Truth or Consequences (Monofonus)

Cute Is What We Aim For singer Shaant Hacikyan famously said that rape culture isn’t a thing. Shortly thereafter, he had his mind changed by the public, but Hacikyan could have saved himself a whole lot of career-stalling Internet shaming if he had only listened to Lié’s 2014 debut full-length, Consent. That album was a scathing rebuke of rape culture’s shamefully persistent existence, and should be mandatory listening for all college freshmen, helping bros to check themselves before they wreck themselves and their would-be victims.

With Lié’s raw punk power honed and supercharged by another year of touring, and sinking its teeth deeper into its early postpunk and noise influences, the Vancouver power trio still addresses misogyny on its sophomore effort, Truth or Consequences, but its lyrical breadth expands into equally complex questions of identity, privilege, and ego. With the ever-sharpening skills of bassist-vocalist Brittany West (Koban), guitarist-vocalist Ashlee Luk (Minimal Violence), and drummer Kati J (SBDC) cranking out nine tracks over the course of 23 minutes, all recorded and engineered by Jordan Coop at Noise Floor Studios, this record is a fuzzed-up cold punk assault that grabs you from the first note and hangs on screaming to the bitter end.