Seattle quartet Blood Drugs hearkens back to a time when their hometown music scene was ruled by loud, noisy, unhinged music. Their self-titled debut on Good To Die lays down one hell of a racket — the bass and drums lurch and pummel, and the guitars dish out some corrosive riffs while vocalist Kyle Bradford howls about his personal demons over the glorious din.

Opener “Leaves” fakes you out with some lo-fi electronic beats before a full-on barrage of noisy punk takes over. “Diamonds” and “Everything” pick up the pace a bit, while “Equerry” starts quiet and then gets very loud. “Language” mixes up a bit with some clean vocals before shifting gears with a torrent of feedback and howling. Even the remix of “Leaves,” which closes out the album, has a rough edge.

Don’t ever say this type of music belongs in the past. In some ways, the world is in a lot worse shape, so instead of chilling out and nodding out, why not turn the amps all the way to red and howl at the mess? 

(Good To Die Records, PO Box 70251, Seattle, WA 98127)