Last Night a D-Beat Saved My Life (part 18): LANGUID "A paranoid wretch in society's game" Lp, 2021

Although I am mostly a man of logic and Cartesian rationalism - even if it means rationalising stuff that I probably shouldn't such as my overconsumption of 6 minute long d-beat records - I know how to recognize a sign when it comes crashing into my mailbox. Indeed, I received the brand new Languid Lp today and since I had already planned to blabber on about these craftsmen of the D, I instantly thought that the Gods of punk were urging me to get off my lazy arse and finally get to it.

A simpler mind would be tempted to state the obvious when talking about A Paranoid Wretch in Society's Game, namely that it is quite possibly the best d-beat album of the past 10 years (and if it does not make it at least to your top 5 you're clearly in the wrong room amigo) and be done with it and just get on with a boring life made worth living through the acquisition of objects that give meaning to the big great void and alleviate the existential pain. Just ask any nerds that collect Star Wars toys. Languid's feat with this album cannot be taken lightly, after 30 years of devout Discharge imitators' monomania (also known as "playing d-beat") they still managed to produce a significant record of some length (24 minutes) that captivates the listener by offering a genuine, tasteful collection of Discharge-loving of songs that sound both extremely familiar, in the best possible way, but also meaningfully better than most bands who try to do exactly the same thing. To be fair, this Lp is close to perfection. It feels seamless but I would guess the boys gave some serious philosophical thought to the raison d'être of the ultimate d-beat song. What constitutes a memorable d-beat song? One that must fundamentally sound exactly like a predetermined pattern? Vertiginous shit. You know when Miyamoto Musashi fucked off to the countryside in order to watch potatoes grow and think about life, well my bet is that Languid did a d-beat version of that that includes cider and a hair-charging workshop. 

It has to be pointed out, cheekily perrhaps, that Discharge cannot be considered as Languid's main influence. They are all about Meanwhile really (it wasn't mastered by Kenko for nothing), a band that turned Discharge love into Discharge lore and tried really hard to sound like Stoke-on-Trent's renegades. Languid do the same thing with the Swedes musically but that doesn't really make them sound "just like" Discharge but more like a band that strives to sound like Discharge, so it is basically the worship of the worshiper rather than the worshipee. Know what I mean? They sound like the brilliant soundalikes if you wish and when you are a modern d-beat band I suppose that is the best you can wish for. To "sound just like" with gusto, finesse and a tendency to crack your brain up. Languid have everything going for them here, the great Swedish-style dis riffs like Meanwhile or early Disfear that are classic but not generic, galloping drums that would prompt a legless man to steal a bike and ride in the sunset, a singer that does not growl or shout like a hyena on speed but rather uses a hoarse anger-driven but comprehensible Cal dialect, but perhaps more importantly, and that's probably the main feat here, one that I cannot quite put my finger on, it can have to do with the overall dynamics and balance for all I know, but Languid manage to rock without playing rock-n-roll. There is no flashy solos or thrashy bits or Motörhead nods or garage sound or anything, it is just pure fucking impact and moshing power. It would even make my dad's foot tapping. Granted, the members of Languid do have great hair so that might enhance the rock power too.

2017's Resist the Mental Slaughter was really promising and upon hearing it, a strong "just like Discharge" force I spotted; 2018's Submission is the Only Freedom was a confirmation and the settling of a strong Meanwhile d-takt style; 2021's A Paranoid Wretch in Society's Game was the crowing glory and a band at the top of the league (I skipped the Ep because it is one I have actually never grabbed for some reason, probably because it has a white cover). I predict that this Lp will still be talked about and revered in 20 years time and it stands as a genuine modern d-beat classic and an instant addition to an already glorious and fascinating canon. I know some are a little torn over the band's visual aesthetics and I agree that, at first, I was of the opinion that it was more fitting for an orc-themed crust band that love Bolt Thrower or Cimex fanatics like Guided Cradle. But because the band has stuck for it and used a similar theme and template, I have grown fond of it. 

This jewel was released on none other than D-Takt & Råpunk in Europe and Desolate Records in the U$ of A. 

A paranoid beat in society's game

         

Last Night a D-Beat Saved My Life (part 17): DISABLE "...Slamming in the Depths of Hell" Ep, 2020

Surprisingly, only two punks bands, to my all-encompassing knowledge, went for the name "Disable" despite the very punk-compatible implications of the meaning and the presence of the crucial dis prefix: one from Łódź and one from Atlanta (which we will cover today). It is unlikely the latter ever heard of the former since the Polish Disable were mainly known locally and only released a cdr demo in 2003, although they were also active for a little while in the mid-90's (it had members of Homomilitia and Lost so it's quality stuff and was recently reissued if you are not a poser). Therefore our Americans must have felt pretty good about themselves with this apparently still available moniker. And if you will allow a cheesy dad joke I take full responsibility for, Disable are definitely able to Dis.

I don't know whether the Atlantans are still going strong - they hopefully are - but their first demo was released as early as 2010 so that they can be said to have been relatively experimented in the D-game when this Ep came out. Arguably, Disable is a perfect example of a typical 2010's d-beat band. They could never be said to be main-eventers - like a Physique for instance - but they certainly belonged to the upper-mid-card if I may use a wrestling metaphor. This might have to do with their town of origin, Atlanta, which, from an outsider's perspective at least, cannot really be said to have a "punk town" status and nowhere as authoritatively cool as New York or Portland or Richmond these days. In any case, they enjoyed some nice records and notably a split with the ever prolific Warvictims from Sweden but I see ...Slamming in the Depths of Hell as their crowning glory, and not just because of the unsubtle Discharge reference in the title.

The past decade saw a formidable shift in the d-beat subgenre and the roots of this evolution that took this hardcore punk philosophical praxis by storm can be found in the 00's, with bands like No Fucker or Contrast Attitude for instance. This transitional decade was not particularly rich in strict "just like" d-beat bands, possibly because everybody had gotten bored with the 90's d-beat wave that had heavily lost steam by the 00's and I suppose people just did not see much point in mimicking Discharge beside a couple of nerd-focused exceptions like Warcry. The glorious comeback in the 2010's was different because, whereas bands mostly concentrated on Discharge imitation before, the new breed went heavily for Disclose's and distortion and a cult for the band and Kawakami rapidly developed. They became a legend. A band whose d-beat style was once rather unique suddenly turned into a significant source of inspiration and I believe Disable illustrates this move (they don't use not one but two different Disclose fonts for nothing) along with bands like Disease or Aspects of War which we have already tackled in this series.

Disable started out as a much rawer and primitive affair and guitar player Jeremy (who left the band at some point) originally handled much of the vocals while on ...Slamming in the Depths of Hell bass player Ben is in charge of the shouting and screaming during and possibly after the gig. To be honest, I prefer Ben's voice to Jeremy's as it is lower-pitched and sounds closer to the original Discharge impersonators and bands like Cracked Cop Skulls and even Hellkrusher or Final Warning or maybe Varukers (a British vocal vibe, but I could be going deaf too). And you know I am a sucker for doubled vocals in my d-beat and in this case it confers an old-school feel to an otherwise pretty modern take on the distorted d-beat style. There is a lot of Disclose in the mix ("duh" as Gen Z's would probably agree) but Disable do add some dis-crasher influence as well, especially in the drumming and the use of pedals and Japanese bands like D-Clone or Contrast Attitude are lurking in a quite visible background. I like it a lot and the mid-paced "False flag" is a wonderful idea although it might have been wiser to put it on the other side. A very solid Ep released on Brain Slash and Audacious Madness, a then very young label I am very fond of.  

Finally this writeup would be incomplete if I did not mention the split with Warvictims. It did sound odd when I listened to it for the first time and for good reason (so I am not completely deaf after all). As the band explained on bandcamp "the songs were all sped up in order to compensate for the excess length of the tracks" which is one of the punkest I have ever read about a record. Noise not music indeed.

Slamming in the depths of dis

Last Night a D-Beat Saved My Life (part 16): DECLARATION "What is the reason for tomorrow?" tape, 2020

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. 

What is the reason for d-beat?        

Last Night a D-Beat Saved My Life (part 15): BOMBARDEMENT "S/t" Lp, 2019

France has long been known for a number of things but d-beat and, by and large, hardcore punk have never been one of them. Abstruse philosophical systems, cryptic sociology, pompous arrogant twats shit at foreign languages are however commonly and traditionally associated with a country that has, pertaining to our microcosm in recent years, also been largely responsible with the progressive normalization, if not the invasion, of oi music in the DIY punk scene. Only ten years ago one could have perfectly healthy and rectitudinous conversations with a foreign comrade about how tedious the 2010's postpunk revival was becoming or what the numerous reissues of UK82 bands said about the current scene while oi-related subjects mostly revolved around Hard Skin's banter. Nowadays, you're lucky if the name Rixe does not pop up in otherwise totally righteous chitchats. Being a fourth-generation Parisian, it was not something I expected and fell outside the scope of the imagination. I have exhausted many a shrink because of this unwelcome phenomenon.

But enough typical Paris moaning and whining. Thankfully we have Bordeaux. And sure, there have been, and are, solid punk bands everywhere but when it comes to d-beat or loving Discharge, the town has been delivering steadily for the past twenty years. The precise trajectory of this part of the scene is not the topic at hand (although it would make for an interesting read) and I will thus focus on a band that, to me, stands as the best this scene has had to offer so far: Bombardement. At the time of writing, Bombardement, despite not being Swedish (some of the members probably wish) or from Portland, have become something of a well-read reference in the global d-beat world and its immediate vicinity rich with its own language, quirks, idiosyncrasies and furious protocols. I assume people reading these lines (or liking the post on social media for the lazy bums) are already well familiar with the band and I will not question inconsiderately their knowledgeability or besmirch their good names by assuming the opposite. I mean, how many French hardcore bands are invited to play on other continents? 

But enough praises already, let's examine what makes Bombardement such a widely enjoyed d-beat experience. Taken as its substantial own subgenre centered around the imitation of life, d-beat has often been a boy club. Since the inception of its regulations in the early 90's, women seldom partook in this nerd-oriented stylistic endeavours so that the presence of a female singer in a Discharge tribute band is still of note and singer Emilie (who sang in the vastly different Monarch) does an amazing job here through an impeccable and conscientious rendering of the canonical d-beat scansion, flow and accentuation. Although not an element I particularly put an emphasis on, the vocals in such a narrowly construed genre have to display as much accuracy as possible. You cannot just shout at any given points in a proper d-beat songs, it'd just be unruly and a grave breach of the Law of Cal. But as respectful to the code as the vocals are, they still sound quite unique, raspy but high-pitched and passionate standing as a definite asset on this first album.

As for the music itself, it sounds absolutely massive, like a rhino charging rhino unstoppably, determined to get a job as a grey horse of the apocalypse. Experience speaks here with people previously dicking around in bands like Gasmask Terrör, Warning//Warning, Shock or the aforementioned Monarch. While a young spotty band would still be looking for its sound, with crucial conversations about "how many studs do we need to sound like Disclose?" running wild, Bombardement are naturals. They may no longer have perfect hairlines but they know exactly what they are going for and more important they know how to achieve their goal. On their 2016 demo tape, they covered Meanwhile's "The road to Hell" which is a big key of entry into the band's music (basically keeping with the spirit of first-generation d-beat bands). Of course, Discharge is always lurking but the prevalent influence is indeed Meanwhile's second Lp, a work that saw the band adopt a more rocking, guitar-led approach while still doing their daily prayers facing Stoke-on-Trent. Meaningfully, Bombardement have two guitar players so that the riffing never stops and the use of rocking leads does not impair the overall power of the music. To achieve this you have to recruit people who can actually play even if they don't wear the traditional d-beat robe. 

The Lp works on all levels because, beside the purposeful songwriting, they found the right balance between a heavy production able to highlight the details and pure hardcore punk aggression, and I am also reminded of early Warcry. I love the fact that they included two groovy mid-paced Dischargey numbers here that can even have you dance (yes, you) even though the last time you tried was in 2008 with the notoriously ass-grabbing Emma from Accounts at a colleague's leaving due. But let's not get into that. This is a pretty recent release and one of the strongest d-beat albums of the 2010's. Bombardement went on to release an Ep and an even better second album Le Futur Est Là with new singer Oriane whose lower pitch is as potent albeit more raucous and with lyrics in French, therefore illustrating once and for all that you can do the Discharge thing in Sartre's language (Emilie went on to - actually - sing in Faucheuse). 

Good news for you the record released on Symphony of Destruction and Destructure is still available and it looks brilliant and, dare I say it, pretty original for a d-beat record with a die-cut sleeve like 90's techno records you needed drugs to listen to. The road to Dis starts here.

Bombardement > Oi   

Last Night a D-Beat Saved My Life (part 14): HELLISH VIEW "Reaper's hand" Ep, 2019

I like Hellish View. I think what they do is good and they are good at what they are striving to do. With them picking a Disclose song as a moniker, the only punters they are likely to attract and entice to spend a tenner on a record are the ones already converted to the D, the risks of one being fundamentally disappointed with the band's work are therefore slim. They can't be said to promise the moon but at least they are not lying about the menu.

Unless you conceive the warmest passion for d-beat raw punk, not just for the music but also for the foundational web of references, the lexical articulations and the visual semiotics, Hellish View will probably sound like a bear family trying to play musical instruments for the first time (not an unpleasant program in itself, for me at least). Reaper's Hand provides the casual d-beat listener, the passerby of the D, with a decent slice of "noise not music" gruff primitive d-beat while still accommodating the aficionados with the validation of the genre's prerequisites. The style's specifications are respected, the crucial boxes proverbially ticked. To switch to a language even the dimwitted among us are capable to understand (there can't be many here, Terminal Sound Nuisance is definitely a high-brow, if ineffably highfalutin, reading experience), this Ep is a scorcher or, like old-school American punks would say, "rad".

Hellish View are from Minneapolis and like a lot of the most fanatical d-beat bands (the Disease and Dispose of this world) are quite prolific with two demo tapes, three Ep's and three split Ep's since 2017. I like the idea of obstinate inflexible bands who keep recording and producing against all odds, especially in such a confidential genre. They are doing it for the love and lovers of it. Or maybe they just lost a bet in high-school and the local bully ordered them to play d-beat until the end of time or else. Minneapolis stands as a legendary punk town with absolute classic bands like Misery, Destroy!, the fanzine Profane Existence and some solid contemporary bands like Hope? so emerging from such a place could be an advantage for a band since you are bound to find like-minded people who know what you are on about when raving over Disclose for way too long. They probably do not tend to run away over the fallacious pretext that walking Ben Sherman commercials are getting on stage like in Paris. However, even amidst the plethoric offer of Minneapolis punk-rock, there have never been a proper d-beat band, one relying solely on the the strict cannon so that Hellish View can be seen as something of a novelty in this context.

This young and studded three-piece do love playing, cheekily and affectionately, with the traditions. While it would be too long to analyze thoroughly the evolution of their sound - but let's just say that they went from a cave d-beat raw punk to a more Disclose-infused d-beat raw punk but I suppose it's just because they learnt to play better - I still have to give credit for some song titles from the disbones-ish 2021 demo tape that illustrate my point like "Protest and revive" or "Assholes (of the fucking leaders)". But what about Reaper's Hand in particular? 

The Ep does a perfect job at blending Aspects of War-era and Disbones-era Disclose (which it does say on the cover) with Decontrol's primal fury (the gruff vocals tonally sound like the perfect mix of both) and something of Shitlickers and Anti-Cimex as well. It has that galloping unpolished distorted d-beat quality that I have grown to love when it's done well. The songwriting is classic indeed but the opening APOD displays some adventurousness as it is a slow-paced but groovy number that made me think of Discharge's vintage mid-paced moments but played at the wrong speed, which is, bizarrely, a compliment here. If the lyrics deal with the usual "wars, death and destruction" trope, it has to be said that the two songs on Reaper's Hand are about Gaza and the plight of the Palestinians which has never been as tragically relevant. 

This slice of delightful fan service done with heart and dedication was released on the very fine local Desolate Records in 2019 and can still be found floating in some tasteful distros I suppose. Did I mention that Hellish View use a cracking logo with a reworking of the Discharge logo but with a crow instead of a face? Now that's creativity.

HELLISH VIEW              

Last Night a D-Beat Saved My Life (part 13): DESPAIR "Visions of the Inferno" Lp, 2018

I sometimes find myself caught up in my own moral principles and therefore do not practice what I vehemently preach, namely to not judge a book by its cover (to be applied metaphorically as from my experience most novels, especially North-American, can be judged by their cover which makes the phrase rather odd) or its reputation. As vaguely bothered as it makes me feel in terms of the petty values I insist upon holding, I do happen to love bands before I actually play them just by reading the "ex and current members of" list. It goes without saying that I am sometimes violently proven wrong but let's not engage in an excruciatingly exhaustive excursus about the culprits as not only do I not want to find horse heads in my bed again, but more importantly I have been told on several occasions that it bores readers. In fact my brother once suggested I indicate the time it'd take to read the full review for busy readers, which sounds like encouraging laziness to me. It's like asking how long will the Sore Throat song be. Are you really that busy mate? What are you, a banker? Does this keep me from being waylaid by swarms of admirers on my way to buy baguettes? Does it fuck.

But yeah. Reading, accidentally, about a d-beat project involving ex and current members of pretty classy bands got me interested: Despair had Cordie on guitar who by then had already played with drummer Bryce in Raw War and Kaiten, Chris also on guitar from the mighty Decontrol, Foat from Limb From Limb, Fear of Tomorrow and Total War and John formerly of the underrated Dödsfälla on vocals. The thought that "it's gonna be a good one that" did accost my mind, never to really leave. This more or less justified belief is a bit like morning drinking: it sounds good on paper but can end up to be a disaster (pun intended). Despair can be said to be a band that I loved before listening to in spite of a generic moniker - in addition to the Osaka crusties you will unsurprisingly find three black-metal bands with the same name on Discogs but also a ridiculously cheesy Russian power-metal band that comes highly recommended if you're having a bad day) that still makes sense considering the genre. At least they did not go for Dispair (not a bad band by the way but you know...).

As mentioned, I was a little late to the party and only heard about the band when they had presumably already passed (their final gig took place in June, 2015), which I felt a little upset about but then it happens to me often with obscure family members so I didn't make too much of it. Upon playing the album on youtube (unglamorous I know), Despair instantly revealed themselves as a cracking "just-like Discharge" orchestra, a restrictive but ultimately fulfilling and engrossing sub-category of d-beat, not unlike what the saltwater crocodile is to its Nile cousin: the subtle difference is in the details.  

Before Visions of the Inferno Despair thought wise to record a self-released demo tape in 2015 that illustrated emphatically what the band had in mind and several songs from the demo would be rerecorded and vastly improved for the Lp (released a good few years after it was recorded). The demo of Despair must be seen as an antechamber to their album as the Lp magnified the real qualities and traits exhibited on the first recording. Despair's demo was, well, essentially a punk demo, that is to say an allusion to what would come (admittedly it is easier to say in retrospect). This maniacal Vancouver unit is particularly enjoyable because they partake in the difficult task to replicate the philosophy of the first 90's d-beat generation of Dischange, Disaster or Disfear, not just in terms of sound but also in terms of their original praxis, one that is as close as possible to Discharge itself. This is Discharge-loving d-beat instead of d-beat loving d-beat, if you know what I mean. It even looks like a 90's d-beat record. The direct Discharge references may overwhelm some (who will gently and mercifully be called "posers") but I am not one to flinch at open Discharge love, especially when it has song titles like "...and they still ignore", "Life's massdestruction" or "Visions of the inferno". 

The interplay between the guitars impresses, the guitar players do not step on one another's studded boots and while I am conservatively not in favour of two guitars in an orthodox d-beat band, Despair stands as one of the very few modern examples where you can actually hear that it makes sense (I am reminded of Anti-System on that level at times). The bass has that old-school dirty reverb sound instead of the usual grinding tone and I love the fact that the vocalist does not rely on pedal effects or forcefulness (two common flaws in contemporary d-beat bands) for the Discharge rendering, he just goes hoarse and angry but still understandable, not unlike on the Discard Lp (possibly a relevant reference in terms of conception when it comes to Despair's Lp) which confers a genuine hardcore punk edge to the whole. The Lp does have imperfections here and there but they are meaningless because Visions of the Inferno succeeds in doing exactly what it set out to: absolute Discharge worship with a taste refined through solid knowledge of the D word, an ear for the good aggressive riff with a cracking guitar sound and a sort of contagious "charged punk" collective drive. Beside let's not overlook that it is a full album, not a mere Ep, so that it is harder to make it sound coherent and whole, the story is longer to tell. The fact that it was mastered by Kenko kinda goes without saying and is the icing on the nuclear war.

     

This album is rather difficult to find these days but if you do happen to see it, don't dick around and jump on it (and do elbow your way to the distro if needed). As you can imagine all the lads kept playing in bands after on a more or less permanent basis with John joining the excellent and already discussed Genogeist, Bryce currently doing Reaktori, Foat Dead Hunt and Malakili while Cordie (also referred to as "the riff machine" in some quarters) just started his thirteenth band since 2015 last month, a formidable feat that got him to be nominated for the Vancouver Punk of the Year award this year.

Visions of the d-beat

    

Last Night a D-Beat Saved My Life (part 12): LIFE LOCK "2018 E.P." Ep, 2019

Little do people know (or care to) that, beside this Singapore lot, there are two other bands with a similar name: a melodic hardcore Lifelock from Turkey and some sort of depressive and dark Bathory-Cimex metal-punk act Lifelöck from Brazil (with a tape called A Non Nuclear Nightmare which is an odd title for an evil band since it is officially the best sort of nightmare). As far as I know, none of these three bands have been sued by Doom for the use of the name of one of their top songs which is a relief (I swear this will be the only crust-related dad joke of the review). What would we become without Discogs? You can't escape record porn.

I don't suppose the Istambulis were thinking about Doom (and after all the phrase "life lock" is meaningful without being tied to a preexisting reference), the Brazilians must certainly have and the Singaporeans just did without hesitation, naturally, like a stud flying instinctively toward a punk leather jacket. Still, even though the nod to Doom must be factored in, Life Lock cannot be defined as Doom-like. Of course, lovers of the Brummies will feel at home with Life Lock - after all both share a common love for things of the D - but their respective program diverge. This review is not meant to explore the roots of Doom, that'd be an ambitious endeavour as we often tend to overlook where the legendary band's music originates from since they are more often seen as influencer rather than influencee. But let's just throw here that they initially intended to work on the gruffest side of 80's Swedish hardcore (Svart Parad, Asocial and all). Life Lock do not although they, rather cheekily, used Doom's cloud logo as the cover of the first version of the present Ep, a self-released tape (to be fair Abraham Cross played the same trick in the 90's). Life Lock have always been pretty clear about their main sources of joy: Disaster and Disclose.

Such a masterplan is straight-forward enough but it does require a songwriting flair for the simple but perfect riffs, vocal pattern, distortion level and primitive drum beat, things that Life Lock clearly demonstrates. They remain faithful to the source material with a "wall of noise not music" vibe expressed through blatant but always loving Disaster and Disclose rip-offs. Even more accurate perhaps would be the theory that Life Lock is the answer to the question "What if Disclose had been a radical Disaster-worship act?". This is an existential interrogation, the kind of which often arises after a collective boozing session at 2am. Definitely after the gig. Even if your hearing and eyesight are not what they used to be, the Ep is replete with Disaster references. Life Lock cover "Devastation" (sample included), use the Disaster font to write their own name, the first song "Our glorious(?) dead" directly refers to Disaster's "Glorious?", "Hell's inferno" to the line "Hellish inferno" in Disaster's "Inferno". Being fair play, Life Lock do indicate "Thanks to Disaster" on the backcover and the song "Grows in fear" is more akin to a blissfully obvious Disclose tribute. Who said d-beat was a one-trick pony?

This marvelous Ep was recorded in 2018 and released on Brain Solvent Propaganda and Symphony of Destruction. I haven't been able to get an idea of how active the band was or maybe still is. They did release a handful of tape, among which the quite manifest and rhetorical Who'll Make Noise Not Music?!! in 2010 (with a recreation of Discharge's iconic first Ep but with "Disaster" painted at the bottom of a studded jacket, in case you needed to be reminded of where they were heading toward) and And For What (you know what they mean, yeah?) with an even nerdier cover using the very same picture of the two armed soldiers as Disaster used, except these soldiers, instead of the perfectly acceptable gasmask faces, now have the cabbage heads of Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing. What a combo. 

The Singapore scene has proven to a new wider audience to be very dynamic and lively for the past 10 years with bands like Siäl and Lubricant being quite successful abroad and needless to say that punk 2.0 certainly contributed to that well-deserved interest. However, one must not forget that Singapore punks have been playing noisy crust and d-beat (and more generally hardcore) for a long time as solid bands like Minus, Blinded Humanity or Pazahora (members of which play in the aformentioned Siäl) can attest. For those ready to nerd out, I recommend giving a listen to the Singapore Punk Holocaust compilation cd released sometime in the 00's.

But in the meantime blast some Life Lock, arguably the Disclosest band to Disaster. 

LIFE LOCK

 

Last Night a D-Beat Saved My Life (part 11): DECADE "A Deadly Game of Make Believe" Ep, 2018

People who claim that Discharge-mimicking bands all sound the same are both right and wrong, although they are probably sorry to be right but wrong to believe they are. Well, partly. But at the end of the (domes)day it all depends if you are trying to express praise or contempt, approval or blame. On the one hand, you could very well mean that the bands all sound the same just as they should in a wonderful communion of love for Stoke-on-Trent antiheroes, their intentionally strong similarities illustrating a punk togetherness that has few, if any, comparisons in the music world. Or, on the other hand, you could very well mean that Discharge-loving bands all sound the same because they are uninspired, incapable of writing their own music and see originality as a cardinal sin. It really is a matter of perspective, two antithetic ways to look at the phenomenon.

But a band may very well rhapsodize about Discharge and yet not sound like a d-beat band. It sounds ludicrous but is not. Deathcharge's Plastic Smiles was a case in point with three copies of Discharge songs free of the infamous beat. A bit of a cheeky endeavour I suppose. Still, Plastic Smiles referred to those Discharge's mid-paced numbers that belonged to the acceptable era of the band, namely between 1980 and 1982, so that even though the D was not technically beaten, the Ep did worship at the right altar. As much as I would like to pretend that Discharge stopped in 1984, they did not and if Warning and The More I see can be considered as amusingly cheesy metallic punk records that retrospectively sound quite adorable, like listening to an elderly person try to use modern slang, inflicting the pompous Grave New World upon the punk world was far less forgivable and basically shitting the already damaged bed. Modernity, in its inscrutability, has seen the rise of bands claiming that they actually enjoyed this era of Discharge and strive to emulate the grave new beat. 

Is it postmodern irony? Fanaticism gone wrong? An unhealthy passion for perms? A bad diet with deficiencies in d-beat minerals? Who knows, but it sounds like ordering tap water at the pub on a first date. But after all Final Bombs have always loved and emulated mid-80's Discharge and even though I find the music absolutely revolting, I really do respect the passion. But what do I know about good taste, I cantillate to Blyth Power in the shower. In any case, there is no denying that a band such as Final Bombs love Discharge (and love is very deaf) as much as a band such as Meanwhile. Do they sound alike? Absolutely not. 

Among the current bands wearing their love for the Discharge era that was once taboo on their sleeves are Decade from Toronto, fine dis lovers mostly known these days for their appetence for Grave New World (as can be witnessed on their daring World Stopped Turning Lp and the rather good split Lp with Fatum). They started as a much more traditional d-beat unit such as can be heard on their first Ep, the brilliantly entitled A Deadly Game of Make Believe. I knew Decade before they turned "grave" and was well impressed upon hearing them for the first time. A Dead Game was originally released on Runstate Tapes, a Montreal-based label that specializes in cassettes of often small bands with an inclination for noisy raw hardcore and has been responsible for many good releases since 2013. The proper punk spirit if you know what I mean. This Decade recording was so punishing and relentless that it inevitably got reissued on vinyl through Rawmantic Disasters from Berlin (the name of the label includes both "raw" and "dis" so I suppose nobody will feel aggrieved if I don't detail further its field of expertise). 

From the opening of the gates, Decade unleash the fucking fury here and they are not messing around. Pummeling and dark Hear Nothing-era d-beat hardcore (think early Disfear and the "just-like-Discharge" 90's school) played with an intensity that few bands are able to reach. Classic riffs, a buzzing bass and drums well in front in the mix. However, as Discharge-inspired as Decade rightly demand to be seen, the band manages to infuse some originality to the otherwise aptly executed, tried and tested orthodox d-beat formula. There is a vibe of dementia and madness in Decade's music, a sense of pervading insanity blending with the customary anger the subgenre is based on. 

Through the addition of samples, noisy arrangements, interludes and transitions, saturated guitar effects (bordering on so-called noisepunk) and peculiar vocals, Decade do stand out. Of course, the vocals will cause the listener a Marmite reaction: you will love it or hate it. I have to admit I disliked it at first as I did not find it really contribute anything to the otherwise excellent "we <3 Discharge" record and thought it merely emphasized the fact that they were dicking around with too many vocal effects pedals. It was fantastic when Destino Final did it but it did get old quick and it still remains a major flaw in far too many contemporary raw punk bands. But playing the Ep again and listening closely I realized that indeed the vocals were not just gratuitous but actually conveyed an atmosphere of extreme dementia that can be found in some Japanese bands. I assume the intended effect was to bring some volatility and a slightly different edge by playing with the vocal and guitar textures and the traditional d-beat songwriting. May the aficionados have no fear though, Decade still very much rely on high referentiality and strict obedience to the Discharge rulebook. They just took some liberty with it and quite possibly had some psychedelic tea beforehand.

A Deadly Game of Make Believe stands as a fun d-beat Ep and one that I often go back to although it did not really hit me at first. Decade get to tell a very familiar story in a slightly different way here and they have to be commanded for it. Would it work on a full length? Well, I would have loved to see them try but this is highly unlikely to happen. As for the cover, it's not exactly bloodcurdling but the level of cheesiness is high (it does remind one of Ignorance or Thisclose actually) and I cannot help but think that it heralded the grave new venturesome Decade. It must be the shades and the arm-crossing contest.

A deadly game of make Discharge

Last Night a D-Beat Saved My Life (part 10): ASPECTS OF WAR "A Look Into the Nightmare" tape Ep, 2017

Aspects of War is the epitome of a band that does everything by the book. Not any book: the book of the D. This legendary punk codex is the equivalent of the Necronomicon but for people who like Discharge too much - although both readerships fall under the "nerd" category - as its deeper meaning can only be understood by initiates, higher level d-beat fans. It includes Holy d-beat scriptures with the Ten Commandments that must be respected at all costs by Dis nerds if they don't want to end up in Hell where, it is rumoured, one is subjected to shoegaze music for eternity. Beautiful illustrations and parables dating as far back as 1981 also show the way toward the d-beat epiphany to the flock of believers. 

How neat would that be, yeah? If there was such an oeuvre, Aspects of War would have reread it a couple of times just before recording A Look Into the Nightmare. Don't be fooled by the simple tape format, it is a flawless collections of four songs that could be shown to students following a D-Beat 201 class where they will learn about the distorted subspecies of the genre (the corpus is brilliant in this class). Aspects of War were an essentially 2010's band in the sense that they have to be approached through a diachronic lens rather than a synchronic one. The 2010's were a decade during which the Disclose worship, or rather the Kawakami adoration, boomed with an astounding parochial fervor. Previously discussed bands like Dispose or Disease are also to be seen from this perspective, and it can be argued that No Fucker were among the first, if not the first, non-Japanese band to theorize the Disclose-styled d-beat raw punk. From the status of unique band with its distinct style, Disclose became a blueprint for a specific d-beat style postmortem and Aspects of War were one of the noise unit that applied the protocol with dexterous determination and picked the name of a Disclose Ep as a moniker just to make sure that you get it. 

The studded four-piece started in 2010 and threw the towel around 2017. The band were from the Boston area which proves that you don't have to were trainers to play hardcore punk in this town. The lineup included Jake from Nerveskade or Zatsuon and Chris who ran the very good but sadly inactive label Brain Solvent Propaganda, while Devin and Trevor also played in the noisier crasher band Ambush (who did a solid flexi in 2014), so that you can say the boys already partook heavily in noise-making punk activities. Like a proper d-beat band on a mission, Aspects of War got to work with two raw demo tapes, Total Disfuckers in 2010 and the hilariously titled In Order to Satisfy Their Mania For Conquest Punks Are Squandered the next year (this open self-awareness combined with apropos references stands as another aspect of 2010's d-beat) before releasing the superior The Presence of Death Ep and a split with Contrast Attitude both in 2014 and a split with System Fucker and a flexi the next year, vinyl appearances that saw the band take things to a different level of brutality.

Beside a strict adherence to the d-beat raw punk canon, the strong point of Aspects of War was that they always managed to sound both raw and energetic. Sometimes Disclose-influenced bands rely too much on distorsion and effects and unconsciously forget the most crucial element in hardcore punk: the energy and dynamism. Disclose were never just about distortion, their songs were all angry declarations of love to Discharge and Discharge-loving 80's bands and in that sense Disclose were almost like a sonic filter through which these influences were transformed. And Aspects of War, like No Fucker, got that dimension just right. They balanced raw punk textures with simple but effective Dischargish songwriting with ease and A Look Into the Nightmare stood as their aptest release on that level because it reflected this balance perfectly. 

The early demos may be cruder and more primitive, the brilliant split with Contrast Attitude cleaner (well...) and more "produced", but this parting gift proved to be my favourite, not just because I got it for cheap. Three fast d-beat raw punk numbers reminiscent of Disclose (they are not called Aspects of War for nothing) No Fucker or even Final Massakre (especially the vocals) and classic 80's bands (The Iconoclast notably) and a mid-paced Discharge one to wrap it up. Eight minutes of Dis perfection. The North American version was released on Brain Solvent Propaganda for the Varning festival and the European one was done by Voice From Inside. Good shit indeed. 

ASPECTS OF D-BEAT

Last Night a D-Beat Saved My Life (part 9): FOSSE COMMUNE "S/t" demo tape, 2017

Well no, I did not lose a bet. I was not threatened or blackmailed in any way and chose freely. Although I have often, if not almost awlays, been disinclined to write about French punk bands, not just because French music generally irritates me and puts me in a foul and querulous mood, but because I did not grow up listening to French bands and in fact only witness their talent, or lack thereof, when at gigs. Many exceptions to this bitter rule exist, thankfully, but French hardcore bands too often wallow in that US hardcore style that I found particularly cumbersome and tainted with testosterone and basically undeserving of my august attention. Hence something of a reluctance. 

Places like Saint-Etienne or Bordeaux have proved, year in year out, to be able to deliver quality and tasteful hardcore punk music enabling the average French punk to look a Swede in the eye and claim, albeit with a shaky voice and with a horrendous accent: "we have a couple of decent bands at home you know". One cannot overstate how prevalent an influence the Bordeaux hardcore scene has had for the past 20 years. It is known for its deep-rooted passion for the D and for the recognized quality of its bands well outside the country. The fact that it's pretty much the same 10 people doing all the bands is of no importance as you could say the same thing about many a good scene in 2024. In the war against shit taste, they stand as a bastion of good hardcore music and the national résistance against the lurking peril of French oi. They protest to survive, resist to exist and ain't no feeble bastards when it comes to reject the rules of boots'n'braces and £75 Fred Perry shirts.

If you are into d-beat, and I concur that you are if you are reading this (unless you just enjoy reading pompous bollocks), you will have heard of class Bordeaux bands like Gasmask Terrör or Bombardement but the town also has hidden nuggets such as Fosse Commune (which translates as "mass grave", cheery stuff) that the common Discharge worshipper might be unaware of and it is my job, as the condescending redactor-in-chief and self-appointed leader of good taste, to educate the masses and uncover little-known but valuable d-beat bands and in actual fact I rate Fosse Commune pretty highly when it comes to that zoological classification.

The band proved to be, sadly, short-lived so that you would be partly pardoned from not knowing them and I admit that my proximity with the Bordeaux clique did facilitate my coming across them. Fosse Commune was born out of the desire of guitar hero Jesse and drummer Rémi to start a band that would sound like Disaster playing on Disclose's gears which on paper sounds like a very just cause to play music. The masterminds behind this evil plan were not exactly beginners as Jesse had been previously dicking around in the rudimentary albeit noisy Incendiaire and Slakteri and was also singing in the very fun Sexplosion (the title of a Discharge song you wish you could forget) at that point in time, while Rémi was, and still is, involved on the bass with the much underrated raw and furious hardcore band Hondartzako Hondakinak (amply referred to "Honda Honda" because we are, beside being Street Fighter 2 fans, linguistically lazy and unschooled in the Basque language). Singer Esmé and bass player Jean-Marc (formerly in Déjà Mort) joined the troop and they joyfully recorded this 7 song demo, with lyrics in English but for "Des chiens", in 2017 which they self-released in true DIY fashion and therefore had to distribute themselves which must have been a pain in the arse.

Although not getting any discount on the tape myself, Fosse Commune were a generous band with about 14 minutes of noisy d-beat to gift the world. Had they been American, they would have released it on Lp and embarked on a two week European tour with five different shirt designs. The idea was basic and simple enough, nothing revolutionary was undertaken and Fosse Commune, in the grand Distory, could be characterized as pleasingly unoriginal and tastefully unimaginative. From a national perspective however, the creative intent that drove the band was precisely the opposite. Indeed, playing Disaster-styled d-beat hardcore with a Disclose-styled guitar sound in the landscape of French punk music sounds like a near-impossibility, a conceptual aberration, something that can barely be imagined. What would Les Béruriers Noirs think? So while Fosse Commune would have been a delicious non-event in South-East Asia, Spain or the States - albeit one that I would undeniably celebrate - its national uniqueness cannot be understated, as obscure and brief the band might have been.

Dis chats?

Guitar hero Jesse confessed that the project was to use the songwriting of Disaster and apply a layer of Kawakami. This adventurous endeavour had already been touched upon by Deadlock from Japan, who similarly relied heavily on Disaster's slower d-beat drumming - what I call "jogging d-beat" - but don't know that Fosse Commune really thought about them in the writing process. Simple, heavy and distorted riffs the sound of which required about 15 pedals (it probably would have been easier to just plug the guitar into a rusty tumble dryer), some "just like Disaster" transitions and overall a well-executed primitive d-beat pace with a solid sound that fits what they were trying to do and their devotion to the subgenre's tenets. The band's originality - a rarefied realm in this genre - cannot be said to be immeasurable but does exist with Esmé's direct and raspy vocals whose flow and texture are reminiscent of 90's crusty anarchopunk (Lost World or Fleas and Lice at times?) rather than d-beat strictness. As mentioned earlier in the series with Atentado's Ep, female vocalists are few and far between in the cult of Discharge replicas so that it always sounds like a breath of suffocating yet fresh air.

This is a humble but solid demo tape that will undeniably ravish d-beat raw punk sectarians and repel wankers who equate hardcore music with wannabe New York bodybuilders but I believe that Fosse Commune, for its simplicity and groove, can also be enjoyed by the casual hardcore punk fan. I wish the band were able to record an Ep but it was not to be. The one minor flaw of the tape might be the artwork - which I can enjoy - as it is unclear to me what the band wanted to achieve with the lack of references to their extremely referential sound. But maybe I'm just a bit think, innit?

Fosse Commune