Album Review: Scarboro – Here Comes The Hangover

Scarboro are a three piece hardcore punk band from Brooklyn, New York  that formed in 2012, their current line-up of Shi Heng Shi, guitar and vocals, Jack Counce, Bass and vocals, and Gayla Escoda Brooks, Drums, have delivered their debut album, Here Comes The Hangover, that serves up 14 shots of pure unadulterated hardcore influenced punk rock. The album is delivered with a raw and frantic quality that carries the authentic feel of the bands that came before them, but crucially it’s all delivered on their own terms. Here Comes The Hangover is released today, February 3rd 2017, on WTF Records, the album follows on from The Safeword Is Yes EP that was released in 2014, which means it’s been a long wait for their debut full length.

The opening track, Scarboro, is the albums mission statement and kicks things off in fine old school hardcore style, the relentless punk rock assault continues with Disassociate and One Night Last Stand, even at this early stage in the album I’m getting the feeling that I’m experiencing a band that have remained true to their roots, but importantly they bring a contemporary feel to their material that stops Here Comes The Hangover being a recreation of punk’s past glories. This is an album of hardcore influenced punk rock played exactly as it ought to be, Scarboro have bought a live feel to the album, something that doesn’t always come across on hardcore recordings, but Here Comes The Hangover captures the essence of the band perfectly. Such is the consistency across the fourteen tracks is hard to pick a favourite, but for me the title track is the albums grand finale, a perfect track that brings another more thoughtful and subtle, at least by Scarboro‘s standards, element to an impressive debut.

There are obvious influences on here from the American hardcore scene such as H2O, Descendents, Agnostic Front and Bad Religion, but to my ears I detect a hefty influence from the UK82 scene in the guitar sound, the attack and aggressiveness in the delivery of the music are right up with the early recordings of the likes of The Exploited. Here Comes The Hangover is a distillation of the finest elements of the hardcore scene from both sides of the Atlantic, and if you have any love for the bands from the early hardcore scene, or for the more aggressive side of punk rock, then Scarboro are a band that need to be on your radar.

Scarboro‘s internet presence can be found here and their Facebook page is here

WTF Records website can be found here