End It
Unpleasant Living
Flatspot Records
Released: July 8, 2022
Baltimore’s End It have a fresh new EP out, called Unpleasant Living, and hardcore fans need to pay attention.
When it comes to hardcore bands, terms such as fucking nasty are a compliment and Unpleasant Living is seriously fucking nasty. Somehow, this album represents my first exposure to End It – but I sure as hell hope it isn’t my last, because Unpleasant Living knocked me flat on my ample ass. It storms out of the paddock like a raging bull, goes full beast mode for just under minutes and disappears back into the dark of the night, like a caped crusade in a mask.
Within those eight minutes, End It cook up six tracks and fill them chock full of social commentary about racism, income disparity, police corruption and religion – all of the worst aspects of humanity, if you think about it. I know what you’re thinking – that isn’t anything new for hardcore or punk lyrics, and yeah, you’re right – but End It do it with with venom, with pent-up bile and rage and it translates so well. Unpleasant Living is a great albeit short recording.
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The record starts off with an old-timey track that slows and fades into the one-minute long beatdown that is BCHC – with a spoken segment that sounds straight off a Blood For Blood track, which is how New Wage Slavery begins (love that title, by the way). Terms like unrelenting and brutality and over-used in this genre of music, but I’ll be damned if they don’t fit perfectly.
One thing I really dug on this recording, is the between track samples that were so popular in Hardcore and metal albums in the mid-90s – truth told, I miss that sort of thing. Especially, when like is the case with End It, those sound samples work to give an overall feeling into what the band is about. The overall feeling on Unpleasant Living is great – belted lyrics rife with vitriol and meaning, echoed by gang vocals in the background. “Is there a god above? No!”. Blunt and to the point.
The lyrics are delivered in pure spit. Mad rhythm and timing, with a bounce and beat to them, something that is really easy to get into despite the aggression behind them. Each word is clear and decipherable, which when you have such an important set of versus to spit out, is vital to being heard. There really is a lot to like on this short recording. I get a real raw 80s vibe from this, with lyrical content that disturbingly enough could have fit equally then as it does today – meaning that fuck all has changed.
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I only have one gripe about this record – it’s too fucking short. Just when I was really getting into, and feeling the aggression, the groove, the injustice in the lyrics – they end it. Not to be a size-queen, but these six tracks could have fit on a 7″ – or a 10″ with a nice etch on the b-side or something. From the looks of the 12″ variants I have seen though, I should just shut up because they both look sick. I really want more from these guys.
Physical copies of Unpleasant Living by End It are available from the Flatspot Records website, or you can get a digital version from their bandcamp page.
For Fans Of: Trap Them, Rough Francis, Blood For Blood
Track Listing:
01. BCHC
02. New Wage Slavery
03. L’Appel Du Vide
04. 21
05. Hatekeeper
06. The Comeback
