119

Audio Mixer: Dave Schiffman.
Recording information: Infrasonic Sound, Los Angeles, CA.
Photographer: Brick Stowell.
In 2012, hardcore punk-metal foursome Trash Talk signed to Odd Future's label for their fourth album, 119. Perhaps they were accepted as the only non-rappers on the label because they had assisted Tyler, the Creator in live renditions of "Radicals," or due to a mutual interest in skateboarding and weed, but it's more likely that, like OFWGKTA, Lee Spielman, Garrett Stevenson, Spencer Pollard, and Sam Bosson are full-on aggro. Adrenaline, angst, and violence fuel 119's whip-crack running time of 14 songs in 20 minutes, and because the songs are so exhausting, two of the best songs, "Swing to Pieces" and "For the Lesser Good," are under a minute long. The longest track on the album is the plodding two-and-a-half-minute "Blossom & Burn," which features raps by Tyler, the Creator and Hodgy Beats. They only spit a verse apiece, but the rap-rock hybrid works well as a headbanger to break up the blastbeats. For the majority of the other songs Lee Spielman runs the show, screeching street-sick lyrics about the crime-ridden area surrounding their Sacramento practice space, like "Drugs, despair, violence in the air, all I see is poverty/Cold concrete, lingering disease, all they see is suffering." The guttural voice of bassist Spencer Pollard echoes many of the hooks, and he even takes the lead on "The Dogman," one of 119's most brutal tracks. Musically, thrashcore groups like Cryptic Slaughter seem to play a bigger influence than a former team-up with American hardcore icon Keith Morris might lead you to believe, and the punishing breakdowns seem more in tune with a powerviolence act like Despise You than with their skate pals Cerebral Ballzy. But skaters should take note that this is a great record to get the blood pumping. ~ Jason Lymangrover