This article is a continuation on the series of band spotlights for this weekends festivities at Manic Relapse vol. 7. Yesterday we highlighted a great d-beat band from Olympia, Eteraz. Make sure you check that out here to stay up-to-date with everything Manic Relapse.

There are just a handful of scenes in this country and around the world that truly rise above the status quo. They churn out sick band after sick band. Groups melt together and become a blur as members hop from one project to the next. Austin, Texas is one of those scenes, and from that lone star city, Nosferatu is one of those bands. Noisey covered them and their city two years ago in an article highlighting Austin’s great punk fest, This is Austin, Not that Great.

Members of the band are shared with (or were at one point a part of) other crazy-good bands such as Enemy One, Institute, Blotter, Army, and Skeleton. Even discounting the sheer number of bands being pumped out of Austin (and it’s sister city, Houston) the quality of the music is palpably great and Nosferatu is no exception. They have a wild number of small releases from numerously respectable labels ranging from False Form and Malaysia’s Pissed Off to Lumpy Records.

Now, unimportant disclaimer: I regretfully have never seen this band live, and looking at footage online, it only seems necessary to disclose because it it looks like anyone who hasn’t is really missing out on something. The pits are insane and Albert Limones fucking goes all out. If you came here to check out the full video that I clipped for Instagram, the proof is at the bottom of the article. Jesus Christ.

As far as their discography, Nosferatu has one of the most jumbled Discog pages I’ve seen in a long while. For the sake of this article, I have condensed their work into three main releases: The First Year, Utopia (the “unreleased tour cassette”), and The ‘A’ Compound Sessions. Everything written between 2015-2016 is found on The First Year and if you follow the track listing found on the Pissed Off Records Bandcamp: Sounds of Hardcore EP is track 1, Debut EP Promotional Cassette is track 2, the split with Enemy One is track 3, Living In The Act Of Fear is track 4, Rejected Comp Tracks is track 5, and Solution A is the 6th and final track.

Nosferatu is a rare glimpse into 80’s hardcore at its finest sonically, musically, and artistically. Saying a band sounds dated in such a way should be a dig, but it’s not so for this caliber of punk. They have the kind of sound that seems to be plucked straight from This Is Boston, Not LA. Better yet, they sound like they could be missing tracks to the Faith/Void split. The treble-y, no low-end drum fills are hit at breakneck speed. The vocals are low in the mix and come off as madmen-rantings through a light room reverb filter. The guitar slides around the fretboard frantically.

The speed kills all hope for a properly timed song. Glancing at Bandcamp, it’s hard to not notice that each track has multiple songs, yet remain within the allotted time taken up by most pop songs on their own. Aside from that fact, the songs blend together to paint one large hardcore masterpiece within each track, even with the silence in between each small spasm of noise.

While the music is grounded squarely in the roots of hardcore, it can also feel ethereal. Light guitar melodies and riffs drift over windy breezes while the echo of the voice fades into nothingness. It’s a rare aural experience to witness this openness within punk. The quiet hiss of (maybe) a four track invades the air between takes.

It’s hard to judge what truly follows in Nosferatu’s discography. Based upon internet calculations The ‘A’ Compound Sessions seems to be the follow-up cassette to everything within The First Year. The quality is slightly higher with these tracks. The recordings are more dynamic and only adds fullness to the intensity what’s going on.

The most mid-tempo jam on this tape, “Solution Absolute” shows whatever growth the band earned during their first year. It has a clear idea and lets the tribal nature of the drums really shine as the bass cuts through. The slower sludge you find in this song highlights that great Austin sound you can also find in other local acts not often discovered in other scenes across America. But just as you’re slithering on the floor in some slimey slam dance, the band pushes you straight back into that rapid rager feel that makes Nosferatu the pinnacle of hardcore today.

I know a band is good when I’m sitting in a cafe physically restraining myself from slam dancing off my chair, which is exactly what The ‘A’ Compound Sessions did.

Gearing up for some West Coast tour they went on in August of 2017, the Austin group went back into the basement they crawled from to record Utopia. It’s not clear whether the tour or the tape was cancelled, but everywhere I look online the name is always refered to as the “unreleased tour tape”.

It’s another step up for Nosferatu, too. It includes a couple of samples, tape effects, and more soft guitar tones. They even cover two songs: Utopia by Descontrol and Lideres by Sedicion. The covers are jarring amidst their no-nonsense style only because it’s such a change of pace from their signature sound. Their progression as a band led them to this odd place where each songs feels like air escaping the body after holding one’s breath.

The only bummers about this band is that they haven’t toured more and haven’t released anything in the past year. They’ve been pretty active in Austin, including this year’s edition of This is Austin and the upcoming Manic Relapse and maybe I’ll be eating my words of regret faster than I anticipate.

I hope.

Catch Nosferatu live at Manic Relapse vol. 7 when they headline the Friday day show or show up early to see them towards the beginning of the Saturday main show. Check out the full lineup and fest schedule to know when and where you need to be to not miss ’em.