Cassette Review: Bummer "Spank" (High Dive Records)

[$8 // Edition of 200 // https://highdiverecords.bandcamp.com/album/bummer-spank]

For a minute- but only a minute- this cassette made me think it was called "Bummer Spank" in the sense that it was the artist name and simply self-titled.   While that is not the case it is quite an interesting thought none the less.   If you're a parent and you spank your kids it's generally a bit of a bummer for both the parent and the child.   This makes me wonder what else it is a bummer to do and if perhaps those occasions could become potential cassette titles for Bummer.   I know "Summer" seems too obvious because it rhymes, but "Vacation", "Occupation", "Lifestyle" and "Party" are all ideas I'd get behind and those are just the single word ones.

The music found on "Spank" has screamy starts and stops.   It's metal punk and at first it reminds me of early AFI (Before AFI began essentially ripping off the Misfits) but I also can hear some Fall Silent throughout the grinding.     As Side A progresses there are more definitive signs of metal (steering away from my earliest thoughts of AFI) and it can also generate ideas of a more standard type of hardcore.   I begin to think of Unsane.   Then the songs begin to chug along like Bane, Scarlet and even screaming pieces of Drowningman.   Don't forget Nora either.   Oh, how I love Nova.

Side B begins with these heavy guitars that can bring about a bit of Stone Temple Pilots but it just goes right back in to where Side A left off.    It's brutal and not for the weak of heart.    Elements of Rage Against the Machine can be heard- at least musically- for me and this just has what I like to call metal hooks, though hooks are traditionally thought of as being for pop songs and metal is not quite the same as pop but it still feels like you'll headbang along in the way some tween might sing along the same way with a pop song.

The music of Bummer can literally feel like it is giving you that "Spank" as it is hard, perhaps to the point where it hurts, and then yet on some levels you do enjoy it.   Has anyone else seen the episode of "American Dad" where Francine gets spanked by Stan and it turns out she likes it?   Must just be me.   In the names of modern music revolutionizing metal and hardcore, picking up where bands I feel no longer exist left off it is now vital to keep Bummer in those conversations.   My collection of brutality grows and I am the happier for it.