Photo by Jonny Teigesser

Man, these guys couldn’t be more Canadian if they tried. They’re called Mad Trapper, which conjures up a mental image of some crazed backwoods hermit brandishing a bloody bear trap at anyone who dares disturb his solitude. They’ve almost definitely played with Fuck The Facts at some point. They’re wearing flannel in their promo shot. One guy has a beanie that is almost certainly hunter orange. They’re SMILING, for fuck’s sake!

Luckily for them—and for us—Canadian metal is generally pretty fucking great, and Mad Trapper is no exception to the rule. They look like nice, polite young men, and they probably are most of the time, but once the amps get turned on, it all goes to hell. Chunky metallic hardcore riffs flail and jolt, squalls of distortion screech in and out, a coagulated d-beat battles with jumpy up-tempo beats and downright blasts. Mad Trapper exerts a metric shit-ton of energy channeling Converge as often as they reach for Trap Them’s breakneck aggression and throw around the chug-chug-blast formula like they invented it.

Their debut full-length, Dead Living, is out June 29 via Sorrow Carrier Records, and we’ve got an exclusive stream right here for ya, bud.