GIRLFIGHT – Holy Fuck (22 February 2012, self-released)

Hey readers, how’s it going? Me, I’ve been pretty busy. Between working full-time, running a music blog of skyrocketing popularity, and taking online classes half-time, sometimes it can be a lot to juggle. Like today, when usually I’d be working on blog stuff while pretending to work, I had a bunch of school stuff that needed done instead. So that means for the majority of the day I ended up neglecting my duties here.

Of course, that doesn’t mean I forgot about you, or that I wasn’t busy finding new things to write about. I’ve always got something to listen to throughout the day, and today was no exception. And as luck would have it, on a day when I found myself without a whole lot of time to write, I came across something to share with you that hardly takes up any time at all: a two-song release that runs a mere six minutes.

Of course, just being short isn’t enough to make me want to recommend something to you. I wouldn’t want to waste any of your time, even if it’s only a little bit, with something shitty. Well, no need to worry about that. What I’ve got here is a nice healthy slab — well okay, more like a sliver — of high-quality angry Pittsburgh hardcore, courtesy of GIRLFIGHT.

These guys (and I mean that literally, because there aren’t actually any girls in GIRLFIGHT — not anymore, anyway) have been together about four years now, and have been through a few lineup changes as well as a couple releases during that time.

Most recently, they threw together a track for the forthcoming Iron Atrocity Vol. 2 compilation (which, by the way, there’s still time to make a contribution to help Innervenus finish compiling). However, earlier this week, the band announced on Facebook that they didn’t want to wait that long to share their new single. Instead, they decided to give it away for free on Bandcamp, which they then did on Wednesday.

The song is called “Holy Fuck,” and like I said earlier, good quality angry hardcore abounds. The band was kind enough to include the lyrics in the package, and it’s extra awesome since they’re hand-written! So that’s handy if you want to be able to shout along.

To me, the coolest part of the whole thing is the riffs, which start out as a dead-on replica of the intro to “Into the Void,” right down to the guitar tone and everything. I mean that as complimentary; you really can’t fault them for stealing it since everyone knows Tony Iommi has already written every great riff there will ever be.

Now, a little while ago you may have noticed I said there were two songs. Yeah they only said they were releasing one new track, but as an extra special added bonus, there is a B-side to the single. And they went with a cover song that was really a fun choice: “Fight for Your Right.” Instrumentally, it comes across fairly accurate to the original, just with somewhat more aggressive shouting in the vocals. It makes sense that they wouldn’t have to change much; of all the songs on Licensed to Ill, this one remained closest to the Beastie Boys‘ hardcore punk roots. Just one minor alteration to the lyrics (swapped a “motherfucker” for the original “hypocrite”) and here’s a ready-made angry anthem to supplement the new release.

Well, that’s all I’ve got, now go grab the damn thing. It’s fun and it’s free, so how can you go wrong? And while you’re at Bandcamp anyway, poke around a bit because there are two earlier releases there to help get you your hardcore fix for the weekend. Enjoy!!

GIRLFIGHT: Facebook page