Vipers – Self-Titled EP

If you go to Discogs or any music archive website, you’ll find literally hundreds of bands called Vipers across different genres, so this Vipers first caught my attention because of its artwork while I was looking through new punk releases. Turns out, Buffalo’s Vipers is a new band formed by Nicktape of Coke Bust. Coke Bust is a band I really love, so that immediately got me interested.

This self-titled EP is released as a 7-inch, with the already mentioned cool cover and a classic-looking hardcore punk lyric booklet. There are seven tracks in a little over eight minutes, and the band goes straight for early ’80s hardcore worship. It’s intentionally sloppy and thin-sounding, with catchy hooks, wild, trebly leads, and Nick’s vocals trying to channel those pissed-off kids from the first wave of DC and Boston hardcore. There’s a real kick in hearing current bands revive that early sound with all its roughness, speed, and intensity intact. Think three-letter bands like SOA, DYS, DOA, BGK, etc., or other early hardcore names from Circle Jerks to Jerry’s Kids and Raw Power.

The lyrics are also interesting, especially knowing that after Coke Bust ended, Nick spent some time living in Brazil, and a lot of this EP seems to reflect that kind of experience. “Escape From Brazil” is the most direct one, full of nervous displacement, being lost in translation, and the burning desire to get out. “Preferia” is even sung in Portuguese (it might be a cover, who knows?), while “Coxinha Motherfuckers” is probably the best and angriest track here, spitting pure disgust at entitled, middle-class conservative types, the kind of people with “colonizer attitude,” brand-name bullshit, and zero self-awareness. “In My Car” turns isolation into some kind of fantasy of disappearing into the road because everything else feels worse. Elsewhere, “Way Out,” “Cockroach Complex,” and “Exoskeleton” deal with anxiety, self-disgust, and feeling trapped inside your own head. All that in a direct hardcore way, short lines with no need for overexplaining.

It all fits the fast and intense music well. Vipers sound like a bunch of older punks grabbing that early hardcore language because it still works, because sometimes the best way to deal with alienation, frustration, and social discomfort is to play that kind of pissed-off punk in a less overtly political way. The EP was released by Feral Kid and Swimming Faith in the US, Broken Skull Records in Canada, and Undershows Records in Brazil. Refuse Records is releasing it in Europe soon.