This record has been a long time coming. After seeing Athens hardcore stalwarts Shaved Christ play live for the past three years, I became accustomed to expecting a raw and loudly visceral experience that was as flagellatingly physical as it was inarticulately emotional. But the takeaway was minimal. Which is why I was so stoked about this record—I could finally hear what the band sounds like.

The five songs on the Bad Mind 7-inch EP all clock in at less than two minutes long, save for epic opener “Fight Back/Perverted Really," which clocks in at 2:41. All the melodic subtlety of certain songs (“Born,” “Bad Mind”) that is often lost during live shows is fully represented here. The recording quality is well above that of most similarly minded releases. Every note of feedback is ear-piercing, occasionally hair-raising and often superfluous—to the point where the “record” button should have just been pressed several seconds after it was.

Even so, I've played this three-plus times in a row each time I've gone to listen to it, and each time I've been pleased that Shaved Christ, name notwithstanding, has such a recognizable personality in a world full of brutal genericism. 3 out of 5.