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Albums we’ve liked in 2018: ‘Hank Wood and the Hammerheads’

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This NYC outfit has had a strong following within punk and DIY scenes since it formed in 2010, but its self-titled 2018 LP finds it growing and expanding outside that circuit. With one foot heavily planted in punk and garage and another in ’60s-era rhythm and blues—imagine James Brown fronting a hardcore band—frontman Henry Wood brings seductive, maniacal fervor to every song, beginning with album opener “I Can’t Stay.” Wood’s growling, wolf-like vocals—littered with chaotic, sexually charged grunting—pairs perfectly with the band’s raw immediacy (unrequited love is the main theme here), plus crashing drums and intensely driving guitar hooks.

“You Wanna Die,” the first single, is two minutes of pure, hip-shaking adrenaline. “It’s Lonely in This World All Alone” slows things down with a lustful, bluesy rhythm that never turns soft. “I wanna die/Baby, that’s the truth/No lie/I wanna die/Lying next to you,” Wood pants atop a psychedelic electric organ and slinky, brooding guitar riffs. The album closes with “Whisper,” the band’s slowest and poppiest track, reminiscent of Together Pangea’s 2014 LP Badillac­, perhaps foreshadowing what’s to come from these fiery punks.

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