Band:	Ringworm
Album:	Hammer Of The Witch
Style:	Hardcore Punk, Crossover thrash metal
Release date:	March 2014

01. Dawn Of Decay
02. Bleed
03. Leave Your Skin At The Door
04. Exit Life
05. Psychic Vampire
06. King Of Blood
07. I Recommend Amputation
08. Hammer Of The Witch
09. We'll Always Have The End
10. One Of Us Is Going To Have To Die
11. Vicious Circle Of Life
12. Die Like A Pig
13. Height Of Revelation
14. The Wheel [bonus]
15. The Nightmare Continues [Discharge cover] [bonus]

Ringworm plays metalcore metalcore, not the sugary stuff Hot Topic wants you to throw your money at. Metalcore metalcore that will make you want to spin around with a blunt weapon, letting the centrifugal force have its way.

These guys have been doing their best of both worlds thing since 1991; there are thrashy, metallic grooves that get coupled with snarling hardcore fury. Not much more or less, and I can't imagine anyone wanting much more or less from them.

It's stripped down stuff in other words, there's no technically arresting dicking around to ease you into their ugly, tooth-spitting sonic ring. Nothing's inviting about what they do. It's brutal.

It feels like everything they do gets banged straight out. They sound like a bunch of dudes playing together dynamically; whatever "ideas" element there is to their stuff seems secondary to the savage basics, not the other way around. There must be a whole lot of great bands that go about making tunes by having their ideas for how they want their stuff to sound down first, and then trying to execute, and that just doesn't seem to be what Ringworm does. The sense that this album was a hit record, play, then walk away kind of thing might be way off, but it's a strong one nonetheless.

I don't really have any complaints. At first the mix seemed kinda bland, but anything else done on the production end would probably have gotten in the way of Ringworm being Ringworm. Hammer Of The Witch sounds fucking mean and it's lean and it's fighting certain plastic metal machines. So godspeed and stuff.

Highlights: "Hammer Of The Witch," "Exit Life," "King Of Blood," "Die Like A Pig," the vocals in general