Include – War of Today EP

How many bands from Panama have you heard lately? Well, I don’t know much about the scene in this Central American country of just over four million people. The only band I was aware of before was the noise-drenched, reverb-laden raw punk of Hez, who just released an absolutely amazing LP called Panamaniacs, which will be reviewed here soon.

Imagine my surprise when I heard about a straight edge hardcore band from Panama City called Include. The band’s debut EP is called War of Today and consists of seven raucous tracks that are over in about three minutes. As you can rightfully guess, most of the tracks are about 20 to 30 seconds long. The first thing you’ll notice, however, is the masculine skinhead figure crucified on an X-shaped cross on the front cover. The early New York straight edge band The Abused comes to mind, with their singer Kevin Crowley‘s distinctive drawing style.

Not fucking around, The Abused’s legendary Loud & Clear EP from 1983 should be a clear influence on these guys, as well as Project X, Bold, and a host of NYHC bands with their tough-as-nails style and skinhead outlook. The fast, stop-and-go sound that borders on powerviolence is also reminiscent of bands like Infest. The production is raw as fuck and reeks of testosterone, sweat, and brazen straight edge militancy. The first track includes a timeless line like “Straight Edge hasn’t gone dull!” while the rest of the songs speak out against fucked up things like smoking, xenophobia and the abuse of women. And of course, why not have some songs about unity, stabbing in the back and how much we don’t like the rival’s crew? All top-notch hardcore lyrics from Include, and I repeat, it’s seven super short tracks all in about three minutes!

Now, the interesting thing is that Include’s Bandcamp page was created in April 2023, and their Instagram account even more recently, while Madrid, Spain-based label Tambores de Guerra apparently released War of Today on tape back in 2019. So this three minute record is actually four years old… sorry for sleeping on it until now. The band is pretty much still going strong tough and just toured Colombia in July 2023 playing with some sick bands from South America. I just hope new material is coming soon, I promise not to miss it this time. Now enjoy these Panama XXX brothers in arms. Straight Edge Still Hasn’t Gone Dull!