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John Michael-Bond (Mammoth Press):
I commend Koi records for starting their own limited split 7 inch series and keeping alive a tradition in the punk scene that has sadly been waning in the last few years. The first in the series is a beautiful white and brown half and half slab of wax containing songs by punk rock bands Los Dryheavers and Thirty3. Los Dryheavers lay down a rough around the edges burst of Leatherface influenced punk rock titled the Death of Rock and Roll, which rips. Thirty3 contribute four short melodic hardcore gems in the vein of a slightly slower Ignite or a Wilhelm Scream. Both bands have a ton to offer, and make great use of their space on this record. So lets go over this one more time. Beautiful limited color vinyl. Good songs. Oh and its only 4 bucks. This isn’t rocket science guys.
8 out of 10
RIYL: good punk rock, vinyl, pretty things
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Laminated.org:
I recently got another release from the growing punk/hardcore/indie/whatever label KOI Records. This time I found the first edition of KOI’s Split Series. The label is almost completely based around vinyl, only releasing one CD so far and about 5 vinyl records. This 7″ is a split between Thirty3 and Los Dryheavers.
I think Los Dryheavers are actually the a-side of this record, but I almost put on Thirty3 first because this band is fucking amazing. They pack some blistering punk with a lot of hardcore influence thrown in. They maintain a heavy sound without playing breakdowns or any chugga chugga crap. They’re fast and pissed off, making sure you hear their message. The 4 Thirty3 tracks on this split just flat-out kick your ass and there’s not much else to say.
I’m a bit unsure about Los Dryheavers. They aren’t quite as aggressive as Thirty3, and they’re just a completely different kind of band. I’m honestly not sure why they are on a KOI Records release. Los Dryheavers are basically just rock ‘n’ roll with a lot of distortion, simple drum beats, and some really basic solos. The band only delivers one track on this split, so that’s about all I could pick up from listening to their song.
Overall, I was pretty impressed with this record just because of this unheard of band called Thirty3. They are what punk rock should be. Period.
