ALBUM REVIEW: Cocaine Piss – Passionate & Tragic

Hypertension Records

Released: 05.04.19

When is a full-length not really a full-length? When it’s the second album from Belgian noise punks Cocaine Piss. Passionate & Tragic barely hits the twenty-minute mark in total, but unsurprisingly every possible second is packed full with pristinely bratty (and – whisper it – sometimes quietly thoughtful) anti-social critique and trash rock thrills.

Set to tape by Steve Albini, Passionate & Tragic is lifted by the influence of another former Albini act, the legendary Japanese band Melt-Banana, with the material jumping from light speed Ramones tributes like Every Night I’m Waiting to the chaotic thrash of Role Model before fusing the two together in the sub-minute rager My Cake. With Aurélie Poppins leading the charge with her charismatic, hyperactive wail, this is some gloriously freaky party-starting fun.