Hot Water Music
Exister
Rise Records
10/10
GUYS! Do NOT let your girlfriends listen to this. What’s happened is Chuck Ragan and crew have fucked up the curve of masculinity, and NOTHING YOU EVER DO will be manly enough. EVER. I am pretty sure that Hot Water Music has taken the last eight years since their last album using gasoline as aftershave and drag racing in cars they built by hand.
The album starts off with the track “Mainline,” which is probably a reference to how they ingest the pure testosterone that they’ve been ingesting. The track shows that you can have ass-kicking punk songs AND solid production. It doesn’t have to sound like shit to be punk, kids, and HWM proves it.
I could go through the musical and aesthetic merits of each track, but it would just make me feel bad about myself. Instead, I will just tell you, put it on, don’t tell anyone about your man crush on Ragan and make sure to turn that shit off the second your lady walks in the door.
-Jonathan Yost