Standout Track: No. 5, “Doubt Crusades,” a circle-pit ripper that sounds like it could have come from a 1980s Dischord record. For two minutes, this D.C. quintet of punk vets crunches, explodes, and rumbles through meaty chords that are punctuated by the posi-core sentiments of singer Carlos Izurieta: “Don’t waste time on regrets!”

Musical Motivation: “We had a really bad show, and everyone was having doubt about the future of our band,” Izurieta says. But once Police and Thieves shook off the frustration, they went about finishing that tune—“I think it’s the best song we’ve ever written,” Izurieta says—to go with the other six that compose the Fracturing EP, which recalls the finest moments of Dag Nasty and Swiz.

Punk For Life: Police and Thieves has been together for five years, but it’s hard to get a foothold in the hardcore scene nationally unless you hit the road. “Most of us are little bit older, we have jobs, families. It’s hard for us to tour,” Izurieta says. Plus, despite the group’s classic harDCore sound, Izurieta says the band doesn’t really fit the mold. “We’re really not a straightforward hardcore-punk band, so I think it’s sometimes hard to read the crowd,” he says. “People don’t really know how to react.”