of 2000s bands like Regulations, Social Circkle, and School Jerks. Like those bands, Bottled Violent’s decision to keep the distortion in check prevents their simple and catchy riffs from getting subsumed into an inchoate roar, but my favorite part of No Rules is how youthful it sounds. The riffs are dead simple, the band is slightly sloppy, and the production isn’t 100% dialed in, but while it’s easy to dismiss these things as shortcomings, it’s precisely these aspects that communicate Bottled Violent’s infectious enthusiasm… they’re just so stoked on hardcore that they’re making it happen and not sweating the details too much. And in a scene full of 30- and 40-something bands who are so good at what they do and so self-aware as to sound sterile, No Rules sounds refreshingly like a hardcore punk record and not a simulacrum of one.
