(həd) p.e. – “Sandmine” (EP Review)

This is the 6th EP from renown Huntington Beach g-punk outfit (həd) p.e., which has always been masterminded by Jahred Gomes despite it’s revolving door of members throughout the 27 years they’ve been together. Standouts in the crew’s discography include their self-titled debut, Broke, Back 2 Base X, Insomnia, New World Orphans, Truth Rising & even their previous album Class of 2020 that came out the day before Broke’s 20 year anniversary last summer. It was originally intended to be the group’s last effort for a while but due to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the 2020 presidential election & the birth of Jahred’s daughter, (həd) p.e. is channeling all of their inspiration from all 3 of those events into Sandmine with the help of Suburban Noize Records backing it.

The title track is a thrashy opener quenching for blood whereas “False Prophets” serves as a punky jab at Donald Trump. The song “R.T.R. (Respect The Republic)” goes into rap rock territory talking about rebellion while the penultimate track “Deathtrip” is a skate punk joint with Jahred talking about risking his life. Finally there’s “Let Me Know”, which is a reggae rock cut trying to figure out what’s on his lovers’ mind.

Class of 2020 was a great throwback to (həd) p.e.’s roots & Sandmine is just as great to me personally. Once again, they’re taking it back to the basics except Jahred & company sound a lot more pissed off than they did when we last heard them 11 months prior.

Score: 8/10