Head Wound City
A New Wave of Violence
Release Date: May 13, 2016
Genre(s): Heavy Metal, Hard Rock
Record label: Vice Music
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Album Review: A New Wave of Violence by Head Wound City
Very Good, Based on 4 Critics
Based on rating 8/10
Honestly, it's surprising that the Head Wound City reunion happened at all. Back in the mid '00s, the band were but a blip in the careers of its members, who, after spending a week writing and recording an EP, playing one show and calling it quits, went full-time in the Locust, the Blood Brothers and Yeah Yeah Yeahs, respectively. Long after Head Wound scabbed over, guitarist Nick Zinner suggested the quintet get back together in 2014.
Based on rating B
“Punk is dead.” It’s a saying that’s practically as old as the genre itself. It seems that no matter what happens, there’s always a group of prognosticators ready and willing to dig punk its premature grave. Punk was dead after The Ramones, Sex Pistols, and company gave way to new wave. It died after Green Day and The Offspring brought pop punk into every mall in America.
Based on rating 3.5/5
Just the existence of A New Wave of Violence is a miracle. Head Wound City’s debut full length has finally arrived ten years after their lone seven-song, ten-minute EP. That’s not to say the members of this supergroup have taken any time off.The biggest name is, of course, Nick Zinner, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist who takes the biggest leap from his main band.
Based on rating 6.9/10
Conservative regimes have always provided a boon for punk rock. The Reagan and Thatcher years famously birthed hardcore as we know it; more recently, George W. Bush’s two terms spurred on a generation of bands that expanded the boundaries of post-hardcore, screamo and grindcore. With right-wing demagoguery making headlines and xenophobia on the rise around the globe, another musical backlash could be just around the corner.
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