This step is going to be a relatively small but still important one toward a well-balanced stenchcore diet and a harmonious relationship with the crustmos. So place your healing crustals on the table, light some sweat'n'cider-flavoured incense sticks and let's unclog those chakras.
I guess everyone here is familiar with the cavemen crust pioneers Extreme Noise Terror so prattling at length about them - as I normally would - does seem a little pointless. Besides, the inclusion of this ENT Ep into the present series has a lot to do with the fact that it is a live recording and a rather rare occurrence of savage but listenable live crustery on vinyl. The marriage between the extreme sonic characteristics inherent to the style, the very limited means of recording in the 80's and a marked inclination to get plastered before playing, explains that there aren't that many good live recordings of the classic crust era, which is a shame since those bands usually played a lot. I certainly can think of a couple of great ones (of Antisect and their three live Lp's and Amebix of course, and even Axegrinder, that were done through the mixing deck), but often it was just an enthusiastic hardcore punk fan armed with a tape recorder in one hand (and a pint in the other) which logically accounted for the sound quality being very rough and the listener being barely able to make out all the instruments amidst all the drunken blabbering of the punters sometimes. All in all a pretty amusing experience and certainly one that makes the passionate punk feel like an archeologist exhuming scarce and precious artifacts of an ancient civilisation, which is probably not completely wrong when one considers that every gig is filmed by at least twenty persons in the audience nowadays.
Are you that Desperate? belongs to that rare category of "listenable live recordings of 80's crust" and let's face it you need to master at least one of those if you want to be a credible crust punk. Apart from the aforementioned forefathers of the genre Antisect and Amebix, Extreme Noise Terror have been the only vintage crust band to enjoy a proper live record of one of their late 80's performances - although the first pressing of the Ep was only released in 1991 - namely their gig at the Powerhaus in London on October, 5th, 1989, with Doctor and the Crippens. Of course, Doom would also have a couple of solid live Ep's later on, 1992's Live in Japan and 2001's Pissed Robbed and Twatted, but those were not recorded in the 80's. Of course, you could also argue that protocrust noize masters Chaos UK - with the B side of 1986's Just Mere Slaves 12'' recorded in Japan - and Disorder - with their full Lp 1985's Gi Faen I Nasjonalitenten Din recorded in Oslo - had official live recordings on vinyl prior to ENT, but since we, at Terminal Sound Nuisance, posit that "crust" is both continuation as well as change, and that, although the Bristol hardcore heroes played a major role, in terms of musical influence, aesthetics and logistics, in the making of crust, they were not, strictly speaking and in spite of similar lifestyles and hygiene, "crust bands". Know what I mean?
Along with Napalm Death, ENT were the most iconic band of the mid/late 80's hardcore crust wave in Britain and their early works remain unsurpassable cult releases like Scum or War Crimes. However, whereas Doom, who started a bit later as a band, always stuck both to the ethics of the DIY punk scene and to their cavemen adaptation of Discard, ENT decided to go for bigger things, signed to Earache Records in the 90's and tried to become a medium-sized metal bands, leaving their crust punk roots and anarcho lyrics in the process, which was seen by many as selling out and understandably left a stain on the ENT name to this day even though the band (which was always singer Dean's band) have gone back to their old-school cavemen crust style and to DIY punk label, a return that some have deemed more than a little questionable and hypocritical. However I am not here to pontify but to talk about the actual piece of wax and the band's legacy because, as much as one may be critical of ENT's past direction, there is no denying the sheer power and insane intensity characterising their 80's period and in 1989 they sounded bloody unstoppable.
Like many a snot-nosed punk of yore, ENT was the first crustcore band I ever knew through their split Lp with Chaos UK, a record that did not really convert me to the cause of noize at first as it all sounded a bit much and just plain silly to me, whereas I immediately connected to Doom at about the same time. I remember not being able to get my head around ENT's dual vocals. Were they for real or just arsing around in the studio? And what about that name? Sure, your band can reasonably be described as an extremely noisy terror but does that justify being so literal? It took a listening session of A Holocaust in your Head while inebriated for me to really grab the essence of ENT. Many years have passed and my appreciation of late 80's ENT is strong and pure and I still cannot help singing along to "Murder" whenever I hear it (with the appropriate level of discretion that the social situation requires of course). The widely accepted current consensus concerning the band's body of works is that the Peel Sessions (all three of them: 1987, 1988 and 1990) along with the In It For Life split Lp with Filthkick are the most ferocious ENT records (and their cover of the Rejects has to be one of the most inspired punk covers ever), but you cannot go wrong either with the raw pogo crust power of Radioactive, A Holocaust in Your Head's emphatic - if a bit sloppy - template for the traditional dual vocal crust attack formula and 1991's Phonophobia certainly heralded the new era of controlled and tighter crustcore brutality that would define the 90's and climax with Disrupt's Unrest.
Contrary to Doom, with whom the comparisons are unavoidable because of common members, who pretty much stuck to their initial career plan to sound like Discard/Crudity/Svart Parad, the spectrum of influences of ENT - who grew out of the ashes of mid-80's bands Raw Noise and Victims of War - was broader and included, beside the Bristol noise merchants Chaos UK and Disorder and anarcho bands like '82 Antisect (to whom they owed their famous trade-off vocal style) or Anti-System, classic foreign hardcore bands from Japan (GISM, Swankys or Kuro, Italy (Wretched or EU's Arse), Finland (Kaaos or Rattus) in addition to the usual Swedish suspects (Anti-Cimex and Shitlickers). Those rather varied but always savage hardcore influences were then blended together until you obtained a smooth enough texture meant to be played at full speed, with cider-fueled intensity and with completely over-the-top extreme dual vocals that still manage to sound punk as fuck. To get back to Are you that Desperate?, it includes six absolute classic ENT classics: "Deceived", "Another nail in the coffin", "Subliminal music", "Murder", "Raping the Earth" and "Punk - fact or faction?". The Ep appropriately starts with "Deceived", and its classic and so epic introduction that has certainly sent shivers down many a spine throughout the years and is just the perfect opener. The sound is pretty decent and the band quite tight so that you can easily understand what is going on. I would not recommend this Ep to someone not previously familiar with ENT as it sounds even more brutal than usual - because of the proximity created by the live recording - like an enraged mob of drunk cavemen banging on your door at 2am. A couple of speeches between the songs indicate that the band was not too happy with the macho dancing and "metal attitudes" they were witnessing at the gig which I suppose is fairly positive and showed that they still cared and, beside the lyrics, there is a text entitled Meat Food for Thought exposing the impact of Western carnivorous diets in terms of pollution, ecological destruction and social inequities in developing countries, that is - sadly - still very much relevant.
The live Ep was originally released in 1991 but this present version of Are you that Desperate? is the second pressing from 1995 with the black border cover. Both were released on Crust Records, a Providence-based label run by Dropdead's guitar player that was responsible for a couple of noizy classics from the likes of Disrupt, Diskonto, Totalitär and of course Drodpead. My only minor issue with the Ep is that the cover, depicting a Oliver Hardy lookalike in a uniform pouting at a burger, is not what it could have been. Indeed, the drawing on the backcover with its crustier than thou gnomish caveman making noise out of a helplessly broken guitar would have made for a legendary cover (but since it already appeared on the insert of The Peel Sessions 1987-1990 maybe they refrained from the idea of putting it on the cover, I dunno).
Probably not the most ideal listen for an ENT novice but an undeniable treat for your inner crusty.
Are you that Desperate? belongs to that rare category of "listenable live recordings of 80's crust" and let's face it you need to master at least one of those if you want to be a credible crust punk. Apart from the aforementioned forefathers of the genre Antisect and Amebix, Extreme Noise Terror have been the only vintage crust band to enjoy a proper live record of one of their late 80's performances - although the first pressing of the Ep was only released in 1991 - namely their gig at the Powerhaus in London on October, 5th, 1989, with Doctor and the Crippens. Of course, Doom would also have a couple of solid live Ep's later on, 1992's Live in Japan and 2001's Pissed Robbed and Twatted, but those were not recorded in the 80's. Of course, you could also argue that protocrust noize masters Chaos UK - with the B side of 1986's Just Mere Slaves 12'' recorded in Japan - and Disorder - with their full Lp 1985's Gi Faen I Nasjonalitenten Din recorded in Oslo - had official live recordings on vinyl prior to ENT, but since we, at Terminal Sound Nuisance, posit that "crust" is both continuation as well as change, and that, although the Bristol hardcore heroes played a major role, in terms of musical influence, aesthetics and logistics, in the making of crust, they were not, strictly speaking and in spite of similar lifestyles and hygiene, "crust bands". Know what I mean?
Along with Napalm Death, ENT were the most iconic band of the mid/late 80's hardcore crust wave in Britain and their early works remain unsurpassable cult releases like Scum or War Crimes. However, whereas Doom, who started a bit later as a band, always stuck both to the ethics of the DIY punk scene and to their cavemen adaptation of Discard, ENT decided to go for bigger things, signed to Earache Records in the 90's and tried to become a medium-sized metal bands, leaving their crust punk roots and anarcho lyrics in the process, which was seen by many as selling out and understandably left a stain on the ENT name to this day even though the band (which was always singer Dean's band) have gone back to their old-school cavemen crust style and to DIY punk label, a return that some have deemed more than a little questionable and hypocritical. However I am not here to pontify but to talk about the actual piece of wax and the band's legacy because, as much as one may be critical of ENT's past direction, there is no denying the sheer power and insane intensity characterising their 80's period and in 1989 they sounded bloody unstoppable.
Like many a snot-nosed punk of yore, ENT was the first crustcore band I ever knew through their split Lp with Chaos UK, a record that did not really convert me to the cause of noize at first as it all sounded a bit much and just plain silly to me, whereas I immediately connected to Doom at about the same time. I remember not being able to get my head around ENT's dual vocals. Were they for real or just arsing around in the studio? And what about that name? Sure, your band can reasonably be described as an extremely noisy terror but does that justify being so literal? It took a listening session of A Holocaust in your Head while inebriated for me to really grab the essence of ENT. Many years have passed and my appreciation of late 80's ENT is strong and pure and I still cannot help singing along to "Murder" whenever I hear it (with the appropriate level of discretion that the social situation requires of course). The widely accepted current consensus concerning the band's body of works is that the Peel Sessions (all three of them: 1987, 1988 and 1990) along with the In It For Life split Lp with Filthkick are the most ferocious ENT records (and their cover of the Rejects has to be one of the most inspired punk covers ever), but you cannot go wrong either with the raw pogo crust power of Radioactive, A Holocaust in Your Head's emphatic - if a bit sloppy - template for the traditional dual vocal crust attack formula and 1991's Phonophobia certainly heralded the new era of controlled and tighter crustcore brutality that would define the 90's and climax with Disrupt's Unrest.
Contrary to Doom, with whom the comparisons are unavoidable because of common members, who pretty much stuck to their initial career plan to sound like Discard/Crudity/Svart Parad, the spectrum of influences of ENT - who grew out of the ashes of mid-80's bands Raw Noise and Victims of War - was broader and included, beside the Bristol noise merchants Chaos UK and Disorder and anarcho bands like '82 Antisect (to whom they owed their famous trade-off vocal style) or Anti-System, classic foreign hardcore bands from Japan (GISM, Swankys or Kuro, Italy (Wretched or EU's Arse), Finland (Kaaos or Rattus) in addition to the usual Swedish suspects (Anti-Cimex and Shitlickers). Those rather varied but always savage hardcore influences were then blended together until you obtained a smooth enough texture meant to be played at full speed, with cider-fueled intensity and with completely over-the-top extreme dual vocals that still manage to sound punk as fuck. To get back to Are you that Desperate?, it includes six absolute classic ENT classics: "Deceived", "Another nail in the coffin", "Subliminal music", "Murder", "Raping the Earth" and "Punk - fact or faction?". The Ep appropriately starts with "Deceived", and its classic and so epic introduction that has certainly sent shivers down many a spine throughout the years and is just the perfect opener. The sound is pretty decent and the band quite tight so that you can easily understand what is going on. I would not recommend this Ep to someone not previously familiar with ENT as it sounds even more brutal than usual - because of the proximity created by the live recording - like an enraged mob of drunk cavemen banging on your door at 2am. A couple of speeches between the songs indicate that the band was not too happy with the macho dancing and "metal attitudes" they were witnessing at the gig which I suppose is fairly positive and showed that they still cared and, beside the lyrics, there is a text entitled Meat Food for Thought exposing the impact of Western carnivorous diets in terms of pollution, ecological destruction and social inequities in developing countries, that is - sadly - still very much relevant.
The live Ep was originally released in 1991 but this present version of Are you that Desperate? is the second pressing from 1995 with the black border cover. Both were released on Crust Records, a Providence-based label run by Dropdead's guitar player that was responsible for a couple of noizy classics from the likes of Disrupt, Diskonto, Totalitär and of course Drodpead. My only minor issue with the Ep is that the cover, depicting a Oliver Hardy lookalike in a uniform pouting at a burger, is not what it could have been. Indeed, the drawing on the backcover with its crustier than thou gnomish caveman making noise out of a helplessly broken guitar would have made for a legendary cover (but since it already appeared on the insert of The Peel Sessions 1987-1990 maybe they refrained from the idea of putting it on the cover, I dunno).
Probably not the most ideal listen for an ENT novice but an undeniable treat for your inner crusty.
Nice write up, this will be the first time I've heard this record and I look forward to doing so. Saw them live a few times in the late eighties and always enjoyed their gigs. Incidently, the backcover image was drawn by Revs, one of the vocalists from Norwich's Rhetoric, though I don't think he ever got credited for it.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to dust this off, it's been quite a long time since it's seen the light of day. Great write up, BTW! :)
ReplyDeleteThe character on the cover is desperate dan from the UK comic the dandy. He was mad for "cow pies" hence the question are you that desperate.
ReplyDeleteAlright, that makes more sense. Thanks for the intel!
DeleteIt's awesome when you discover something new to read on the Internet, and it's an incredible write up on one of the favorite records of your youth. Well done, friendo. I'll be back for more.
ReplyDelete