New Hampshire quartet Transistor Transistor return with a stirring one-two punch of angular hardcore and menacing punk rock with Ruined Lives. Armed with jagged riffs, malicious yowls, and debilitating rhythms that give bands like The Bronx and Every Time I Die a run for their money, this unit’s motive to emote their innermost sensitivities never gets in the way of the like of slash-and-burn hardcore presentations such as “Pillar of Salt.” Taking the avant-garde route paved by such bands as Poison the Well on the twangy “The Ghost Hand,” emulating a bastardized hybrid of Snapcase and Modern Life is War on cuts such as “Diet of Worms” and crustily scraping through an abrasive “Celluoid Rats,” this squad’s latest bundle of sonic explosions grab you by the throat and scream for vengeance. Summoning up the finest elements from hardcore punk’s elite while maintaining their own identity, Ruined Lives and the chaotic yet cathartic atmosphere running throughout render this disc a modern hardcore classic. www.level-plane.com –Mike SOS