REVIEW OF "THE UGLY" EP ON LAST RITES

Too many people slept on the 2011 full-length debut from San Francisco's Hazzard's Cure – a very enthusiastic hodgepodge of knotty thrash, sludge, stoner and the kitchen sink that coulda-shoulda-woulda landed the band on a Hell of a lot more radars if the Earth was actually a fair place to inhabit. Alas, these dirtballs remain mostly unheralded, so the respective members supplement extra time not spent crapping together on a fancy tour bus by laboring in a pile of other notable Bay Area outfits such as Walken, OWL, and Bädr Vogu.

Well, now any previous "sorry, never heard of 'em" transgressions can thankfully be washed away by re-dedicating some worthy time to the freshly dropped Hazzard's EP, The Ugly – 17 minutes of very enthusiastic knotty thrash that dismisses virtually all of the previous effort's sludge in favor of a more blackened blister that's further bolstered by a guest vocal appearance (background on "Terminal Frost" and lead on "The Body Amorphous") from howler Laurie Shanaman of sadly defunct SF legends, Ludicra.

As evidenced by the bulk of the above tune, The Ugly is primarily concerned with the task of hacking faces to ribbons, but there are a couple moments where the band allows their softer, prettier side to emerge – like a tiny glimpse of a rainbow in a spill of dirty oil. All-in-all, The Ugly represents another glimpse into a talented Bay Area band that somehow manages to survive and thrive, despite getting paid mostly in cheap beer and dusty schwag. Don't let this one pass by unnoticed. [Michael Wuensch]

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