Raskol- Heights of Despair Cassette

One time edition of 150 tapes.

As always, Raskol was something we knew we wanted to put out before the first song was even over. Somehow, we beat everyone else to the punch on this one and they actually agreed to let us do it.

Having since released an excellent sophomore EP on Invisible Audio, Heights of Despair is their blistering 2022 debut, presented here with an additional, initially scrapped track from the same sessions. Hailing from Philadelphia, Raskol deal in a brand of ripping, d-beat informed hardcore that proudly wallows in its own filth. Like Hoax, Cult Ritual, SQRM, or any number of Youth Attack bands of that era, Heights of Despair filters fundamentally uncomplicated hardcore punk through a lens of grime, self-loathing, and feedback. The result is a remarkably potent form of raw hardcore that feels both perfectly suited for the present moment and appropriately rooted in tradition.

Like so many things we love here at Demolisten, Raskol isn’t reinventing the wheel, but they are draping it with chains and shit. Maybe throwing a fingerless leather glove on the wheel, for some reason. Taking the wheel and hurling it into the face of someone in the audience, perhaps. Burning the wheel and inhaling the fumes until they pass out. Smells good, baby.