Regents – Antietam After Party

2012, thankfully, was a year full of quality punk albums, and post-hardcore supergroup Regents capped it off with one of the year‰’s hardest releases, Antietam After Party. Made up of veterans of the fertile D.C.-and-Virginia hardcore scene of the ’90s, Regents are faster and louder than any non-metal release this year.

The choppy guitars by former Sleepytime Trio and Maximillian Colby bandmates David NeSmith and Drew Ringo scream against each other over a rapid-fire bassline by hardcore journeyman J. Robbins. The only thing louder than the two guitars are their players, who are both literally screaming back and forth with throat-burning intensity for much of the album. All of this noise is grounded and pushed forward by the band‰’s not-so-secret weapon, drummer Jason Hamacher of D.C. post-hardcore group Frodus, whose acrobatic drumming gives Regents more energy than anything else this year.

By Sean Meehan