Description
**This is an album pre-order. We will post the records out the week of release (28/2). Please order other releases separately if you want them to arrive earlier.**
Since the release of Haest’s last record, 2023’s Belabor, it has been all change for the Hasting’s crew. With a shift in personnel (original member Dan Kinsey’s departure making way for new drummer Rich Jones) and a clear shift in sound which has led to a rejuvenated band ready to re-insert themselves back into the DIY punk scene (well, they didn’t exactly go away but you get my point…). With that in mind, the band return with their new LP “Wildfires/Sight Unseen”, out via TNSrecords (UK), No Time Records (US) and 5FeetUnder Records (DEN), which collects two distinct EP’s onto one piece of wax and sets the stall for where the band is headed in the future.
In many ways, that shift in sound has brought Haest back to their hardcore punk roots but, as usual with these awkward pricks, there is a twist. In fact, there are countless twists. At times “Sight Unseen”, the first of the two EP’s recorded with Wayne Adams at Bear Bites Horse in London, seems to be a straight up hardcore record, with elements of The Circle Jerks’ speed, Black Flag’s aggression, Fear’s melody and Minor Threat’s urgency. But before the EP is through, we get references to early Nirvana, Fugazi, AmRep noise, 90’s emo and even a hip shaking dance number which would sit well in a parallel universe Cramps set… And yet it works somehow.
The evolution continues on the “Wildfires” tracks, recorded in the short, hot summer of 2024 in which the blending of straighter song writing and weirdness continues. On the one hand, Haest’s sound reverts back to some of their earlier releases, with atmospheric intro’s, fuzzed out bass lines and stoner guitar riffs, but again there are twists; Noise punk, old school hardcore influences, a Ginsburg reference, impassioned melodies, an even deeper dive into the world of early grunge and, seriously, if anybody can tell me what fucking genre “You Can’t Hear Canoe” is then you win one of those big teddy bears from the seaside arcades (and I’ll throw in a bucket and spade and a stick of rock too).
But with all this change, the band maintains what made them special in the first place, killer riffs, impassioned song writing, philosophical lyrics, an ability to merge countless genre’s into one seamless sound, and, yes, those stupid song titles you all seem to like curated from even stupider conversations they’ve had on the road (that you probably wouldn’t like to be exhausted/hungover enough to have). In a world of blandness and soundalikes, Haest’s sound is entirely their own. They are the same grinding machine they always were with the same passion and fearlessness they always had but they continue to add strings to their bow with every release… Oh, and they’ll rip your fucking face off live too as has been shown time and time again supporting the likes of Discharge, Zeke, Cro-mags, Hammerhead and Skindred, as well as their sets at many major festivals such as MPF and Rebellion and their commitment to constant DIY touring up and down the UK and in mainland Europe.
