Review / 200 Words Or Less
Powerplant
A Spine/Evidence EP

Static Shock Records (2020) Mirza

Powerplant – A Spine/Evidence EP cover artwork
Powerplant – A Spine/Evidence EP — Static Shock Records, 2020

Elvis fronting Joy Division, That was the first thing that came to mind when the first song on this five song EP kicked off. Then my thoughts continued on to Gallon Drunk’s punk blues. Deep, brooding and slow and it actually sounds a bit different to the remaining quartet. Theo Zhykharyev is crooning like some drunk, evil Elvis (not Danzig!) and then all of a sudden you get the added spice of horror keyboards thrown in. Quirky and intriguing, but as I said, a bit different to the remaining songs while still retaining a clear sound of their own. Opener "A Spine" has a more dance friendly vibe and from then on things go to being a lot more energetic and even mosh friendly, culminating in the almost hardcore-like "Hurlwood", which to me brings back memories of the glorious Murder City Devils. But the pick of the bunch is number three, "Evidence", because the simple synth beat makes you want to dance i a London dive bar and drink cheap cider.

The recording project has gone from being a one man operation run by Zhykaryev to a full live line-up after last year’s LP People in the Sun. Keep a close eye on them and grab your self a copy of this simple beauty.

7.0 / 10Mirza • June 8, 2020

Powerplant – A Spine/Evidence EP cover artwork
Powerplant – A Spine/Evidence EP — Static Shock Records, 2020

Related features

Powerplant

One Question Interviews • February 8, 2021

Related news

Powerplant Crosses the 'Bridge of Sacrifice'

Posted in Records on January 19, 2026

Powerplant and the sound of Crashing Cars

Posted in Records on April 30, 2025

Powerplant's Grass

Posted in Records on June 17, 2023

Recently-posted album reviews

Dylan Thomas

Todo se desvanece
Burnt Toast Vinyl (2026)

When bands spend months slowly piecing together an album with cheap gear, limited time, and apparently an alarming amount of terrible beer, it’s kind of romantic. Not romantic in the polished indie film sense. More romantic in the sense that you can actually hear people chasing a feeling before life pulls them in different directions. That tension sits at the … Read more

Adam Steiner

Darker with the Dawn: Nick Cave's Songs of Love and Death
Rowman & Littlefield (2023)

Adam Steiner doesn’t just break the earth with a spade with this book; he actually digs deep into the fertile soil to enter the cobwebbed crypt. He approaches the catalogue like a forensic scientist examining the maggots on a corpse—meticulously analyzing the rot and the details of decay to chart exactly how long the body has been decomposing. He gets … Read more

Six Going on Seven

Human Tears
Spartan Records (2026)

Late 90s post hardcore and emo feels impossible to recreate now. That’s not because the sound itself is gone, but because the tension behind it was so specific to that era. Six Going on Seven’s Human Tears, their first full length in roughly twenty-four years, captures that feeling perfectly. Having a wonderful history by having done a split with Hot … Read more