Courage by HELP

Some people are raised not to acknowledge their anger, to push it down and let it steep, but Portland punk rockers HELP invite us to purge our rage as a form of creative release, the idea being that expressing our hurt is one of the last freedoms we have. Their new release Courage is a long EP stacked with brand new songs and some singles they’ve put out over the past couple years. Their energetic approach to nihilism means they manage to cover a broad range of heavy music in a short time with squealing guitars, scraping percussion, and distinctly frustrated vocals all clawing at release. It’s a vicious response to the discomfort of an anti-human society designed to punish people for both normal daily struggles and crises totally out of their control. On Courage, HELP imagines a world of unity and understanding forged through the universal experience of pain and friction, encouraging this commonality to bring forth structural change.