All four songs from the demo tape made it onto Drecksound, in cleaner but no less unruly form. “SMX20” showcases the way that Hash Redactor’s frantic, electro-shocked, two guitars writhe atop an ominous surface of bass. Lones plays with sinister weight, easily as important to the band’s sound as the guitars, or even the vocals, which are barked and intoned, M.E. Smith-style, over the chaos. And the drums do much more than hold the band together—that itself no easy task at the speed they run—Watson chugs and batters with verve and personalilty.

“Terri,” another song from the demo tape, is perhaps the most brutal and elemental of these songs, a continual barrage of banging eighth notes, a lumbering bass and ferally shouted lyrics, though “Panic!” with its snarled “a ha has,” runs a close second. The newer material takes more liberties with punk forms, adding a bit more complexity without throttling back on the energy. “Good Sense,” for instance, adds a trebly, new wave-y guitar lick to the battering propulsion of drum and bass, a bit of glitter atop roiling diesel sludge. “In the Tank,” one of the longest cuts on the disc (at 5:06), is even more of a departure, sludgy and ominous and psychedelic (McIntyre even quotes a bit of the Amboy Dukes “Journey to the Center of the Mind” in the lyrics). It feels heavier, deeper, more profound than the other songs, though it still blisters with a feedback shredded conflict between guitars.

In the end, Drecksound seems like exactly the kind of record you want from an emerging band — one that shows that they know exactly who they are but also foreshadows some interesting ways they could diverge from form. A solid foundation, some banging songs, and a lot of roads not yet taken – what more could you want?