Polish Tapes Not Police States (kurwa 6): Disgusting Lies "Pewnego dnia..." tape, 1999

Alright then, this is the last stop of my Polish punk tapes series and you could see that one as the final boss that you have to beat in order to win the game, the last man to toss over the top rope. It won't be an easy one to chew, let me tell you, and assuming you can swallow it at all, it is likely that you will need a nap afterwards and even an aspirin.

If you are familiar with crusty hardcore from the 90's, which equates in Terminal Sound Nuisance terminology to "not being a poser" (though I have been told that it wasn't a very nice thing to say to people, for some reason), you have already heard of Disgusting Lies, read the name somewhere or at least seen their records on distros. I am not quite sure that seeing them in the list of youtube suggestions really counts but, it is 2019 after all, and one has to live with one's time so I will validate it magnanimously. Truth be told, from my experience, Disgusting Lies were never - outside of their home country at least - one of the big names of Polish crust. If you went on family feuds and were asked to name five classic 90's Polish crust bands, you would have gone spontaneously for Homomilitia, Infekcja, and Sanctus Iuda (your nerdy cousin would have then glanced at you scornfully and shouted "Enough!, Monoteizm Co Existence and Anti Hostility", but then the pretentious git has always been keen on making an exhibition of himself). And that's a bit of a shame since not only did DL have a decent run of more than a decade but they also produced some very worthy records along the way. 

Quite incredibly from the perspective of our current self-obsessed decade, DL had their own website. Not just a page on the social media of the moment, but an actual website that you can read here. Granted, it has not been updated since 2003, but browsing through it, I realized how I missed when bands ran their own sites and included a biography, a download section, a list of past and future gigs and whatnot instead of dressing up and posting pictures of themselves online. If you are interested in the exact lineup evolutions of the band, I suggest you check their very comprehensive history. But basically, DL formed in 1992 in łódź (aka Lodz) and released their first demo tape, entitled Byt Określa Świadomość, in 1995 on Bialystok-based label Demonstracja. Because I am a miserable sod, stupid me did not pick that tape at the festival last summer and therefore I am unable to comment on it at all. After the demo, Yaga (who would end up later in Oi Polloi, Disorder and currently in Satanic Malfunctions) joined on second guitar and DL released their first Ep, Rich man / Poor man, on Malarie in 1996, a record I amusingly found in a 300-yen record bin at Punk and Destroy in Osaka last year (the box also contained other class records of Stracony, Argue Damnation and The Unamused if you must know). The sound is raw but the Ep is absolutely ferocious and I rate it as one of my favourite Polish crust records from the 90's. Scandicore-infused, manic eurocrust with harsh dual vocals, somewhere between Driller Killer, Extreme Noise Terror, Homomilitia and Excrement of War and the aural equivalent of HBK's superkick. I am sure you can still find that fellow for cheap so do yourself a favour, will you?

One of the vocalists left after the release of the Ep, and guitar hero Marian took on the job of second singer for the recording of DL's first - and only - full Lp, Pewnego dnia... (meaning One day...) in 1998. It would be released on tape on Nikt Nic Nie Wie and on vinyl on Malarie in 1999. To work on a Polish punk tapes special without mentioning NNNW would have been nothing short of professional misconduct. This label from Nowy Targ has been going since 1989 (back when watching Japanese animes was my raison d'être) and has been the most prolific DIY Polish punk label ever since and it was also the first one I came across with in the early 00's. With more than 200 references that include classic Polish and foreign punk bands, there are just too many cracking NNNW releases to mention. I still cannot pronounce the label's name properly though... But anyway, the tape version of DL's album is what you are getting today and let me tell you that it is a fierce hardcore punk work with angry political lyrics. In fact, it almost sounds too relentless, intense and just inflexible at times with twenty songs of pummeling, direct, frontal hardcore crust energized by angry as fuck singers that just never seem to stop roaring, as if intent on beating the hapless listener to a pulp, like being hit with a stone cold stunner three times in a row (I'm a bit in a wrestling mood today). I don't mean to sound pedantic but my only reservation about this tape is that it may be a little too long and that it would have worked better with 14 or 15 songs. The production is significantly better and heavier on this one and closer to Scandinavia in terms of unimpaired brutality. It is not as crusty as the Ep and, on the whole, closer to bands like Driller Killer or Wolfpack, with a metallic grindcore touch that reminds me a lot of Toxic Bonkers. As I mentioned, the vocalists' tag team never let you catch you breath (in a Brazilian crossover hardcore way if you know what I mean) and the variety of gruff, hoarse or screechy tones keeps the tape from being monotonous. Four songs from Pewnego dnia... would end up on a split Ep with Fact from Japan on MCR Company (in 2008, the label would release a DL cd with the Lp and Ep). 

Following the album, Yaga would move to England and after a couple of lineup changes, DL recorded the Don't ask, just listen! that would be released as a 10'' in 2002 on Agipunk and Angry Records from Italy and finally, in 2005, a split Lp with the magnificent Campus Sterminii, also on Agipunk, both records seeing the band keeping up with their brutal scandicrust sound. 

Disgusting Lies