Album Details

• Artist: Cop Problem
• EP:
Cop Problem
• Label: War Torn / Prejudice Me
• Year of Release: 2012
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: solitaryman on 2012-04-21

Another of the lengthy ranks of politically/socially motivated hardcore acts to bubble up from the Philadelphia, PA scene, Cop Problem debuted late last month with this self-titled EP, featuring 3 tracks of intensely scorching diatribe. Clocking in at a little under 9 minutes, the only serious complaint about the EP is a lack of material necessary to approximate a more credible idea of what Cop Problem really have to offer. But they make the most of the short time expended.

"Monuments" slowly builds to life, with a crushing and morose introductory section before pinning you to the ground with a full-out hardcore punk assault. In less than a minute, the band shows themselves capable of both setting an atmosphere with a slower, doomier pace and also of having the more traditional hardcore chops in speed and lyrical substance. Vocalist Deborah Cohen has some incredibly appropriate pipes on her, a violent, throaty rip to her voice that really lends itself to the nature of the beast. "Along For The Ride" wastes no time, shredding the listener in a minute and a half of potent aggression. "Blinded By Power" is by far the album's highlight, allowed to flesh itself out from a memorable hardcore thrashing into a more pensive, attention-grabbing pedestal of acoustic defiance. Towards the end of it's 5 minutes, all of the mixed emotion the track conjures explodes over a crescendo of intense and intruding light. More than anything else, "Monuments" and "Along For The Ride" show a band with more to offer than the standard hardcore far, while moments of all three tracks show them to be more than capable of exactly that. 

Promising more than totally rewarding, Cop Problem WILL leave you wanting more if you like what you hear. It's just not enough to satisfy, but hopefully the promise of a full-length, and the possibility of catching them live (where all hardcore acts either truly shine or truly falter, if you ask me), there's potential down the road for big things for this impressive young quartet.  

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