It is generally agreed that punk-rock is a genre that has seen both a lot of carnage (everyone still have in mind the infamous streetpunk debacle or the ghastly Concrete Sox reunion a few years ago) and a lot of Carnage. And for a good reason: it is undeniably a great name for a punk band. It is therefore little surprising that bands striving to express some sort of anger, despair or bloodthirsty medieval in punk history. You had a decent, albeit pretty standard, and quite prolific 80's anarchopunk band from East Sussex, a very good Antisect/SDS-influenced stench-crust band from Mie City, Japan, and a noizy 80's punk band called Karnage (the amount of bands picking that spelling probably as a way to be original and break out from the Carnage crowd is paradoxically astonishing) from France. The other Carnage-oriented genre is predictably metal music, this time in awe-inspiring proportions. You have of course the early Swedish death-metal Carnage but also at least four 80's thrash-metal acts with the same name. That possibly made for some awkward situations in the mid-80's but, after all, the lads all had sleeveless denim jackets, permed hair and played overlong solos so confusing Oklahoma's Carnage with Illinois' Carnage cannot have been that bad a mistake. In fact, if you were to gather all the metal Carnages, you would be able to have a proper two-day festival (three-day if you invite the Karnages too), not to mention a great aftershow with the hip-hop Carnages. The Carnage Festival. You read it here first.
The Carnage we will take a look at today wreak havoc on Lisboa and I suppose they must have been well aware that the lexical spot was already well crowded but still took the liberty to be baptised as such. And who would blame them, is it not an ideal name when you do the crust? And after forty years of hardcore punk, all the good names have been taken so that the Council of the Punk Sages (an unelected body of pompous record collectors) decided that it was alright to recycle a punk band name as long as and only if said name had not been used for twenty years in a given punk subgenre. A fair enough amendment.
I am not completely sure about the members' resume but drummer Rafael previously played in the brilliant Subcaos in the 00's as well as bands like Etacarinae and Atentado. Given the obvious aptitudes and apparent songwriting experience of the musicians, I would venture that the Carnage boys (that's a great name for an Insta-compatible oi band) are not exactly pubescent punks. Not the wildest guess. In fact, I was supposed to review this tape years ago but ended up procrastinating like a prat. But since 34°23'41"N 132°27'17"E is one of my favourite European metallic crust recordings of the past decade, it was hight time I included the work in Live by the Crust, Die by the Crust, the number one online resource about the crust lifestyle.
34°23'41"N 132°27'17"E are the exact coordinates of the Hiroshima hypocenter and I don't think I need to tell you why. Let's get to the music which is, as could be expected, heavy, dark and rocking. In spite of the tape being technically a demo, you really should listen to it more as a proper album. The production sounds precisely as it should, heavy and clear without being clean, just raw and primitive enough, which allows the two guitars to work properly together. You can hear everything perfectly and the level of the vocals is just right for the metal crust genre. Carnage are an epic lot and they love guitars, so be prepared for hyperbolic Japanese-styled metal punk leads. There are four songs on the tape, two of which are significantly longer and, well, epic as fuck. "Carnage", an eight-minute long adventure, starts out with a triumphant rocking metal-crust galop with throaty shouts that will have you ride a horse or a motorbike (or - if you're too much of a wimp for both like myself - tap your foot pretty hard) before going into an eerie, soft and slow progressive part with first anguished choking words and eventually climaxing into a massively heavy and moody sludge-y conclusion with some actual Amebix-like spectral creepy singing. Brilliant songwriting work here. The last song "Final debt", an apocalyptic crust ballad with similar vocal versatility, is equally well thought-out and shows that Carnage genuinely succeeded to set up an atmosphere of their own although their influences are clear and proudly worn, no mean feat considering the well-trodden path.
There is a certain 00's stenchcore influence on 34°23'41"N 132°27'17"E as Hellshock and especially Limb From Limb come to mind but Carnage have something of a more rocking, almost Frost-like, pounding metal-punk side to them and it is no coincidence that they mention GISM, Antisect, SDS (later period) and English Dogs as influences. As previously pointed out, there is a significant pagan Amebixian sense of epics running through the music and I would throw some of Sworwielder's galloping crust power, Fatum's thrashing madness and AGE's demented metallic punk grooviness, just to be safe. I could go on but it would feel a little silly (a crust version of Maggot Slayer Overdrive? anyone?) and unnecessary as the band is definitely good enough to stand on its own terms. Carnage are old-school and referential enough to attract old-fashioned fool like myself and modern enough to make them stand out and memorable. It's heavily rooted in classic crust but they include other metal elements into their sound, or rather they syncretize the best of vintage guitar-driven mean metal-punk (Japanese and British) with old-school apocalyptic metallic crust to give birth to a dark, moody and epic crust hybrid that will make you do Mad Max cosplay in no time.
There were only 150 copies of 34°23'41"N 132°27'17"E and I was lucky enough (and quick, I am not known as the Crust Viper for nothing) to grab one. Unfortunately, I could not find a copy of their subsequent Ep, Duality..., released on Profane Existence in 2019 which is a genuine bummer. One day I will. The tape was released on Monolith Records, a local label, and looks brilliant with its gloomy artwork and runic-like lettering for the lyrics.
The real deal.
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