One of the leading lights of recent hardcore, North Carolina’s Double Negative serve up another absolutely rocking 7” in their Hardcore Confusion series on the infallible Sorry State Records. Hardcore Confusion Vol. III and IV is packed with complex, intelligent, and fast hardcore punk. The guitars are dripping with distortion, rushing at you with a huge wall of sound; there even seems to be some latent psych-rock influences in the more melodic, buzzing single-note lines. The band roars to a thunderous start on “Boys For Sale” and does not let up once for the next 7 minutes. Unlike many modern hardcore bands, Double Negative are no one-trick ponies, and this 7” contains more interesting and subtle touches than some bands may manage on a whole album. “Rogers & Deloatch” is the highlight for me, with the tight and propulsive rhythm section, anchored by thick, fuzzy bass, holding down the fort while the guitars go mad. This 7” is remarkable not only for the variety throughout the four songs as a whole, but for the subtle touches and interesting ideas that Double Negative manage to insert into each one, though only one of them reaches the two minute mark (and barely, at that.) They prove yet again why they deserve to be considered one of the best punk bands around.