Last Rizla have an exciting mix of old school hardcore, grungey power chord punk and noisey sparseness all mixed into a perfect blend of electric music. The band as they put it are fans of playing in unconventional venues like “basements, bedrooms, quarries, balconies, arcades, squares, lawns, beaches, deserted villages, forests and various augérian non-places.” I mean that’s not surprising seeing as one of the biggest hardcore videos circling the internet is a hardcore band playing a Denny’s. What is great about cathartic hardcore music is it’s fans are there for the music only and it can happen in an elevator or an arena and it makes little difference.
Formed in 2008 the band has last released music over a decade ago but return with a nine song epic that kicks you in the face from minute one. The vocals are clear ballsy screams in the vein of everything from Agnostic Front to a more distorted Defeater-ish vocal. I have to admit I’m more a fan of audible lyrics in hardcore than unintelligible squirrel like yelps and this fulfills that nicely as even though each lyric is pushed out with absolute intensity, every word can be understood.
Recorded at Créme Chalet studios in Athens, Greece by Iraklis Vlachakis, mixed by Scott Evans (Antisleep Audio – also guitarist for Kowloon Walled City) and mastered by Saff Mastering. Through nine tracks spanning 40-minutes Last Rizla churn out a raucous, gritty and powerful concoction of noise-rock, sludge, post-hardcore and post-metal, like mixture of Neurosis with Kowloon Walled City or American Heritage with Pelican. Album opener "B52" surges with caveman brutality and frenzied guitars, while "Bloody, Hairy" shows the more bare-bones and noisy side of sound, clearly influenced by 90's AmRep catalogue.
For any true hardcore fan who enjoys a little bit of 90’s sludgey grunge, you are going to love this album. Intense for all 40 minutes is the only adjective I can think of. Even on slower jams like “Mushy Peas” it has a grinding building pulse that is just as brutal as the rest of the album.
