Spaced – No Escape
If ToeJam and Earl started a hardcore band, it would be Spaced.
Fueled by trippy instrumentals, old-school gang choruses, and effortlessly-cool swagger, the Buffalo “far out hardcore” crew rip banger after banger after banger on their radical new EP, No Escape.
Formed in 2021 with the shared ethos of channeling pain and anger into something fun and positive, vocalist Lexi Reyngoudt, guitarists Joe Morganti and Donny Arthur, bassist John Vaughan, and drummer Dan McCormick have put in work this year. They’ve recently wrapped up impressive domestic tours opening for super-heavyweight acts including Terror, Bane and Hot Water Music and now they’ve got the scene buzzing with their latest 5-track collection of bruising, psychedelic hardcore.
Opening No Escape is the title track; a gnarly rager that perfectly encapsulates the band’s infectious and in-your-face spirit. Give it a spin for a stoner jam intro filled with crash-and-burn dive bombs that give way to pummeling, stink-faced verses and bouncy, anthemic choruses. Reyngoudt’s pissed-off snarls command the track and occasionally bleed into trippy autotune accents, a unique recurring theme that adds to the record’s hallucinogenic sound. The chaos on “No Escape” reaches a fever pitch with a crushing breakdown that bulldozes everything that stands in its way, including you.
The defiant and empowering “Cause and Effect” is a protest song that refuses to be ignored. Amidst a rowdy crowd of heavy instruments, the track promotes a message of staying true to yourself in the face of adversity and oppression. “They try to tell us how to live / They try to tell us how to love,” Reyngoudt accuses through her voice-modulated bullhorn while marching to the beat of McCormick’s flashbang drums and Vaughan’s tank-rumbling basslines. The peace breaks halfway through and devolves into a knuckle-dragging time warp incited by otherworldly guitar noodling that sounds like Morganti and Arthur are making contact with extraterrestrial beings.
Up next is the aptly named, “Pressure.” This very fun and very heavy listen is pure kinetic energy that surges into satisfying hardcore mayhem. At first, you’ll feel your chest tighten with rolling toms that ratchet unbearable tension before cracking under a skull-crushing chorus. One of many standout elements is Reyngoudt’s hyped-up adlibs during a beefy breakdown. Delivered with the cadence of a hip-hop emcee, the frontwoman breaks up the track’s chunkiness with vocal morsels that spike your adrenaline to nuclear meltdown levels.
Saving the best for last is “Dog Bite,” a ferocious track that comes in hotter than Leeroy Jenkins. You’ll be instantly hooked by an imposing intro of hammering drums and catchy, trade-off gang vocals before this banger breaks free into a rabid punk beat. It’s an angry, but groovy listen that cranks up the band’s favorite themes including wailing guitars, punchy drums and gnashing vocals for a fulfilling end to this rowdy EP.
With No Escape, Spaced has cemented themselves as a band to watch. Reyngoudt is a standout frontwoman who, along with her bandmates, brings a fun, party-like intensity to their sound that is both fresh, vibrant and impossible to stand still for. Behind the scenes, Jay Zubricky of Buffalo-based AGR did a fantastic job capturing each member’s voice and tones while amplifying the concussive raw energy and emotion on each track. With 2025 in the can and 2026 poised to be a breakout year, this is one party you don’t want to miss.
No Escape is out now via Pure Noise Records and available on all major streaming platforms including Bandcamp, Apple Music and Spotify.
Categorised in: Album of the Week
This post was written by Matt Burgerhoff