Album Review: Weekend Nachos - "Still"

I'm generally a pretty happy, laid-back dude.  I don't punch walls or get in peoples' faces when I get frustrated and I don't throw my phone across the room when it doesn't work. I can't remember the last time I raised my voice at someone out of anger or frustration. I just don't get angry. Well that's not true. There's a handful of things in this world that make me angry.

Weekend Nachos is one of them.

The Nachos are a Chicago based hardcore/ powerviolence band who specialize in being the aural equivalent of beating someone to death with your fists. No, not the usual description of this band is so heavy it feels like you're being punched in the face. Weekend Nachos are hate incarnate. I don't care if you're the god damn Dalai Lama, Still will turn you into the fucking Incredible Hulk. Once the opening D-beats start pounding and the first chord rings, everything you see turns red, and you lose control of your limbs, sending them wildly off in every direction, creating a zone of destruction around you. In short, everything can be summed up by this simple equation:

New Weekend Nachos = You're Moshing

Still is by far my favorite Weekend Nachos release that I've heard so far. I've only heard three of their studio albums so far (the other two being Unforgivable, and Worthless), but this album is definitely a reason for me to actively start digging through their back catalogue of EPs and compilation tracks. I really dug their 2011 effort Worthless, but I found something lacking from it. This record is what Worthless should have been. It's just as punishing, but the boys cut the fat here, making sure every track is somewhat unique and keeping things rolling at a breakneck speed.

There's a fair amount of breakdowns and mosh sections on Still, but it's nowhere near as many as Worthless had. Just about every song in Worthless had a breakdown in the same spot which did nothing but gum up the works, and then there was that two minutes of solid piercing feedback right in the middle of the album. I had no idea what that was for (experimentation? I'll have none of that in my ignorant moshcore, thank you very much), but I'm glad Weekend Nachos have moved back to the tried and true method of beating the ever loving fuck out of their instruments and recording the noises that come out. The songs seem to flow organically on Still, getting grindy as hell when you want to circle pit at mach speeds, and getting balls-crushingly heavy and slow right when you feel like stomping on the ground throwing your arms around pretending you're a dinosaur.

On a Playlist With: Nails, Magrudergrind, (old) Doomriders

Overall Score: 4.5/5

Still is angry. Still is mean. Still makes you want to kick old grannies in the face and burn down playgrounds. Weekend Nachos hit it out of the park with this thing. If you're into hardcore or powerviolence, you've got to listen to this album.

Eat Taco Bell, hail Weekend Nachos.

Still came out on November 8th, 2013 on Relapse Records. Decibel is streaming the entire god damn thing, so you have no excuse not to listen to this right now.

That's all for now, folks!

-DG