With a name like Warish, the San Diego noisy punk-metal trio assured listeners they were in for a maniacal bludgeoning from the get-go. But the band has never been as dark and bitingly vicious as the wholly ominousNext To Pay. The band’s mix of earlyAmRep skronk, dark horror rock and budget doom antipathy is taken to a whole new level on this 13-song invective.“‘Next To Pay’ is about a sense of imminent doom, everyone is going to die,” vocalist/guitarist Riley Hawk says. “It’s not the happiest record, I guess.” To say the least. On the title track opener, Hawk screams through shredded vocal chords with the tuneful rage ofKill ‘Em Allera James Hetfield and the seethingdesperation of Kurt Cobain.“This album is more of an evolution, it’s a little more punk-heavy,”Hawk says of the group quickly founded in 2018. “We figured outwhat our sound was.” And with that evolution comes a change inthe lineup. Original drummer Nick (Broose) McDonnell plays on about half of the songs, while new drummer Justin de la Vegabrings an even tighter urgency to the remaining, more recenttracks. Bassist Alex Bassaj joined after the debut album was recorded and here showcases muscular and melodic low end previously missing. Riley Hawk is also the pro-skater son of Tony Hawk. Inspired by early-Nirvana,The Misfits,The Spits and Master of Reality-eraBlack Sabbath,Next To Pay keeps things heavy and pummeling at all times.The guitars are heavy and powerful, though decidedly not straightforward cookie cutter punk; more likeGreg Ginn’s and Buzz Osbourne’s wiry contortions, and occasionally drenched in chorus effects. The rhythms bash right through it all with aggressive force ensuring that nothing gets overly complicated. Warish’s cover of 80s Dischord Records punksGray Matterturns the emotive flail of “Burn No Bridges” into a Motorhead style basher.Next To Paywill be available on LP, CD and download on April30th, 2021 viaRidingEasy Records.