Ex-Cult: Cigarette Machine EP [Album Review]

Ex-Cult
Cigarette Machine EP
Castle Face Records [2015]

Fire Note Says: Ex-Cult delivers an excellent, adrenaline-filled punk rock EP.

Album Review: I have to say I am quite impressed with Memphis-based punk band, Ex-Cult. Cigarette Machine is a lean and mean EP filled with punk rock rage reminiscent of 80’s hardcore. They have a solid and robust sound rounded out with intense vocals that fit perfectly within their blend of Cro-Mags meets Black Flag meets The Exploited era hardcore punk.

“Clinical Study” kicks the EP off with a furious bang. It is a briskly paced track with a nasty guitar riff and pounding drums. Track two, “Cigarette Machine” is more of the same. If you entered a mosh pit during “Clinical Study,” you are staying for “Cigarette Machine.” Fair warning, you are going to be bruised. The track clocks in at almost six minutes; that is a long time to be dodging elbows and Doc Martens.

“Rats in The Gas Tank” spends half the track wallowing in noise and reverb before it slaps you with savage light-speed punk mayhem finale and carries you right into “Meda House Company” for a solid punk rock track.


The final two tracks are as equally strong as the opening assault. “Dripping Mouth” has a post punk aura, boasting a sound that would be more affiliated with Joy Division than the 80’s hardcore staples. “Your Mask” is an excellent closer. Swirling and dizzying guitars layered against each other with a driving rhythm and percussion. Sounds like the boys from Memphis may have heard “Half a Canyon” off Pavement’s Wowee Zowee a time or two and that is a good thing in my book. It gives the EP diversity.

Ex-Cult won me over with this six-track EP. Their energy and zest for a generation of punk that I adored as a young music fan is admirable and their execution of the genre is remarkable. It creates an infectious and head banging listen. Go out and get Cigarette Machine.

Key Tracks: “Clinical Study Dripping Mouth” / “Your Mask”

Artists With Similar Fire: Cro-Mags / The Exploited / Black Flag



Ex-Cult Facebook
Castle Face Records

– Reviewed by Daniel Taylor

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Daniel Taylor

Photographer/journalist for the U.S. Navy for 26 years. Music fan since forever. Music really hit him in the early 90’s when he heard the Pixies’ Doolittle LP. After that came Pavement and then Guided by Voices. His love for those bands formed his taste in music and he continues to search for that musical “high” today. Married for 18 years and currently lives in Japan.

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