Ohhh crusted punk gods of death and ferocity be praised, we have found something nice for you guys today. From the riotous folds of the always-killer 12XU label (XETAS, Flesh Lights, etc.) comes yet another band as hard and fast as it is smart, this one going by the name Empty Markets.

Empty Markets is long-time heavy music maker Drew Schmitz’s new project (formerly of Cruddy, The Hex Dispensers, Brain Attack and more), and they’re just a few days from releasing their first album, the sure-to-be hard edged Stainless Steel. It’s not just the name that gives away that this record is going to be full of clean, devastatingly sharp hardcore tracks; in anticipation of the release, Empty Markets have put out the first two songs of the album on Bandcamp, and they are nothing if not dangerously loud and hard.

We’ve got our favorite here for you, a track called "Rash Decisions" that features absolutely one of the best intros of any noise song we’ve heard in a long time. "Rash Decisions" is a lesson in how to build a noise punk track, layering one-by-one a bass riff that’s fast even for standards of music like this (by which we mean punk-influenced heady shit; there’s not all that much music exatly like this), then an ear-gripping rolling thunder of a hardcore drum beat, and a droning, chundering guitar blast that busts the song wide open and sweeps everything up in a hurricane of sound that the track’s frantic dual vocalists ride on top of like harpies of art rock. It is savage, raging stuff, and we love the fuck out of it.

Now is truly a great time for heavy music in Austin, with seemingly band after band coming out of the gnarled punky woodwork with excellent hard music, and Empty Markets has absolutely carved its own space out in that genre with these tracks. We are awaiting the April 8 release of the full Stainless Steel with fists raised and a’ready to pump, and in the meantime, here’s somethin’ good and loud to throw your body and brain around to.