SLOW FIRE PISTOL - Rabbit Town Blues LP

Label: Triple B

The members of the Atlanta band Slow Fire Pistol come from the world of hardcore, and they’ve played in extremely tough bands like Foundation and Criminal Instinct.

Slow Fire Pistol don’t sound like any of those bands. Instead, with Slow Fire Pistol, those musicians attack the chaotic, self-lacerating sound of late-’90s screamo — a sound that was always adjacent to hardcore but that ultimately became its own thing. Slow Fire Pistol are really good at it.

In Rabbit Town Blues, you can hear plenty of connection to hardcore, but this is also sincere, wounded music. The guitars scratch and jangle and caterwaul, and the whole thing often sounds perilously close to falling apart.

The band will also lock into an ominous groove for an extended period of time; “Exit 24,” the massive centerpiece of Rabbit Town Blues, is six minutes long. The EP, released by Triple B, is some powerful stuff that you must listen to.