HOON’s Speed and Fatigue Is a Blistering Punk Punch to the Face of Modern Burnout

Wollongong’s HOON have long been a local punk secret — but with ‘Speed and Fatigue’, they’re ready to spit, smash, and scream their way into wider ears.  HOON describes ‘Speed and Fatigue’ as capturing “tension and humour from the edge of burnout, debt, and disillusionment in so-called Australia,” and they deliver on that promise across 12 fierce tracks. 

The album rips into the absurdities of late-stage capitalism — housing stress, wage stagnation, government contradictions, censorship, and class privilege — but it never feels preachy or overwrought. Instead, it’s loaded with sardonic humour, biting social critique, and raw, sweaty punk energy. 

It kicks off with ‘Rinsed’, a jagged anthem for anyone feeling crushed under rising costs and a rigged system. ‘Simon Says’ follows, a personal gut-punch exploring the impact of divorce on young people. Focus track ‘Trainspotting’ surges with anthemic chants and thunderous riffs, building cathartic garage rock designed to be screamed back live. 

READ MORE: The Amity Affliction Launch New Era With Gut-Wrenching Single ‘All That I Remember’

HOON knows when to have fun too: ‘Do It’ is a celebration of DIY jamming and carefree days, while ‘Hot Shot’, featuring Phoebe Price (Private Wives), gleefully turns an absurd ice cream craving into a metaphor for endorphin chasing. ‘Pay Your Tick’ flips a government anti-drug poster into a punk laugh, and “U R WAT U EAT” powers forward as a high-octane, live-show favourite. 

The album’s back half takes heavier swings: ‘Mitsubishi Pills’ delivers a savage critique of the art world’s elitism and class gatekeeping, ‘S.O.L’ pairs gritty bass and relentless drums with a stripped-down, chant-like vocal, and ‘King of Thieves’ plunges into post-punk and shoegaze textures to explore themes of death and loss. 

It all closes on ‘Crows’, a beautifully refined jam that showcases HOON’s core: a band that thrives on raw experimentation, friendship, and making music that feels urgent and alive. HOON is set to take ‘Speed and Fatigue’ across Europe — over 30 shows in Germany, Netherlands, Prague, France, Spain, and Switzerland, with Aussie tour dates coming soon. 

Speed and Fatigue isn’t just another punk album. It’s a punch-drunk, cathartic, fiercely funny document of modern burnout, made by a band that knows how to rage, laugh, and look you dead in the eye while doing it.