Sirhan Sirhan

Sirhan Sirhan plays groovy hardcore punk with a bit of a noise rock bent and maybe even some of that vintage rock ‘n’ roll vibe from The Bronx’s early work, but with a much heftier guitar sound and harsher vocals.

This album doesn’t really have a whole lot in common with what would traditionally be considered hardcore except for being pissed off. But I can understand the Black Flag and Bad Brains comparisons because in keeping with the attitude of those bands, Sirhan Sirhan is scatter-brained, emotionally intense, and doesn’t care who it pisses off or what other genres it hijacks.

Comprised of eleven short songs crammed into a half hour, Blood is a fast, old-school hardcore album when it wants to be (see “Decapitate/Disintegrate” and the title-track), but otherwise falls under the category of chunkier, mid-paced punk like Amen, with a slight metallic edge. While Sirhan Sirhan is kind of a summation of punk rock’s nearly forty-year history, the band’s originality lies in the eclecticism of the sub-genres referenced, and there’s enough attitude and anger involved to make it believable.

7.8 / 10 — Tyler