“Despite the purported freedom afforded by underground music, the unfortunate truth is that so many of its available creative pathways lead to more dead ends. Be it a restrictive archetype or limiting sonic restraints, punk often sheds one status quo only to adopt another. But Jay Demko has never been satisfied with settling into a well-tread path. Best known for his stint in the short-lived but profoundly impactful 90s post-hardcore act Lincoln, Demko has spent the better part of 30 years defying convention. His newest band, Exit Angles, is merely the most recent outgrowth of that long-standing philosophy.

Debuting in 2023 with the LP A Sickness And a Fire (Blind Rage Records), the J. Robbins mixed affair saw Demko and co. tweaking the formula of the Washington DC post-hardcore on which he cut his teeth, injecting decades of experience into the concoction to remarkable effect. On their follow up, Iterate, Exit Angles picks up where they left off, honing the edge and further building on an already rock-solid foundation.

Self-recorded and self-released, Iterate is a masterful exercise in catharsis through the fine art of DIY. The threads of Dischord-inspired post-hardcore a la Fugazi and Lungfish established on their first LP remain fully intact, with a watertight rhythm section anchoring the floating, exploratory guitar work and Demko’s signature wail. Just as detectable is the influence of obtuse, challenging post-punk acts like The Fall and The Ex, showing through in the often chant-like nature of the songs, falling into satisfyingly deep musical and thematic grooves. Conversely, room aplenty is left for the joyously anthemic influence of almost-too-obvious-to-namedrop bands like The Clash, with no shortage of classically enjoyable choruses on display.

Beneath it all, Demko’s lyricism acts as a propulsive force unto itself, rejecting the notion that one is required to mellow with age. Lines like “United Nations; Just a fucking gang” evoke hardcore’s hyper-political spirit with satisfying punch and clarity, leaving nothing to the imagination. Other songs explore the personal with sublime, poetic grace, demanding repeated listens to fully decipher and comprehend. But whatever their thematic core, Demko never opts for the easy road, weaving evocative, incisive compositions that put him in an echelon occupied by only a select few of his contemporaries.

Like all great pieces of art, Iterate is a sum totaling far more than its integers. Dually thoughtful and aggressive, contemplative and reactive, Iterate is a document of a man not content to rest on his laurels; still asking the same questions of the world and of himself that hardcore begged in 1981, or rock ’n’ roll before it, or jazz before that. Namely, “Do we have to settle for things the way they are?” In Exit Angles’ estimation, no, but it might be complicated.”

– Grey Gordon