Regional Justice Center Unleash “Freedom, Sweet Freedom” Album

Regional Justice Center have released their third album, Freedom, Sweet Freedom, via Closed Casket Activities. The band has always been about two brothers, Ian Shelton (Militarie Gun) started the project in 2016 shortly after the incarceration of his younger sibling Max Shelton, and each release has not only sought to explore the choices, cycles, experiences and institutions surrounding that event, but also to keep the two tethered during Max’s time in prison. In 2022 Max was released and now Freedom, Sweet Freedom, brings him directly into the fold, writing and performing on the album. And Max isn’t the only impactful lineup addition, the album was recorded by acclaimed engineer Taylor Young who has now also joined Regional Justice Center as a member. Freedom, Sweet Freedom is the kind of album that exemplifies everything that makes hardcore such a deeply intense and impactful genre: a lightning fast blast of extreme music that’s loaded with raw emotion and thorny ideas.

“The album is saying that despite the trappings of freedom, you are not actually free. We’re all subject to a larger, broader system that’s meant to keep us in specific cycles–I think that’s a lot of what RJC has always been talking about: cycles of abuse, addiction, making the same mistakes over and over. There’s no freedom from society, from the system, or even from yourself.” (Ian Shelton)