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Buried Alive

Direct Hit! has been getting people pumped for well over a decade. Back in 2013 they came onto my radar through their debut LP on Red Scare, Brainless God. People were raving about this album when it came out, and I enjoyed it, but it was a bit of a grower for me. There were songs on it that were very (sonically) '97 Blink 182 to me, and I wasn't quite sure what to make of that..because they were mixed in with songs that were 80s(ish) hardcore punk and the odd public domain twisting (after a good minute of trying to make heads or tails of the 90s pop punk element I realized that Direct Hit! [and Rational Anthem] are giving me that follow up to Dude Ranch that I've pined for [but with far better lyrics]). Brainless God was a roulette wheel of sounds. I typically get into the sonic elements before lyrics, so I can be a little slow on the uptake of concept albums, it took a while for me to really digest Brainless God. Luckily I took the time to really get into Direct Hit!, once they finally clicked with me I was in it for the long run. Direct Hit! bangs. Wasted Mind and Crown of Nothing (in addition to their split with Pears Human Movement) have been and continue to be in heavy rotation. The addition of Maura to the band has me (somehow) even more excited for their next album. Pop punk here, hardcore there, melody, yelling. You never know exactly what you're going to get, but you know it's going to be amazing. 

On a trip south of the 49th my wife picked me up a bag of Doritos Roulette Flamin' Hot Limon flavored tortilla chips. I enjoyed Doritos roulette chips before when they had the three heats so I was intrigued by this new entry into the mix. "Attention some chips may be super sour" warns the front of the bag. The first one that I put into my mouth fell into this super sour category, it was as if I took a shot of 50/50 lime and lemon juice concentrate then put a Dorito chip into my mouth (very little flamin' hot about it). It's quite aggressive and does not taste natural. Then there are the chips that are more flamin' hot with a hint of lemon/lime, if you haven't had flamin' hot flavour, well, it's an acidic heat, I'm not terribly into it, but apparently the whole country of the USA is because Frito Lay's does flamin' hot everything. The citrus sourness is a bit much for me with these chips. Consuming them on their own without any form of dip gets quite tiring like 1/4 of the way through the bag. If you're in the store and wanting to take a spin of the wheel, maybe try to land on something more enjoyable like Sweet Chili Heat (or whatever it's called in the States) or Cool Ranch.

Stay hydrated,

Marc

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