Djork (Clear / Oxblood Marble Vinyl)

Angst-fueled punk 'n' roll band NOPES return with their third head-butting album "Djörk", which shows the Bay Area foursome more than ready to bury one of the most disastrous years in recent memory in a cacophony of disaffection and feedback. Bristling with angular riffs and glass-cutting hooks, "Djörk" is as unapologetically weird as it is offensively loud and noisy. True to their punk roots, NOPES bristle lyrically against work, class divisions, and the gentrifying soullessness of city life as youthful dreams are mercilessly stripped away. Completed during the band's pandemic hibernation, "Djörk" offers 13 compact blasts of raw snarl shot through with rock and noise credentials. It calls to mind fellow punk emissaries DRIVE LIKE JEHU and THE BRONX, while still maintaining NOPES' signature assault on the genre's boundaries.