It won’t keep you long — the album is under thirteen minutes long, as the young Springs powerviolence trio blasts through eleven songs. If you blink, or open up another app, you’ll miss it. But you won’t soon forget it.
“We just wanted to write faster, harder, more aggressive songs,” says drummer Blake Johnson .
Johnson, bassist Dominic Amaro and guitarist Bryan Cross got together to play more traditional hardcore punk back in January 2023, but the need for speed quickly took hold, and now, RVBOMB is chaos incarnated.
“It felt like a gradual progression. It wasn’t even close to powerviolence, but as we kept writing and writing and writing, we all fed off each other’s energy and saw where it took us, bouncing of each other’s ideas,” Cross explains. “Eventually it ended up more and more and more ridiculous, like, ‘Okay, how far can we push this?’ We’re finally at a point where we got something now.”
Johnson takes it a step further. “It’s exactly how we want the band to sound,” he adds. “It needs to feel like you’re getting strangled, like an assault on your senses. Not harsh noise, but to where it’s a little bit scary live and jarring and shocking.”
Inspired by both the Denver DIY hardcore scene and burgeoning Colorado Springs powerviolence sect, RVBOMB prefers to pull a little from each, which is evident on Obliterated.
The powerviolence trio is making a name for itself through whirlwind live shows, like the one captured here.
Courtesy RVBOMB
“We have fast riffs, we have breakdowns in there as well,” Amaro says. “We’re a sonic bridge between both scenes.”
Blustering blast-bleats beget slow slam-like breakdowns, some may even call Cross’s guitar during certain parts of the title track sludgy. Amaro deploys his bass in a similar fashion. A fusillade of fight riffs and fury, some songs — “Nailed,” “Ruse,” “Crown of Thorns,” “Truth or Consequences” — aren’t even a minute long, allowing the debut to jump all over listeners without warning.
“We sometimes break the rules and stray from the genre a little bit, especially with the slower riffs and breakdowns, and we have some straight-up hardcore riffs,” Cross says. “There’s no formula for us. We’re not trying to stick to a mold.”
But all three agree, the record is nothing like seeing RVBOMB in the flesh.
“Everything you’ve come to expect from listening to the record is going to be turned up to twelve. It’s completely off the walls,” Cross shares.
Amaro puts it another way: “If you haven’t seen us live, you haven’t heard us.”
And RVBOMB runs best on a tank full of hate and aggression.
“Live it’s the angriest, most pissed-off thing it can be,” Johnson adds. “That anger builds and pushes into the tempo changes. Honestly, the angrier we are in general before we play a show, the better it’s going to end up being.”
The group is currently wrapping up a West Coast tour, with drumming machine Eddie Eaton of Denver groups Flak and Polish filling in for Johnson. RVBOMB will be well-oiled and pissed-off for its hometown release show on Sunday, August 10, at What’s Left Records. Sewerslide, Back Lip and Bastard Sword are also playing the Colorado Springs gig.
So what angers RVBOMB the most?
“It comes down to the government, authority figures, people who try their hardest to make your life worst and fighting against that as hard as you can,” Johnson explains. “I think anybody living in this country dealt with that at some point.”
Cross notes how systematic inequality and unchecked privilege fuel his rage.
“Being dealt a shit hand, not being given anything,” he says. “A lot of the shit I write about is when people are given so much opportunity from birth and they don’t do anything with it. I find that so sad because they have every advantage and yet they choose to not do anything with that, and that pisses me off.”
RVBOMB won’t be running on empty anytime soon, if that’s the case.
“I’ll be quick, this is only going to get more and more extreme as we continue to play,” Cross concludes.
RVBOMB, with Sewerslide and Ukko’s Hammer, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, August 10, What’s Left Records, 2217 East Platte Ave., Colorado Springs. $10-$15 suggested donation at the door.
