Four tracks clocking in at nine minutes tells you a hell of a lot about Cutting Class. The Leeds quintet directs an aural assault of short, sharp, two minute stabs of punk rock. It’s no nonsense, no frills, just urgent, forceful and impressive.
This ‘Tour E.P.’ was originally put together to commemorate an early 2009 European tour with German hardcore mob Deny Everything. Limited to a print run of just 100 it was snapped up immediately. I dare say the special edition hand stitched and hand screened sleeves made this an aesthetically pleasing purchase, but I imagine that if the band’s live performance is anything like the recorded output then more than a few of these were sold on talent alone. Simply put, this is one fine offering.
Musically Cutting Class sounds like a technically stripped down version of Failsafe or Random Hand (the very Yorkshire sounding vocals will pull a lot more comparisons to the latter I imagine), rooting itself in a more traditional punk rock sound. It’s along the same lines as Chief, only the hardcore element is somewhat more reeled in. The fast and immediate guitars of opener ‘It’s Over, Go Home, Your Cage Is Clean’ (quite the mouthful) are complimented by impeccable drumming on ‘True Til Death (Or Until Something Better Comes Along)’ (even more of a mouthful), and both are accompanied by forcefully impacting vocals. The remaining and somewhat easier to get the tongue around tracks, ‘Cut the Chord’ and ‘Embrace this Disarray’, are similarly imposing and round out a very solid release. There doesn’t appear to be a weak component here.
Now available for free download direct from the band this is a release well worth getting your grubby little mitts on. No fine polishing, no pretensions. This is punk rock. Vital, instant and incredibly enjoyable.
Alex