Thankless Graft - S/T

Rebellion Records / Longshot Music

 

Last Crusade top-ranked my yearlists of 2014 (favorite demo) and 2015 (favorite LP), needless to say I was gutted when the band was forced to call it quits due to logistical reasons. Good things come fast, but they’re gone even faster, at least so it seems. But with band members going their own way once again, good things are right around the corner. Bassist Ralph joined the reformed cult-outfit Anti-Social, while Karl is cracking out some excellent tunes with his new band Hard Pressed. But before all that, Thankless Graft was already there.

 

Formed and fronted by guitarist / vocalist Mike (Underwood), Thankless Graft recorded their first, and most likely only, four songs at the end of 2015, finally seeing the light of day on a slab of wax through Rebellion Records and Longshot Music. With a sound nearly identical to its predecessor, from the burly vocals to the clean guitar-sound with ultra-melodic guitar solos, Thankless Graft immediately caught my attention the moment the first track(s) surfaced on the internet in late 2015. That has been a while, which possibly made this release lose a bit of its ‘buzz’, but nevertheless these four tracks are absolutely smashing it up from start to finish!

 

I love that brutal voice, the aggro gang vocals, that classic sound, the clean sound and those small, extremely melodic solos and bits (just listen to opener “Gentrified” to understand what I am trying to say) that make me want to go postal! If you are a fan of bands such as the Templars, The Clichés, The Veros and in a lesser extend of the Beltones, I can simply not imagine that you won’t like the aforementioned opening track, as well as “Don’t Just Rot”, “Life Ya Lead” and “Company Man”, all killer cuts through and through!

 

Thankless Graft’s self-titled debut EP comes just as a one-time pressing of 300 copies and in three colors of vinyl (black, ultra-clear and ultra-clear with black splatter), evenly divided over 100 copies each. Fans of the above mentioned bands know just what to do! Yearlist material, once again…