by Bryce Flaskas (@bryce.flaskas)
At the time of writing this review, New Jersey hardcore mutants Acid Casualties have released a nine track tape titled Bring the War Home. The band have gained significant traction within the hardcore scene since their breakthroughVictims of Psychick Warfare EP which exploded onto the scene in 2021 with its filthy recording style and seamless blend of classic punk-rock and pummeling, tuneful hardcore. This review though will turn to a past release of theirs and quite possibly a career defining moment for the band: 2025’s Flags are False.
Acid Casualties have always been a band that defined themselves comfortably as a classic hardcore unit with an impeccable songwriting ability. Flags are False continued in this vein with more impressive guitar pyrotechnics, unforgiving vocals that emulate a sort of freakish bellowing and a punishing rhythm section that lends the whole record its reckless momentum. The album begins with the face melting “Langley,” a song that attempts to blindside and knock the listener down at all costs with its deceptively simple progressions. The whole rhythm section seems to suspend between drum breaks, only to then suddenly lurch forward and rip you to shreds like some kind of violent, unexpected thought.
Later down the tracklist “Southern Cross” showcases the band's knack for writing infectious hardcore melodies, contrasted by a unique stylistic choice that sees them shift the song's dynamics halfway through, descending into a fist pumping pile-on of hard rock tendencies. “Flags are False,” the title track, sees the band lean deeper into anarchic territory with more abrasive textures and experimental songwriting. Here an undiluted assailment of noise punctuated by hardcore drum breaks end in what is easily the most cathartic moment on the record with the lead singer breaking down into an ecstasy of: “flags are fucking false”! Front to back this eighteen minute blazer will not fail to pull you into its fray and leave a caustic impression of what hardcore music can evoke at its most potent.