Chaotic Subversion / The Disturbed split tape

As it has been a while since the last post, I have decided to offer you a double dose of amazing punk-rock. Two for the price of one. Believe me that's a quite a bargain you're in for.

On the first side are the grand Chaotic Subversion and not only did they have a terrific (and cheesy) name, but their recordings include some of the snottiest anarchopunk I have ever heard. Judging from the cover (yes, that's a poorly drawn cartoon of the band rehearsing), one can easily notice that these young lads were also influenced by the Bristol glue-sniffing brigade of Chaos UK, Disorder, Ad'Nauseam. But like other followers of this cider-drinking cult around Britain at the time (Dirge, Caustic Filth, Insurrection, Plasmid...), Chaotic Subversion had seriously angry lyrics (from what I can decypher) and belonged to the mid-late 80's Scottish anarchopunk scene. They even had an anti-fur song, "Why fur?".

Musically, the "Law and order" demo is very much in the UK82 tradition (think Court Martial, Instant Agony, Septic Psychos, Actives and so on) and although it may already have been 5 years too late, they did it with heart, spikes and teenage anger. The second demo recorded in 1987 is even better as Chaotic Subversion started playing fast, raw straight-up hardcore-punk. Bass-driven, distorted guitars, drum rolls all over, this will please the Chaos UK/Disorder fanatics who will also notice a European hardcore influence in the mix (Italian hardcore comes to my mind. Wretched perhaps?) and the seeds of what was to become the almighty Sedition. If the name of the song "Why fur?" hadn't rung a bell (yes, that was a clue), let me tell you that Chaotic Subversion was a pre-Sedition band, hence the presence of this song that will also find its way in the Sedition set (and later in the Scatha one) and the strong ressemblance with early Sedition recordings from the 80's. Sounds awesome, right? Their side of the tape includes their two demos and a compilation track.

On the other side awaits another Scottish band called The Disturbed and amusingly enough, this bunch also had people who would go on to play with Sedition, Disaffect, Scatha and even TRIBE. How incestuous can the punk scene get! If you want to know more about Chaotic Subversion/Sedition and The Disturbed, I strongly advise to read the chapters about Scotland in "Trapped in a scene" (I know this book starts to take on a biblical importance here...).

Back to the tape, you'll find The Disturbed 4th demo of 1987, a rough and ready practice of the same year, their 1988 Ep called "This is credibility" and a compilation track. Though some songs are reminiscent of Anti-System or AOA, the band played beefy, fast punk-rock in the Varukers/GBH/Broken Bones/One Way System vein, which made sense their singer also used to front Last Rites in the early 80's. Interestingly, it wouldn't be far-fetched to point out that The Disturbed were sonically not unlike how were to sound 90's British hardcore-punk bands. The songs are aggressive, the sound is raw but dynamic and you can even actually understand what the singer is on about sometimes (but still not too often). Again, lyrics are political and serious and deal with everyday life's hardships.

If you don't like this, you should give up on punk-rock.

Chaotic Disturbing Subversion