- Sydney punk trio ARSE do not seem all that fussed whether or not you choose to delve into their delightfully downtrodden debut cassette. While there's no denying I do find their devil may care attitude wonderfully refreshing and certainly a nice change of pace from having trash shoved down your throat, the world at large is losing out if they never get a chance to invite a little ARSE into their sheltered lives.

Throughout their debut release, Primitive Species, ARSE straddle the fine line between the harsher side of punk and the slightly less terrifying side of hardcore. ARSE are a no frills, slap-ya-in-ya-stupid-face while you piece together the fractured remains of your crumbling life type of band. They make the kind of punk music that grabs you by the seat of your pants and shakes you viciously until some semblance of purpose raises its ugly head, forcing you to re-evaluate your entire purpose on this planet, before once again trotting off to work for eight hours and wondering if there's more to life than this.

Primitive Species delivers seven delicious ARSE blasts in seventeen intense, thrilling and life affirming minutes. From the opening seconds of the tape it's absolutely clear these lads are not here to hold your fragile, boney bird hands throughout the musical maelstrom that they've masterfully conjured with their unrelenting fits of focused rage. My favourite moments on the tape are too frequent to properly delve into, but more often than not coincide with ARSE's very tight, two piece rhythm section laying it down before being interjected by the one two punch that is frontman Dan Cunningham's snarling vocal and often gloriously erratic lead guitar work that adds an impeccably explosive element and rounds out this impressive three-headed snake.

I cannot lie, I did not expect to have ARSE so firmly planted in the forefront of my mind when I first came across their unassuming debut just over a week ago. Primitive Species is a criminally good tape, yes, nothing short of extraordinary. Just when I thought 2017 had run out of juicey surprises, ARSE have snuck in at the tail-end and delivered one mighty fine serving of cathartic punk to help restore a little slither of faith in humanity at the exact time when gross consumerism reaches its dizzying peak. Why don't you do your loved ones a solid  and stuff a little ARSE in their stocking this Christmas?

- Jay Edwards.