You know what the world needs more of? Local hardcore bands. There simply aren’t enough of them.

In all seriousness I do often grow tired and weary of the seemingly endless myriad of heavy bands that all seem to be born out of the same three or four albums. Yep, Jane Doe is indeed a great album. That doesn’t mean that we need endless clones to spawn in its honor for the rest of humanity’s time on Earth.

I’ve been in the Beast Killer fan club for a few years now. For the uninitiated: this Chris / Kris duo kicked off their catalog in 2022 with their self-titled debut, a thrashy hardcore monster that punches you in the face for 25 minutes. It’s a seriously fun ride. But it did leave me thinking “I know that these guys can do more. I REALLY hope that they branch out a bit on the next one.” Too many artists are afraid of taking a chance and trying something new, instead falling back on the same tricks and tropes that their favorite musicians pulled off decades ago.

Good news: these guys really kicked things up a notch on Dystopian Now Dystopian Me. Yes, the thrashy hardcore chugs are still there, but the dynamic interplay has been turned up. How do you make a heavy riff sound even heavier? Put something a bit softer before it; the juxtaposition is often what gives a particularly loud or heavy section that “oh shit!” feeling. The track Fairytale is a great example of Beast Killer’s dynamic mastery. Yes, the drums are loud, and yes, that riff grooves hard, but the atmospheric intro and reverb-soaked contemplative vocals offer a feeling more melancholy and less “KILL KILL KILL”. Temple Gods is another stand-out, riding high on vocal attitude and a solid groove. Comet, the third track on the album, can hardly be categorized as hardcore punk, leaning more into a Death From Above 1979 / Queens of the Stone Age style rock rhythm.

Beast Killer’s increasing willingness to experiment and genre-meld is best exemplified in the closing track Transmission. This atmospheric, ambient piece is a statement, saying “if we want to end the album not with a bang, but a whisper, then so be it!” That attitude is what ultimately allows this album to soar. There is a confidence and “fuck off” attitude throughout the 32 minute runtime, mixing into the high-paced tracks (check out Pixels) as well as the aforementioned mid-paced change-ups. If that “we do what we want” attitude were absent, then it would be difficult to fully buy into the varied scope of this LP.

Well done Beast Killer. Dystopian Now Dystopian Me is a necessary step in a forward-thinking, evolutionary direction. I believe that you will continue releasing evocative, forward-thinking punk into the world. Now if I can just get Chris to do another Model Martyr album…