There was quite a bit of noteworthy hardcore/punk in 2023, with Chicago’s Stress Positions quietly unleashing one of the most explosive efforts right at the end of the year. Formed in 2020 by three out of the four members of C.H.E.W., Stress Positions takes the speed and ferocity of that band and injects a bit more of a metallic sheen. Their debut EP Walang Hiya showcased intense riffs and sharp vocals with some surprisingly subdued moments, and follow-up Harsh Reality expands upon every element of the band’s sound. Not only is the production fuller and packed with drums that thump you right in the chest, but the speed has been increased to almost powerviolence levels. At nine tracks and just under eighteen minutes it’s a wild ride, but one that packs a bit more nuanced attack than you might initially expect.
The title track doesn’t launch directly into the onslaught, instead opting to build up feedback and a more ominous sudden riff before exploding into a barrage of fast paced instrumentation. Once the song has kicked in proper, you’ll find Stress Positions plays fast yet precise hardcore/punk with some blasting that approaches the speed of powerviolence or grindcore. You can hear a lot of classic punk in what the band has written on Harsh Reality, but there’s also a noticeable metallic sheen to the tonality and the way the guitars squeal reminds me of Axe to Fall era Converge on songs like “How To Get Ahead” and “White Leech”. Even though the bulk of the material is two minutes or less, there’s a surprising amount of variety to the performance and it helps to make the tracks distinguishable from one another. The previously mentioned tracks bring in some shredding guitar that has nods to metal, other tracks play it more straightforward with mid-tempo punk, while others go for all-out blasting that feels weaponized in its intensity. But it’s closer “Ode to Aphrodite” that showcases where Stress Positions is able to differentiate themselves from some of their peers, as this five and a half minute closer slows things down in favor of subdued textures and a tense bass line that reminds me of doom mixed with post punk. Things eventually pivot back over to a harsher hardcore riff to end the album, but the more brooding nature of this song sticks with you, and it works well to showcase that there’s more to this band beyond the speed.
With how much of a punch the instrumentals pack, Stress Positions definitely needs a strong vocalist to tie everything together and Stephanie Brooks doesn’t disappoint. Her pitch is on the shriller side, coming through somewhere between a scream and a shriek and it destroys everything in its path. Within the hardcore/punk space, the vocal approach reminds me of more recent bands like Sial only with less reverb. It’s impressive just how intense the performance is for much of Harsh Reality, and the group benefits from the beefier production as it allows the screams to tower above the recording rather than get swallowed up by it. “Ode to Aphrodite” doesn’t just switch things up on the instrumental front, as Brooks also completely shifts over to spoken word and singing that maintains an immense amount of tension until the screaming comes roaring back in. It’s another element of what makes this closing track so effective, and the magnitude of the vocal performance as a whole has kept me coming back for more.
Stress Positions has a winning combination of an intense rhythm section that can blast and shred alongside a powerhouse vocalist. Their debut album ratchets up the speed from the EP while also throwing a few curveballs along the way, and it’s this variety that helps to separate from some of the other groups in the genre. The band has certainly left themselves room to expand upon the more subdued and brooding side in the future, and I’ll be interested to see if they choose to do so and really push towards something even more unique. But in the meantime, they’ve left us with a powder keg of hardcore/punk that still gives listeners plenty of reasons to come back on a regular basis. Harsh Reality is available from Three One G Records.
-Review by Chris Dahlberg