No Omega - Shame (2013)

No Omega will always hold a special place in my heart because they were the band Volo and I got to see when we went on our first hardcore punk date in Bucharest. I had just arrived by bus and I met Volo at a shitty local burger joint called Springtime. We were both starving and the place seemed good enough, so we got some burgers and fries and stuffed our faces. We then went to the venue and moshed hard for 2 hours or so, gawked at some cool merch, realized we were both too poor to afford any and then we went home. BEST PUNK DATE EVER <3

Shame is an uncompromising hardcore record with some grim, doomy overtones that deals with issues like loneliness, depression, isolation and grief. It still amazes me how talented these dudes are, despite their young age. The album is full to the brim with explosive riffs, numerous changes of pace, dark melodies and some of the best drumming I've ever heard on a hardcore record - fast, complex and diverse. I think they've changed a bunch of drummers since Volo and I saw them, but the drumming is one of the highlights of this band. And the vocals - oh man! It's pretty much non-stop screaming and on stage the vocalist looked like he was about to barf his lungs out every second. The whole band is really cool and energetic whenever they are playing live, so their shows are great fun. If they happen to roll over your town - which is very likely, given their insane touring schedules - you should definitely go. You'll have a blast!

Also, I can never tell what the weather is like when I look at their band photos. It's like one of them is in a tshirt and shorts while the others are wearing hoodies and jeans. It's too confusing!

PS: Oh yeah, and Stephen O'Malley from Sunn O))) was at that show. I stood next to him as he was yelling jokes that nobody else understood then laughing by himself. Cool.

#poppunk