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Consisting of members of Midnight, Toxic Holocaust and Cauldron, Vanik’s brand of supercharged Venom vs Motörhead brawl contains a sunnier and slightly tighter brand of gritty rock’n’roll than that of the underbelly sleaze in which the instantly comparable comrades in Midnight produce. Conjuring scenes of 80s LA hardcore, skating empty swimming pools and late-night horror film sessions, Vanik is a powerful focused, high-energy debut from a band that only formed in January. Born from numerous demos and laid down in just one weekend, it contains an urgency and aggression whilst keeping things fun and uncomplicated. Filled with high-speed grooves, a relentlessly precise punk rock battery and swaggering basslines that would make Lemmy proud, Vanik keep proceedings strictly old school. Songtitles such as Dr Speed and Midnight Ghoul also serve as an ode to more innocent times when subject matter was kept to simple themes of carving up the local skate spot, women, booze and Satan.