In the past few years, this prickly noise rock three-piece from Portland, Oregon has been busy, whether releasing their own albums, or putting out other bands’ albums through their Eolian Empire label.

Since they released their last proper full-length Bites Rites in 2012 back on Good To Die Records, they’ve put out a couple of split split seven-inches, one with Whores and another with frequent European tour partners, Arabrot. They put out the SOS cassette which collected a bunch of B-sides and rarities on one side, while the other side contained a bunch of “Rabbitized” versions of classic punk and hardcore songs from the likes of Discharge, Cro-Mags, Black Flag, and Negative Approach, among others.

Now comes their newest full-length, Untoward, which is being released through Chris Spencer‘s (of Unsane) new label. Once again, Rabbits prove they are one of the better noise-punk bands out there.

“Ever Mind” starts off slow and menacing, dragging you through the dirt. It picks up the pace with some crazy fills and an extra shot of aggression, switching between these two tempos for its duration. “Pack Up Your Shit” is more urgent and goes fast at several points, which shows they picked some influence from those hardcore punk covers they released last year. In fact, the songs on this release are more urgent. For example, “So Fake It’s Real” has some shouted call-and-response vocals that wouldn’t be out of place on a punk record. “Reek And Ye Shall Find” features primitively filthy riffs, and a false ending where everything comes unglued and then gets put back together for six punishing minutes. “An Odd Coloration” brings back more of the hardcore punk urgency and viciousness. “Like You A Lot” is 10-minute plus sludge punk epic that is equal parts punishing, hypnotic and weirdly psychedelic.

Once again, Rabbits have delivered an excellent slab of noisy, filthy punk rock. Their ability to absorb outside influences makes even more deadly. For fans of noise rock, this one is a no brainer, you need to have this album. For all others, what is taking you so long?

(Lamb Unlimited, no address provided)