It seems that Jake Robertson spent a lot of the past year playing with himself. But haven’t we all?
Bad jokes aside, the one-man band put out multiple full-lengths in 2020 and now a new 6-song EP too. Overall, the project is diverse, falling generally within the punk umbrella but different influences scattered as Robertson feels like it. But this EP is honed in on a particular style. As the name implies, HC2 is mostly hardcore that follows the footsteps of HC a couple years back, and Once Again the Past Becomes the Present, released late last year.
At 8-minutes long this sucker flies by fast. And while calling it hardcore ditches the hyphenated subgenre scribble of influences, there’s still a lot to say about this. Sounding like being dropped into a warzone, “The Scene Expands” kicks off with Robertson belting out full sentence lyrics, driving guitars, and snare fills that pummel everything in their path. While the rhythm drives, it’s really the guitar steering things with roaring bridges that give harsh, aggressive tones of a bleak landscape. “Opinionated Fuck” follows, with more bass up front and a similarly frothing snarl of vocals. Overall, this is high adrenaline punk with raging guitars influenced by pioneers like Black Flag, Circle Jerks, and Bad Brains more than later chugga-chugga or hypnotic hardcore. It rages, seethes, and spits in your face. Just listen to “Beyond the Pale” to get the idea.
