[engl] Criminal Code from Tacoma, Washington, play an anthemic, sneakingly melodic mixture of post-punk and cacophony of raw wavy punk. Formed in 2011, they’ve just released several 7“s and their debut LP No Device on Deranged Records, a welcome shot in the vein (or kick in the teeth) to an increasingly ethereal genre. They took their Husker Du/Greg Sage influences and made it their own unique sound. The new 7“ harkens back to the raw, stripped down and primal intensity that characterised the early days of post punk, back when it was still considered just punk, only punk that was a little off and slightly more unsettling than usual. Criminal Code straight rip and rock with an urgency and rabid junkieunpredictability that was traded in long ago when post punk started investing wholeheartedly in synthesisers and chorus pedal collections and diverting down broodier pathways to goth and whatever-wave. Criminal Code are a perfect mess of contradictions, simultaneously full-bodied and forceful, and cold, distant and washed-out, like a hardcore heart in pale post punk skin, or vice versa. While specifically for Criminal Code’s European tour, the EP neatly coheres and expands on their Husker Du Over A Cliff guitars and post-post (post) Wipers despair/rage. Snag the EP on tour and dig hard!