In all this global mania for Discharge, it would be fun to make a list of bands that picked a Discharge song as their moniker. Well, "fun" might not be the right concept here. To some, this very activity would sound like a continuing nightmare that could involve the possibility of a relationship's destruction while to others it would be the most romantic thing ever. I can think of Fight Back from Croatia; two Decontrol from England and Canada; Protest and Survive from Poland; two Realities of War, from England and Japan; one Visions of War, obviously; Mania For Conquest from the States; Hell On Earth from Slovakia; Final Bloodbath from Japan and even one Four Monstrous Nuclear Stockpiles, from France, a rare band that managed to blend d-beat and humour without being corny. And did I mention bloody Meanwhile? You see, we're having so much fun together! Yay.
And of course there is Anger Burning from Sweden. They did not go for my favourite Discharge song (by far, I think "Anger burning" should have been called "Requiem for good taste") but on the When Lp they could be considered as one of the best Discharge imitators of the past 20 years, a much coveted spot indeed. If you want to be very anal about it, and you know I do, When is one of the best tribute to Why, a sentence that when spoken aloud sounds either like the ramblings of a very drunk man or some brilliant comment on postmodernist literature that will make academics scratch their chins in awe and type frantically on their Macbook. But when a proper punk hears it, s/he just knows and this knowledge is precious and makes one feel part of a worldwide conspiracy or a soap-dodging sect as my mum would rephrase it.
Unsurprisingly Anger Burning were from Sweden - land of Discharge love where the government forces innocent children to sing the whole Fight Back Ep at school in defense of their future - and played between 2007 and 2016 (a respectable run) with its members arsing around in other hardcore bands before and have been since. Ernst and Simon were together in Assassination (a traditional rocking käng band), with the former playing subsequently in Panikattack and recently Bombardement and the latter fronting grindcore veteran act Infanticide and Parasit (up until 2016 I think) and dicking around on the bass (like with Anger Burning) with noisepunk loonies Sex Dwarf. As for Vidar and Cederick, the former would go on to play in Anti-Metafor and Svaveldioxid and the latter in a lot of bands that I have never heard of but must belong the metallic hordes judging from the covers (or they could be Russian ska bands in disguise, who knows?). Resumes do not really mean anything, fortunately for me, but they at least indicate in the present case that the listener is dealing with a serious band who does not take the worship of Discharge lightly and if Anger Burning's discography is pretty solid (the Warcharge Ep on La Vida Es Un Mus and the split Lp with Discover come recommended), When stands as the dischargiest work, the apex predator of Discharge love's foodchain in the early 2010's.
I hear you ask: why and where is When so close to Why? I won't even mention the title because I (mostly) respect the intelligence of my audience. But let's take a look at the song titles, most of which refer directly to Why: ""Leftovers of war" instead of "Visions of war", "Ain't no war without bastards" instead of "Ain't no feeble bastard", "Is this a solution" for "Is this to be", "What can you do about this system" for "Does this system work" (and "You take part in creating this system" off Fight Back) and of course "When reprise" (duh, I know). There are a lot of plain nods to Dischagre lyrics as well that would be too tedious to list. The golden nugget might be the song "Where are our rights" that could, or rather must, be referring to that elusive Discharge song entitled "Where's our freedom" that appeared on an Ep bootleg called Live in Preston that included an early live recording from 1980 with this mid-paced song that never made it on vinyl. This one is really for the nerds.
Stellar is the production, primal but very dynamic and angry, highlighting the speed of the early dis beat. The guitar possesses the exact right tone but it had more reverb on Warcharge for instance so I suspect the guitar player toyed with his setting so as to sound as close to 1981 Bones as possible and as for the bass lines, they snake their way through the whole 13 minutes (Why was 14 minutes and 21 seconds long so Anger Burning are a little short). The vocals however are very different to Cal, a man whose barks have always proved to be difficult to resurrect as many a shower can attest, and the singer went for his own raspy style, closer to the traditional käng style, which probably confers more aggression to the songs than if he had forcefully "Cal-ified" his voice. Of course the band went for the classic Discharge font and put the moniker and the record's title in the same spots as Why. The war-themed black and white cover itself reminds me of Disgust's The Horror of it All... but there might be a close comparison.
It doesn't seem relevant to drop names of other d-beat bands who tried hard to sound just like Discharge in the 90's and 00's but I cannot think of any that sounded as close to Why as When does. Here we have to think in terms of record instead of band and try to isolate When and take it on its own. Therefore if Anger Burning may not be the absolute Why-era Discharge clone, When might very well be the aptest copy of Why ever. This wonderful album will speak to those of us who love the worshipping, idolizing side of d-beat, the meticulousness of which would impress the best 17th century oil-painting copyist. This was released in 2012 on Rawmantic Disasters (the label's fifth release) and Truemmer Pogo and can be found for a very decent price.
