Ultimate Disaster – For Progress…

Back in the early ’90s, the UK band Disaster were among the best at channeling Discharge’s most effective moves and stripping them of any excess (to the point they sounded just like Discharge). They didn’t invent anything, but their War Cry LP recreated a certain kind of anger and hopelessness that defined one of the most legendary hardcore punk acts. Since then, countless bands have taken that template, or its Swedish or Japanese versions, and tried to run with it. That urge to recreate the burning anger of early ’80s bands became a pursuit for generations that followed.

So when Ultimate Disaster, a Richmond band featuring members of current d-beat titans like Destruct and Horrid Peace, dropped their demo/EP last year, I was already sensing a new favorite in that domain. It felt like a continuation of that specific orthodox d-beat lineage, only with a more uncompromising modern ferocity. At a glance, the name and artwork might suggest another Discharge via Disaster clone, 33 years after War Cry, but the sound told a different story. And those who actually pay attention knew immediately this band was something else.

This is one of those bands that sound exactly like I imagined a Discharge-influenced band would sound in 2025, back when I first got into this stuff. Released in April 2025, For Progress… is crushing, streamlined, and hopeless. There’s no gimmick, no fashion statements, just a band that knows how to hit with the right intensity and not waste time. The record is nine songs and eleven minutes long, recorded at Minimum Wage Studios, and it sounds fucking obliterating. I’ve always liked the way Richmond bands handle that sound—as much as I love writing about bands from all over the world, US bands still produce some of the best material in all genres—and For Progress… is a perfect example. The drumming is a pure barrage of annihilation. The guitar tone is thick and buzzing, but not so layered that it gets in the way of the fast riffing.

And those riffs are just nailed. “Never Ending Slaughter” and “Mass Produced Hatred” are vicious, fist-pumping, one-minute stompers. “What Right?” leans into the purest Discharge via Disaster tradition with its barked title-as-chorus structure. But “Tomorrow’s Genocide” is the real d-beat track of the year contender here. Everything about it feels deliberate, heavier, and just slightly more doomed given today’s realities.

What I love most about For Progress… is how classic it sounds without losing its boiling aggression. It takes actual intent to make something this barebones, influenced by something so overdone, still feel this full. Every song is the same shape, but none of them blend together. It’s orthodox, but not boring. Tight, blown-out, and completely hopeless.