Good Parenting

This four-song, 12-minute 7" released by Vancouver, Canada's Baptists really puts the crust in crust(hard)core, with a punishing sensory assault underscored by a positively filthy sound dredged from deepest river silt. And, based on the evidence at hand, the members of Baptists got as much out of their personal apprenticeships with local bands like Ladyhawk, Sports, and A Textbook Tragedy as they did from inspirational crust-punk forefathers like Amebix and His Hero Is Gone — not to mention contemporary bands mining this suddenly trendy style like Black Breath, Trap Them, and the Secret. The point is that this EP is in no way surprising as a creative statement, but it's still futile to resist the title track's feedback-induced frenzy or the atypically slow-grinding "Bachelor Degree Burn" — to name but the most memorable pair out of four here. Whether Baptists will find a way to stand out further from the flock remains to be seen, but in terms of immediate gratification and grabbing one's attention with a musical sledgehammer to the face, this is a great first step.