Slutworld

If political art becomes more timely post-release, it’s usually because the injustices it addresses began long before they rose to broader public consciousness. When Slut Intent introduced themselves as Minneapolis’ newest “hardcore girl band” mere days into 2024, Renee Good was still alive and all four cops convicted in George Floyd’s murder were locked in prison. The band’s first song, “Peppa Pig,” dropped that March, but its howls of derision about cruelty and betrayal ring even clearer today. That’s doubly true of Slutworld; the quintet’s debut is a raging slab of punk that’s powerful on its own and hits like a baseball bat when swung in defense against the people who would try to pin you, your loved ones, and your neighbors to the ground.

Slut Intent know two things to be true: Community is everything, and when the time comes, you probably have to fend for yourself. On Slutworld, all five members—singer Katy Kelly, guitarists Elena Bittner and Kailyn Grider, bassist Astrid Pulse, and drummer Cara Hagstrom-Skalnek—make a deafening thrash, refusing to stay still or silent in the face of hostility. They can talk your ear off about Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and the murder mysteries of The Traitors as readily as they can the blood-stained hands of billionaires in “Slut Internet” or the dire fight for bodily autonomy in “Bonkers Even.” Kelly pins rape apologists against the wall and forces them to own up on “Acrylics,” where a single melodic hardcore breakdown sends a shiver down your spine. Slut Intent never hesitate to illustrate their brute force in the music.

On “Glitch,” Kelly confronts masked intruders as they storm the city with impunity, clocking how their actions fan the flames. “So desperate to retain/Power and control/But you’ll never feel safe/’Cause it’s not your home,” she spits in their faces. The syncopated drum hits that arrive in the song’s dropout offer her a fleeting second to catch her breath before charging back. “We brought the matches/To a world you filled with gasoline,” she sneers over the album’s harshest metalcore guitars.

Slutworld is visceral not just in its indignation, but its visualized threats, the majority of which take an “eye for an eye” approach. As the taste of spite coats her mouth in “Slut Internet,” Kelly spits out a warning: “If they’re going to balance every human need on a knife’s edge/They should remember it cuts both ways.” If the cops shove civilian faces into the scalding pavement, ignore their screams, and watch blood trickle down their cheek, Kelly promises her tormentor that she’ll do the same to them. “You took my life and now I’ll take yours,” she screams on “Mr. Chariot” as her bandmates pummel a hardcore beat into the dirt. With tired breaths, she tacks on a guttural “Fuck!” Revenge is exhausting work.

It’s clear Slut Intent believe that the world is beyond fucked, but it’s not unfixable, particularly if your bucket of cleaning supplies happens to come with a lighter and a balaclava, too. “Girls Night” sets the scene: crowds clamoring on executives’ rolled-sod lawns, setting fire to weaponized police cars, scrapping the invented rules that keep power unchecked. There’s nothing to lose when you can’t afford to pay the bills. Slut Intent chose this track, their bluntest call to action, to conclude Slutworld. “The songs unheard/Will bring us something better,” Kelly promises those with muffled voices. With that, she swings the microphone their way and cranks the volume.