An adventure in split Ep's! I have no gun but I can split: SCATHA / THE DAGDA "S/t" split Ep, 2003

Being a little too young to have witnessed Scatha live is one of those regrets I have had for a while, one that will likely never fade although it is clearly not my fault (not like that time I actually gave away for free my copy of Fall of Efrafa's Owsla, a first pressing that costs no less than 100€ today). From what I have read the band was a powerhouse live with a show-stealing drummer. And it doesn't happen that often. There are usually two situations that makes one take a look and notice the drummer during a gig. It's either because he or she is excellent and you just look in awe, enthralled at the magics or because he or she badly fucked up a couple of songs and you're wondering how plastered he or she got before playing. The latter option is pretty easy to spot since the guitar player always turns and looks at the red-faced bellend with serious concern and murder in the eyes while the singer, still facing the audience, desperate tries to maintain some kind of dignity. Oh well. Scatha's drummer belonged to the first category of course. The man is a Celtic octopus.

To be quite honest they were a band I did not quite get at first. Being advertized as having ex-members of Disaffect (I read this on a DIY distro ad promoting the band somewhere), I was expecting some fast punishing hardcore thrash but they were more complex and when I initially bought Birth, Life and Death in 2003 I was basically more than a little... circumspect. I did not dislike it but I was used to much simpler things. It's a bit like eating a chocolate layered vegan cake for the first time after years of stuffing yourself with fake Nutella. It's still chocolate-based but not as straight-forward. It took some time but I eventually did get and grown to love Scatha, which as you will learn in the foldout cover is pronounced "something like sca-huh" (that's punk linguists for you) and is the name of Celtic warrior queen. The crazy tribal rhythmic beats of the music the band used were certainly more challenging than Scatha's imagery and lyrics rooted in Celtic culture. I owned Oi Polloi's Fuaim Catha so I knew that it had nothing to do with the despicable use of Celtic symbols by neo-nazis, dodgy metal bands or my uncle Bob's dreadful tattoos. If anything a band like Scatha did teach me a few things about Celtic culture, belief system and their land-based worldview just like The Casualties taught me that punx and skinz should unite, look good on the streets and get drunk. Who said punk-rock couldn't educational?

The Dagda on the other side were the perfect, the ideal, the obvious counterpart to Scatha. Hailing from Belfast, the band's name refers to a pagan god in traditional Irish celtic mythology often represented with a cauldron and a magical harp. Thankfully the band did not use any of these attributes in their actual music as they did not exactly play experimental trippy hippie music. Just imagine the face of a grumpy sound engineer upon seeing a punk band unloading a fucking harp from their tour van. Priceless. I already knew The Dagda when I bought the split Ep through their excellent Threefold Lp which I listened to a lot (I wish the cover looked better though, I mean, why yellow?). Scatha and The Dagda together on the same record sounded like the most reliable idea where nothing could go wrong, just like a Scottish Bret Hart versus an Irish Mister Perfect in 1993. 

Each band delivered one song on this one. Scatha's "Rant" starts off with a sample from the movie Easy Rider (Glycine Max actually used the very same one to introduce "Violent mind // Peaceful heart") before unleashing their unique brand of epic tribal metallic crust with an almost trance-like vibe that makes one want to sacrifice English policemen. Scatha were a pretty unique band, like Bad Influence or Contropotere, so that they are quite difficult to properly describe. As mentioned the drummer is on fire and each one of his many (and I mean many) tense dynamic rolls actually enhances the songwriting - as he's not (just) showing off - and help turn the songs into powerful cohesive units. There are hints of Disaffect and Sedition in the guitars, fairly logical considering the two guitar players were respectively involved in those band, but Scatha is the crustier band, definitely. Sometimes I am reminded of Misery's apocalyptics mixed with the writing flair and tunes of late Hiatus when they started to progress musically, maybe some sludgecore too and with those recognizable screaming anguished vocals. Production-wise "Rant" is not Scatha's heaviest moment although it certainly still rocks enough and I love how the different parts and paces of the songs work with each other smoothly. This number was recorded in April, 2022 and this was the band's swan song (two other songs that were to be included on the discography were recorded during the same session). Members of Scatha would eventually take part in bands like Ruin or TRIBE, the latter being the logical sequel in terms of Celtic tribal crusty hardcore. 

On the other side, one song from The Dagda is offered, a band whose live performance in 2005 in Bradford was one of the best I had ever seen (granted I was getting a little tipsy when they started playing but then it was already late, like at least 8pm). They were an absolute powerhouse. I suppose you could say the band fell under the "neocrust" umbrella to an extent, a term that has become so synonymous with the 00's that it is seldom used as a praise. And to be fair most of the bands associated with this wave (although none of them claimed the term for themselves as I remember) haven't exactly aged well. When it all kicked out following the success of Tragedy and From Ashes Rise, I was still deep in the formative process of discovery and this new wave appealed to me at first, because the bands were often very catchy and epic in a cheesy way, not to mention that they toured so that I got to see a lot of them between 2004 and 2009. I don't listen to almost any of them these days but they are still popular in some quarters. The Dagda are an exception - along with bands like Schifosi, Muga or even Ekkaia - and if the "neocrust" tag is not irrelevant there is more to the band than this.

The band formed around 1999 (I guess?) with members of the mighty Jobbykrust and Bleeding Rectum (among many other class Belfast hardcore punk bands) so they were not exactly a beginners' act and they started playing before "neocrust" was even coined so that it might be unfair to just dump them with the subgenre without taking into account wider music dynamics. That heavy hardcore and crust punk would eventually go progressive and absorb influences from other neighbouring genres (like post hardcore, emocore or screamo) was inevitable and even welcome for everyone (although some musical blends would have been better left in the artists' imagination). To a significant extent, The Dagda can be seen as a continuation of Jobbykrust even if all the members weren't involved in them. By the end of their run in the late 90's the vastly underrated Jobbykrust had turned into a heavy and dark progressive metal crust monster that stood out at the time and heralded what was to come in terms of songwriting, notably The Dagda. In terms of intensity, emotions and melodies, the link between both bands is strong and obvious.

The Dagda's sound is dark and relentless and versatile, there are a lot of changes of paces (from pummeling d-beat, to heavy mid-paced metallic hardcore or emotional hardcore) and many different narrative parts to "And so I rise". It has that epic, triumphant, unstoppable vibe when they speed things up and the singers sound so genuinely angry and desperate that it is almost contagious. It's clear that His Hero Is Gone must have enjoyed some significant airplay at the Warzone Center in Belfast and there are many dark and melancholy driving guitar leads that would become the trademark of the ensuing punk wave. I am sometimes also reminded of Damad in terms of groove and tension. This song was part of the same recording session at Warzone as their first Lp, 2002's Threefold, that would confirm all the band's potential and remains their best and most intense work with a great story to tell (The Dagda were made for albums given the genre and their fundamentally epic narrative songwriting).

Some beautiful shirts I have never seen here

This is a good split Ep enhanced by some beautiful artwork with a band reaching its conclusion and another one its full potential. This was released in 2003 on Crime Scene Records (responsible for some Boxed In and War All the Time), Panoptic Visions (Debris and Quarantine) and Anonymous Records (Disaffect and Muckspreader).

Scatha / Dagda 

An adventure in split Ep's! I have no gun but I can split: CONTRAVENE / SVART AGGRESSION "S/t" split Ep, 2000

The first time I saw the Contravene logo I thought it was a chicken or maybe a fat water fowl or common pigeon. It was a little bewildering. Even back then, in 2003, when my doomed quest to know everything there is to know about crust, anarchopunk and patches was still in its infancy, I already knew that there were only a couple of bird species that punk bands were legally allowed to use if they wanted to earn the bitter respect of their peers. There was the dove for the anarchopunk bands, a symbol inherited from the original 80's waves and popularized by peace-loving soap-dodging teenagers like Omega Tribe, Alternative or The Iconoclast and then re-adapted by countless crust bands like Nausea or SDS (Japanese crusties certainly love their dove). The use of this bird is something of a prerequisite in those genres if you have an anti-war song (more likely you'll have at least seven of them) and while no doves fly here in the real world, they certainly do on punk shirts.

The eagle is also an acceptable punk bird, but more of an aggressive, threatening, majestic one, sometimes used as a patriotic symbol if you are unlucky enough to be American. Some neocrust or blackened crust bands use it often. I have to say that Tragedy's take on the eagle is particularly striking and, unsurprisingly enough, it has been a popular logo. Vultures can be used as well, often in the stenchcore or metal crust imagery in order to reflect war, desolation and death, the vulture is the bird that comes when we're all already dead and we have effectively committed self-inflicted extinction. Lol.

Chickens on the other hand have never been popular punk birds for obvious reasons. It looks thick, it cannot fly with any sort of grace (when it can at all), it is certainly not threatening in the least. And to most people it symbolizes food. So why would Contravene use it at all? It did take a couple of years and a friend's compliment for me to realize that the band's logo was actually and logically a dove. I had a Contravene badge (and still do I think) with the logo because I loved the band and did not mind enduring the mockeries and ridicule in relation to wearing a chicken on my jacket. And then that friend told me something like: "Cool dove logo mate" which made me understand that it was, in fact, a dove but a short-winged, featherless one with a strange goose-like neck. But a dove nonetheless. I guess. Stupid me, I can see the dove perfectly now.

I was a big fan of the band in the 00's (I may have overplayed A Call to Action to be honest) and while I still listen to Contravene from times to times I cannot say they move me like they did back when I still had all my hair. I do see the band as a genuine 00's anarchopunk classic however and I cannot think of any other that sounded quite like them. The Phoenix-based unit were quite prolific too with one Lp, two Ep's and two split Ep's under their vegan belt in only six years (between 2000 and 2003 actually) so that if you were into DIY political punk at that time you would have heard of them, even more so since they toured in Europe in 2001 (or something? I was too busy listening to streetpunk dross in 2001 and missed them like a bellend). In addition Contravene were from Arizona and while areas like Portland, New York, Minneapolis or any Californian shitholes were deemed "cool" and would attract punters regardless of the bands on stage, Arizona was not exactly the trendiest punk place and that made them a little more special in my eyes as a result. They were very outspoken politically, very serious, very passionate and supported revolutionary ideals (there is the obligatory political text about multiple oppressions with the Ep) and it made them quite inspiring in a lot of respects. They had that kind of youthful energy and belief that matter and their lyrics are every bit as relevant today, sadly I must add. 

And well, they were quite unique musically too. Not perfect and listening to them carefully and critically again, there are bits that don't quite work but I don't think it really matters because they had all that sincerity and they did strive to create their own brand of anarchopunk (to an extent, it is not like they went all experimental and played the guitar with forks like The Ex did) which makes them remarkable. Their side of this split is made up of one long song, recorded in early 2000. "Stand up and resist" is classic Contravene in all its glory. It opens with a sample of a political speech then proceeds with a rather melancholy and melodic, mid-paced, short introduction before unleashing the dark and heavy crusty riffs with a singalong chorus, then some sort of metallic-yet-melodic instrumental moment, then back to the fast crust riffs and then, as an epic conclusion, the same arpeggio tune as on the opening is back this time with more dynamics and catchy poppy backing chorus. Contravene were great at telling stories with their songs, that were often quite long for the genre, through the use of introductions, conclusions, twists or transitions and on this number it works flawlessly.

They have often been compared to Nausea, probably because of the strong shouted female vocals, but they were more tuneful and versatile. They definitely belonged to that 90's wave of female-fronted US anarchopunk of classic bands like Antiproduct or Mankind? but they were also heavier, metallic and crustier like the aforementioned Nausea and even European bands like Homomilitia (the fact that some members from the band also played in Misanthropic and Sea of Deprivation accounts for the metallic sound). What made them really stand out was their surprisingly melodic poppy moments reminiscent of Civilised Society and even Chumbawamba or Omega Tribe - I love anarcho-cheesy and Contravene sometimes did go full out which can scare some eway - although the production is always on the heavy side. It might be too melodic for the crustier-than-thou and too heavy and metallic for the lovers of traditional anarchopunk but in the end that was what made Contravene who they were. One of the most relevant anarchopunk bands of their generation.

On the other side Svart Aggression were a perfect choice for a split with the Arizonians, full of significance and meaning. Hailing from Kalmar, the band is mostly known nowadays (and by "mostly known" I mean that I have one mate locally who knows the band because they did do a split with Kaaos, which is pretty brilliant) for their connection with Protestera with whom they shared two members in the early days. One year before Operation, a criminally overlooked angry Swedish anarchopunk band, officially folded, two members of the band formed Svart Aggression. In 1999 Protestera, basically the progression from Operation, started and both bands sounded very similar in the beginning, fast and angry 90's aanrchopunk, pretty much the same people under a different name. While oft forgotten when one meditates about 90's Swedish hardcore, crust and d-beat, Svart Aggression certainly deserves to be rediscovered, if only because they were a little different and did not quite fit the orthodox Distortion Records template.

In some respect Svart Aggression unintentionally stood for some stylistic transitions that took place between the late 90's and the 00's in Sweden as some bands started to add different influences to the otherwise fairly classic scandicrust recipe. The furious and savage käng attack is present with the cracking song "Mördare" and its traditionally pummeling fast d-takt and epic crunchy hardcore riffs, not unlike Tolshock maybe, but there are also heavier elements with a down-tuned melancholy vibe like on the introduction to "Skit system" and its slow d-beat. Pretty much how the so-called neocrust wave would work just a few years afterwards but I suppose it was more the dark Wolfpack influence speaking in this case. The dual male and female vocals really gives the band that classic anarchopunk feeling that already prevailed in Operation - and many other bands in the 90's and early 00's - and on the whole you could see Svart Aggression as a sort of Swedish version of React. I love how the two vocalists work together as Emma has a very peculiar way of singing that is almost spoken but still powerful and that balances well with Coffe's raspy aggressive käng shouts. A genuinely great combination. These two songs were recorded in late 1999 during the same session as the five songs that would eventually appear on the brilliant Tänk Själv Ep in 2006 released on Scream Records (although the label does not appear on the backcover, in true DIY fashion, a small promotional flyer from Scream Records referencing the Ep was actually included in the Ep) but, not owning the split with Kaaos, released in 2000 like the present record, I can't tell you if the two songs it has were also taken during the same session. 

This split Ep was released on Catchphraze Records, a label based in Arizona that was responsible for records by Axiom, Inner Conflict and all of Contravene's. The label also ran a small distro that sold DIY tape versions of old, sold-out records that were seemingly impossible to find - to me anyway - and I remember ordering several tapes from them around 2003, notably Sacrilege's first Lp on a very simple dubbed tape with a xerox cover. Needless to say it severely kicked my ass. So thank you Catchphraze. 

                                                                             Svart Contravene

An adventure in split Ep's! I have no gun but I can split: DREAD 101 / FASTARD "Bez Víry / Heavy Mental" split LP, 2001

France, Paris especially, is sometimes seen, from abroad, as a place of sophistication, of culture and of complexity, a country where love, sentiments, melancholy somehow merge romantically with existentialism and poststructuralism (and accessorily with promiscuity, then known as "free love"). Charismatic philosophers, fit and smart poets, pipe-smoking Marxist singer and profound intellectuals would all be rubbing shoulders at conferences, engage in heated yet challenging debates, smoke far too much and get angry with self-righteous passionate class. 

And, even though I personally evolve in such an intellectually glamorous world (I was told Terminal Sound Nuisance is "intrinsically sartrean" - whatever that means), the truth is mostly very different. This morning I saw on my facebook feed (this is the most depressing sentence of 2024 so far) that a young American, self-proclaimed "foodie" (whatever that means as well) and Tik Tok influencer, filmed herself crying because, while traveling in Europe doing whatever wealthy foodies do (taking pictures of their plates I assume), she stopped in Lyon for a couple of days and did not make any friends there as sociable, easy-going and eager to make some as she seemed to be. So here she is, crying live on Tik Tok (wearing a French beret which is the most glaring sign I can think of that you are a naive tourist) and basically complaining and sniveling that French people are rude ugly bastards that will scoff at you if you are not familiar with every single traditional French meals. I felt bad for her because indeed, people in Lyon are notoriously known for being cold and uppity, and because if you believe what you see in Emily in Paris or Amélie is for real, you are in for a major disappointment. French people are dirty wankers that have been marinading in their own sense of superiority for centuries, relying on a reputation of intellectualism and refinement in order to make foreigners feel inferior. If you are in a room full of French people, you can bet that every single one of them thinks he or she is smarter than everyone else. And that's a scientific fact.

The equivalent of such heart-breaking dumb silliness in punk-rock is that non-francophones are unaware of our national propensity to love using terrible puns when they pick a band name. A lot of them cannot be translated which is actually fortunate as it spared everyone the embarrassment but just know they are similar to the worst dad jokes, if the dad in question is something of a slimy twat. Bands reveling in such puns belong to a lot of different genres as well (ska bands, of course, with an act like Les Skarottes being real), sometimes actually good bands with something worthy to say, so that the choice of silly monikers is like shooting yourself in the foot. Bands like Jodie Faster, Youssouf Today or Michel Platinium were indeed good. And I mean just take a look at the name of my own series. We're just doomed.

But what is the connection between French punk's depressingly hopeless tendency to go for shit names and today's Ep? Well, Fastard of course. It would be a little unfair to say that the name is gross like some fastcore/grindcore names can be, but it is nonetheless a hardcore dad joke and one that I can imagine being very popular among the French population. I am surprised our local lovers of fast hardcore, a subgenre generally keen on such lexical amusement, did not find that one first. 

Let's get to the actual record. We've already significantly talked about Czech crust with the review of the split between Gride and Lies & Distrust in December so I am not going to dick around too much. Dread 101 basically formed after Lies & Distrust's demise and two members went on to start this new project so that I very much see the band as the logical follow-up to Lies & Distrust, which might not be that relevant in terms of personnel but is as far as the chronology and evolution of Czech crust is concerned. Dread 101 was probably the first Czech band I knew through the 2002 split with Edinburgh's Social Insecurity and I think they are still my favourite. While L&D were heavily rooted in 90's eurocrust, Dread 101 had more of a Swedish metallic feel, even though they certainly did not give up on mid '93 Hiatus love (up until the mid 00's, very few European crust bands did to be honest). The production still has that distinct 90's raw yet hard-hitting crust feel, not unlike Polish bands' maybe. As I mentioned I am sensibly reminded of Swedish juggernauts like Skitsystem or late Wolfpack but also of the metallic sound of early Filth of Mankind. The grinding vibe that L&D sometimes had is gone here and Dread 101's songwriting can be said to correspond to a sort of template for simple, heavy and metallic Scandi-inspired Czech and Slovakian crust that still exists to this day. It could be argued that the presence of Ethan, who would form the well-respected Cimex-loving Guided Cradle, on the guitar might have brought that beefy Swedish influence or it could have been the start of Wolfpack's long-lasting influence in the region. Dread 101 was a solid band indeed with a deep connection with Scotland (Fastard were from Aberdeenshire) and while I still play the split Lp regularly, I have a certain fondness for the raw urgency of this particular early work. Following the split of the band, as mentioned Ethan would do Guided Cradle, Dan would join Non-Comittal and Angry Brigade along with Svatopluk (who also did Spes Erepta), Stříbro would join Telesa Ohnepal and Kukučka V.I.R. 

On the other side you will find the deliciously silly-yet-punishing Fastard. I have no idea what was meant with the gladiator-themed cover but at least I remembered it. I am not especially well-versed in grindcore or fastcore and I have never claimed to but the five minutes of music, with no less than seven songs, are pleasant indeed. The music has an obnoxious cavemen feel, we're not dealing in technical grindcore here at all and I enjoy the groove Fastard demonstrate in their filthy crust metal moments, maybe not unlike Confrontation on that level. I guess fans of savage punky grindcore like Warsore (the band's primary influence I guess) would enjoy the band and I think the traditional polyphonic grindcore vocals (ranging from mad high-pitched shrieks to bear-like growls) confer a welcome atmosphere of cheeky dementia. This is a wild entertaining ride. As is often the case with the genre, each number is introduced, or concluded as it is sometimes hard to tell in all this furiousness, by a fun sample from a movie, which is a little distracting and I would have wished for more fluidity at times in order to keep the pressure and the intensity. But then, it is after a prerequisite of the genre, like macho dancing is to New York hardcore or expensive shirts are to oi. The lyrics are aptly ridiculous as Fastard pretended to be into gory satanism, torture or just plain horror. Goofy. I'm sure they were fun to see live. The band also released a split Ep with Obsolete from Finland. After Fastard, some members would form the more serious "total crust violence" band Filthpact and Andrew would even do a stint with TRIBE alongside members of Sedition and Scatha (among many others).

This entertaining split was released on Insane Society Records and was dedicated to the Ladronka squat in Prague that was evicted in 2000. On the grand scheme of things, we're not dealing with some sort of forgotten masterpiece but the record is convincing with Dread 101's hard-hitting Swedish-flavoured metallic eurocrust being nicely complemented with Fastard's demented cavemen punky grindcore. And honestly, sometimes that is all you need.         

Dread the fastards

An adventure in split Ep's! I have no gun but I can split: POLIKARPA Y SUS VICIOSAS / DEFUSE "What's right" split Ep, 2000

We're in early January, you still have a vague but persistent headache from New Year's Eve. Your body is not the seemingly forever youth machine you thought it used to be and for some reason someone you haven't seen since middle school has bombarded you with inane selfies on the 31st - hopefully it was just a matter of texting the wrong person - and the realization that you will be one year older by the end of the year slowly dawns upon you. I have never been one to enjoy partying hard on this annual occasion since some inebriated stranger dressed as a penguin vomited on my Hulk Hogan costume some years back. This shameful incident involving unsolicited bodily fluid being excreted over my beloved copy of the 90's WWF championship belt significantly scarred my self-esteem and I have not been able to look at a penguin in the eye since. 

Fortunately this year did not end in such a traumatic fashion and therefore the morale is not worse than usual which is already good enough and I feel light and breezy with the prospect of a new year which will inevitably bring the usual amount of ruthless bloody wars, massacres and right-wing wankers somehow getting into power. And of good records too, hopefully. 2024 will see us go through more split Ep's, from the noughties first, ten of them like for the 90's, and probably some from the 2010's (I already have a couple in mind). But let's start with the opening year of the new decade: 2000.

In 2000, my own preoccupations were rather insubstantial as I was bent on scoffing at anyone at school who did not listen to punk music and The Casualties (the two were strict synonyms). As a man on that admittedly puerile mission, I did not have many friends as a consequence but "integrity", as I would call it, was what mattered in punk-rock I had been told. It could have been worse though as a lot of adults seemed to be obsessed at the time with the coming collapse of civilisation because of the infamous Y2K problem and I can remember my dad running around the house in panic because he didn't know shit about computers and antivirus. While I was busy being a self-righteous arrogant nuisance convinced of his own self-importance to "normies" (my rivals would that this has not changed that much), real punks were doing important work and I see this What's right split Ep between Polikarpa y sus Viciosas from Bogota and Defuse from Osaka as a humble but meaningful piece of punk history. 

I talked about it before but DIY punk made my younger self realize that if the actual world was big indeed and seemingly torn apart, the punk world was small and connected. Browsing through distro tables in the early 00's I became aware that, not only were there punks all over the place in countries I couldn't really place on a map, but that there had been punks there for two decades already. In an era when people only listened to American or English music beside our own local pop dross in French, the realization that there were bands delivering the goods in Peru, Slovakia or New Zealand came as a shock that was electrifying, stimulating as it opened new horizons and allowed me to feel superior to my brethren on a whole new level. "Oh, so you haven't heard of Venezuelan anarchopunk? What are you? Some sort of cultural imperialist abiding by the United States' hegemonic culture?". At that same time, it also struck me that there were apparently a lot of women involved in punk bands, far more than I thought, just screaming angrily at our world's madness and gender roles. Contrary to what my sexist upbringing taught me, girls also played fast and aggressive punk music and rightfully protested in the face oppression. This got me mum very worried.      

This Ep is absolutely wonderful because it combines both aspects: it is a collaboration between two all-female bands from opposite sides of the world. The significance of such a project certainly transcends the actual value of the record, which does not mean however that their output should not be looked at critically, like any piece of art. To completely ignore the creative content in the name of this significance would be somewhat disrespectful and implies that it does not require critical thinking and engagement. This is a sad tendency of our time. To be positive and supportive does not mean to be acritical, quite the contrary. To not critique (when it is done respectfully, knowledgeably and constructively) implies the denial of a work's identity as art. 

Alright let's cut the critical theory and let's get to punk-rock. Polikarpa y sus Viciosas (they took their name from Policarpa Salavarrieta, an important political figure in the resistance against the Spaniards during the 19th century who ended up executed) are a band from Bogota formed in 1994 and they are still active. If you have been to gigs in Europe on a regular basis you have certainly bumped into their name since they have been touring several times in the past 15 years. In fact, they were probably one of the first Colombian punk bands to even tour in Europe. Since the incredible success of Muro in 2017, a lot of bands from Bogota gravitating around the Rat Trap Collective have been able to tour internationally but before that few Latino bands could afford to tour so that the idea was unrealistic to start with (Brazilian bands have been an exception to an extent because of their long-lasting ties with the European and North American scenes). The achievement of Polikarpa in that respect, and a little before of Apatia-No or Doña Maldad, cannot be overlooked especially since the band started out musically as a fairly straight-forward angry punk-rock band with that raging Latino punk flair.

The three songs on Polikarpa's side are fairly unpolished which confers a genuinely pissed off vibe and a sense of urgency that reflects their own political, social and national context. Raw Latino punk (and punk in Spanish in general) has become quite trendy since the 2010's but at the time this kind of sound was still something of a novelty for a lot of us, not because the songwriting vastly differs from your usual spiky punk songs but because the overall raw and direct sound and the primal urgency sounded fresh from a European perspective. These were punks that had lives that were much harder than in the North (it brought to light the North/South paradigm while from the 80's to the mid-90's, because of the Cold War, the focus was more West/East). As I mentioned earlier, there have been top punk bands in Latino America in the 80's but to see acts like Apatia-No, Doña Maldad or Migra Violenta touring in the early 00's certainly opened the gates to a new generation of bands and created new connections. You should see Polikarpa from that same perspective of Latino bands touring in the 00's rather than the next generation of Bogota bands. As I said, meaningful times.

Polikarpa's sound could be described originally as a fairly typical Colombian punk style reminiscent of classic Medellin punk-rock bands like IRA, Fertil Miseria or Kontraorden, pogoable tupa-tupa punk with angry vocals and a direct approach. I would argue that on this particular recording Polikarpa showed more of a raw hardcore power, it is more focused than on their previous work, and I like how the tunefulness of the vocals on "Denuncio" adds catchiness to the otherwise fairly basic song (not unlike Vice Squad). Pretty furious stuff that works perfectly with the Ep format. Punk as fuck indeed. The lyrics deal with Colombia's culture of political violence and the need to break free from it all. 

On the other side we have yet another Osaka band after Victims of Greed: Defuse. I cannot think of many Japanese crust or hardcore bands with female members beside the fantastically primitive all-female Crusade and their quest for cavecrust in the early 90's while Mental Disease also had a girl on vocals. For some reason that may escape me, it looks like there just haven't been many women involved in bands in that part of the scene in the 90's while the decade was favourable to more inclusion and diversity in many other places globally. Defuse were certainly an exception in that respect and next time your racist sexist uncle claims that women suck at playing loud music during a dreary Sunday lunch, feel free to blast the band at maximum volume, if anything just to keep everyone from listening to his gammon bollocks. And then show some sympathy and proceed to euthanise the poor bastard.

Defuse did not initially start as a crust band though and if their 2017 Ep Cry of Roar (yeah, they are not exactly the most prolific band) proudly carried the (chaotic) crasher cavecrust banner, this first vinyl appearance sounded far closer to the Japanese tradition of Confuse (I mean, they are called Defuse for a reason), Gai, Kuro and the likes, an aestheticized punk noisiness that has come to be known as "noisepunk", a convenient if anachronistic term in this case. The classic Kyushu noise had not vanished in the 90's and some bands still abided by the "let's maximize the 80's Bristol thrash punk sound" like Order and their snotty take on The Swankys or the brilliantly Confuse-loving Dust Noise and their impeccably distorted fuzzy sound. Of course the tremendous overarching influence that Gloom had then in terms of raw distortedness and aggression, especially in their hometown of Osaka can also be felt here, but more in terms of intensity and bass-driven heaviness than songwriting. You could that Defuse tried to evolve between these three bands as they had Order's punkiness, Dust Noise's obnoxious noiziness and the Final Noise Attack scene. The faster hardcore thrash song "Don't conform" also showed that Defuse could speed things up with great efficiency. 

Before this Ep, the band had recorded a demo tape entitled What's Right - Don't Conform demonstrating that Confuse and The Swankys were the band's primary influences indeed and the first four songs of the tape were re-recorded for the split Ep. I wish that Defuse had the opportunity to record a full record with the production they enjoy on the Ep as the sound is perfect, raw but hard-hitting and really emphasizing the fuzz and distortion of the guitar (the sound engineer Koichi Hara also worked on Gloom's Recomendation of Perdition and Framtid's first Ep so he knew the job). I like the vocals too, not forced, just angry and snotty with sometimes some hoarse high-pitched demented screams for good measure (it is Osaka in the 90's after all). 

Overall this is a very enjoyable split Ep that can appeal to spiky punks as well as distortion and feedback junkies. This was released on Answer Records in 2000, a label that also released records from Reality Crisis, Demolition and even a reissue of CFDL.      

POLIKARPA Y SU DEFUSE