"Fuck The Legion, Fuck The Lyrics, Fuck The Lot Of View! Vol.2" compilation tape, 2015

I have absolutely no idea how this compilation tape ended up in my pristine collection. Distros sometimes, when shipping prices allow for it, stick in parcels a couple of records they have been trying to get rid of, the ones that have been sleeping in boxes for too long and take up much needed space - a thoughtfulness usually formulated as "I've added extra gifts and goodies for you" - when you pass an order. I'm not blaming them and sometimes you do have nice surprises although more often than not the gifts end up sleeping in other boxes in non-distro homes. Cycle of life. This tape belongs to the first category of nice surprises. I suppose it landed here through a Greek distro (either this or someone broke into my place and planted the thing for me to write about it) but I can't recall which. If I'm being honest I had completely forgotten about it and I'm not even sure I ever played the fucker before this review. Not so long ago I still had a loyal employee taking care of the sorting for me and he selected only the most listenable material Terminal Sound Nuisance gets sent. It was truly a painful daily process and I was thankful to have him - I would often scratch him behind the ears and feed him treats - as he prevented me to suffer the indignity to endure German metalcore or random Californian post-skacore (please refrain from sending such dross). Tragically he progressively got deaf and he had to be put down. Fuck the Legion, Fuck the Lyrics, Fuck the Lot of Views! Vol.2 was one of the tapes salvaged by my sorely missed partner. Thanks mate.

This 100% DIY production comes from Greece, from a label called Stand Against Vivisection Records based in Kavala that started in 2004 and might have folded in the 2020's (the last release is from 2022). Looking at the catalogue, one has to admire the variety of styles it released, from cracking postpunk (Πανδημία and Κωμωδία Θανάτου), brutal grindcore (Agathocles and Mixomatosis), classic 80's punk (Mellakka or Απόγνωση) and angry crust (Παροξυσμός). I would venture that the label maybe just originally happened to support the network of friends and take part in worthy projects and then grew into helping out from times to times. There were three volumes of Fuck The Legion, Fuck The Lyrics, Fuck The Lot Of View! - the silly reference to Chaotic Dischord always makes me giggle like a school kid upon hearing a fart - the first one from 2013 included the aforementioned incredible Πανδημία, goth punks Era of Fear (both Athens bands did a split Lp shortly after), Luftslott and Καρκίνωμα (who did a split tape with the rather popular antifa oi punk band Ομίχλη in 2001). All the songs on the tapes were recorded live in Kavala so it's about as raw and urgent as you can expect. As for the the third volume it was in fact a vinyl Lp, a fairly ambitious undertaking, with Kavala SS (who also appear on the second one), Ταραχές, Eristetyt (yes, Eristetyt ) and Etuaste, the last two from Finland.

The chances of anyone knowing about the four bands included on this second volume are rather slim unless: you are a punk from Greece or Istanbul and were around then and there; you were an angry local neighbour who had to sleep through all this noisy punk shows of these bands; or you are a massive Greek punk nerd and probably scared all your friends away a long time ago. The first band is he Κοπρόσκυλα (meaning "dirty dogs" or maybe "stray dogs") from Athens, a rather short-lived experience since the 9 songs on the tape were the band's only studio recording apparently. These songs were actually originally released as a cdr demo in 2010 so they were not exactly new at the time of release of this compilation. Information about The Κοπρόσκυλα is scarce to say the least but my sharp ears were already familiar with the vocals that must belong to the singer of Πανδημία (and these days of Πυρ Κατά Βούληση). I love his singing style so even though the music of  The Κοπρόσκυλα cannot be said to be Earth-shattering, the nine songs run pretty smoothly indeed. The band played dynamic and energetic punk-rock with some good hooks and singalongs but they are neither fast enough or melancholy enough to really grab the listener by the throat although they were certainly solid and tight enough to stand as a reliable local band.

The next band, Ugly Shadows, is not actually from Greece but from Istanbul, Turkey. They were around in the mid-00's and had members of Poster ITI (a very likable charged UK82 type band that had a good run and covered The Bristles) and Era of Fear. The mid-10's were the zenith of the postpunk revival and Ugly Shadows must definitely be seen in that light, as belonging to that mood of the time. To be fair the band's punk energy (especially with dynamic drumming and the shouted female vocals) puts them more in the "dark punk" category than the melancholy goth one. They are more angry than they are depressed if you like. The production is pretty basic here which works with the songwriting and adds some urgency. The lyrics are in English and you could easily namedrop PDX bands like Moral Hex or Dead Cult, class French exports Litovsk and also prepare some invitations for Barcelona's Sect. Know what I mean? Ugly Shadows are not reinventing the wheel but they sound honest enough in a genre that quickly became a cheap excuse to tour and a bandwagon one could easily jump on. There are four songs here, two that appeared on the self-titled 2015 Ep and two on the 2014 cdr demo. After the demise of the band three members went on to form Crudez, a very apt and accurate, albeit short-lived, Vice Squad-meet-Lux band. Members later on went on to play in bands like Die In Vain or Rotting System, and, in singer Gicem's case, in the Paris-based Zevk.

On the other side of the tape you will find the local heroes Kavala SS, who only ever appeared on this tape and on the third volume so I strongly suspect some (very) close ties with the label. I haven't been much of a fan of adding "SS" to your band's name. First because you always have to explain that it's not dodgy because Crude SS and Tampere SS did it and second because you grandmother would be very upset indeed if she saw you wearing a shirt with SS on it (but then, she actually saw SS soldiers in the flesh so she kinda has a point). I didn't expect to enjoy Kavala SS that much but they proved to be a good, fun listen reminiscent of classic 80's Finnish bands (they don't cover Tampere SS or Bastards for nothing) with crazy vocals not unlike 80's Japanese bands (they cover The Execute, just to be safe). The band also cover Rudimentary Peni and the lyrics to "Ύμνος Στον" are an adaptation of a poem by Fernando Pessoa who would have probably been very curious to hear it indeed. Who said punks did not read? As I said, it's fun and rather well-done although they probably loved covers a bit too much.

The final band of the compilation is also the best one: Toxic Minds. Forget the name pointing to crossover mountains, Toxic Minds play heavy, intense, aggressive old-school crust punk, the Greek way. Although not precisely prolific, this Thessaloniki act has been around since 2009 and the six songs included here were either taken from their unreleased 2012 cdr demo or are rehearsal recording. Therefore don't expect clean produced crust music, this is for the trve fans. The rawness, the primitiveness of the sound unmistakably remind one of older Greek bands and I would suggest Toxic Minds lie somewhere between beefy angry hardcore bands like Απολίτιστοι or early Πανικός and gruff metallic crust monsters like Ατομική Σχάση and Ανθρωπινος Ληθαργος (even though they are not as metal oriented or as epic as the national founding bands of the genre). If you close your eyes and listen to their songs here you would believe they were released in 1995. Absolutely brilliant stuff and Toxic Minds are the reason why such humble compilation tapes are crucial to the punk scene (and my personal encyclopedic knowledge of course). Stand Against Vivisection released their full Lp in 2017 and while it doesn't really have that cavemen crust feel anymore the album hits very hard and sounds absolutely furious with that typical Greek hardcore intensity but a perfect production highlighting the savagery of the songs. Fuck me.

For all I know there could be copies of the tape floating around and it's well worth investigating.  

Fuck fuck fuck

HARD SKIN "We're the fucking George" tape, 2011

2025 has been a pretty grim year on a global scale, I suppose it's hardly a scoop. However, truthfully, on a personal level 2025 has been quite generous to me what with the new extension to my manor I had build to store my Agathocles discography and the acquisition of a second yacht. A man has to live, innit? Who would have thought a position as Head of the Crust Studies Department and my bestseller book The Rise of Crust Pants: Crust Attires as Radical Deconstruction and Transversal Challenge to the Oppressive Normative Hygiene Basics in the Fragmented Context of Postindustrial Capitalist Society would finally earn me that much money? Take that dad.

In order to fight the overwhelming bleakness, it makes sense to write about punk's best comedy band (ever?): the mighty Hard Skin from Gipsy Hill, sarf London. Humour is difficult to pull out in punk and God knows we have had our fair share of dreadful "joke bands" in France failing miserably at being funny or witty, usually flavoured with distasteful sexist buffoonery, childish puns and just plain anti-PC obnoxiousness (but then it can be said about French humour as a whole so it is unsurprising). I'm sure every country has its own breed of stupid or silly bands, some possibly much better than others but you obviously have to understand the lingo and the cultural references to really grasp a comedy band so that it is hard to be a global expert. England sucks on a lot of levels, like food or penalties, but one thing they excel at beside crumpets is humour. I have always loved their approach to comedy and it stands, by far, as my favourite. Hard Skin mainly rely on that typical British humour, walking the thin line between gross and awkward and witty, they are self-aware as they play with the codes and conventions of a subgroup - in this case oi-loving skinheads - to create a parodic tribute that is both entertainingly silly and somewhat spirited at the same time. Their cartoonish caricature engages the listener in form thanks to its many singalongs (the easiest way to have people join in, "you know it, sing it!") and its specific cultural references about not only the oi but working-class life as whole. When you really get them, Hard Skin could be said to be the best band in the world. I mean, like they say so, right?

I distinctly remember when I first heard them sometime in 2000. We would often go, a mate and I, to a now sadly closed record store in Paris called Sonic Machine. It was located in Montmartre quite far from our sleepy suburban town and it took us about an hour and a half to get there so that the trip to the big city had a pilgrimage quality to it. It felt very much like a small adventure. We would spend hours there in this shop that looked like a punk version of Ali Baba's cave and where you could smoke and drink your beers (which we did copiously of course). We did not know much at that time - it's an understatement - but craved to listen to everything, mostly so-called streetpunk and oi records (my friend was in his short-lived skinhead phase then) because these were the most accessible contemporary styles for us. We did not really go to punk gigs at that point so that going to Sonic Machine was where we'd meet other people and stare in awe at older and much cooler punks. It was during one of those afternoons that I first heard UK Subs, Infa-Riot, The Unseen or Dick Spikies, influential stuff for me then. We had little money so buying a record was the result of a careful and sometimes painfully long process as we wanted to spend our 5O francs on the right record. It was on such a day that my friend grabbed the first Hard Skin cd Hard Nuts and Hard Cunts and asked the friendly, understanding, advisory, passionate and above all patient guy behind the counter to play the thing. It was love at first listen. I was already an absolute sucker for massive singalongs and terrace style chorus and this album is replete with them - little did I know that this use was in fact ironical. My mate bought the cd (he was the skin of the two so it made sense, I think I bought Oxymoron's The Pack is Back).

There was a good reason for Hard Skin's first oeuvre to be so easily available in a French punk store then. The English label that originally released it back in 1996, namely Helen of Oi! Records, had sold its whole catalogue to Noco in 2000, a label based around Paris that mostly released ska but also some oi (the boss was a skinhead and the singer of Skarface). I think Dick Spikie's Let's Start from In Complate was the first release under the new ownership. Not only did a vast amount of original Helen of Oi! records landed in Paris but a couple of represses (of Braindance or Vanilla Muffins) were also done at that time, among which Hard Skin's glorious first album. Funnily enough, the guy running the label had no idea Hard Skin were a comedy band satirising the genre and I distinctly remember the leaflet slipped in all Helen of Oi! release advertising Hard Skin as having members of the shitty Close Shave, probably because the band had "the new wave of the close shave" on the cover of the first Lp. Yes, French people are terrible at foreign languages and everyone at that time (or almost everyone) must have thought they were for real although even I found that there were an awful lot of "oi! oi! oi!" in their songs. Of course, it's much different these days, and a quick glance at Discogs will teach you that Fat Bob played in Wat Tyler (an equally humourous band albeit nowhere as catchy) and ran Rugger Bugger Records and Johnny Takeaway in Thatcher On Acid, two bands connected to the anarchopunk scene. I have always wondered whether the original boss of Helen of Oi! knew they were a joke or not, but he must have and would have seen them as a cheeky tribute band done well and therefore appealing to the gritty oi crowd. The catalogue was very serious and skinhead-oriented and some of the bands included could be said to be rather dodgy - but then it also released the first Bug Central album, a genuine anarchopunk band so who knows. A surprising choice in retrospect but one that reinforced the parody and kinda blurred the lines for us. I mean, they were label mates with On File so they must be for real, yeah?

A friend of mine could burn cd's at home (cdr's seemed to be insanely high tech for me at the time) and he made a copy for me which I played to death. My mate and I even got to see Hard Skin live, in January, 2002, along with some other local oi bands (among which Les Teckels that had Frustration's singer). The crowd confirmed to me that they were real skinheads as no one was really laughing and everyone looked hard, bald and rather unfriendly and I don't think I ever went back to a proper oi gig after that. As I improved my English significantly, I realized that Hard Skin were indeed a comedy band - I feel the second Lp is even more parodic - and that made them even better in my eyes and I'd play them whenever I feel blue and just want to listen to good punk, warm tunes that you remember instantly and have a good laugh. I suppose they are better live because you have all the stage banter accompanying the hits and that makes the experience unforgettable and the perfect place for a romantic first date.

But Hard Skin are not just about the jokes and swear words, they can actually write songs with catchy hooks and tunes, infectious choruses and great punk energy and that's why they can also seduce people not necessarily knowledgeable in the things of oi. Obviously, oi fans (and ex oi fans like myself) will enjoy them far more and will delight in spotting the ripoffs of Cockney Rejects, Cock Sparrer, Sham 69 or Blitz (are they the equivalent of a bingoi night?) and giggle at the clichés about British working-class life. Shoegaze fans won't probably get it though, because they suck. But what about this tape then? We're the Fucking George was released in 2011 in vinyl on their own JT Classics and on tape on Germany's Cut the Cord That... Record, responsible for records from much more businesslike bands like Catholic Guilt, Neon Piss or Generacion Suicida. I think the title of the tape refers to the term used to call generous tippers during casino sessions which would make Hard Skin's music priceless gold charitably offered I guess. The tape includes the band's singles (beside 2008's Cocks and Cunts which may have been a wise decision) and compilation tracks released between 1996 and 2010 - by which I mean between 1978 and 1981 as the band claims. Until recently, I never considered Hard Skin to be a "singles band" as I only owned the albums and never really saw the Ep's in distros. This release is therefore a convenient one to own if you do not have the originals because you are poor or if you are a lazy twat and can't be arsed to listen to Ep's because you have to turn them over quickly. There are a lot of classics here like "We are the wankers", "Make my tea", "First day angry song" or a live version of "Beer and fags" (but there is a mistake in the tracklist as it indicates "Sausage man" while the song is actually "Two bob cunt"). Elite UK oi indeed that have never tired of listening for 25 years. Pretty neat and educational if you want to warn your kids about how shit Romford is or teach them Santa is a skinhead or that darts are a real men's occupation.

Sadly - and I mean that - Hard Skin are no more as they played their last gigs in December and I was lucky enough to be at the London one on the 12th with The Restarts and Passion Killers. The show was brilliant as usual and Fat Bob's banter as funny as ever (I think Chumbawamba's ears are still red). It was a little emotional for me, after all these years of being a fan and if I had kids I would have them recite the lyrics before going to bed every night.

Oi not jobs!    

They're the fucking George

"Atropello!! - Peruvian Hardcore Punk Compilation" tape, 2020's (?)

Let's deal with the elephant the room first: of course this is not an original copy of the cassette. The hardcore purists - also known as "the snobs" - will all in unison grunt a collective "duh" and Captain Obvious will join in the smirking. I can't really blame them. Atropello!! is a hardcore punk tape compilation originally released in 1989 in Peru on a tiny label called Bakteria Tapes that only released two tapes and was probably run by a member from one of the bands called Cesar (thanks Discogs for that precious bit of trivia). The chance that a humble forty-something punk from Paris would own an original copy of the thing is therefore highly unlikely. But then haven't we all heard incredible tales of rare tape recordings somehow ending in the hands of an innocent, often undeserving but excited righteous youth? And I'm not just talking about the dusty practice tapes of your uncle Bob's shit prog band he did in high school (nope, it doesn't really count in this context), tapes he thought should be immortalised online and hope you'll take care of it. But after all, tape trading was all the rage in the 80's and it would not completely unlikely that a Lima punk sent a copy of Atropello!! to a similarly enthusiastic Paris punk (although I have trouble picturing what sort of hardcore tape he would have sent in return given the size of the hardcore scene at the time). Then this tape could have been gifted to me, after I showed credentials and was deemed worthy by the local High Punk Council and there could even have been a ceremony to mark this important passage. Right?

But no, of course not, I grabbed this unofficial reissue in Zagreb from the Doomtown Records distro table last year so it is quite obviously a homemade bootleg meant as a tribute to this very fine but largely unknown piece of punk history. Details about the 80's punk scene in Lima is relatively scarce although two documentaries actually exist (the first one being basically live videos) and can be seen on youtube (there was a short article published in 2012 in Maximum Rocknroll that you can find here) and you will be able to gather pieces of information here and there - which is of course something I love doing. This writeup doesn't claim to be a historical piece about the early Peruvian punk scene but it is still quite easy and fun to infer some elements. The scene very largely revolved around the capital Lima where about a third of Peruvians lived (the country being rather centralised), making the movement predominantly urban at that time. What better places for punk in the 80's than a South American capital? There was certainly no shortage of good reasons to get into it (poverty, political oppression, violence, corruption, you name it - like Autopsia did). Throughout this review, there will also be no shortage of wild guesses, potentially inaccurate assertions, erroneous data and gross misunderstandings, so feel free to correct me in the comments.

The early Latino hardcore scene has rightly become more documented in the past 10 years. Classic Mexican hardcore bands like MELI, Massacre 68, SS-20, Herejia, Atoxxxico or Histeria have all enjoyed reissues and the very noisy Medellin scene of the late 80's/early 90's is also starting to be resurrected, like the notably amazing reissue of Estamos en la Sima on FOAD Records (probably the best label when it comes to rerelease old materials because of the impressive care put into the booklet and the contextualisation). The old-school Brazilian scene has always been well documented and regularly reissued so I don't see it in the same light, contrary to the Peruvian scene that has remained rather in the shadow compared to DF or Medellin hardcore "de las ochentas". Yet, judging by the number of bands and the dynamism and energy of the music, it can be said that Lima was one hotspots of hardcore punk on the continent at that point in time (or perhaps I am also guilty of projecting too much and I just want it to be too hard). Since I bumped into 80's Peruvian hardcore, I have always had a soft spot for the sound and the scene, as short-lived as it might have been then - most bands did not make it to 1990 - certainly had its fair share of quality raw and pissed hardcore bands that were every bits as good as other Spanish-speaking contemporary acts and resonate meaningfully with the current tupa-tupa punk fashion.

If you have never heard of the Lima punk scene and never listened to an old-school hardcore band from Lima, Atropello!! is the ideal starting point as it includes 9 bands and 28 songs: one hour of genuine RAW PUNK. The most significant missing early Peruvian punk bands here would be Narcosis (whose '85 demo Primera Dosis is something of a cult snotty punk recording) and Leuzemia (class '77 style band with a contagious energy and brilliant tunes) but since Atropello!! claims to be a hardcore compilation it is not too surprising (second "duh" of the writeup). The Lima-based bands included were around for a short period of time - 80's bands often were anyway - during the second part of the decade and could all be said to be influenced not just by American hardcore, but also UK82, Italian as well as Brazilian hardcore and I suppose the classics of Spanish punk (RIP for example). At the end of the day, it sounds exactly like it should: angry teens trying to play fast punk music. Let's have it!

The first band on the tape is called Kaos General (!) with 5 songs (their whole '88 demo in fact), one of my favourite here. They play raw rabioso urgent hardcore punk, not far from the Mexican classics or a more primitive take on Anti-Dogmatikss and IV Reich, but you can also tell that they played a lot of US hardcore (on that level you've got to love the introduction to "Permanecermos hasta el final" that was liberally borrowed from Minor Threat) and I love the angry and easy to sing along chorus. The eponymous song "Kaos general" sums up what 80's raw punk was all about and is an instant classic. There is no official reissue yet but I hope it's just a matter of time. Next up are Panico and we are in even rawer territory. The tone is more melodic and slower, the first song being basically a crude adaptation of 4-Skins' "Chaos" with a lot of heart and energy while the second one is a simple but effective tupa-tupa number with a good tune. Probably more UK82 than properly hardcore I suppose but I like it. Just two songs for Panico but a demo was recorded in 1985 with 4 more songs on it that was reissued on Ep in 2012. 

The next band is Ataque Frontal, undoubtedly the most famous Peruvian hardcore band on the tape and in general. This is the first 80's punk band from Peru that I heard of, not a massive feat since their legendary 1988 Ep was released on a Paris label called New Wave Records that was also responsible for putting out a couple of records in the 80's from the likes of Abaddon, Heïmat-Los or Agent Orange and whose founder was apparently in touch with some punks in Lima. This Ep can be said to be one of the best Latino hardcore punk records from the 80's and the three songs on the tape are absolutely ferocious. Ataque Frontal were once known as Guerrilla Urbana, probably the first hardcore band in the country (their first gig apparently ended with shots from the police, a legend-creating moment), whose first demo was released as a split tape with HHH on another Paris label called Jungle Hop (not sure what the Paris-Lima connection was all about but I should ask). The songs "Sobreviviré" and "Memorias" were actually originally written under the name Guerrilla Urbana. The production here is, obviously, raw but if anything it highlights the anger and the urgency. You can tell it's the late 80's and some moments remind me of Negazione or even Heresy, although Ataque Frontal were punkier and closer to Massacre 68 or MELI. Hardcore aficionados must know them already but if you do not the Ep has been reissued. Brilliant shit.

The following orchestra is Kaos. Now with a name like this you would expect a particularly chaotic and spontaneous affair full of teenage energy and angst that would somehow make out for the general lack of musicianship. You would not be wrong. I am pretty sure every country has its own punk band called "chaos" and Atropellos!! includes no less than 3 songs from the band, all live recordings so you better get prepared. The result is of course rough, direct and punk-as-fuck with that distinctive original tupa-tupa style, far from all the contemporary wannabes. I love the vocals and how angry the vocals sounds like as he is really screaming his head off. Kaos even have a song entitled "No!!!" that has too many "oi! oi!" and ends up in some sort of proto-grindcore anarchy which is quite something. The band has actually been reissued several times and some of the demos are genuine Latino raw punk gems that stand as Peruvian hardcore at its most rabid, the kind that kill posers. 

The next band G3 almost sounds pop after that and indeed they are possibly the most skilled band here. They were formed by ex members of Autopsia (who are also on the compilation) and even won fourth place in a Non-Professional Rock contest. I'd be proud and I'm sure they were. G3 were more influenced by the Boston hardcore scene than their comrades (rest assured that the sound is just as raw) and they played really fast with that typical flow and some great tunes. They were rather successful and even got to tour. The two songs on the first side were taken from a rather good-sounding (all things considered) live recording from 1989 while the other two are from a studio session from 1987. Not my favourite take on hardcore but still a very apt band with that instinctive USHC energy. 

Next up are Curriculum Mortis are they are a massive kick up the arse. This long-haired punks are the only metallic band on the compilation and as such, proudly flying the crossover thrash flag, they do indulge in some cheesy 80's solos that are really quite fun. The classic 80's thrash metal bands must have been influences but I am hearing a lot of UKHC as well like Heresy, Concrete Sox or indeed early Napalm Death (possibly because I suck at crossover and these are my references). What I love here is how raw,  primitive and just super punk Curriculum Mortis sound. They probably wanted to be the next Slayer but they ended up epitomising what skint punk teens listening to Slayer were able to produce in a DIY fashion. And personally I much prefer that second option. The band must have a quiet cult status since Nuclear War Now reissued their demo in 2022. 

The following band is Autopsia, the only band along Ataque Frontal I was familiar with prior to coming across Atropello!!. Autopsia had some of their songs off their grandiose Sistema y Poder demo tape from 1985 reissued as an Ep which I knew entitled Poder, Represión Y Corrupción in 2006 (notably thanks to the Medellin label Sin Temores that also reissued the Panico demo as well other Peruvian classics like Maria T-T y el Empujon Brutal). The original recording is far longer and it is absolutely brilliant. Sistema y Poder exemplified the essence of raw tupa-tupa Latino hardcore punk, a unique sound specific to a time and place that cannot really be duplicated - although Ignorantes arguably come close. The vocals are gruff and aggressive, you really have the impression that the singer is personally pissed at you and at the world and he probably was. The energy and the tension is impressive on the tree songs included on the tape and I strongly suggest you dive into into the whole recording. The parallel with classic Mexican hardcore is relevant but bands like Riot Squad or Ad'Nauseam are also points of comparison and perhaps some deutschpunk too? But in the end this stands as a sound-creating recording.

Sentido Común are next and, as I'm sure you have come to expect, play typical raw hardcore punk with a love for a particular binary beat. Only two songs (the band's discography is very limited) but they do the job in an aptly disorderly fashion and the chorus to "Con la violencia no!" is a high point of the whole compilation. The final band of Atropello!! is Descontrol, something of a cult band - deservedly - thanks to their excellent '87 demo Productos de las Circunstancias that was reissued last decade but is now about as affordable as a meal in London. However on the compilation only the song "Utopia" originally appeared on the demo, the other two numbers being live songs which account for the even rawer sound and how upfront the vocals are. Still the energy and impact are unbelievable and these three songs give a relevant glimpse at how furious Descontrol were. They cannot be said to be 100% from the tupa-tupa philosophy and I can hear a lot of Italian hardcore, like EU's Arse, Indigesti or Declino, and Spanish raw punk classics like IV Reich. As I said the two live songs are rough so I advise to go to the demo too. Top band who were apparently thrown away from a gig once by the Maoist party Sendero Luminoso for being an imperialist band playing music contaminated by foreign influences. That's pretty cool.  

One cannot but assume that Atropello!! will enjoy an official reissue in the future (it will have to be a double Lp which may make labels hesitant) to allow the punk masses to discover a little-known scene and prove that hardcore is not synonymous with the US of A. I have read about a tape reissue from Helvetet Records but have never seen it advertised and it is not on the website so who knows. 

Atropello!!

        

Last Night a D-Beat Saved My Life: a Retrospective of Contemporary DISCHARGE Worship (2008-2023)

86 bands, about 130 minutes of (noise not) music, 3 nights of curations: a comprehensive overview of what d-beat sounded like between 2008 and 2023 (a couple of songs were actually released in 2024 to be fair). Which is to say, rather rightly, "pretty much all the bloody same". Those who care about variety have probably already fucked off somewhere else so that we are between us now and we can wallow in Discharge worship shamelessly, proudly and with a spirit of collectiveness. Whenever I hear Perkele's corny "Heart full of pride" (which is fortunately not often) I like to think that the singer is actually thinking about loving Discharge instead of a national flag, being hard, wearing the right shoes or whatever skinheads think about (but do we really want to know?).

I recently had a chat with a friend who only vaguely listens to d-beat, from afar, like an unpopular kid watching with envy cool rockers drinking cans of cider at the bus stop, too scared to go talk to them but in awe at the same time. Odd, if anything d-beat lovers are a pretty friendly crowd and, if you forget intense arguments about who actually invented the beat (fuck the Buzzcocks), the anality of discussions about subgenres of d-beat or stud contests, we're fairly welcoming and everyone should be able to enjoy a fair slice of quality d-beat. It should be in the Geneva convention assuming it isn't already. And so this impressionable friend of mine thought that d-beat only referred to the actual beat and that any band using it could be called a d-beat band. Of course I proceeded to teach him in a rather abrupt fashion about what d-beat really stood for, its philosophy and foundational obsession with imitation and how it has become as much about the music than about how we love the music. D-beat is almost music about music in a sense, a comment on itself. After two hours of conference, I think he understood and, judging by his state of exhaustion, I'm sure he'll never have to ask me again and he's now part of the family. I have always been keen on pedagogy. I'm sure he'll be playing these two compilations with gratitude.

Don't ask me why I picked 86 bands because that's just where I closed the selection. The idea was to create two compilations with about an hour of music each illustrating how the genre evolved, solidified further as an actual genre and even how different takes started to appear (from the "just-like-Discharge" sound to the cruder d-beat raw punk stance or the "wall of noise" concept). To normal persons it's all the same racket but the subtleties are real indeed. Since the d-beat explosion of the early and mid 90's, the genre has become legitimate, its rigidity celebrated and no longer freakish if not goofy, its visual template embraced internationally. The number of bands beating the D, with varying degrees of success and taste, in the past 10 years is staggering so that the selection was not an easy process at all. I tried to focus on the original Discharge formula as much as possible so that a lot of very worthy bands did not make the cut because they did not abide by the d-beat rules enough (as I said repeatedly in the series, the genre is based on restrictions). I added some Discharge-loving mid-paced number as well for the compilation to breath a little and the listener to catch his or breath (it is after all quite a listening experience). There are bands from all over the world and hopefully it reflects how global and significant d-beat has become while it originally was very much a gimmicky Swedish phenomenon. I suppose that in this respect, the contemporary explosion of d-beat and its reach must be seen as a result of the rise of worldwide music streaming and social media with the emphasis on looks. No one exists in a vacuum. 

So there you go, these two comps can be seen as a continuation of the first d-beat compilation I did (that I realized was deleted from youtube for some reason and that I shall repost shortly). Obviously, it is impossible to be totally comprehensive and I must have forgotten many bands that could have made it here. Feel free to comment and suggest other bands. Even better, do your own d-beat compilation, the more merrier, yes?

Volume one: 

01. AVSKUM “Klinisk Jävla Dödsdrift” from En Annan Värld Är Möjlig LP, 2023 (Sweden)

02. PHOSPHORE “L’utimatum” from S/T demo tape, 2023 (France)

03. DISPOSE “Whirlwind of chaos” from Horror Revival LP, 2013 (Sweden)

04. HELLISH VIEW “Gaza” from Reaper’s Hand EP, 2019 (U$A)

05. SMELL CORPSES “ตำรวจหัวควย (Police dickhead)” from 5 Track Ep CDr, 2018 (Thailand)

06. FORGET “Tragedias” from Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide tape, 2022 (Berlin)

07. KYLMÄ SOTA “Lupauskia” from 10 Tracks LP, 2010 (Finland)

08. CONTRAST ATTITUDE “Death & horror” from Apocalyptic Raw Assault LP, 2009 (Japan)

09. ARSEHOLES “Manmade extinction” from PHL 2019 one-sided flexi EP, 2019 (U$A)

10. DESTINO FINAL “Este dolor” from Atrapados LP, 2009 (Spain)

11. HORRENDOUS “Ain’t no worthless scrote” from War Is Still… 12’’ EP, 2015 (Sweden)

12. REALITIES OF WAR “When will we ever learn?” from Constructs of Life EP, 2011 (England) 

13. NO FUCKER “Bodies in a pile” from Conquer the Innocent EP, 2008 (U$A)

14. KRASH “Devastation” from Devastation tape, 2020 (Canada)

15. MALIMPLIKI “Tiu estas mia” from Elasta EP, 2015 (Japan)

16. DEPORTATION “Wolnosc agresji” from S/T split EP with CONSTANT STATE OF TERROR, 2010 (Netherlands)

17. DISDAIN “Talpuk Alatt Fütyül a Szél” from Alászállás split LP with CRÜEL NIGHT, 2022 (Hungary)

18. TOTAL BANXAT “Kami dengan apa adanya (PEACE OR ANNIHILATION cover)” from Shadow of Death on Dying Planet CD, 2008 (Indonesia)

19. VÄGRA “Drone warfare” from 8 Tracks Demonstration tape, 2016 (U$A)

20. MAQUINA MUERTA “Tormento de hastio” from S/T split LP with DHK, 2016 (Mexico)

21. VISIONS OF CHAOS “Sick traditions” from 10 Tracks EP tape, 2022 (Germany/Greece)

22. DISPLODE “Children’s comes first” from Apocalypse Approaches/The Face of War split EP, 2012 (France)

23. INFEKZIOA “Baxurdea” from S/T demo tape, 2013 (Spain)

24. DISCOVER “Systemet ska bort” from S/T split EP with ANGER BURNING, 2008 (Sweden)

25. MASSACRE DIVINE “Beijando a morte” from Beijando a Morte EP, 2013 (Brazil)

26. GIFTGASATTACK “Hellish inferno” from 8 Track EP, 2009 (Sweden)

27. BURNING//WORLD “Surviving Hell” from Peace Is No Reality LP, 2022 (U$A)

28. DISABLE “…slamming in the depths of Hell” from …Slamming in the Depths of Hell EP, 2020 (U$A)

29. WARVICTIMS “Ceremoni” from Rå-Punk Militia tape, 2013 (Sweden)

30. WARCRY “Burning society meltdown” from Not So Distant Future LP, 2008 (U$A)

31. SKROT “Karlatornet” from This System Has No Heart LP, 2022 (Sweden)

32. DESPAIR “…and they still ignore” from Visions of the Inferno LP, 2018 (Canada)

33. DESPERDICIO “La ciudad portuaria pequeño” from ¡Impulso De Destrucción! EP, 2011 (Japan)

34. LIFE LOCK “In Hell’s inferno” from 2018 EP, 2019 (Singapore)

35. DISJAWN “After the bomb hits” from Blunt Smoke Night tape, 2018 (U$A)

36. KAWAKAMI NIGHTMARE “Hiroshima” from S/T split Cdr with Нулевой Эффект, 2012 (Ukraine/Belarus)

37. REGIMEN DE TERROR “Guerra total” from S/T EP, 2023 (Spain/Finland)

38. DISHUMAN “Victims of war” from S/T demo tape, 2021 (Portugal)

39. NIGHTFEEDER “Asylum” from Cut All of Your Face Off LP, 2022 (U$A)

40. KRIGSSYTEM “Gas attack” from War Profit? demo tape, 2023 (Greece) 

41. KRITIK “Eget slaveri” from Damaging Distort compilation tape, 2021 (Sweden)

42. ULTIMATE DISASTER “Ruination” from S/T demo tape, 2024 (U$A)

43. FORCLOSE “Hunger” from S/T split tape with DROGATO, 2021 (U$A) 

Volume one

Volume two:

01. ANGER BURNING “Leftovers of war” from When LP, 2012 (Sweden)

02. BETOE “Miedo” from Caminando Sobre Ruinas split tape with DHK, 2014 (Venezuela/Brazil)

03. ANGUISHED LIFE “Bloodstained death” from S/T one-sided flexi EP, 2022 (U$A)

04. DISLICKERS “Final apocalypse” from S/T split EP with GIFTGASATTACK, 2007 (Sweden)

05. EARTH CRUST DISPLACEMENT “Wall of destruction” from Distruction Never Ends split EP with ANGER BURNING, 2014 (Germany)

06. TOTAL SILENCE “The price of war” from Mass Death and Sorrow LP, 2015 (Brazil)

07. DISKOBRA “Sorvadas” from No Hope in Future, No Future in Hope split LP, 2017 (Hungary)

08. DISPUTA “Disaster” from demo recording, 2007? (Spain)

09. BESTHÖVEN “Death don’t choose” from Tomorrow’s Hell EP, 2020 (Brazil)

10. DECADE “Prelude to war” from A Deadly Game of Make Believe EP, 2018 (Canada)

11. DISTRESS “Делай, Что Тебе Говорят” from S/T split LP with SUBURBAN SHOWDOWN, 2009 (Russia)

12. GLORIOUS? “City of cruelty” from Who Are They to Impose Restrictions? LP, 2016 (Sweden)

13. FOSSE COMMUNE “Humans are dead” from S/T tape, 2017 (France)

14. NIETOS DE PUTA “Disyuntiva” from S/T demo tape, 2012 (Spain)

15. MISERÄBLE “Anti portazo” from Dbeat Maniacs tape, 2016 (U$A)

16. DECLARATION “They controlled it” from What Is the Reason For Tomorrow? tape, 2020 (Singapore) 

17. ASPECTS OF WAR “Existence/Extinction” from A Look Into the Nightmare tape, 2017 (U$A)

18. DISEASE “Neverending war crimes” from Neverending War Crimes 12’’ EP, 2016 (Macedonia)

19. LÖCKHEED “In the wake of the blast” from 4 Track demo tape, 2019 (U$A)

20. ELECTRIC FUNERAL “Realities of hell” from In Leagues With Darkness tape, 2010 (Sweden)

21. PHYSIQUE “Why survive” from The Evolution of Combat LP, 2018 (U$A)

22. DISCLONE “Armed children” from Once the Genocide Started tape, 2018 (Austria)

23. PISS SNIFFERS “Επιλογή” from Piss or Annihilation tape, 2020 (Greece)

24. SVAVELDIOXID “Som Något Ur En Mardröm” from Första Dagen Efter Sista Bomben LP, 2021 (Sweden)

25. THISCLOSE “The nightmare is real” from One Foot in the Grave LP, 2014 (England/Scotland)

26. FINAL BOMBS “Reality and truth” from There Is No Turning Back CD, 2010 (Japan)

27. BOMBARDEMENT “Warriors of the night” from S/T LP, 2019 (France)

28. LANGUID “Apocalyptic scars” from A Paranoid Wretch in Society’s Games LP, 2021 (Canada)

29. BLOCKADE “Trenches” from Dead Beat At War demo tape, 2017 (Australia)

30. BIPOLAR “Darkness” from Death By Desperation split EP with NUKELICKERS, 2023 (Greenland)

31. SKELETON “Burning Hell” from S/T split EP with SVAVELDIOXID, 2019 (Canada)

32. BÖMBÄRDEO “Guerra nunca más!” From La Vida Es un Infierno split tape with DHK, 2016 (Chile)

33. KRIGSULVAR “Weapons of destitution” from S/T digital demo, 2020 (U$A)

34. MANIA FOR CONQUEST “Endless bloodbath” from Are We Doomed to Repeat the Mistakes of Our Past? tape, 2015 (U$A)  

35. PROCESS “The spectacle continues” from Our Future? What Future? 12’’ EP, 2014 (U$A)

36. DISSEKERAD “Maktspell” from Inre Strid LP, 2021 (Sweden)

37. PROFOSS “Min egen profoss” from S/T EP, 2018 (Sweden)

38. ATENTADO “Todo Está Oscuro” from Todo Está Oscuro EP, 2009 (Spain) 

39. DISHOPE “Death awaits” from Peace Is More Than the Absence of War tape, 2014 (Germany)

40. BONËCRUTCH “Atomic bomb” from Triumph or Tragedy tape, 2019 (Indonesia)

41. BORN “Before” from Belligerent Onslaught Relentless Noise tape, 2023 (U$A)

42. ELECTRIC MASOCHIST “Are you ready to survive?” From 10 Track Demo!!! Tape, 2022 (Berlin)

43. DEATHTRIBE “In many nightmare” from 3 Track EP plus support/警告 split Ep with KRIEGSHÖG, 2008 (Japan)

Volume two