Revolt "Human abattoir" Ep 1996

The English North-East has spawned quite a few good hardcore bands throughout the year and today's record, with its Newcastle/Durham collaboration, is a prime example of that. Revolt were from Durham and the label, subtly named Smack in the Mouth records, was from Newcastle. It was actually run by a bloke who played in Shank, a Scottish powerviolence band, and also released the State of Filth/Slain and the Health Hazard/Sawn Off split Ep's.

Revolt might be the least-known band of the bunch though. "Human abattoir" is their only vinyl output though the legions of Terminal Sound Nuisance followers will remember that they had a track on the 1in12 cd compilation "Decade of Dissidence". They seem to have had a couple of line-up troubles as the line-up changed between the recording and the release of the Ep. From what I can gather, at different points of time Revolt included one member of Manfat and John Holmes (toward the end, on vocals), members of Offset and even one guy who played in dozens of bands, among which the Voorhees and Embittered. But anyway, this Ep reflects what Revolt sounded like before the big line-up change and if you are interested in what they would sound like after, I recommend checking out their song on the aforementioned compilation.

Revolt are often described as a grindcore band. However close to the grindcore genre they ended up sounding, this Ep is not an all-out grindcore record like you would expect from a mid-90's grind band. The main singer has a real hardcore feel and even the faster parts are more akin to the fastest brand of hardcore punk than to grindcore. This said, there are still a couple of nasty growls and dirty metallic parts that are typically grindy and the raw, almost fuzzy quality of the overall production brings Agathocles to mind. Grinding hardcore? A bit like a more hardcore Embittered or a more grinding Suffer. Whoever you want to compare Revolt to, it is obvious they were angry as the songs are really dark and aggressive. Unfortunately, the lyrics are not included, and apart from a few Carcass-oriented numbers, it is difficult to know what the singer is shouting about. Given the period, the genre and the aesthetics of the record, one could venture that they had misanthropic and angry lyrics about human abuse but that's mere guessing.

Visually, the record oscillates between hardcore and grindcore as well. If the hairy band logo is reminiscent of the grind beauty canons, the picture and the other fonts used scream "hardcore". Anyway, "Human abattoir" was made in a proud DIY fashion with a healthy "Fuck barcodes" sign on the backcover. There is also a flyer inside the record with two small texts from Andy Smack in the Mouth who explains his views about DIY and Punk. To him, it is no use complaining about DIY bands selling out because the scene is essentially transient and that we should focus on those bands who keep the DIY ethos. About Punk, it is an attitude, not a sound nor "the domain of angry adolescent males who can do a patented hardcore leap on command". That had me laughing!

A good record with the filthy sound we all love from a proper DIY band. What else?

Revolt!  

 

Upheaval / Yan Tree split Ep 1989

Was playing bass guitar prohibited in Scarborough in the 80's? What if the absence of bass in Active Minds was not an accident but the result of a law against bass players? And were bands there forbidden to have more than two members?  What makes me wonder is that Upheaval, from Scarborough, didn't have a bass player and were a duo, just like Active Minds (I guess Satanic Malfunctions must have been acquainted with influential people on the Town Council since the rules didn't seem to apply to them).

Anyway, Upheaval were a dynamic duo from Scarborough who played tuneful political hardcore punk, not unlike Active Minds' melodic moments, Visions of Change or Cold Vietnam. In fact, if The Next World hadn't been a moody post-punk band and had played direct, fast and catchy punk-rock, they would have come pretty close to Upheaval as the singer can really sing and his voice has quite a wide range of tone as well. The absence of a bass section confers to the song a spontatenity, a freshness that is very pleasant. The sound is very decent although you will hear that the record hasn't aged too well and there are scratches here and there.

Upheaval have four songs on their side, though I should probably say three songs, since the track "Aye" is a two-second long burst of noise (a tuneful Sore Throat? Really?). The first song is called "Inject to kill" and it is an anti-drug song depicting the dangers of substance abuse. Upheaval may have been straight-edge or they may have lost someone close to drugs or Scarborough may have been badly hit by drug problems at the time, but either way I find their stance on the issue a bit too radical and even harsh as they don't really consider the social factors that lead precisely to using drugs. The next song, "Skooldaze", is more to my liking as it questions the education system and the brainwashing it implies. After all, school is the first social place where you are taught to listen and obey. Finally "The end" is a quiet and melancholy folk song, a bit like that Karma Sutra song really, about poverty, evictions and the greed and selfishness of the government.

On the other side is Yan Tree, a folk-punk one-man band (is it even a band then?) from Leeds (well he used to live there at the time). From what I understand, he was part of the blooming 80's squat scene in Leeds, a scene that gave birth to bands like Passion Killers and, of course, Chumbawamba. Listen to Yan Tree's music, you can definitely see that he was into Chumba, a band notorious for mixing genres in general and having a folk influence in particular. While I am extremely suspicious of modern folk-punk (I know you already know), I usually really enjoy acoustic anarchopunk songs from that time and place.

The former owner of this record must have adored Yan Tree's first song, especially its first half as it sounds like it has been played to death, hence a rather rough and crackling sound. Fortunately, the rest of the songs sounds alright. Unfortunately, there are a couple of scratches, so I did my best getting rid of them but the result isn't exactly stellar. But, that's punk, innit?

Yan Tree's first song is entitled "Ain't no" and it was actually written in 1982. It is structured around the repetition of the phrase "Ain't no" which serves as a sort of incantation and gives the song a poetic quality. The text could be divided into two parts, dystopia and utopia, from dark till dawn basically, as it paints shows a bleak, hopeless, lifeless picture of modern society before imagining a world free from oppressions. The second one, "Martyrdom called slavery", is more complex and more elaborate. It is written with a flux of consciousness point of view and is about political prisoners and their treatment, the Apartheid regime, violence and criminality. It may sound quite dark but it is really a song about peace and freedom and I find quite clever the parallel between the notions of martyrdom and slavery - don't we all sacrifice our lives like martyrs on the altar of Work?

The record's artwork is excellent too on both sides, Upheaval going for a collage of cartoons reflecting the schyzophrenia and superficiality of modern life. Yan Tree uses pagan, celtic imagery that would have looked just fine on a Sedition or Oi Polloi record for the lyrics and the ring, and his side of the cover is a Blinko-influenced graphic metaphor representing a door or a pathway.

Top notch!

Upheaval / Yan Tree

    

The Sect "The voice of reason" Lp 1987

In the punk world, love songs are generally frowned upon, unless they are ironic or disgusting. Indeed, we seem content with listening to young blokes shouting against war, vivisection, nuclear weapons, the pigs, the millitary, the system and so on, and while there is nothing wrong with that, sometimes I think we all need lighter, cheesier music to warm our tiny little hearts. Saying this is not a call for going emo and dying your hair black but an invitation to listen to a proper pop-punk gem: The Sect.

Pop-punk is a bit of a dirty word and for good reason as the term has been used callously to talk about such horrificallu horrendous horrors as Sum 41, Blink 182 and other gringo nonsense. However, if you really think about it, many early British bands could be called pop-punk bands as they took the energy of punk-rock and blended it with British pop-rock tunefulness. After all, what are the Buzzcocks if not a pop-punk band? Couldn't the term fit later bands like Leatherface and Snuff too? And Chumba? The Lost Cherrees? Naked? The Britpop influence is undeniable but we never think of them as "pop-punk" bands. The Sect are a band whose recorded outputs go from 1986 to 1992, but I think they kept playing or at least reformed as I have seen rather recent videos of them gigging in Japan (apparently they are quite litterally big in Japan!).

"The voice of reason" is their first Lp, recorded just after the excellent "A free England" Ep that contains one of the best punk song I have ever listened to (for real). The cover is probably one of the ugliest to ever adorn a punk record. I really don't know what went through their head but don't let the imagery get in the way of the beauty of The Sect's music. Let's say that the cover is as ugly as the music is incredibly catchy. The more melodic sides of the punk sound embodied in The Buzzcocks, The Stiffs, Cock Sparrer, Satan's Rats or Last Stand and Ulster bands like Victim, The Outcasts or Rudi are good points of comparison, but The Sect's singer has an even more nasal voice. It is a bit of a Marmite deal on that level because if you don't like his vocal style, you are going to think he sounds like Brian bloody Molko. However, if you are into this very British singing style, The Sect is your new favourite band. Apart the from disappointingly instrumental song that ends the record, every song is an absolute hit, filled with the loveliest tunes and the catchiest chorus you can imagine. Sonically, The Sect were influenced by the first wave of punk-rock and must have been a breath of fresh and perfumed air whereas their peers were busy going faster and faster and being as gruffy and scruffy as possible. Well, this may not be entirely true as you also had bands like Dan, Joyce McKinney Experience or Indian Dream, but as tuneful as these may have been, they had still grown from a hardcore-punk background, and were very far from The Sect's simple, anthemic, old-school punk-rock. Lyric-wise, the band was not afraid of singing about broken hearts, the wonders of love and being rockers (in love). Cheesy maybe, but don't we all need some cheesiness in our lives?

The power of luv    

Designer Fear "Survivor" Ep 1990

It is still unclear who wrote the song "Two years too late". Was it Anti-Pasti or the Epileptics? Whoever wrote that song, one thing is certain: Designer Fear were a couple of years too late. They missed the second wave of British punk-rock by eight years and the metal-punk one by four, a discrepancy that may account for them vanishing into punk obscurity.

Designer Fear were an English band from the very late 80's/very early 90's, but apart from this, I know very little about them. This is their only record, released on the always reliable Looney Tunes records in 1990. That and apparently, two siblings played in the band together, Rebecca and Mike. And that's it really. Judging from the inclusion of Charlie Harper, Suicidal Supermarket Trolleys and Trench Fever on the thank-list, they could have been from London, but then they also thank a bloke from Ottawa and SNFU, so there might be a Canadian connection as well for all I know. Sonically, Designer Fear play a mix of UK82 punk-rock and early thrash-metal. This said, the sound is sufficiently raw - some would say weak - to make it lie firmly on the punkier side of things. Imagine a sloppier early Broken Bones or Picture Frame Seduction trying to play metal riffs or Aftermath during their first rehearsal, then add a healthy spoonful of British melodic hardcore like Depraved and voilà!

Designer Fear seemed to have been a rather political band and their lyrics are really good. "Banned from the UDC" is about the class divide in terms of accomodation and how fancy houses are always being built for the toffs while the poor have to deal with shabby housing; "Survivor" is a Mad Max tribute song about a bloke who manages to survive the nuclear apocalypse thanks to his fallout shelter and finds himself the sole survivor in the wasteland; "Cardboard city" is about homelessness and street survival tactics in the face of government neglect; finally "The enemy within" is an attack against sexism and racism within the punk scene and a statement that such behaviours should be fought.

The artwork is good-looking and the red spots - meant to represent drops of blood - are superimposed over the cover so you actually have the impression that somebody bled on your record (granted the blood doesn't look dark enough but I like the intent). On the whole, this is not a crucial record and the songs are definitely impaired by the recording budget, but it is honest, intelligent punk-rock nevertheless and should please lovers of the 80's British punk scene.

Designer Fear    

Decadent Few "They shoot children..." Ep 199?

Sometimes, bands are remembered for a particular guitar sound or for a specific drumming pattern (you know what I mean). But Decadent Few will be remembered for the quality and the uniqueness of the vocals (assuming they will be remembered at all!). My obsession for British anarchopunk has been paralleled by a certain fondness for female-fronted punk bands, which makes sense when one considers the large number of anarcho bands that had one or several female vocalists. In fact, I cannot really think of another punk genre with such a strong female presence (except the Riot Grrrls movement obviously). You could find a whole range of vocal styles among the singers as well, from high-pitched rather tuneless screams (Dirt, Honey Bane), tuneful poppy voices (Hagar the Womb, Lost Cherrees), haunting dirges (Hysteria, The Dead), to angry shouts (Sacrilege, Potential Threat). But Decadent Few's singer, Kay, may have had the most unique voice of all.

First, she can actually sing. She is really a great singer. The comparison might not be totally relevant since the vocal styles are not the same, but Decadent Few is the same kind of band as APPLE: tuneful punk-rock with a lot of personality, driven by powerful vocals. Decadent Few started in 1984 after Youth In Asia disbanded. While Youth In Asia didn't record much during their time, Decadent Few went on to record an Lp in 1991, two tape albums in 1987 and 1988, and of course, this Ep. I cannot be sure when this was released and recorded, but I am under the impression that it could have been recorded in the late 80's (the songs are from two different recording sessions) then released in the early 90's. The fact that the two labels responsible for the Ep, Fluffy Bunny and Inflammable Materials, were active in the early/mid 90's tends to confirm this hypothesis (Mick from Inflammable Materials also played in Decadent Few and Youth In Asia).

If Decadent Few can be seen as the follow-up of Youth In Asia, were it not for Kay's voice, the two bands would probably not be put in the same esthetic bag. Youth In Asia was a bouncy punk-rock affair whereas Decadent Few has a darker, more haunting style reminiscent of post-punk bands. "They shoot children, don't they?" is a catchy, mid-paced song not dissimilar to Paralisis Permanente, with a Siouxsie-like chorus, only with much lower, deeper vocals. On the other side, "Heaven to hell", the real hit of the record, blends Killing Joke/early Amebix drumming with Smartpils' creepiness and Rubella Ballet's power into a song that is dark and moving and yet very lively and energetic. The lyrics are very serious, "They shoot children" deals with the situation in Belfast and the military occupation. It is a story told from the point of view of a young girl whose sister was shot by British soldiers with their supposedly "non-lethal" plastic bullets. "Heaven to hell" is a rape story, a tale of gender violence, the kind that takes place everyday, everywhere. Heavy topics but you can feel the words come from the heart and when it comes to punk-rock, that's all that matters.

The artwork relevantly reflects the two undercurrents flowing through the band: the front cover wouldn't be out of place in a goth-rock record store, while the inside cover is a sloppy punk-as-fuck drawing that any fan of Chaos UK would hang above his bed and the back-cover is a picture of war planes. I recently read that Decadent Few were pretty much back again and that they were in the process of re-recording some songs. That is great news indeed and I think that, given the strength of all their materials, they should really make some sort of discography cd.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, post-punk - but goth-punk might be more correct - is back in style and there are a couple of worthy female-fronted bands tackling the genre like Belgrado, Dekoder or Moral Hex. I have lit several candles in hope that one of them might cover a Decadent Few song one day but no avail so far. C'est la vie...

They shoot children, don't they?      

Blyth Power "Out from under the king" cd 1996

Just a quick word about the blog before we start. The suspension of my mediafire account has not dispirited me at all, and I have switched to another server. I have spent the last 24 hours re-uploading all the files so technically, everything is back in order.

Folk-punk is one of these subgenres that makes me extremely wary and suspicious whenever it is mentioned in a conversation. In recent years, bands describing themselves as folk-punk were nothing short of horrendous to my ears: cheesy music about as threatening as an organic cucumber, very little anger and far too much joy of living, lyrics about how awesome and subversive cycling is, how great it is to have friends and making bloody vegan cookies for your friends. I don't dislike folk music, I definitely love punk-rock and I could eat cookies all day long, but when European bands start to fake American accents in order to play "folk-punk", you just know that something has gone terribly wrong. Anyway, Blyth Power are sometimes refered to as a folk-punk band, and if you take the term in its strictest sense, it is actually true. But please, leave Against Me and Defiance Ohio out of any Blyth Power-related conversations.

To be honest, I think Blyth Power is my favourite Joseph Porter's band. I love Zounds and the Mob and Null and Void are pretty good too but I would argue Blyth Power is the most special, the catchiest and to their great credit they survived the 80's, the 90's, the 00's and are still putting out records. "Out from under the king" was released in 1996 on German label Blue Bowl and oddly enough not on the band's own label, Downwarde Spiral Records. While "Paradise razed" is, to the band's own admission, a rather disappointing record, "Out from under the king" might be their best one, and I don't say this lightly, considering how magical "Wicked women" or "Alnwick & Tyne" are.

On this album, the keyboard is much more present - and let's face it, the addition of piano sounds on a punk record is always a challenge - but it never distracts the listener. On the contrary, it enhances the songs' tunefulness and dynamism, the keyboard just blending effortlessly with the other instruments. The production is absolutely flawless, very clear but not overproduced, miles away from the stifled sound of "Paradise razed". That Blyth Power were able to release such a brilliant work at a time when the band's popularity had declined is impressive in itself. How many 80's bands were that good in the mid-late 90's?

In terms of influences, the band basically improved on their old formula and the great sound serves that purpose perfectly. The songs bounce between catchy UK punk-rock and traditional folk-music and the song-writing is stronger than ever. Even the long and mournful ballad songs like "Katherine's will", with its pipe organ melody, and "Battle of nations" are winners. The cd's artwork is also probably the most original the band has ever done. It consists of pictures of little clay (or is it plasticine?) characters with tiny swords engaging in medieval battles. The sculptures look aptly grotesque and twisted and reflect well the band's surreal atmosphere of slight dementia.

The lyrics are typical Blyth Power's tales about History. "God's orders" is about the Crusaders; "Lord Clay Cross" is a song of love, loss and betrayal; "Westminster and Wandsworth" is a protest song using metaphors to denounce the Poll Tax and the constant war on the poor; "Emma" is a funny unreciprocated love song; "Katherine's will" is a gross description of the last days of a king from the point of view of his bitter queen; "Lambert Simnel" tells the story of a lord's bastard who tried to seize power but miserably failed; "Owen's tail"'s meaning evades me but I'd say it is a song about a bad, brutish sod named Owen who demands that his "heroics" be sung; "Father O'Brien" is a new version of an older song that appears on "Pont au-dessus de la Brue"; "Swing" is a parodical execution song in which the man about to be hung is a despotic lord; "Battle of nations" is a bitter song about war and the lack of opposition to it; finally, "The holly and the ivy" is a witty text that stresses the absurdity of religious teaching and praying.

Now, put some Blyth Power in your life, will you?

Out from under the king    

Mediafire took my baby away...

I can't really say I haven't been warned by other bloggers, but Mediafire decided that enough was enough and suspended my account. All the links are therefore dead for now.

I am currently reuploading some files but it might take time until Terminal Sound Nuisance gets back on its feet.

Blyth Power "Better to bat" 12'' 1989

As the cover will tell you, Blyth Power love cricket. In fact, they love it so much that they organize a yearly festival called the Blyth Power Ashes, where you can witness a live performance of the band and take part in a cricket match. Now, I am hardly a cricket expert as I don't even know the rules but the perspective of such a pleasant time could convince me to learn to bat.

"Better to bat" was the last record Blyth Power did for Midnight Music before the band created their own label, Downwarde Spiral Records. At the time of the recording, they had recruited a new female vocalist who happened to be one of Dan's singers. This is pretty much vintage late 80's Blyth Power, with epic and dramatic songs that will have you sing along in taverns of yore. There was also the participation of none other than Attila the Stockbroker. There is some keyboards and violin thrown in the mix as well and the songs are a bit slower and even more medieveval-sounding if that makes in the sense. Listening to them, I picture Blyth Power as a band of jesters, minstrels, some sort of postmodern trickster figures.

"Better to bat" is a song taking place in a justice court that has a man condemned to death because he won't say a word; "When a knight won his spurs" is an interpretation of a traditional song about the disappearance of knights and dragons and ogres, well this kind of things, and how evil creatures were metaphors for the evils of this world; finally, "The execution song" is a long song about the execution (captain obvious!) of a young man under communist rule. The song is quite moving as he is shot by the firing squad, he realizes that the rifles, the bullets and everything pertaining to his death have been made by his fellow workers and himself. A romantic revolutionary song.

Better to bat

Blyth Power "Pont au-dessus de la Brue" Lp 1989

I solemnly declare open Blyth Power week.

Punk-rock is in constant flux and always has been. It has spread and continues to spread throughout the world and I for one am a constant enthusiast when it comes to discovering new bands from parts of the world I know little about. But this extraordinary punk breeding ground can also make one dizzy and overwhelmed. That's why I think we need anchors so that we don't get lost in an ocean of distorsion and studs. To me, these anchors are my favourite bands. They are a bit like best mates you visit regularly, but wish you did more often, and will always be there. You understand them as well as they seem to understand you and you can always rely on them during hard times as they get you through the daily grind. These bands we hold the closest to our hearts are reminders that we are indeed alive and kicking. Antisect and Deviated Instinct work that way to me, as does Blyth Power.

Now, how is that for a cheesy intro?

I have to admit that Blyth Power and I didn't really get along at first. For some reason, I had overlooked them in the midst of the myriad of British punk bands. I was acquainted with them but they remained a distant relation I didn't really care about but would shake hand with whenever I bumped into them. And then I had an epiphany while listening to the "Junction signal" 12'' that I had downloaded but never really given a proper listen to. And it just hit me: this absolutely fucking brilliant! The song "Bind their kings in chains" made me ecstatic and from that moment on, I couldn't listen to this song without picturing myself in medieval times fomenting a peasant rebellion in the English countryside, harmed with forks and spades.

I quickly proceeded to buy everything I could from Blyth Power and fortunately for me, I could find all their records from the 80's and 90's for cheap (thanks fuck they are not a hyped band and people don't have flawless music tastes like I do). The record I will be talking about today was released in 1989 on Midnight Music, a rather big English post-punk record label. "Pont au-dessus de la Brue" is a compilation of early Blyth Power songs as the record was destined for the French market (an oddity when you know how French people generally suck at listening to good punk-rock). According to the very good Blyth Power's website, the band didn't have great relations with the label and ironically none of the Lp's made it to France as Midnight Music went bankcrupt before the records even left the warehouse and it is even inferred that the band still has copies of it stacked in the Blyth Power's headquarters.

"Pont au-dessus de la Brue" is a perfect introduction to early Blyth Power: it contains the four songs on the "Chevy chase" 12" from 1985, two songs ("Junction signal" and "Sordid tales") from the "Junction signal" 12"" from 1986, two songs ("Emmanuel" and "Coriolanus") from the "Ixion" 12"" from 1986, two songs ("Father O'Brien" and "The rookery") from the "Goodbye to all that" 12" from 1988, two songs ("A tale of a cock and a bull" and "Blow the man down") from the "Up from the country" 12" from 1988 and one unreleased version of "McArthur" that was meant to appear on the band's second Lp, 1988's "The barman and other stories", but never did. The 1985 and 1986 recordings were originally released on All the Madmen records, while the 1988 ones were already licenced by Midnight Music.

For those who do not know, Blyth Power has Joseph Porter from famous anarchopunk bands Zounds and the Mob on drums and vocals, and during their early days, Curtis from the Mob also played bass in the band. By 1988, Blyth Power also had one of Lost Cherrees' singer, Sian, among their ranks. All the Madmen records was run by members of the Mob and released materials from challenging bands that were keen on experimenting beyond the punk formula like the Mob (obviously), Thatcher on Acid, the Astronauts, Flowers in the Dustbin and Blyth Power.

Describing Blyth Power's music is as difficult as describing what their lyrics are about (but then what can you expect from a band named after a railway locomotive). Now, I guess it doesn't really help you if you are not familiar with either. Some would qualify Blyth Power as "postpunk" but to be fair I have grown rather tired of seeing the "postpunk" tag being applied to pretty much anything lately. The latest postpunk trend has revealed that what passes for "postpunk" today is really "goth-punk" and there is nothing wrong that genre, but the term "postpunk" doesn't imply that you have to sound like Sisters of Mercy, Crisis or Joy Division, two bands that Blyth Power couldn't be further from.

Let's say that Blyth Power goes well beyond formulaic punk-rock by incorporating elements of English folk music and pop-rock. There is a distinct theatrical quality to the music, not only because all the songs actually tell a story, but also because of its epic and dramatic nature. Joseph has an emphatic voice that brings to mind old English minstrels telling a tale, so he is singing as much as he is telling. And he REALLY can sing. There are gloriously infectious choruses in the songs, greatly improved by the addition of female singers and instruments like the piano, the violin and even - gasp - an acoustic guitar. All the songs are memorable for their tunefulness, their incredible energy and their originality. Mind you, they are even danceable. There is just no other band that I know of that sounds like Blyth Power. Their songs display a wide range of tunes, emotions, moods, as well as paces and tones. You can hear that the song-writing is very strong and thoughtful. And while many bands didn't survive the 90's, Blyth Power actually went on making great records and I would even argue that some of their 90's recordings are superior to their All the Madmen years.

Lyrically, Blyth Power is an anomaly in the anarchopunk world. A lot of their songs actually deal with British History, famous or colourful characters ("Coriolanus" or "Father O'Brien") and events. Trains is another recurring theme, especially in the band's early days, as well as cricket ("Chevy chase") and village life in the English countryside. The meaning of the songs is often circumvoluted, twisted and they often refer to real places, characters or even other texts (that's intertextuality for you). As previously mentioned, "Chevy chase" is a cricket anthem; "My lady's game" is a metaphor about Thatcher's foreign policy and her alliance with Reagan during the Cold War; "God has gone wrong again" is a drunken story about the English playwright Benjamin Jonson and his feeling of being forsaken by God; "Song of the third cause" is a bit of an obscure one with references to Brecht, Hemingway and Camus, I think it is about pacifism and desertion and how the most vocal political speakers can often be after domination. "Sordid tales from the ffucke masticke room" is another weird one with references to Thomas Hardy's novel "Under the Greenwood tree", a love story taking place in rural Wessex, and to travels into strange, hostile lands. I see this one as being a  humorous story of impossible love, lust and loss. "Junction signal" is a song about the magics of trains and a mythical railway worker; "Emmanuel" is an adaptation of an Hebrew text in olde English. "Coriolanus" is about class struggle. Coriolanus was a famous Roman politician and general who despised the plebs and would rather have them starve than taking part in Rome's political life. The song is told from the point of view of a hungry railway worker who wants to revolt against the Coriolanuses of this world. "A tale of a cock and a bull" is about an English political scandal involving Thatcher and her Defence Secretary, Lord Heseltine. The song uses irony to emphasize the manipulations, the hypocrisy and the cowardice of the political elite. "Blow the man down" is a song playing with the proverb "It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness" as applied to political repression and suspicion. "The rookery" is about autumn and the passing of seasons with references to Greek mythology. "Father O'Brien" is a story about an Irish priest who led a rebellion against the feudal system in the Philippines in the 80's. Finally, "McArthur" is about boozing to forget your problems and how you just keep stuck in them in the process.

I am not utterly positive that my interpretations of the songs are all accurate, so I have included all the lyrics so that everyone can see for themselves. The next two posts will also be epic rants about Blyth Power.

Rejoice!

    

State of Filth / Anarchy Spanky split cd 2003

I suppose one could find some similarities between the Mortal Terror/Aural corpse split Lp and today's record, the State of Filth/Anarchy Spanky split cd. After all, both splits are made up of one band playing old school anarchopunk sounding music (Mortal Terror and Anarchy Spanky), while the other is an all out crusty massacre (Aural Corpse and State of Filth). And thinking about it now, my favourite splits are those that have two (or more) bands that don't sound the same and yet are pulling in the same direction. In this spirit, the bands wrote this at the bottom of their thank lists: "Over the years the development of the punk scene has led to the creation of many sub-groups and unfortunately, divisions between people who share a common goal. With this release Anarchy Spanky and State of Filth bring together two totally different styles of punk in unity of the DIY ethos. Enjoy!" Now, that's definitely the state of mind I love!

I know cd's are uncool now. Whereas tapes were looked down upon only a few years ago, they seem to be all the rage now and I have recently seen a band that had their brand new album on vinyl for 12 euros and on cd for just a fiver! It was the exact same record and yet the vinyl version was twice as expensive. While I do prefer the vinyl format to the cd, I find this disdain for cd's snobbish and elitist. And don't get me started on the new trend on making tapes again. But anyway, the State of Filth/Anarchy Spanky is not even a proper cd: it is a fucking cdr! Shock! Horror! Disgrace! Joking aside, the object is as DIY as you can get, you can tell it was a small project done with the heart and that is really what matters. It was released in 2003 on Why Records from Yorkshire and FCR, the label done by the Ripping Thrash bloke, a fantastic, long-running DIY hardcore punk zine.

SOF were from Preston, Lancashire and must have formed around 1997. I actually got to see them in february 2004 at a hardcore fest at the 1in12 Club in Bradford. The band was fronted by Wayne Southworth, who also used to sing for the Blood Sucking Freaks, the Devils and, of course, for Doom in the late 90's (which I also had the chance to see with Wayne on vocals at the 1in12 in early 2005) and let me tell you he always displayed great showmanship, making ugly faces and looking mean and demented. I am not sure if there were other ex Blood Sucking Freaks' members in SOF, but it really sounds like there could be as I can really picture SOF being the sonic continuation of BSN. SOF played fast, heavy and direct crustcore with a classic dual vocals attack. There are also old-school grindcore influences on some of their songs, like early Rot or Terrorizer. It is absolutely brutal, crushing and angry. What makes is so good is that it is not overproduced, but it is not fakely raw and distorted either. Doom would obviously be a good point of comparison - though SOF are noticeably faster - or a more grinding Excrement of War, Deformed Conscience or even modern bands like Massgrave from Canada.

There is a cheeky, snotty feel to the songs as well. The lads are pissed (both literally and figuratively) but also a bit deranged, as if the hardly hidden madness of our modern societies was really taking its toll. I really love the lyrics and they only stress the mad aura of the music. There are 29 songs, so I am not going to comment on all of them but my favourites are: "Whatever happened to the wankers", a song about "hardcore superstars"; "Poncified I", an anti-emo song; "Shitlist" is a rude but glorious attack on the decadent lifestyle of the toffs; "Shitend of the stick" describes the anger and frustration fuelled by having no money and working shit jobs while the rich "wine and dine"; and "Royal assassin" is about the hypocrisy of the aristocracy and the sycophancy and submissive behaviour of those who admire them.

Anarchy Spanky is another kind of animal as they played in the spiky punk league.  They were from the Manchester area and were around in the early 2000's. Unfortunately for me, when I lived in Manchester during the school year 2003/04, they had already split up and this record is therefore a postumous release as far as AS are concerned.

I have always been a sucker for female-fronted British punk-rock so I was bound to love AS and I have to say their music is both familiar and yet quite unique. First, AS were not a one-trick pony as throughout their seven songs they use several rhythms from fast ("Mobile Ho") to bouncy and mid-paced ("Smack your vein"), and there is even a rather sad and melancholy ballad song in there ("Parent reject"). The guitar has a thick, earthy sound and there are some great melodic leads as well. Straight-up punk-rock may look like a simple genre to play, but contrary to louder punk styles where you can hide behind a wall of noise and aggression, you have to come up with solid tunes when playing old-school punk-rock and AS certainly understood that because each song is quite memorable. What really makes the band stand out is the peculiar voice of the singer. It is raucous and powerful but still remains tuneful. AS reminds me of Scattergun, Slaughter of the Innocent and Combat Shock on that level, with a bit of Potential Threat for the vocals.

The band's lyrics dealt with rather original subjects too: sadomasochism ("To satisfy a sick mind"), sexual predators and perversion ("Black box"), hypocrisy and fake friendship ("Mobile Ho"), neglected children and Parent Reject Syndrome ("Parent reject"), great sex ("Give me more bliss"), the sickness and shallowness of plastic surgery ("Designer vagina") and the danger of heroin abuse ("Smack your veins I'll smack your face"). Somewhat unusual topics for some of them but you can tell that the songs come from the heart.

As for the aesthetics, the cover is an old drawing depicting an apparently respectable bearded old man on all four being riden by a maiden while she whips his bum. The backcover is a pixelated reproduction of an old war painting representing an army charging and killing commoners. To be honest, I don't really see the connection between both pictures. Any idea?

State of Spanky