ALBUM REVIEW: Sunami – Sunami

Trust SUNAMI to drop one of the most anticipated hardcore records of the year out of nowhere. The San Jose bruisers have built up a ridiculous amount of hype since the release of 2019’s Demonstration, adding fuel to the fire with 2020’s self-titled EP, a 2021 split with the mighty GULCH, and last year’s three-track promo tape for this long-awaited self-titled full-length – not bad at all for a band who seem to be so resolutely committed to forever dragging their knuckles along the floor.

But as much as the band may have formed as a bit of a laugh, and while their tongue does remain at least a little in cheek even today, no-one gets this far or this big without being pretty damn good at what they do. At the risk of stating the obvious, Sunami (the album) goes obscenely and extremely hard, with eight tracks confined to a tight 17 minutes and packed to the rafters with the band’s trademark mix of crushing hardcore beatdowns, slammy death metal riffs, and the occasional kick into the more frenetic paces of punk and thrash.

Admittedly, if you’ve been following the band for a while then a couple of the tracks here should be familiar to you – namely Six from last year’s promo, and Contempt Of Cop from 2019’s Demonstration. Both have been given a notable production beef up – courtesy of the inimitable Taylor Young – for this record, with the latter in particular benefitting from having live drums from the band’s powerhouse Machine Gun Benny as opposed to the programmed efforts of the demo. The track itself remains an absolute stand out in the band’s discography, its obvious target made clearer still with the already iconic mosh call of “187 on a P-I-G” – look up Section 187 of the California Penal Code if you need to.

While the re-recording of those two tracks means we technically only get six new ones, there isn’t really any room to feel short-changed by the quality of what else is on offer here. Y.S.A.B. kicks things off with immediate aggro, its lyrics staring down a fake hard man before the track ends on the first of many absolutely skull-juddering beatdowns; 10 Toes Down boasts a particular killer example of the band’s heavy use of pinch harmonics in their riffing; Think About It sees Benny shining once again as he propels the track forward with punchy double kicks; and No Heart provides some of the album’s most glorious ignorance of all with lyrics that read quite simply: “No heart, no clue / No heart, fuck you / Fuck this place up”.

The other tracks we haven’t mentioned are just as strong too, and with the album being as short as it is there really is no excuse for not just running the whole thing from start to finish a few times in a row. Sunami may sound exactly as it was expected to, but really that means it delivers on everything anyone has ever wanted from this band, and it feels so good to finally have it here. If you’re based in the UK this comes just in time for Outbreak Fest next week; they’re on the Main Stage at 13:50 on the Friday. Be there.

Rating: 8/10

Sunami is out now via Triple B Records.

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