Goddamn. Just a wire-tight collection of songs by this Austrian outfit, with some of the nastiest, most snarling vocals I’ve heard in a long time. Beautifully recorded with plenty of the dirt and grime left in, this reads as a pitch-perfect merging of the Riverboat Gamblers and a band like Get Dead. Just fierce and relentless guitar-heavy punk, with those vocals carrying a lot of the weight. There’s a somewhat unnecessary cover of “Great Balls of Fire” (placed smack-dab in the middle of the record, no less) but even there the band’s able to showcase their guitar prowess and the rhythm section’s precision. If you ever wanted to hear what Leftover Crack sounded like if they were a melodic punk band – minus the ska and endless soundbites – check this out. The nice thing about low expectations is that when something like “Escapism” comes across your radar, you’re justifiably blown away. This album’s gonna get a lot of airtime around here.