An adventure in split Ep's! I have no gun but I can split: VICTIMS OF GREED / SCUM NOISE "Fight for freedom / The power has no power..." split Ep, 1999

This is the last post of the year for Terminal Sound Nuisance and it makes sense to say goodbye and fuck off to a particularly atrocious 2023 with a punk message of protest and an international collaboration showing a spirit of togetherness and solidarity in noise. There is more to humanity than the sound of bombs falling and the cries of grieving families, thankfully. 

From a personal perspective, 2023 has been a strange year. Not only did I start working at a job center, ironically enough since my philosophy has always been to work as little as possible without raising suspicion, but I also celebrated my fortieth birthday. Twenty years ago I pictured my 40 year old self as a spectacularly successful man graced with many records and notoriously class and envied crust pants, one who would command respect in "the crust community" (I know, I know, don't judge me) and whose name would be uttered with admiration. 20 year old me was convinced that he would definitely look up to my future 40 year old self which on some level is both adorably stupid and positive. And well, if I could contact 20 year old me tomorrow, I would first tell the little fucker to stop buying trendy neocrust and grab as much Disclose materials as possible, and second I would tell him that twenty years from now he would have the most massive collection of Antisect shirts in the country and if that does not convince that indeed he will succeed in life then nothing will. I would not tell him to enjoy his sumptuous thick hair because time does what it does. I'm not so mean.

So here I am again, sitting on my arse and writing about some rather obscure Japanese crust and Brazilian raw hardcore. Which is quite fine when I compare it with what my colleagues do on their free time, binge watching mediocre American Netflix series while mindlessly scrolling on their phone and thinking what snacks they are going to eat next. Without punk, I could be like them and I like to think that 20 year old me would be proud that I still believe and have faith. Socially, it is rather frowned upon to not have children, not own a flat, not earn more than the minimum wage and still spend most of my money on poorly recorded records, noisy gigs you cannot attend without wearing ear protections and vegan delicacies. Not to mention spending hours in a tiny vehicle to play 20 minutes before a couple of old but lovable fuckers. As a half-wise man once said to me: "Punk-rock ruined my life but I wouldn't change a thing". 

But let's get to work, shall we? As we have seen numerous times, the Japanese 90's crust scene was intense and prolific and the decade put the town of Osaka on the map. Osaka became the birth place of a crust genre that was all its own - one we have come to name "crasher crust" - and although it did spread around the world, marginally, it is still closely associated with what Gloom or Crust War Records built so that when I am told about an Osaka crust band I immediately think about manic seriously distorted savage crust. Punk towns all work this way and conjure up a specific land-base sound and contextual aesthetics. But they are also relative and closely tied to our own personal mythology. PDX punk to me is Hellshock and Black Water and Whisper in Darkness, to others it will be Red Dons. Tragically Paris punk is now synonymous with Ben Sherman collections and constipated oi music and I haven't been able to achieve much in terms of local propaganda. 

But basically Victims of Greed were from a 90's crust band from Osaka. Granted, they may not have picked the best moniker as it is a very common signifier that could point to any punk style but they are worth your while. I actually already talked a little about VoG in a previous post from the Noize Not Music is a Fine Art because they appeared on the very good and under-appreciated 'No Hesitation to Resist' compilation 10". VoG are everything you could expect from a Japanese crust band: they are fast and intense with a crunchy distorted sound, extreme polyphonic vocals (from the traditional low gruff growls to the snotty punk shouts) and pummeling. Typical cave-crust done the Japanese way with that distinct production, a bit like Gloom covering Hiatus. There are some heavier metallic mid-tempo moments for good measure and I think the different vocal tones bring some variety and the four songs in four minutes and a half fly too fast (a full VoG Ep would have been brilliant). The lyrics mostly deal with animal liberation and veganism, not unlike Battle of Disarm at the time (although they were not an isolated case). Convincing 90's crust here. The band gets some extra points for including a verse in Portuguese in the song "Authority and rotten" and translations of their (and Scum Noise's) lyrics in Japanese. Pretty old-school.

On the other side are Scum Noise from Sao Paulo, Brazil, a familiar name if you have been around for a bit of time. I don't know what Brazilian punks drink in the morning but their bands definitely live long as Scum Noise have been playing, more or less actively, since 1990 (likewise Subcut have been going since 1992). I suppose that's what you call dedication and being for real. SN belong to that category of bands that I know without really knowing, even though I have had the 2001 reissue of their self-titled first Ep for ages and play it from times to times. We're not quite intimate but have been bumping into each other regularly if you know what I mean. In spite of being often described as a crust band, SN clearly did not belong to the crust genre. To me they epitomize what genuinely raw Swedish-flavoured hardcore punk should sound like. 

The first song "The Hell is near" is a masterclass in käng with its simple riffing and direct sound, its knowledgeably orthodox vocal flow and perfect drumming. Just fast raw punk the way it should be. The second number "The world around us" is yet another gem, this time dealing with the classic groovy mid-paced Discharge-inspired formula with a primitive thrashing vibe. The Brazilian hardcore influence and its raw anger and typical vocal style does pop out and you can tell SN definitely listened to Armagedom a lot. The last two songs are a little more anecdotal for me, one more direct käng endeavour and an all-out fast hardcore thrash attack but the Ep is worth grabbing for the aforementioned opening tracks alone. Think a title match for the Cimex raw-punk title between '92 Hellkrusher and early Diskonto with '86 Armagedom as a special referee. The raw, thin even, production confers a genuine 80's feel to the music, something that few 90's got to replicate as well. Third-world hardcore punk indeed. The singer of the band actually ran No Fashion Hardcore Records, a label that was of course part and parcel of the Brazilian DIY punk scene but also released Disclose records.

It is unclear when the SN or the VoG were recorded but the Ep was released in 1999 on FFT Label, standing for Fuck Fashion Town, that was run by Koichiro from Argue Damnation. This Ep goes for cheap and is typically a dollar bin bargain. 

 Scum Greed

An adventure in split Ep's! I have no gun but I can split: SERVITUDE / EBOLA "S/t" split Ep, 1999

How grim can one get? Or rather, how grim, bleak and downright depressing can one look to others? 

I am not an especially grim person. After a few pints, like every normally constituted person, I enjoy a game of darts, cracking a few dad jokes and getting into a drunken fight because I am a sore loser but I still do get reinvited, sometimes. It would be far-fetched to claim I am the life of the party but my presence illuminates the room enough and probably inspires many a youth to not be like me. I know how to prove myself useful. But to have a split record between one band called Servitude and another called Ebola does convey a vibe of tragedy, horror and overall doom so that it might not be the best topic for a first Tinder date and conversations starters like "Do you enjoy Servitude?" or "I much prefer early Ebola" haven't proved to be particularly effective. It's still marginally better than "Have you heard of Genital Deformities?" or "The last Coitus full length was something of a disappointment" I suppose.

From a punk point of view, of course, there is nothing wrong with a split between these bands, it made sense given the styles they used to work on. When I bought this Ep, I already had the split between Misery and Extinction of Mankind so I was already a lost cause as far as my terminological tastes were concerned. The symbolism of lexical fields and of naming in the punk world is absolutely fascinating and the fact that we have had our own stable but ever-changing metalanguage for 45 years is a testament to the relevance of punk. The downside is our tendency to rely too much on our cultural jargon, just like teenagers have always done to make their parents feel old, except a lot of us are well into our forties and fifties and our parents have mostly given up on us a long time ago and, unlike us, most teens do grow up. I might do a piece on punk language one day.

Before the record selection for this series, I had not played neither Servitude nor Ebola for a long time so it was an interesting re-exploration. I have had records from both bands for a while so that the fact they survived the often heartbreaking annual purges throughout the years indicated that a part of my brain knows that I like them even though I didn't exactly remember why (the punk brain works in strange ways). Servitude were from Minneapolis and belonged to the prolific local 90's crust and extreme hardcore scene that gravitated around Profane Existence and there are unsurprisingly many familiar faces when looking at the members' resumes. It would be silly doing exhaustive genealogical "ex-members of" lists but suffice to say that the individuals involved in Servitude did time in bands like Destroy!, Segue, Dissension or Code 13 and would later serve in Scorned, Provoked or Frenzy. 

The band recorded a rough and ready demo tape in 1996 (I doubt it was really distributed) that hinted at what they were going for but things really took shape with the 1997 Ep Apparatus on Profane Existence and Skuld Releases. As tempting - if unwise - as it is to blame it on Alzheimer (it runs deep in the family, sadly, the only positive I can think of is that it might allow me to forget about ska-punk and shoegaze) I remembered Servitude as an all-out down-tuned savage crustcore attack with dual male and female vocals with that distinct 90's US sound but they are not really. The Ep actually has variety, tempo changes, even some emotional moments and while there is obviously a crustcore influence, it might make more sense to see them as an anarchopunk blend of progressive crusty bands like Jobbykrust or Unhinged, of Health Hazard's furiousness and of more dissonant heavy down-tuned hardcore bands like His Hero Is Gone with an urgent, direct sound. Like One By One infused with extreme hardcore or something or indeed, not unlike Ebola, the type of bands that Flat Earth would have released. A good Ep representative of a specific 90's sound.

The three songs that Servitude contributed to the split Ep are heavier and more down-tuned so that it takes a couple of (loud) listens to really to get into it, especially with just about four minutes of music. If the music's texture is different, it also feels like the next logical step and makes sense that the band would move toward such a production (it was after all in the air at that time). In terms of influence, Servitude never sounded as threateningly destructive, intense and angry as on this one. As mentioned above, it sounds like a bar fight between HHIG, Jobbykrust and One By One. I love how the vocals work together in that specific 90's anarcho way. Some find it dated, I find it endearing. My one reservation is that it is a little short for the style and a full Ep recording would have worked better especially since there are a lot of changes and some versatility involved. The three songs were recorded in early 1997 so, for all I know, Servitude may not even have been active by the time the Ep came out in 1999. The screenprinted cover on their side looks absolutely magnificent but I could not find who was the artist. Didn't they have Insta in 1999?

On the other side are Ebola from Newcastle. Yes, there have been a lot of Ebolas throughout the years (even a tongue-in-cheek French oi band), one of which was from Berlin and a contemporary of our one. The 00's delivered quite a few extra grindcore Ebolas which was to be expected since it is a pretty cool disease (from a safe European home of course) and wearing an Ebola shirt would probably shock your nan. The story of Ebola goes hand in hand with that of the 90's DIY hardcore punk scene of the North of England and the band changed a lot in their six years existence (between 1995 and 2000, I think). Alright, let me try entangle the thing.

The band started out with Karen and Micky (from the cruelly underrated One By One) teaming up with Andy (later on in Sawn Off and Shank), Chris and Jonathan (later in Sawn Off and Minute Manifesto). This lineup recorded the Incubation Lp in 1996 , released on Flat Earth Records (obviously), an album I have had for a very long time, that I like but is impossible to store properly because my version has a 13 inch record mailer envelope as a cover. It looks good but to this day, it is the only record that has never fit in any of my record shelves or boxes. Again, pretty endearing. This first effort was a pretty devastating one, just fast, punishing hardcore thrash with dual vocals and diverse tempo changes that sounded like a date between Health Hazard, Disaffect and American powerviolence during a conference about anarchism. Ebola were always very vocal politically, not to mention literally, and they were always careful to provide interesting things to read and booklets with their records (no longer a common practice nowadays but then I am under the impression that we are all so jaded that we no longer even care to read the lyrics).

The following Ep released the next year, Imprecation, with Nick (from Enslaved Records and later Boxed In replacing Jonathan) was even more savage, demented and unpredictable blasting hardcore, more focused and articulate too I suppose but less traditionally punk. An extreme record that would be exhausting as an album and can only work on an Ep. The 90's were not done with Ebola yet and the band recorded five more songs in September, 1998, for the present split with Servitude. The first striking thing is how raw the production is. While Incubation and Imprecation enjoyed a rather good sound highlighting the relentless aggression and the manic and destructive changes, their side of the split almost sounds like a live in the studio recording. If the songwriting is similar to the previous Ep, this shift in terms of sound confers a more primitive, primal vibe to the music, a low-fi nature that borders on DIY grindcore or squat-based hardcore powerviolence. Very intense and even less for the faint-hearted than before as the vocalists remind me of angry hyenas fighting for the last vegan sausage (let's just pretend that hyenas are into vegan sausages). Imprecation would be the better Ebola record as it sounds more accomplished, however this side of the split Ep probably displays more charm and even character as it demonstrated that Ebola could still deliver in terms of blasting intensity and aggression with a direct, raw, bass-driven sound, not unlike Dystopia at times. These five songs would be reissued with a new mastering on a one-sided Ep in 2000 on Enslaved.

As mentioned, Ebola were a political bunch. Each song is introduced with an audio sample which was customary in the fastcore/powerviolence trend in the 90's (even up to the mid 00's) and there is a proper booklet accompanying the Ep. The explanations to the songs are quite illuminating and describe what the motif, the feeling and the context were during the writing. I know some people hate the practice and consider that the songs should stand on their own without a notice but retrospectively the explanatory notes help understand the mood of the time and the songs against macho violence "Malevolence" definitely stands for a specific time period in DIY hardcore punk. The whole thing looks brilliant and emphasizes the honesty of the band and the motivations that point to the 90's anarchopunk tradition (veganism, anti-homophobia...) rather than what modern powerviolence (or however you want to call it) is all about today. 

On the whole, I think that this split Ep is a good record, much rawer and more punishing than I remembered, clearly a testament to what DIY political hardcore was about at that time, musically, lyrically and visually. This was released on Clean Plate Records, the label run by Will Killingsworth who played in Orchid at that point in time.  

The Ebola of Servitude

An adventure in split Ep's! I have no gun but I can split: DISARM / SUBCUT "Nem esporte, nem tradição / S/t" split Ep, 1999

The shortening of our attention spans is not without its merits. From the perspective of "a blogger" - the correct terminology for what I do apparently although it sounds like I am a part of some sort of inelegant tech bro clique (that makes one shudder) - attention span as an endangered species means pretty much that I can repeat myself without fear of being singled out as a person stuck in a loop and asking the same questions over and over again, like a pub bore who always wants to share his views with you even though you've already endured far too many times his theory that the vanishing of Antisect's second Lp is the greatest mystery of humankind, bar none. Well, at least with a blog you can just close the window and switch to watching underwhelming youtube videos like a normal person while in a pub you have to hide in the toilets and pretend you have a tummy ache. 

Today's oft tackled topic is the observable lack of classic, typical crust bands in Brazil during the 90's. As I mentioned, it is kind of a rerun and you may check the first episodes as I wrote about Under Threat in 2015 and Dischord in 2017. This is a head-scratching, unexplainable phenomenon from an outsider's point of view. How come Brazil, and above all Sao Paulo, a town that had - and still does - one of the strongest, liveliest, most prolific extreme music scenes did not produce many ENT/Disrupt/Doom-like bands? I mean, even France had a contestant (eternal respect to Enola Gay) and we have always notoriously sucked at it so you would have expected Brazilian punks, famously well into fast aggressive music, to offer a solid dozen of cracking crust bands, which they did not. They certainly created their own brands of primitive thrashing grindcore and furiously fast metallic hardcore and many bands proudly adopted this sonic approach but, strictly speaking, as far as crust was concerned, seemingly few were inspired. Of course, elements of crust music were included in the classic Brazilian extreme hardcore vibe but I would not say that there was ever really a Brazilian crust style which, given the incredible potential, does come as a surprise. It does not imply either that that Brazil was actually missing something, it is just curious. As I said earlier, some things may escape me.

It would be untrue and hyperbolic to claim that the scene was deprived of Doom-lovers though. How sad would that be? Aforementioned bands like Dischord (a hard-working band who had a very decent discography with splits with Lies & Distrust, Rotten Sound or Força Macabra) or Under Threat (a project that was started by Rot's drummer and went on to release splits with Battle of Disarm or... Dischord!) and bands like Cruel Face were inspired and included elements pertaining to the subgenre to some extent. And of course, you saw me coming, Disarm were undeniably, gloriously, heroically one of the few national bands that was openly, deeply, fundamentally oriented toward gruff 90's crust.

In fact, I see Disarm as the Brazilian band that was the most typical of the 90's crust wave, the one that fitted the template with the most accuracy and, clearly, with the most ease. The name could be seen as a little unfortunate and prone to cause confusion since it is a great but fairly common moniker. The classic Swedish käng band Disarm from the 80's is the most famous, but there is also a one-man grindcore band from Italy, some short-lived punk-rock band from Springfield, a hardcore band from Niigata, yet another American band this time of the folk punk variety (gasp), yet another Japanese band but one that does 80's thrash metal, a Welsh sloppy anarchopunk band from the 80's, a Ukrainian thrash metal band with the most horrendous Disarm font of them all, yet another American hardcore band from Virginia and there is apparently an active crust band from Switzerland named Disarm. This abundance of Disarms is disarming (I take full responsibility for that shit joke). A great name that was used far too often but then in the mid-90's, our Disarm's first recording was done in 1997, it certainly sounded like a good idea since you wouldn't have heard of some of the most obscure Disarms of the past.

But anyway, the four songs on this split Ep are the best ones from the band's first run between 1997 and 2001 (the band seemingly reformed in the mid-00's as they released a split with Norway's Sound Your Alarm in 2007 and with Indonesia's Firstblood in 2013). The 1997 self-titled demo tape (this session also appeared on a split tape with Holochaos) was a rough and ready direct crustcore attack, the potential of which was confirmed with this 1999 recording. The first three numbers are by-the-book 90's cavemen crust reminiscent of From Resignation-era Hiatus, mid-90's Doom and Warcollapse with lyrics about animal rights. You know the drill. The lyrics in Portuguese also point to the overlooked - but beloved in these quarters - mid-90's Subcaos as well. The key word overall here being "mid-90's". The production has that perfect 90's crust cave groove and thickness, the scansion is ideal, the riffs obvious but effective, this is exactly what I expect from the genre and era. The fourth song however is totally different and display Disarm in full-on Brazilian thrashing hardcore mode with that typical fast and angry vocal delivery and that vibe of unstoppability. Quite the surprise since it sounds nothing like the other songs and also a genuinely good idea since it reminds the listener that this is Sao Paulo not fucking Stockholm. Following this split, Disarm would appear on a split Lp with Stomachal Corrosion. 

On the other side prolific grindcore band Subcut (but grindcore bands often are) offer, kindly, five songs of raw and energetic relentless angry grindcore with a hardcore thrash influence like Brazilian bands are usually excellent at. This is definitely my kind of grindcore, really direct and with a punk attitude and none of that technical snooze fest. I love how the band frenetically speeds up the tempo and unleash furious blast beats. The musicianship is a little sloppy and the production very low-fi but Subcut sound intense and relentless enough to make these elements work at their benefit. In fact, if it were properly produced I would not probably like it because that is exactly what I expect from a raw high octane Brazilian grindcore band. With them using dual vocals Subcut's music can be said to incorporate a primitive crust influence (after all the two genres were close at the beginning of the decade) or at least appeal to a crust crowd open to a balanced diet of blast beats like Destroy! or Confrontation used. But on the whole, in terms of song structures Subcut belonged to the grindcore side and their cover of Intestinal Disease is a clear enough sign of that. Imagine Rot and Dropdead recording a one hour practice together on a tape recorder in order to contribute songs for a 4-way split between Gride, Entrails Massacre and Intestinal Disease.

My one reservation about the Subcut side is that the five songs were taken from three different recording sessions. The first three were recorded in 1999 and the whole session would appear on the very fine split 10'' with Cruel Face in 2000; the fourth song is taken from a 1998 session while the Intestinal Disease cover was already included on a split tape with Rot. As a result, as a whole, their side has a disparate feel that is a little distracting, to a small extent because the production always remains raw and stylistically the songs were similar but still, I'd rather have five songs from the same session. Subcut would have a long life and are still active and still grinding.

This fine highly enjoyable Ep was released on No Fashion HC Records, a label that specialized in grindcore and raw hardcore and notably released a double-cd Disclose retrospective.

Disarm + Subcut   

Still Believing in ANOK: Avaricious "S/t" 10'', 1999

This record was the first one - or one of the first, my short-term memory is not what it used to be and beside, isn't it a social construct too? Or something? - that I picked for Still Believing in ANOK, the new award-winning series exclusively on Terminal Sound Nuisance (I'm proud to say Vice Magazine tried to recruit me but I did not sell out to "the man"). Avaricious is a band fit for this blog. They are obscure, nobody cares about them, it is a 10'' record and they have a typical delicious anarcho sound. It ticks all the right boxes. It is a well trodden path really, just another day at the office. It will allow me to deride people who listen to what I consider "hipster hardcore" while I, as the epitome of the true punk spirit, as a pontiff of good taste, as a feared trend maker that can turn cool kids into posers in the blink of a shite pun, revel in satisfaction, complacency, self-assured that I am, by essence, right. Thanks for giving me an excuse for feeling good about myself Avaricious. 

This humble but crispy record was extremely easy to find in France twenty years ago and I would not be surprised to hear that some copies are still patiently hibernating like the European edible dormouse in some forlorn distro boxes stored in a damp attic. I don't know how well distributed it was in other countries, but French punks over 35 have definitely bumped into this geezer at some point. Whether they bothered to give it a chance despite the rather underwhelming cover is another issue. Were it not for my own proverbial brilliance and the fact that it was described as "UK anarchopunk" (you can trick me into buying anything with this catchphrase), I would have probably passed on it too. This 10'' was released on Strongly Opposed, a vinyl-only label run by Pablo from Resistance Productions and Earth Citizens (covered here), and looking at the discography I realize that most of the records could easily be found, at least in Paris, in the 2000's so I am guessing the man had some reliable contacts here. To be honest, some releases on Strongly Opposed can barely be called timeless classics (but then, how many labels can claim to have only released masterpieces?) so them being condemned to a loveless life doesn't come as too surprising (for fear of getting punched, I will not mention which ones). However Neurose Urbana's primitive raw punk, Earth Citizens's peacecrust-punk and Poundaflesh's beefy UK hardcore punk are well worth investigating. 

I don't remember where and how I grabbed this one but I may have ordered it from a distro called Punk As Fuck (yes, I know, how original) that was absolutely massive at the time with a strong emphasis on anarchopunk (I remember getting Omega Tribe or The Mob cd's but also Haywire or Resist tapes from the bloke who ran it). It did take literally months before he could be arsed to send the things though. Or was it from the React distro? He also had a big list of international DIY political hardcore and grindcore so it wouldn't be completely implausible. In any case, I have had this 10'' for a long time and played it more regularly than a lot of objectively better records that just do not have as much charm. This makes one wonder about the point of a record collection. Should you keep records you like or records that are good? I own many records that I know are not exactly world class (or not exactly tuned) but that I cannot (and I won't) help enjoying a lot. Similarly, there are "timeless classics" from "legendary bands" that I have convinced myself I should own even though I can't be bothered to actually play them. Another pivotal element lies in my own relationship with some records, especially the ones I bought when I was still a yellow belt punk trainee. A young brain is prone to love unconditionally without much discernment so that I see some of my records in much the same way as I see stuffed toys I cannot bear to part with. It would be far-fetched to characterize Avaricious' as a life-defining record but still, it's almost always been there and it is a reliable and fun listen that reminds me of a time when I did not have to make room for records. 

Avaricious were located in Sheffield but was an international band as, beside two Englishmen, some Swiss and a Greek singer were also involved (this accounts for the fact that the two rather melancholy-sounding acoustic numbers, the intro and the outro, have Greek titles). Because it was released on Strongly Opposed, I suspect people from Earth Citizens or associated bands were involved in this project, especially since it was recorded in Switzerland. I have no idea if Avaricious played many gigs in Britain as the internet is almost mute about them but I am guessing they did not. I don't think many people are even aware of the band, judging from the Discogs rates this 10'' is clearly more on the "for sale" than on the "wanted" list. And it is not a perfect record, I would be the first to admit it. But it is definitely a charming one and it includes some absolute hits that could win the heart of any anarcho-loving punks. The band had that straight-forward punky songwriting and vibe, and some diversity in terms of pace (there are some glue-sniffing UK82 anthems here as well as moodier mid-paced numbers or spoken words) and I can easily imagine young scruffy punks pogoing to the songs. The music reminds me strongly of Just an Error-era DIRT, early Faction and clearly Hagar the Womb (is "Mindless consumption" some sort of tribute to the Hags?) mixed with classically spiky UK82. But one can hear that Avaricious were also inspired by Zounds, or at least one of the guitar players was, especially with the recurrent freer, poppier bits that confer a tunefulness to the songs (assuming Steve Lake had just been listening to The Expelled all day). 

I like the half-spoken half-sung female vocals but I would not go as far as claiming that they are always perfectly in tune, although the singer does a great job at sounding like a proper British punk. In fact, with its thin, "squatty" production, if you are not aware that Avaricious were from 90's, you would probably think that the recording is a lost recording from 1984 of some Bluurg-related bands. I don't think this decidedly old-school anarcho feel was as self-aware or calculated as it would be for a band nowadays - even more so considering the relative lack of popularity the genre enjoyed at that time - and that's precisely why Avaricious sound so fresh and spontaneous and even sloppy at times, just like the bands of yore. Fans of the genre will absolutely love this. On the other hand, those who don't care too much for it, will not be converted. But that could also be because these people just suck.

I am absolutely clueless as to what the members of the band did afterwards. I presume the Swiss went on to play in other bands connected to Strongly Opposed but any details is welcome. As previousl mentioned, this is an easy pick in Europe. And who doesn't like a lovely 10'' record? The same people who sucked at loving vintage anarchopunk, that's who.

Avaricious

Still Believing in ANOK: Counter-Attack "Laments and Skulls" Lp, 1999

Counter-Attack were amazing, extraordinary, phenomenal, unique. And Belgian. To quote the mighty Brob Tilt Tapes blog (read it here), a genuine goldmine of rare DIY punk recordings and a formidable effort at documenting and preserving our common history and stories, C-A played Crass-inspired anarchopunk "in a time when everyone was into crust". And don't get me wrong, I personally loved it when everyone was into crust and Terminal Sound Nuisance is a pathetic attempt at reconverting punks to crustianity and the utter annihilation of shoegaze. Although I tragically only caught the tail end of the 90's wave, to be understood here more as a wave than mere chronological markers, in the early 00's, people still liked crust, even in such a crust-reluctant town like Paris (a bit of a paradox when you consider how bloody filthy it is), or at least liked it enough to support the touring crust bands and not give me too much shit for having far too many patches on my black jacket (most of them progressively disappeared, not unlike my hair sadly). But in this general context, taking into consideration the overall production of the global DIY punk scene in Europe, C-A can be said to stand out, not like a sore thumb (although the personal hygiene of the participants is unclear), but rather as a band that at that point in time were quite original and worked on a sound that had almost completely vanished. 

In retrospect, this disappearance can seem very odd since crust and a certain brand of DIY political hardcore punk owed a lot to 80's anarchopunk and people love the old-school anarcho bands or claimed to, and yet very few bands tried to build on that sound. It may have to do to some extent with the idea that the early 80's sound was behind us and the drive, the craving for new things in the 90's and 00's implied that the Crass-ish sonic take (like UK82's) just did not fit in with the following decades. I have always been a massive fan of the old anarchopunk sound but, despite some significant exceptions (A//Political, Stracony, Cress, Life's a Riot! for instance), contemporary bands just did not want to play that style. Beside, the whole trend of reforming had not really kicked in yet, and apart from a couple of bands like Icons of Filth or Lost Cherrees, the dinosaurs were clearly extinct and had not come back from the grave (for the better and the worse). As a result, one really had the impression that the traditional anarchopunk completely belonged in the past. The unstoppable wave of nostalgia, fueled by social media, technology and a new relation to music, had not hit us and the thought of an Alternative-worshiping band was as incongruous as wearing sandals at a Sick of it All gig or asking a Frenchman not to smoke in a closed venue. 

With my groupe of friends in the early 00's, we definitely listened to a lot of crust, of the neo and stench varieties since those were hot at the time, and we did not mind playing screamocrust bands with singers sounding like they just fell into an industrial press at 2am. I remember getting a copy of the Masters and Jesters and it deservedly got a lot of airplay. We were young, inexperienced, some of us still spotty, and we couldn't help but think that a band doing that Conflict style of punk in 2000 was a little odd (and we loved Conflict). We all agreed that C-A were the dog's bollocks and whenever I play this album, memories of us dissecting the music while drinking the cheapest lager from the off-licence instantly rush back. We did not own that many records at the time so we often ended up playing the same ones again and again. Needless to say I know Masters and Jesters by heart.

Before Laments and Skulls C-A had released a demo tape called Demonstrate or Demolition in 1996, a recording that meaningfully hinted at what they would become. While rawer, this demo is a jewel of energetic and intense snotty anarchopunk with male and female vocals (the band's original configuration) reminiscent of DIRT and especially bands such as Symbol of Freedom or Crude & Snyde (and Toxic Waste of course from whom they liberally borrow some lyrics). Top drawer, close your eyes and you're back to Thatcher's Britain. Laments and Skulls was recorded in late 1998 and it was a monumental first effort. The work keeps that punky, dynamic and urgent production while also highlighting the many details and hooks that makes the album so compelling and memorable. This was an ambitious undertaking as C-A went for a 43 minute long Lp which by today's standards is like a rock opera (for comparison purposes Bad Breeding's Exiled Lp is 32 minute long, Dogma's Lp is 28 and Subdued's only 24). However, Laments and Skulls never sounds like the band just stuffed as many songs as possible on the record, on the contrary, you can tell that a lot of thought was given to the selection, the order, the transitions, the flow and, above all, the plot. 

The is a proper ALBUM in the sense that it sounds like a cohesive narrative whole, it tells a specific story and literally makes sense. To be honest, without this storytelling quality, it would be near impossible to pull out a 43 minute modern anarchopunk album and not lose the listener's attention (there were no smart phones to doomscroll on in 1999 though). Here is the vegan menu: delicious guitar hooks, memorable tunes, dynamic bass lines, always smart and spicy change of paces - from the fast 1-2-1-2 UK82 beat to the Crass-like tribal one -, epic Conflict-like introductions and intense spoken words, wisely used samples and psychedelic transitions, a climactic sense of songwriting, some of the snottiest punky trade-off dual vocals you will ever hear (with such brilliant British accents that you'd think you are in Hackney) and a seriousness and an honesty that go with the style and lyrical content (this is punk for the anarchist revolution, brothers and sisters). There is even an enjoyable - and fortunately short - ska part. 

What a band, what an album. Conflict is the most pregnant influence here of course. There are more than a few nods to classic Conflict and the vocal flow and tone are close to Colin's but what Laments and Skulls do with perfection is the meaning-creating synthesis of 80's anarchopunk. I can distinctly hear Flux of Pink Indians, Crass, Alternative, Stalag 17, Anthrax, Chumbawamba, some UK82 too as C-A were a rather fast band on the whole but they used mid-paced songs, dissonant moments, samples, moody or psychedelic introductions to make the speed angry. I wouldn't change anything on this album and any self-respecting anarchopunk fan should know and revere this band. 

Members of C-A also got to play in Visions of War and Katastrophobia as well as a band called Kiss the Anus of a Black Cat and I can't help thinking what my mother would say, apart from "for fuck sake", if I came to my nephew's birthday wearing a shirt of that band. As I mentioned the band went on to record the equally good Masters and Jesters released in 2000 on Nabate Records and there was a final recording entitled Culex Pipiens (I believe) with three songs displaying a mode modern heavier production. I cannot find information about this session so perhaps the band did not do anything with it. That'd be a story for another time. Don't be a dreary arseholes and get into Counter-Attack.    

This review is respectfully dedicated to drummer Ivan, who went missing in 2016. 

Laments and skulls

Ace Compilations for Less Than a Fiver on Bloody Discogs (part 5): "Why Must We Die for Your Palate?" compilation Ep, 1999

This is the last cheap compilation Ep of the series and I do hope you all took notes. Whether you are looking for a last minute present for that annoyingly ungrateful nephew of yours, trying to reconstruct some sort of decent collection after you had to sell all your records for food and booze after the Covid pandemic or just intending to save some money for the upcoming baby but still have some punk credibility to show your 13 followers on social media, these five Ep's will work miracles. Tested and approved by the Guardians of Punk! Humanitarian mission! If you are a cheese-paring yet sharp busybody, you might be able to bargain your way into an even better deal and negotiate the five records for just £20, assuming you hassle the unwary merch person at a gig enough. Who knows, if you prove to be enough of a stingy bellend, he or she might let you leave with the whole record bin for free just to get rid of you. As young and inspiring successful business owners often say, there are no small victories and if it takes wearing down the poor fool stuck behind the table and thus unable to flee, then so be it. At least, it will be this less records to load back in the van for the band and they had been gathering dust in the distro since Clinton's second term anyway.

The last decade saw, from my eagle-like perspective anyway, a sharp decrease in compilations in general and physical compilation Ep's in particular. Many bands are not so keen on being part of a comp or a split record since it has become technically much easier, not to mention more rewarding, to have your own proper record. I personally greatly enjoy such compilations as they display acts of collaboration between bands and labels, of curation and of both intentional and unintentional representation of a certain time, place, friendship or common purpose. They are fascinating pieces of punk history and, for all the inevita

ble fillers, shit recordings and plain incongruous and yet still strangely relevant songs, they remain significant artifacts of our collective history and wonderful storytellers.

 

The last compilation will be Why Must We Die for Your Palate? released in 1999 on Dire/Action records. As you probably understand - unless you only stumbled on Terminal Sound Nuisance by chance, attracted by the smell of cheap, easily obtainable (sub)cultural products - and as the cover stressed openly, the purpose of this Ep was to expose the truth about animal exploitation and promote animal rights and welfare and encourage people to boycott the industry and go vegan. By 1999, this was certainly not something new. British anarchopunk bands had been fighting for animal liberation and meat-free lifestyle, supporting hunt sabbing and demonstrating and taking part in actions against animal experimentation since the early 80's with bands like Conflict, Exit-Stance, Active Minds or Riot/Clone being particularly vehement on the subject. The pro-animal stand quickly spread throughout the world and, under the influence of anarchopunk, the political hardcore scene in the U$A quickly developed a similar stance and commitment on those issues with numerous bands flying the animal rights banner, notably in the Californian peacepunk scene with bands like Resist and Exist, Atrocity or Iconoclast while in New York Nausea and Jesus Chrust were also spreading the gospel and let's not forget the highly influential Antischism. It feels a little redundant to point it out but vegan, animal rights-oriented punk bands have existed from the 90's on pretty much in every places where there is a punk who owns a Conflict patch (that's always the clue). 

 

Following the idealism of anarchopunk in the 80's especially about this topic, some bands took a contradictory stance and claimed that animal rights and songs about them were just a fashion to follow, a box to check, a part of preconstructed template in order to be seen as a righteous anarcho band instead of "free thinkers". Although such criticism often derived from rather reactionary perspectives - the same argument was often made about feminism or pacifism - it is difficult to pretend that having a song about animals did not feel like a compulsory button to push, not unlike some sort of Commandment to abide by or a Herculean labour to perform, only with Moses and Hercules wearing charged hair or the infamous dreadlock mullet, a haircut that was as common for punks as it was for 90's wrestlers. For all the tiresome, redundant clichés that many songs about animal rights carried, I feel that the subject mattered and still does, a lot, and I will take naive idealism and outrage over jaded stale cynicism any day. At least they cared or tried to. Oddly and sadly, although animal rights have entered the mainstream and become a legitimate burning issue in many countries, the subject does not seem to be as popular today as it used to be which, on the surface, would seem to confirm to some extent that the 80's and 90's vegan/vegetarian punk propaganda obeyed to a passing trend and fashion rather than analysis, reason and a love for animals. Still this discrepancy is difficult to explain since punks have been at the forefront of the struggle for a long time and ecological collapse is quite literally and not just dischargily just around the corner. Maybe it is just the usual reaction to the mainstream and that, now that Insta twats have glamourized and depoliticized veganism, it feels useless and not as edgy to rehash the old message of To a Nation of Animal Lovers, though it still stands as a valid and urgent one. It would not be punks' first contradictions.

 

As a credible vegan punk - I own a dozen of Antisect shirts - I have always loved animal rights songs, even the sloppy cheesy ones, because I identify with the message and, love it or not, they have belonged to punk history and tradition for 40 years. I have to confess that I don't even like animals. The neighbour's cat is an alright fellow and watching him being a useless bastard is inspiring indeed, however I have no trust whatsoever in sheep, cows and goats, while horses and ponies are dangerous feral beasts and geese are evil entities. Why Must we Die for Your Palate? belonged to the category of serious, documented and educational animal rights record. It was meant to make you think, convince you and eventually recruit you into the preachy tofu-eating army. Join the fight comrade! There is a comprehensive booklet highlighting the validity and benefits of plant based diets and the necessity of ending animal abuse and industrial farming for the sake of ethics and the environment. If you are already familiar with the issues, it will not be anything new but the firm sense of political purpose and dedication conveying by the Ep is meaningful and typical - in a good way - of the anarcho and crusty 90's scene that disliked soap, even vegan ones, as much as they loved a vegan stew and dumpster diving, which became an important discipline of the Crust Olympics around that time.

 

The compilation Ep includes four American bands: Detestation, End Result, Depressor and Idi Amin. I realize I have directly written about Detestation only once, when I reviewed the Punk Riot compilation Lp (that was in 2012... fuck me), a gap that might strike the punk on the street as a bit odd. Detestation were a pillar of the U$ d-beat/anarcho/crust 90's scene, a parallel dimension that I have touched upon on more than one occasion. Though the band did not play for that long - between 1995 and 1998 - they left a lasting impression on the punk world, maybe not unlike another crucial female-fronted hardcore band, Health Hazard. Detestation is one of these bands that everybody has heard and judging from the high concentration of Detestation appurtenances at festivals, they have remained something of a classic throughout the years. Reasons for this enduring popularity was that the members had already played in quite a few bands before so that they knew what they were doing creatively and had all the right networks, that the band was very prolific indeed but more critically Saira's vocals were one of the most recognizable of the 90's - and arguably beyond - so that they gained an iconic glow that is here to stay. I already wrote about the PDX DIY hardcore punk scene of the 90's and how it grew to be an early example of a nerdier trend of referential punk and it was no coincidence that the name "Detestation" came from GISM's first album and "Masskontroll" from a No Security song for instance. The song "Not fucking funny" was recorded in 1996 and dealt with hypocrisy, pretense and dodgy behaviours in the punk scene. Ty and Adam from Starved and Delirious - and Resist for Ty - appeared on that recording although the lineup at the time of release, or rather at the time they contributed their bit of artwork, had Bryan from S&D and Dominic, beside Kelly from Resist and Defiance and of course Saira. As for the music, well you've heard it all before, yeah? Fast and thrashing scandicore with political lyrics and mean, compelling, insane-sounding and pissed high-pitched female vocals that sound like you're being yelled at after being caught smoking at the window for the first time by your mom. But that might memory talking. Imagine a fight on speed between Crude SS, Pink Turds In Space, Riistetyt and Potential Threat. Class and classic.

 

Next up are the much less famous End Result from Lexington. I guess the name comes from the Crass song but I cannot be sure. This lot were by no means the first to come up with the End Result moniker, as there were, at least, three other bands who had the same linguistical idea: an early 80's punk-rock band made up of English 12 year-old, a Chicago based 80's now-wave band and an excellent mid-80's old-school anarchopunk from Australia. But then, Discogs was not around in the 90's so no harm done really. I don't know much about this End Result to be honest. The song "Control", about the objectification of women's bodies and the sexual politics of meat, is your typical 90's blasting fastcore number with a raw sound (it was recorded in a garage) and two vocalists. Not bad and I like the lyrics but not really my cuppa.

 

On the other side, hostilities resume with Idi Amin, another band I am not really familiar with. That's what I have always enjoyed with such compilations, you always got to discover bands you had never heard about - sometimes for good reasons, let's get real - thus increasing your punk knowledge. I doubt conversations about Idi Amin abound in 2021 but it might come handy one day. Contrary to the obscure End Result, this Roanoke bunch released four Ep's between 1996 and 2001, one of which was with Unholy Grave which helps one locate where Idi Amin stood on the spectrum of punk. With that mind, "Confutation..." (that's a word I did not know so thanks for that Idi Amin) unsuprisingly sounds like a blast fast U$ hardcore thrash with two singers and a powerviolence influence. Again the sound is raw and rough and the band was not the kind to arse around as the song lasts 54 seconds. The lyrics deal with animal experimentaton and there is a nasty picture of a tortured rabbit on their sheet, a common, if not traditional, visual meant to shock that bands have often used when addressing the topic.

 

Finally, you are presented with a song from the mighty and totally unique Depressor, which I have already raved about here at a time when I was still a bit shy and not the egregious braggart I have become. Oh well. Depressor was a San Fransisco musical project started by Chris in 1992, a strange beast that mutated throughout the years, evolving from indus crust to occult hardcore, with inhuman anguish as the binding threat. A bit of an unclassable and cruelly underrated band really. "Filth" was recorded in 1995, a period when Depressor was at the apex of its heavy and hammering industrial old-school metal crust power, and originally appeared on the Burn the Illusion demo tape, recorded on four tracks which accounts for the raw primitive cavecore sound and the smouldering mechanical inhuman urgency of the music. One of the band's crucial early numbers. Imagine Sonic Violence, Godflesh, Saw Throat and Axegrinder working and plotting the revolution on the same alienating assembly line. "Filth" deals with male ego and insecurity and how it relates to animal abuse and the rape culture. A lovely song that would enjoy a boisterously enthusiastic response at your cousin Lee's wedding reception. If you love being crushed by oppressive indus crust, the label Fuck Yoga from Macedonia recently released two Lp's, 1995 and Filth/Grace, that contain Depressor's early material. Essential and compulsory listens for the crust students yearning for crushing enlightenment.

 

Why Must We Die for Your Palate? was released on Dire/Action, a label based in Lexington, so I am guessing that it had some connection with End Result, that also put out the Charger Ep, a band involving Chris from Depressor, as well as a second animal rights compilation Ep, Why Must We Die for Your Science that had a strong lineup made up of Resist and Exist, React, Act of Heresy and A//Political. As one can expect, revolting - but somehow banal even if stemming from a well-meaning intention to induce a reaction - pictures of animal abuse adorn the foldout. This Ep looks like a typical DIY record from this era, simple and realized with little means but a big heart.

 

So why must they die for your palate then?