Could crust punk's obsession with war, skulls, destruction and Discharge be akin to a sort of pathological condition? It is common knowledge that this fixation has often been the source of mockery and subjected to derision throughout the genre's history but, like the unstoppable and omnipotent war machine, like the endless bombraids maiming civilians, it seems that one cannot escape the inevitability of such topics in any band proven guilty of beating the proverbial D. Although punk's war imagery and morbid representations can be said to almost always aim at denouncing the madness of armed conflicts and the need to proverbially protest and survive, as opposed to extreme metal's fascination with death, gore and weaponry, there is no denying that the obsession with war, even out of disgust and outrage, prevails in the stenchcore underworld and among the crust reprobates. I have wished for a crust version of Hard Skin for a long time, but a humorous take on the genre, in spite of its acute sense of self-awareness, does not seem likely to emerge any time soon (ironically, the closest band to offer such a bantering perspective was one of the genre's initiators, Sore Throat).
You could say that noughties crust, globally, was marked by a growing tendency toward a more forthright referentiality, perhaps through the impulse and influence of Japanese crust that was made possible with file-sharing, but mainly because almost 15 years after the genre was born, the elements - be they musical, visual or olfactible - that defined crust as crust had already been fixed and sedimented. The path had already been trod for enough time to justify and legitimize crust as an actual genre, therefore crowning its characteristics as immanent, leaving many 00's crust acts to play with formerly established traits inherent to the genre. This not to say that the 00's were totally deprived of unique crust bands bringing something new to the genre (Lost can attest to it), but, for the most part, the decade was defined by a will to pay tribute to the ancients and maintain the crust tradition and not really change it, although it could be argued that the strengthening of this conservative stance can be seen as a meaningful evolutionary shift in itself.
Enter After the Bombs, one of the bigger names of the 00's stenchcore revival. Not unlike Nuclear Death Terror (previously tackled here), and perhaps even more actually, the band's unabated passion for crust's lexicology pervaded every dimension of this Montreal-based unit. To be quite honest with you all, my loyal readers, children of the Night and comrades in the battle for crust supremacy over shoegazing, I have always had reservations about the band's moniker and never really enjoyed it. Did such a petty qualm keep me from boasting an After the Bombs shirt? Of course, it did not. However, I have always felt that the name would have been more appropriate for an orthodox d-beat band. The name still nodded in right and numerous directions: from the top of my head Doom's "After the bomb", Dischange's "After the war scars", Iconoclast's "After the massacre", Disclose's "After an air attack", Hellbstard and Discard's "Death from above" or Bolt Thrower's "Attack in the aftermath", just far too many combinations of the words above and paraphrases to mention here. Does "After the Bombs" work for a stenchcore band? Yes and no. Claiming that it bears no relevance to classic crust would be a gross exaggeration as it does evoke the aftermath of war and surviving the apocalypse, two pillars of crust's philosophy, but on the other hand it seems a little lacklustre for what really was a top band (or perhaps it was meant to be a cliché in an act of postmodernist irony).
ATB formed in January, 2004, in Montreal, and the band can be rightfully considered as the continuation of the magnificent - not to mention better-named - Hellbound with singer Janick and the two guitar players Stian and Jason all formerly part of the latter. Hellbound could also count on experienced people previously involved with Montreal 90's crust stalwarts Global Holocaust - a rather prolific band that had stopped playing in 1996 - and were a force to reckon with in the early 00's. Although cruelly overlooked today, HB recorded a minor crust masterpiece in the guise of their side of the 2002 split Lp with Despite, a fantastic example of old-school metallic dual-vocal filthy crustcore delivered with brute force and power (truth be told, it followed a rather messy split Ep with Scorned in 2000). Twenty years after its release, I cannot think of many bands working with a similar pattern who came close to that recording session (the followup, a split cd with Waves from Japan, was not quite as potent despite a convincing cover of Anti-System). I really toyed with the idea of covering HB instead of ATB but, after some seriously exigent fasting - also called going for six hours without food in the first world - and days of intellectually challenging hesitation, I opted for the more recent and more iconic of the two, but do pay some attention to HB if you are into CRUST.
ATB's first move was an Ep entitled Terminal Filth Stench Bastard in 2005, released on Oslo-based Sjakk Matt Plater, a label run by a bloke from Dishonorable Discharge, probably thanks to Norwegian guitarist Stian's connections. I remember getting this Ep from Profane Existence while vaguely aware of the band's past connections. The description included references to classic crust bands like Sacrilege, Antisect and Deviated Instinct which always triggered - and in fact still do - uncontrollable buying impulses that just cannot be interfered with because of my tendency to bite when frustrated. The Ep was entitled Terminal Filth Stench Bastard, a deliciously silly name, in retrospect, but one that shamelessly and unambiguously revealed where the band stood on the crust thermometer. I suppose you could say that ATB was an early but quintessential example of a stenchcore revival band, with an opening effort named after Deviated Instinct's pivotal demo Terminal Filth Stenchcore and an additional nod to Hellbastard, just to be safe, doubting their position on the subject was unwise and a potentially mortal peril. ATB carried a wartorn banner stating "this is proper crust for proper crusties" and, by openly embracing the stenchcore tag, signaled that the listeners should come prepared for an old-school metallic crust assault which the band conducted excellently on the first Ep. Four songs of mostly fast and hard-hitting heavy thrashing crust with plenty of crunchy Sacrilege-like moments and the ferocity of Antisect combined with appropriately übercrust artwork displaying, on the cover, a winged skull pierced by a sword while wearing a necklace made of missiles, while the backcover (courtesy of Chany from Inepsy) revealed three impaled skulls with charged hair above a torn war banner. Just another day at the crust office. The production is quite raw and dirty but very powerful which makes it sound like a collection of stenchcore songs played through a raw punk filter. Pummeling and filthy crust with ferocious reverbed female vocals which was quite unusual in 2005. These days, everyone and their mother entangled in the distorted d-beat raw punk race use reverbed vocals but I don't remember it being the case at all at the time and I recall being quite astonished but in a good way as the vocals sounded different and firmly conveyed an old-school 80's vibe to the songs.
After such a convincing Ep, one would have thought that ATB were going to use the momentum to unleash an even better followup quickly but at least two years passed - more likely around three, I seem to remember getting the Lp in 2008 although Discogs indicates 2007 as the year of release - before the band reappeared on the crust radar. However long and, in my case, morose the wait might have felt, ATB came back in style to say the least since they released no less than one album and two Ep's in one single year which exemplified an "all or nothing" approach that might not have been the soundest choice. The band can at least pride themselves to have produced a classic old-school crust Lp which is more than most could claim. Relentless Onslaught was recorded from April, 2006 to May, 2007, a unusually long period which accounted for the delay. With five songs under its belt (at the time the Lp felt a bit short, like Stormcrow's first album, but with hindsight and age-induced hearing loss, it is just fine), the album proved to be a better produced affair which, given the format, was for the best as rawer productions fit shorter works better. The improvement in terms of sound felt like a logical step ahead and was coherent with the story told by the album. The specifications were very similar to Terminal Stench Filth Bastard - namely Sacrilege jamming with Antisect in 1986 - this time with an Axegrinder-meets-Misery influence more prevalent on the slow apocalyptic moments and a thrashier Nausea vibe when ATB take the fast crust option (the balance between pounding speed and apocalyptic galloping slowness is just perfect) and I would also love to include the magnificent, and sadly unknown, Jesusexercise in the "influence column" but it might be wishful thinking. The Lp even starts with an eerie synth sound as a delicious nod to the old-school UK crust tradition. It has to be stated that few bands - if any - pulled out the Sacrilege-worship with as much gusto and taste as ATB (even the overabundance of cheesy guitar solo should be read from that perspective). You could claim that there is too much reverb on the vocals (or that the line "The shade of your own shadow" is a literary failure) but, in the light of the recent evolution of crust and the generalization of reverbed vocals, ATB can appear as unintentional precursors that are not to be confused with the subsequent pack, not unlike Invasion/Destino Final although they worked a different field. I personally do not mind the effect and am quite able to recognize its synchronic value.
The rather impressive artwork was done by Marald, a Dutch artist that has specialized, among other things, in the visual side of crust and hardcore for the past 20 years (he drew for State of Fear, Destroy!, Vitamin X or Wolfbrigade). In the noughties, many crust bands entrusted the Dutch artist with the task of giving life to decidedly grim and macabre figures as ornaments to their records and crustness certificates. In ATB's case, the cover depicts the four horsemen attacking a city, while the inside of the gatefold is graced with a reworking of the band's logo from their first Ep, this time with added putrefied heads holding a missile on their tongue (!) on both sides, a bullet belt, some barbed wires, a crow eating at a massgrave in the bottom-right corner and a city in ruins in the bottom-left. I you don't realize this is a crust Lp when holding the record in your hands, then there is something really wrong you; or you might be going blind and need to go see an ophthalmologist; or you are just in denial for the sake of it and are the kind of man who believes in flat earth theories. Relentless Onslaught was released on Total End Records (the label run by people from, wait for it genius, Total End/Diallo among others) and Vex Records based in Connecticut and responsible for some solid records from Man the Conveyors and Bomb Blast Men among others. The same year, two other ATB records got released, the Spoils of War Ep on Total End and the Bloody Aftermath / Black Horse of Famine Ep on Distort Reality. There is no recording details about those two but they sound like they were taken from the same session. With three new numbers exactly in the same vein and two covers (Bathory and Onslaught, which was a great choice) I suppose it would have worked better as a split Lp with another band because the Ep's sounded a little contrived compared to the top quality album. Don't get me wrong, they still did enough to deliver the goods, but just enough and I cannot help but think there is something off with the band's timing and chronology.
ATB sadly split up in 2008 and I wish they hadn't because they had the potential for more crust goodness. I definitely can imagine them in a totally epic Axegrinder mode with synth and a more narrative songwriting. Oh well. Singer Janick went on to front Truncheons and Parasytes, Jason played in Ilegal and Kontempt and Matt also did Truncheons and No War.
EDIT: Jannick also played in Fractured, Jason also played in Pura Mania and Spectres, Clint did a stint in Kozmar, Matt played in Sexface, Stian did Dishonourable Discharge and Josh played in Sporadic and Skraeling. Thanks to Josh for the resumes!
class record, they kicked bottom live too, top band.
ReplyDelete