There is no stopping Beth Seymour. In recent years alone she has released an alt-rocking autobiographical duology with The Lizzies and one of the finest Ramonescore records of the decade so far with Hormones. Now comes another project, La Famiglia, and naturally it heads off in a different direction altogether.

Alphabet Mafia is rooted in melodic hardcore, with Dag Nasty, AFI, Madball, and G.L.O.S.S. serving as useful reference points. It is as fierce as it is melodic, with Seymour, who wrote, recorded, and produced the entire album herself, howling and screaming her way through songs that occasionally echo some of hardcore’s most beloved melodies, chord progressions and dynamics.

This is the first La Famiglia record since Seymour came out as transgender, and that experience sits at the heart of the album. These songs turn transition, alienation, and backlash into a defiant hardcore narrative about self-recognition, mutual defense, and refusing to shrink to fit someone else’s idea of punk or gender.

In a genre that prides itself on challenging norms, Alphabet Mafia feels like a reminder of what punk is supposed to be in the first place.

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