Punk is dead. Punk will live forever. For every disgruntled boomer evincing the bereavement of Saint Strummer as the final resting place of the genre, there’s an equally bemused teenager, patches on his jacket, tight denim wrapped around his legs, and a formerly “shocking” haircut atop his head. Call them revivalists, call them misguided, call them Nazi-youth shoplifters, but above all, call them punks.

Friends of Friends are pretty much exactly that. Emerging from the swampy lowlands of Tallahassee, their debut long-player Deep Search (available for free download here) culminates a lifetime’s worth of rough-and-tumble hardcore. Fugazi’s passion, Descendents’ swagger, The Clash’s anthemia, Bad Brains’ balmy chutzpa — Friends of Friends compresses all of these influences into a concise, if a bit unremarkable, 10 tracks.

Deep Search is a record that throws very few curve balls. The music is thoroughly attuned to the heritage of hardcore, and that sort of unwavering dedication leaves little room for innovation, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. With so many artists focusing on grandiloquent arrangements and husky sonics, it’s nice for a band to be so disaffected by what’s hip. It’s far from album of the year, but the songs are fast, irreverent, and unquestionably punk rock –- something surprisingly refreshing.

(Friends of Friends, C/O Bear Trap, PO Box 12268, Charlotte, NC 28220)