Northeast Regional - Fitness 7" (uv vinyl)

Northeast Regional, the noisy power-punk band from Richmond, VA and Washington, DC return with a fierce new three-song EP, Fitness.

Off the back of 2023’s flooring debut album, Brand Managers of the Mid-Atlantic, Northeast Regional bring a leaner, meaner sound to Fitness.

Northeast Regional build on Lungfish’s “less is more” songwriting approach but increase the BPMs and volume. In lieu of hypnotic arpeggios, Northeast Regionals’ three-guitar attack echoes Rocket From the Crypt’s hefty rock riffs, Party of Helicopters’ metallic leads, The Hives’ hyper punk energy, Meneguar’s sense of melody, and even elements of Danzig all to coalesce into a colossal wall of sound.

With the rhythm section holding down a groove amidst the feedback, Fitness holds the listener in a vice grip as the band, appropriately, locks in without ever letting up.

The title alludes not just to the playlist-ready nature of the songs for your next HIIT session but also the lyrics, which explore the idea of being fit for society through expectations and rules — explicit or unwritten — among communities.

While drawing influence from the past, Fitness is not a throwback. It’s a soundtrack for a moment of modern living, complete with mass layoffs, polarization, economic uncertainty, and going against the grain of an “always on” culture.

Fans of hardcore-adjacent take note. For Fans Of: The Hives, Meat Wave, Drug Church, Spiritual Cramp, Squint, Strange Joy