Drug Lust-Painkiller Blues b/w "Dusted" EP (2012)

Following up their January split with Ratface, Pittsburgh's Drug Lust continue their drug-addled punk bender on this three-song release.

"Painkiller Blues" is the the sparsest punk song I've heard in a long time. There's no overloaded distortion, no guitar track after guitar track to bury the rest of the band: just knuckledragging punk and a singer who effectively channels the spirit of Aaron from the Repos: a woundup, high pitch croak perfectly suited to the noise in the background. "Dusted" is more of the same, with even more basic instrumentation. "Gonna have to fight" is, of course, an SOA cover. Honestly, I like the 86 Mentality rendition, but this one adds a weird, drugged out vibe completely missing from the original that makes it worth spinning several times just to get yr bearings.

Download it here; try to find physical copies via bandcamp, here.

Druglust/Ratface split CS (2011)

Yet another heaping dose of ugly East Coast punk...
....this time from Pittsburgh. Drug Lust plays barebones, downtuned, raw punk: sorta like a caveman howling down a cavern on a particularly gusty, torrential day. The recording's a bit muddy-I think this is a live set-but the essence is audible: squalling, trashed punk with a snarling frontman.

Ratface goes for a more propulsive hardcore sound. They've been called "Pittsburgh's Anti-Cimex," which isn't far off the mark: heavy guitars, d-beat pummeling, and a singer who sounds like he's snarling in a wind tunnel. No doubt snarling of war, atrocities, and general human decrepitude. They sorta remind me of Born/Dead's later work.

Victim of a bombraid. I think the tape is out of print, but you can find a copy of Ratface's "Cursed by the State" cassette here. Will post a link for the bands and/or how to get a copy of the tape when I get more info.