Great punk can be measured in a few ways, the first being in black and blue marks– the violent lengths that we’ll all go to celebrate a band in the live setting. Yet any posturing asshole with a mirror can practice looking tough enough to carry a single set, and that coupled with a tight rhythm section can buy your way into “badass,” at least temporarily. The more everlasting method is catchy songwriting hidden beneath all those tensed up jaws and gnashing teeth– a song pounded into your brain so emphatically that by the time it’s finished and it requires another go around.
Spy’s new EP is Habitual Offender, out today. It’s filled with those melodic sledgehammers and delivered with some of the same fury that made us cower from bands like Infest, the Repos or Cold Sweat. Musically, it’s more akin to HOAX, Gag, Protocol or some of the “mysterious guy hardcore” found across the Youth Attack roster. In short, this is well-written hardcore punk performed with veins bulging, wrecking ball-level hatred.
In addition to said EP, Spy has unveiled their two-fer video to go along with the album release. The short VHS-inspired clip that makes it’s debut here today contains the tracks “Obtained Under Duress” and “Exceptional American,” as well as a play by play with a serial killer and a nice ACAB message to tie it all together with one single nihilistic bow. Salute.
Check out the double whammy video below for the first time below, and snag your copy of Habitual Offender, Spy’s new one out now via To Live a Lie.
