Review: Slaughter Boys – “Til the End of the Weak”

Garage Rock Records – 05 Aug 2022

Slaughter Boys are here to remind us that the heart of punk and roll is still beating.

Most of us outside of southern California were unaware of the existence of Slaughter Boys even after they dropped their magnificent self-titled debut LP in 2019. That record was on the English label No Front Teeth Records, so American distribution was a bit spotty. Hopefully the band joining the Garage Rock Records family for Til the End of the Weak will get them the exposure they deserve. For those of us lucky enough to have heard the first full length, the follow up was among the most anticipated releases of 2022. 

Slaughter Boys have mastered the straight up punk banger, and they build off of that. (Night Birds also come to mind.) Too many bands try to mess with the formula before they’ve got the basics down. The first three tracks on side A, “Iron Lung”, “Beggin’ For Love” and “Problem”, are all rippers. They’re fast with raspy vocals and jagged guitars. “Rash” incorporates some animated honkey tonk piano, while “Free Ride” marries a classic rock riff to an eerie True Sounds of Liberty like lead guitar line. “Customize” also has a keyboard part that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on TSOL’s 1983 album Beneath the Shadows. 

Side B kicks off with three more raging songs, “Bite or Prey”, “Happy Captive” and “Destruktions”. On “A Million Ways”, they weave some washed out, new wavey guitars into the punk chaos. Second to last track, “Buyer Beware”, is among the album’s best. There is no filler on Til the End of the Weak. Closer, “Meltdown”, has a big anthemic lead guitar line and chorus. The beauty of Slaughter Boys is their ability to incorporate lots of different influences (and even organ) without losing their sound along the way. That sound is so full that it’s hard to believe the band is only a trio. 

There is definitely no sophomore slump on Til the End of the Weak. If rock and roll really is dead, somebody forgot to tell Slaughter Boys. 

For vinyl fiends: Garage Rock Records is a newer SoCal based label that started strong in 2019, before getting suckerpunched by the pandemic. Even in that short time, they’ve established a precedent for high quality vinyl releases. (In this case, the wax even came before streaming!) Til the End of the Weak is a nice heavy (160 gram) black press, with a lyric insert and sticker. Don’t sleep on this one – the first 200 are hand numbered and come with an embroidered patch.