Pittsburgh has been on fire lately. The Braddock Hit Factory crew has been pumping out the, well, hits. Bands like Concealed Blade, No Time, and especially Blood Pressure have made some of the best hardcore in the last twelve months. While the demo was strong, Blood Pressure kicked it way up in the last two years for their debut LP, Need To Control out on Beach Impediment Records, a pounding, hard-as-nails Negative Approach styled attack of hardcore. Ten tracks, thirteen minutes, as close to hardcore perfection as we’ve seen in 2016. It’s hard to articulate what makes this record so strong. While it is definitely following in the tradition of Negative Approach, it never really falls into the imitation of a lot of throwback hardcore bands, instead creating something so lean, so to the point that it feels singularly itself while wearing its influences on its sleeve. The writeup at Sorry State put it into words better than I ever could, but in how self-contained and self-assured this record is that it transcends. Whether this is a style of hardcore you like or not barely plays into the ability to enjoy this masterpiece, it is a record that is so well executed, at every level, that it demands to be liked.