Carnage Asada has been settled in L.A. for a long time, and it plays some spectacular post-rock hardcore. This album finds the band leaning into even more "post" ideas, incorporating a prog jazz feel into its propulsive assault.

Carnage Asada Head on a Platter (self-released)

Any hardcore band with a cello player is, um, different. The members of Carnage Asada are older than me and have roots in the 70s and 80s L.A. punk scene. Mere survival is impressive. To find a new sonic approach and produce an album this kinetically aggressive is astonishing.

I suppose the easiest comp would be Houston's Free Radicals, a collective that started in jazz but left to wander the earth long ago. The Stooges are also an obvious nod, especially with the renewed jazz emphasis.

If this had arrived in my mailbox from Touch and Go in 1994, I would have raved and raved. It arrived in my email this summer, and my feelings are the same. What's old is turned inside out into a wondrous new sonic attack. This might have been recorded in 1969, 1994 or today. As long as it blisters my ears, I'm not worried about the time frame.

Jon Worley