Slash Need - SIT & GRIN (2025) Hi-Res

Toronto's Slash Need have been a relentless force in the local scene for several years — earning a spot among Exclaim!'s Class of 2023, as well as festival slots all over Canada and the States — and now, they've finally delivered their debut album SIT & GRIN. Having mastered their theatrical live performance practice, the band put the chaos to tape for an unapologetic debut that's as brash as it is groundbreaking.

Blending industrial, post-punk and techno with vocals that oscillate between arresting and nonchalant, the album opens with seven-minute speaker-destroyer "BORDER TOWN," which sets the anxious pace for the rest of the Josh Korody-produced effort. Lead single (and the collection's strongest track) "LEATHER" follows, with its pulsating synth, driving beat and lyrics that could coax the kink out of a priest.

Like much of the album, "DOUBLE DARE" sounds like you've already blown out your eardrums alongside the house sound system; the band should offer strobe lights for sale alongside vinyl and merch for the full home-listening experience. Slash Need are among the most exciting acts to come out of Toronto in recent memory — pay attention, or you may pantyhose hog-tie yourself into missing the action.