EP REVIEW: Slaughterhouse – Sick And Tired (Pirates Press Records)
Slaughterhouse are a four-piece hardcore punk band from Los Angeles, and this is their first EP for Pirates Press Records.
There’s a strong Brody Dalle/Distillers influence here, and they also sound like a harder version of fellow LA band The Last Gang.
Formed in San Pedro in 2018 by bassist Eddie Cairns, guitarist Taylor Ramirez, drummer Miles Gretsky and singer Gaby Ramirez, they released a demo EP that January, but after their first tour Gretsky and Gaby Ramirez left, to be replaced by Nick Aguilar and Veronica Molidor.
Pandemic delay
Slaughterhouse recorded their first album, Fun Factory, in early 2020, but its release was delayed until August 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Molidor left Slaughterhouse in March 2023, with Jenna Reynoza of Street Play filling in until new singer Meriel O’Connell was announced that September.
Now the new line-up releases its first EP for Pirates Press Records, having previously released a split 7in with like-minded Mexican hardcore types Flores y Fuego.
They blaze their own trail while harkening to a period in the early ’80s when hardcore punk and gothic post-punk created an unholy union known as deathrock, with Los Angeles as one of its epicentres.
The title track was released as the first single back in December, and it’s a punchy, powerful song which only hinted at the delights to come.
The EP opens with DNA, a slick slice of raging punk powered by a swaggering, woozy guitar riff. Sick And Tired ups the ante even more, with O’Connell really letting rip.
Smiles slows things down a bit at first, before exploding into life, while final track Whips And Chains explores S&M territory. But the highlight of the record is its centrepiece, an absolutely stunning version of Black Flag’s 1984 hardcore classic My War. They don’t just cover it, they absolutely own it, suggesting great things to come from this band.
