This lot definitely declare it, but whether it is a declaration of love or a declaration of war is up to the level of belligerence that the listener can muster in 2025. Absolute, uncompromising and uncompromised Love for the Dis or indomitable war on the world? Possibly both? Revolutionaries used to claim that there was a new world in their hearts which sounds romantic indeed and remains a great title for any emocrust album (points are to be gained through the addition of a screenprinted booklets providing translations of the lyrics into at least three languages). What no one really predicted was the (grave) new world growing in the dark heart of the old one, a brutal universe where power no longer even bothers to hide its inherent brutality under empty phrases.
Declaration recorded this very fine tape only a few days before the Covid lockdown in Singapore in April 2020, this supremely odd time which we are all trying hard to forget and generally succeed in doing so (in the First World at least). On bandcamp, Declaration add: "Currently witnessing and experiencing the collapse of capitalism, the state and its people. The world will never be the same again". In the end, capitalism and states are doing quite fine indeed although you could argue that the people have a much shittier time remaining on their own two feet. What is the reason for tomorrow then? Does tomorrow really need any reason? It cannot be said to belong to us, as Cal's words once claimed, but I have faith that men, women and children will one day fight back in defense of our future and that punk bands will still be cosplaying as '82 Discharge and charge the best part of a twenty for an album you already the songs of and still gladly buy. That would make a great epitaph, right?
Upon first hearing Declaration, a radiant feeling of joy and warmth immediately took over my brain. The first minute of What is the reason for tomorrow? confirms what your inner self hoped it would to be: pure d-beat, unadulterated, untouched by influences foreign to the Discharge scriptures, an unsoiled oeuvre of mimicry and worship, a soundalike, like a band that had been frozen alongside a mammoth since the 80's and somehow emerged from their slumber in the 2020's. This humble tape was the quietly prodigious child of a bunch of Singaporean punks also involved in established bands like Pazahora, Siäl, Vaaralinen or even Life Lock (which would come as a surprise only to posers). As the saying goes, they know their shit and how to achieve it. There is no ounce of originality in the tape and its perfection originates from this absence. It is the most immediate d-beat language you are likely to find, it speaks directly to the D inside all of us (it is a little known but easily verifiable scientific fact that the D lives in each and everyone of us and can only be unlocked through repeated listens of Discharge, pretty much the punk equivalent of Illumination). If you think d-beat should only be the imitation of Discharge - a form of fundamentalism called dischargism - then Declaration is for you and I am glad to introduce you to them.
As usual had they emerged from New York or Tokyo or wherever "cool" happens to be these days people would have been more curious and probably touched by their raw sound deeply rooted in early Discharge (somewhere between 1980's Ep's and 1981's Why if you know what I mean) using all the expected tricks to perfection (a special mention goes to the delightful mid-paced numbers). Cracked Cop Skulls (especially with the doubled vocals, which I personally am a sucker for) and Dischange also deserve to be summoned by the court as fellow comrades and students of the Discharge arts. I love that the drums are really upfront and provide that galloping vibe that allows d-beat to sound dynamic. Eleven minutes of plenitude.
This tape was released on Full Force Hardcore Destruction and might still be available somewhere. I suppose Declaration was only to be a studio project from the start and if it did not, Covid forced it to be. In any case, and even if the bands shall remain a mere footnote in punk history, they will alway have a special place at Terminal Sound Nuisance tower and that's a good enough reason for my tomorrow as far as I am concerned.
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