REVIEW: XCOMM - Time To Burn

Few can say they’ve had as explosive a debut as Venice Beach based hardcore punks XCOMM; only fully formed in 2025 and barely out the gate, they’ve already made their mark in the hardcore scene with their ‘fuck around and find out’ sound, and lyrics that speak to the indignant youths facing injustice as well as the older punks still fighting the everyday bullshit machine. Fresh from signing to Blowed Out Records and supporting FOO FIGHTERS at their sold out charity show in January, XCOMM don’t have time to rest before their Warped Tour slot as they unleash their debut album Time To Burn, and it’s just as heated as it sounds.

Time To Burn brings together their early singles that put XCOMM on everyone’s radar, alongside an arsenal of tracks that came together through the band being vulnerable with each other and translating that emotion into shredding guitar, obliterating drums, and visceral screams. Produced by renowned Ross Robinson (SLIPKNOT, KORN) who “transformed [them] into musical weapons”, their vivacity and drive inspired him during the process and made him realise the importance of the “pulse of youth”.

Kicking off with their better known singles, Time To Burn fades in with feedback before Reasons goes full force with Revel Ian’s quick-fire beats and Jay Vargas’ riffs, dropping to Adan Escoto’s lone bass line before Michael Gatto’s punk screams pierce through, DJ Hunter Grogan peppering in unnerving synth and effects in the background - if you hadn’t limbered up beforehand, godspeed because the album refuses to let up from the first notes. Frenetic and frank, Hot Pursuit is 70 seconds of absolute carnage as Gatto screams that you should “run for your life” while steely drums and brief guitar solos echo around this threat. Blending straight into One And Nothing, the pace switches to more of an alt-punk rock feel while maintaining a blistering attitude as the bass rumbles throughout, the instruments working cohesively together as a unit. Fake ID strips back to cymbal roll intro, Ian layering different aspects of the drumkit as the song progresses, swiftly joined by Escoto and a dominating bass riff that doesn’t hold back as Gatto screams about being let into a venue to support a band.

Their most recent single and music video released, Borrowed Happiness, features a satisfying guitar riff harmony from Vargas and Gatto over repeated screams of “why why why why can’t you look at me?” as the drums build to a crescendo and the track fades out to a funky lick and background voices, immersively like you’re in the studio with XCOMM. Title track Time To Burn barrels in like an out of control freight train, the changing rhythm and beat as fired up as the acidic screams of “fucking burn!”. Leaving no room to breathe and recuperate, Pirates plunders (sorry, we had to throw in a pun) your ears and energy with a ferocious bass line leading into fast punk underlying lyrics around people who use and abuse for their own gain with “morality that’s paper-thin”.

Flipping the script on its head, Running Zeroes has more of an indie-punk sound to it that’s giving a little BAD NERVES crossed with HOT MULLIGAN in its composition, but with more pent-up punk that will inspire more let-loose dancing than a full-on mosh pit, with fuzzed solos and a catchy beat. Relevance lures you into a false sense of calmness before it launches headfirst into the rapid-fire punk that’s overtaken this album, Gatto screaming “don’t apologise for nothing” on a contradictorily upbeat rhythm before the chorus descends into a savage wall of noise and a relentless guitar solo. Opening with a near fatal bass line and stripped back drum beat swiftly joined by distorted guitar, No Teeth feels like a welcome kick in the teeth, entirely punchy and vulnerable in its lyrics of feeling out of place in today’s world and not knowing why, the infuriated emotion driving the lyrics and instruments to new heights.

Purity races through with solos and frosty riffs, with less than 90 seconds to make its fury and dynamism known, with subtle but effective sounds from Grogan complementing the frantic drums and screams. Negativity ends us on an energized high, switching from a “calmer” introduction and verses with Grogan’s eerie synths echoing in the background, compared to the catapulting chorus that sounds like everyone just decided to go fucking nuts and have fun. Time To Burn is an album that clamps down with its teeth from the first track and brands XCOMM as a band to have uproarious fun in the pits to - XCOMM is a band that understands you and is passing you the torch to burn everything down.

Score: 9/10

Time To Burn will be released on 22nd May 2026 via Blowed Out Records.

Words: Julia Stark

Photos: Darren F*cking Craig