Oftentimes, a band’s album art is very telling of what kind of sound and attitude they are going to have. Anything with college font and photos of live crowds all wearing cargo shorts will more than likely be some straight edge, youth crew band that uses stage banter that is very difficult to disagree with (ex. “yo, its fucked up to light people and pets on fire”). Weird landscape photos and cursive script, accompanied by an insert with a bunch of dudes dressed like its the 1890’s is a pretty good indicator that the band is only summoned to play large-scale festivals like Coachella, or any big open field where people can do drugs and take selfies while wearing flower headbands. However, when you see the words Rifle Diet in old English font, something inside you just knows that it’s not going to be any hippie feel-good bullshit.
Label: Profane Existence
Blasting all the way from Minneapolis, the self described “crustcore” warriors Rifle Diet deliver the finest combination of d-beat, hardcore and crust. The band’s most recent release, No Solace, is seven songs of pure mayhem, and even features a fantastic His Hero is Gone cover. If you’re looking to put together a “how to be crust” starter pack, then you would be making a serious mistake by not including the suburban torching sounds of Rifle Diet. For fans of Tragedy, From Ashes Rise and His Hero is Gone, Rifle Diet is going to quickly become your new favorite band. In this day and age, it’s easy to overlook great bands with politically-charged lyrics and settle for something that just sounds heavy. Luckily, Rifle Diet has both of those elements, so you and all your allegedly progressive friends really have no excuse for skipping over this band. Your friend that always says, “I’m just not into crust or d-beat” will quickly be converted to the church of Rifle Diet only seconds after hearing one song. Make no mistake, Rifle Diet is one of the best displays of contemporary crust/d-beat out there. What the fuck are you waiting for?? Rifle Diet saves!
