Die In Vain – Savage New Times EP

I first saw this seven-inch, depicting a large clawed rat aggressively gnawing through heavy metal chains on the cover, at this year’s To Be Punk Festival in Novi Sad. The members of Chain Cult, who were manning the merch table, were quick to tell me that Die In Vain is a great UK82-inspired punk band from İstanbul. Die In Vain played on the festival’s first day—unfortunately, I only attended the second day and missed them—and this record, released on La Vida Es Un Mus Discos, comes highly recommended.

Savage New Times features five brilliantly executed tracks that follow the old yet formidable formula of channeling the stomping power and urgency of the golden era of British hardcore punk, like those classic records from No Future or Riot City. Thankfully, there are modern bands carrying the torch, like Phane, Vaxine, and Savageheads. Of the five tracks on this EP, three are sung in Turkish and two are in English, including the perfectly titled “Savage New Times.” You can tell by the singer’s accent that the band isn’t from the Anglophone world like the other bands mentioned above, and I think that’s great. The second track, “War Machine,” sounds straight out of the Varukers playbook at their best, while the third track, “Gösteri Icin,” has that Motörhead via Discharge and Broken Bones vibe. The last song “Ise Yaramaz” is the highlight with its infectious choruses and sweeping adrenaline rush.

This is one of those 7-inches you can enjoy both for its sincere punk rock aesthetic, evoking all the good things we dig about the genre, and for pushing you out of your comfort zone by hearing a foreign language and considering that we’re not living in the ’80s or ’90s anymore. Turkish bands face particular challenges, like getting visas and dealing with all sorts of bureaucratic bullshit just to go on tour. So when a band like Die In Vain plays a festival like To Be Punk, or any other show far and wide, they’re definitely worth checking out. It’s that charged, hard-hitting and gnawing punk rock that we all love.