If you’re reading this you will definitely agree with me when I say that the Belgian Hardcore/Punk scene has been really generous for us lately (except for Cheap Drugs playing their last show recently, RIP)… I mean: Hetze blasted out Bedbugs a couple of weeks ago, and pretty much right after that happened, Raw Peace spitted out Total Death, which my eardrums recently just recovered from (as have my wife’s, hehe the poor thing). As if I haven’t had my portion of pure fucking hatred enough yet the past couple of weeks… Diss Guy comes along and hits me RIGHT in my face. Dazed, confused and sucker-punched… I bid my “normal” blood pressure farewell…

The cool thing about the hardcore/punk scene in Belgium these days is that absolutely no one wants to sound like one of the others within the genre, and that gives every band it’s own vicious style. Whilst Hetze clearly get their vibes out of a more power-violence angle, and Raw Peace eats a serious piece of the D-beat cake, Diss Guy takes on things waaaay more american. Combining the likes of Minor Threat, Black Flag, Bad Brains and even Cryptic Slaughter, and then wrapping it all up in some old school Ramones and Nirvana, while they spew out a clear raw  yet clean sound they have manufactured of their own.

Man oh man, how to introduce you guys to Diss Guy? For starters, Gwen, Tim, Jonas and Me (as in myself) used to be part of a thrash/crossover band called Striking Death together with Jonathan, whom you might know from the Belgian death metal band Carnation… In those days we were all a bit more into metal, but it’s always been clear that we were very much into hardcore as well. As the years went by that interest grew bigger and bigger, we baptized SxDx as H.B.H.C. (Heist op den Berg Hard Core) and the thrash metal influences were fading away as well. Though SxDx was a pretty successful band, we parted ways still being the best of friends and Jonathan (as mentioned before) started out the by now probably biggest death metal band at the moment in Belgium: Carnation. I went on doing some grind/crust and it was only a matter of time that Gwen, Tim and Jonas would unleash a hardcore project, they recruited Bram on bass and they obviously unleashed it big time… Off course I’ve seen them perform live a couple of times, and it is quite a sensation. Vocalist Tim‘s spastic ways remind me of an old school GG Allin (before the extreme nihilism kicked in), the energy brought by Jonas and Bram makes it very hard NOT to love this band, and Gwen‘s rapid drumming is always a fucking treat…

Not that very long ago Diss Guy released Diss EP, which I already really liked. This full length pursuits their voyage in a more extreme and varied direction, you can hear way more different styles in their noise and you can definitely hear they found their own ways. So let me tell you what happened: I came home from a bad day at my shitty job and decided to give Self a spin, preparing myself a little bit for this review… I press play and a mid-tempo intro with heavy guitars as drums came crawling out, an ideal mood-setter if you ask me. From the moment I hear Tim’s screaming I’m starting to get there… and when the intro ends with the very heavy “DUM DUM” I can only think of one thing: “ this is going to be awesome!”. Can’t Feel My Face starts of way faster, giving the song that very hard Cryptic Slaughter vibe. Rapid drums, vicious guitars and a pissed of vocal line, I’m definitely there! Something that occurred to me almost instantly is that Tim his voice has become way rawer since the Diss EP release, it really sounds great, and perfect for their sound! Cut Loose is a real old school one, I can practically smell CBGB matinee sweat when I listen to it. And then Fuck No… a 36 second middle finger-machine gun aimed towards society! I mean it just goes on and on really, Diss Guy don’t step on toes, they step on necks.

Every second of this album I just want to throw stuff at everyone and slam dance the fucking shit out of myself. They’ve got these awesome building up breakdowns (that remind me of Madball in a way) planted here and there where I can just imagine people going absolutely berzerk on, including myself! I also really like the backing vocals on Timtation, gives it that extra throat-punch you know? Also check out the awesome videos they’ve made themselves for Fuck No and Burning Kross, they really did a great job on that! Every aspect of this record will please every hardcore kid, punker and somewhat open-minded metalhead in so many ways… it should be illegal!! Diss Guy has come to chew bubble gum and kick ass, and they’re all out of bubble gum. Twelve short, sharp and fast rhapsodies that are bound to FUCK YOU UP! Shit just got real brothers and sisters… don’t miss out on it!

Release date: November 1st, 2018
Labels:
Mosh potatoes Records
Loner Cult Records
Lost Youth Records
Nextnight Records
Tracklist:
1. Intro
2. Can’t Feel My Face
3. Cut Loose
4. Fuck No
5. Burning Kross
6. SELF
7. Not Desired
8. Not My Problem
9. Final Seconds
10. Timtation
11. New Beginning
12. F.U.K.