Gassed - Mental

My good friend Dan Volohov over at Discipline PR hit me up about covering these guys for Clean Sheets, particularly as he knows that I have a fondness for all things fast and furious (sonically speaking, not the godawful film series). He also spoke of Uprising Records, Gassed’s label’s relaunch after a ten year hiatus, who featured at one point bands such as Fall Out Boy and Racetraitor.

Gassed, a brand new band from Queens New York consist of Micha - Vocals, Logan - Guitar, Marcus - Bass, and Mark on Drums only formed last year and are all young lads in their 20’s which is important as it brings an injection of fresh blood into the Hardcore scene, helping to keep things vibrant and exciting. Mental is their official full-length debut, prior to which they had put out a demo in 2025 and the ALBATROSS/THIN BLUE LINE EP(?) earlier this year. Legendary producer Don Fury’s (Agnostic Front, Youth Of Today, Helmet) involvement should help whet the appetite even more, so, what’s it like?

‘GASSED/NOOSE’ starts off slowly with some pretty nice mid-tempo riffing before launching into very cool Youth Crew style Hardcore, reminiscent of Youth of Today in their heyday. Vocally Micha bares more than a passing similarity to that band’s Ray Cappo, while musically it recalls tracks such as Take a Stand’. Remember what I was saying earlier about how important it was to have young blood in the scene? Well, this track explicitly exemplifies why. An excellent start. ‘THE HAND’ recaptures the spirit of vintage Bad Brains, especially when they were starting to dabble in Metal around the time of Quickness. What’s impressive is how seamless the band are able to shift between sludgy grooves and warp speed Hardcore at the blink of an eye. Another belter. ‘RECLAIMED’ sees the band take their foot off the pedal, but without sacrificing an iota of power. In this way they draw comparisons to Brooklyn Hardcore/Rap-Metal pioneers Biohazard, one could easily imagine Evan Seinfeld and co jamming such a number, particularly around the time of 2003’s Kill or Be Killed. ‘VICES’ is the kind of track which will inspire that laughable kung fu style of moshing, however that said, there is also a darker, introspective Post-Punk feel which elevates it above what the rest of their peers are currently producing. Different fo’ sure.

‘LESSER OF TWO’ sees the band adopting some fantastic D-Beat vibes ala vintage Discharge and Doom. Its maybe not as insane as say Siege, but it still packs a hefty punch, before ‘BRAINDEAD’ comes and goes in mere seconds. Remember S.O.D. when they had those weird blink or you’ll miss ‘em interlude pieces such as ‘Chromatic Death’ and Anti-Procrastination Song’? Well that’s kinda what you’re getting here andmore than a little fine by me. ‘MENTAL’ is interesting, the evil riffing somewhat reminiscent of Slayer, so that if you enjoyed Divine Intervention or the Punk/Hardcore covers set Undisputed Attiude then you’ll certainly dig what is being produced here. ‘R.I.T.F.W’ stands for Rockin’ in the Free World, which the more perceptive of you will guess is a cover of the 1989 Neil Young anthemic classic. I’ll be honest, its never beenone of my favourite Young pieces, I’ve always found it a little cheesy and kumbaya-ish, however in Gassed’s hands its a brilliant slice of Rock’n’Roll inspired Skate Punk which provides a rousing conclusion to the record.

Despite its short running time, Mental packs in a fair amount of musical creativity and diversity, belying their youth and marking them down as ones to watch, recommended.