Stabbitha And The Knifey Wifeys – Disgust

Stabbitha And The Knifey Wifeys are a demolishing metal-punk quartet from Adelaide, Australia, whom we first featured in our International Women’s Day article in 2024. They remain one of the best-kept secrets of the contemporary DIY hardcore scene. In almost ten years together, the queer-feminist band have wielded extreme music subgenres with such ease that they turn them into a wave of empowerment, positivity, and solidarity against systemic oppression. Their third full-length, aptly titled Disgust, is another album of heavy themes that crashes its way through the speakers.

Across the record’s 32 minutes, Stabbitha And The Knifey Wifeys use thin yet clear production to deliver their extreme metal-punk amalgam. Getting straight to the point with themes of economic oppression, state terror, sexism, transphobia, and societal decline from birth to death, Disgust draws on a rich tradition of political DIY hardcore while expanding its sound. The intense vocals, which Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill has praised as powerful, offer another varied performance, incorporating black and death metal on tracks such as “Over Me,” alongside crust and even metalcore and deathcore elements elsewhere.

The greatest strength of Disgust, though, is the songwriting. Stabbitha craft amazing guitar riffs that jump into the eye of the storm, bringing an explosive cocktail of influences along with them. The album draws on riot grrrl aesthetics, the heavy crust of bands like Misantropic, metallic hardcore, and the death-metal-infused hardcore of Venom Prison. The band also cite Employed To Serve, Sharptooth, and Infected Rain as influences, showing their connection to the more mainstream end of the spectrum.

Tracks such as “Initial Wastage,” “Disruption,” and the dramatic “Corpse Fauna,” with its bewitching rhythm, put these influences to work in songs full of rage. The basslines tear through everything in their path, while the drum patterns move between these different styles. Closer “Deeper Known” brings an ominous yet hopeful atmosphere. Stabbitha And The Knifey Wifeys know how to channel their rightful anger and subversive message into music with immense energy, without making destruction feel like the only possible outcome.

Disgust is drenched in negativity and pessimism, yet turns those feelings into a call for hope and togetherness. Its dual guitar solos and balance between an old-school feel and a modern approach are compelling, but the way the band communicate their themes matters just as much. It all comes together on an album that won’t let you go so easily.