NOISEY 061: NOTHING

This snarling quintet is the latest installment in the ever-evolving Berlin punk community. Formed in late 2010, Nothing stormed out the gate with a no-frills, hesitation-free attitude that recalled the heady days of 80s hardcore. The band fired out its debut full-length within a couple of months, cementing itself as a dissident pillar of the new Berlin scene.

Such a meteoric rise is unsurprising when you take Nothing’s illustrious roster into account. Each member has already left their own indelible mark on the recent German spate of crossover thrash and crust. Three of the core players cut their teeth with the youth crew mercenaries Highscore, while other members sport resumes that include work with classic acts like Mönster, Situations, Nails, and Bombenalarm. Nothing’s sound is a raucous, abrasive amalgam of those former projects.

As the band picks up speed, it continues to set its sights on the D.I.Y. aesthetics of the early 80s. The band pulls its name from the classic Negative Approach track, a highlight from that seminal group’s 1982 debut. Nothing channels the crippling old-school of Poison Idea and the scummy sturm und drang of 1980s NYHC, a moment when US punks turned towards the more abrasive sound of hardcore and Berlin was still a divided city.