����� There are things that tear at my soul. Man's endless capacity for cruelty towards animal life on this planet. The steady erosion of the middle class here in the USA. The superficial, ADD-afflicted nature of our culture. And the fact that the Swedish post-punk band Cross has only released this one, agonizingly brief 7". These guys popped up for a moment in 2014 and released the fantastic Pyre / Repetition EP, and we haven't heard anything else from them since. Made up of members of Masshysteri, The Vicious and Regulations, this duo delivers a killer blend of searing free jazz saxophone and malevolent post-punk with these two songs, and man, it rules. Both of these tunes have that classic early 80's-era gloom-punk thing going on, with cavernous guitars and frantic singing over jagged basslines and stumbling, off-kilter drumming; I can hear hints of Pornography-era Cure in here alongside the expected echoes of early Joy Division. But this is harsher, harder, and the way that saxophone wails across this thing gives it a uniquely jazzy vibe that really sticks out among all of the death rock/goth punk revival stuff I've been listening to. These guys give this stuff a raw, propulsive edge that's pretty addictive, especially the ghostly anthem "Repetition" that's still rattling around in my head amid visions of dead flies and ritual fires. I'd kill to hear a full-length from these guys. Comes with a digital download code.