The Austerity Program is a two-piece punk band with a drum machine. In punk, there’s taking a minimalist approach, and then there’s being two-piece punk band with a drum machine. To call The Austerity Program “punk” is stretching it, because the sound has very little in common with most punk music. Backsliders and Apostates Will Burn continues TAP’s trend of naming songs with numbers, but that’s one of the few interesting things you’ll get with this EP. For a group that uses a drum machine, the drums rarely do anything other than hold the rhythm perfectly. Justin Foley’s compositions indicate that he thinks dragging, uninspired, and choppy are equivalent to progressive and avant-garde. There are some bright spots scattered throughout “Song 26”, but overall, the lyrics are the only intriguing and worthwhile part of this EP, and even they barely save this from being a total disaster.