An adventure in split Ep's! I have no gun but I can split: GLOBAL HOLOCAUST / MASSGRAVE "Revenge" split Ep, 2006

I recently listened to Hard Skin's song "Not messing around", a banger telling the story of a proper skinhead, quite likely a supporter of Millwall FC who is faithful to the traditional way of life. Most of all it's about a simple man who strives to live his better life and if it must include dancing the tango and the foxtrot, drinking whisky instead of bitter, then so be it. Once a bootboy always a bootboy as the saying goes. Inspiring shit indeed. Working-class heroes ain't messing around and if this song doesn't motivate you to get off your fat arse, what will? 

Do you know who else are not messing around? Global Holocaust and Massgrave, that's who. While the latter have made a name for themselves since their inception in 2003, the former has largely remained a band that would be best defined, as Mel Brooks put it, as a world-famous band in their home country. Local "legends" I guess. I first heard of GH through the Montreal Crust-Fucks compilation cd. It would have been released in 1999 or 2000 (the band Oppressed Conscience mentioned John Paul 2nd's 2000 speech in which he apologized for the heinous crimes of the Church - it was a bit late for that mate) and I remember ordering it from a distro called React that was active in the 90's and 00's and had a lot of pretty obscure noisy delicacies from all over the world. To be honest, I picked that one because it was cheap, everything seemed to be on this distro, and I was curious about Montreal crust bands - I only knew Hellbound and After the Bombs which I both loved - and the compilation, with its rather transparent title, promised just that. It is a fun record, still crusty but with some diversity, and along with Disagree (the best band here), GH definitely won me over. 

After a quick research I understood GH were pioneers and had been rather crucial in the making of the Montreal crust scene (assuming the very term "scene" is relevant to refer to 30 people). It's fair to say that the name and the vintage crustier-than-thou font give the genre away. They formed as early as 1989 which made them a second-generation crustcore band although they arsed around in the studio for a while because their first recording, the demo tape Hope?, was only released in 1993. From 1995 to 1999 they certainly made up for lost time, or started drinking more reasonablu, and no less than six Ep's, among which four splits with fellow Montreal bands Oppressed Conscience, Obnoxious Race and Urban Trash and another Québec-based band Fierce. 

During the 90's GH enjoyed a stable lineup with Simon, on drums, being a tireless musician (he also played in Préjudice, Disjonction and three of the aforementioned bands GH did splits with) and running Tobacco Shit Records that released most of GH's records and other Canadian bands. Sonically they were in line with the decade had to offer as far as the genre was concerned: gruff crustcore with a thrashing grindcore influence like Destroy! dating Toxic Bonkers at a Fleas & Live gig. One of the strongest points, if not the strongest, was Fred's vocals, instantly recognizable, that able to sound raucous and coarse but also very pissed and discernible, on the verge of dementia. Really good work here. The band then stopped in 1996 after being "banned in the city" whatever that means. I could not find any details about this ban. Did it involve some of rioting that ended up with police forbidding them to play in Montreal? That'd be legendary so I guess we would be able to find stories about it online. Were they just kicked out after a particularly poor gig? If you know the full story, let me know and I'll add the thing here.

The band reformed in 2006 with a new guitar player and let's get real: they did not change much. The grindcore moments were pretty much gone but in terms of production and textures, the two songs on this split Ep could have been recorded in 1996, as if time had had no effect on these thick-skinned crusties. We're still heavily in thrashing crustcore land and I am reminded of Brazilian thrashing hardcore legend Armagedom. Simple and rather good, I think the split Ep format fits the band very well here. GH would released another split Ep with Dehumanizer Earth the same year and a full Ep in 2008 with seven (!) different covers, six of which being (loving) rip-offs of other bands like Antischism, DS-13 or Tragedy. Granted those were very limited pressings but that cracked me up. You've got to love punks with a cheeky sense of humour.

On the other side the listener is treated with three songs from the mighty Massgrave from Vancouver (not to be confused with the short-lived but excellent Japanese Massgrave). I am not sure it would be correct to claim that MG were ever a trendy or a high-profile band (on the punk scale being a high-profile act means to have a queue of at least seven people at the merch table, it's simple maths really) but they have clearly become an established band and even people who are not into crust or grindcore (also known as posers) are at least a little familiar with them (if not with the actual music at least with how much they stand for the genre). They have been one of the very few contemporary bands to be able to totally appeal to both crust and grind crowds. Depending on the size of your town, there may not be a difference between these crowds. Actually in small towns everybody go to "the punk gig" whether they are into metalcore, melodic punk or neocrust because it would be pointless to form silly little scenes. But in bigger places where silliness is key, as far as I can see, a division has grown and solidified between the d-beat/crust audience and the full-on grindcore one. It's the case even in Paris, a town that has never been famous for either genres (that's an understatement, we're infested by oi music) that don't draw many people anyway unless you bring a bigger name. But MS are something of an exception in the sense that they are a solid DIY punk band, first and foremost, playing music that not only appeals to more but also, as an openly political band, avoids the tastelessness and stupidity that too many grindcore bands intentionally embrace. They are basically a good band with a delicately hairy font.

I first heard about them when a good friend of mine ages ago, far more into grindcore than I ever will be, mentioned that Stormcrow would appear on a split Lp with Massgrave to be released soon on Agipunk. Not being aware of the existence of said band, I proceeded to ask about their identity. He described them as "kinda like Disrupt or State of Fear but more manic and with more blast beats, even " and he was quite right. He then added that "even someone with shit tastes like you should enjoy it" which somehow negatively impacted the discovery. Oh well. By 2006 MG had already released two albums, a split cd with Neckbeerd (that involved a member of MG) and a strong full album entitled ...People are the Problem, and four Ep's, three of them being, in true DIY grindcore fashion split records with Warfair?, Pretty Little Flowers and Poser Disposer (I like the name of that one and the spoof Anti Cimex cover). The three songs on the present split are vintage 00's Massgrave, absolutely furious and relentless grinding cavemen crustcore with dual tradeoff vocals reminiscent of late Disrupt, 3-Way Cum or Deformed Conscience. The band sounds absolutely unstoppable and ferocious here, the production is amazing, powerful in that it relies on the energy and aggression of the songwriting to create that vibe of brutal and angry hardcore punk savagery and still provide significant changes of pace. They were at the top of their early game and this is one of my favourite recordings from the band. Short and sweet to be sure and with a limited amount of blast beats which suits me well. What a slap in the face. 

The vocalists are perfectly complementary and manage to recreate an argument between angry cavemen about who did not watch the fire properly. The riffs are top notch too and show that Sweden was certainly a country that the guitar player looked up to while the very sound and tone of the guitar is quite specific and makes the band easy to recognize. Back when the band started the traditional dual vocals crustcore style was slowly vanishing and it would soon go out of fashion after the mid-00's (Visions of War standing as the immortal heroes of the (sub)subgenre). I would venture that the fact that MG was significantly connected with the grindcore scene (most of their collaborations were with grind bands) that value brutality somehow made it easier for them to develop their specific grinding crust attack and build momentum. I had the opportunity to see them twice (I put on the second gig myself) and I had a blast. 

This record was released on Unrest Records when the label was still in its infancy. Little by little it would become a well-respected label responsible for records from the likes of Disrupt (well, that one made sense), The Accüsed, Driller Killer and even Morus. The main flaw of this Ep is the cover, a little confusing visually and without any reference to the bands included, unless you know the record beforehand, it's not one you would necessarily want to check on the distro table. Let's call this a punk tradition.

Global Grave    

How Crust Survived the Millennium Bug (part 8): Nuclear Death Terror "S/t" Lp, 2006

To an outsider, a non-member of the coterie, crust - as a genre - can look quite cryptic. Think about it for a second. Crust has always been a very confidential affair and you could very well argue that its believers even thrive on this sense of secrecy, on the conviction that crust's cultic nature set them apart, make them special and grant them the superpower to withstand the whole Zyanose discography in one sitting (the exact number of casualties after such a spectacular and testing, even if willful, torment remains sadly unknown). That crust appears to be an enigma is logical. After all, no crust band has ever achieved proper mainstream success, even if Extreme Noise Terror and Doom (the highly successful Napalm Death moved too quickly from crust to really qualify) can be said to be well-respected acts in the extreme metal community, although one should probably point out that their respective careers leading them to such honorable recognition have been quite different indeed. And let's face it, the metal world is the only place where ambitious crust bands can even hope to approach, not to mention attain, some semblance of respectability, not to mention commercial success, probably thanks to similarities and connections with the above-named Napalm Death and Bolt Thrower rather than a genuine appreciative knowledge of the genre. But then, does any current crust band even want to achieve what the doxa sanctions as success, even in the only relatively important extreme metal sandpit? Flogging the 500 copies of their latest record to the patched flock must already be enough, innit?

Like any punk subgenre (or punk subsubgenre), in order to properly understand and interpret a crust artifact (like any split Ep from 1995, a pair of crust pants or a rusty Amebix badge), one has to be familiar with the rules and conventions governing the music, with the ideas displayed and even the shower-free lifestyle. Like many artistic entities, crust and its subcategories have their own fantasies of themselves and always engage in self-representation. Crust basically "does crust" in an act of referentiality and performativity. Of course, the split Lp between Zygome and Kaltbruching Acideath can be enjoyed on a sensory level by anyone (well, maybe not anyone, some predispositions toward the appreciation of gratuitous sonic brutality and human imitations of wild boars fighting are generally required). However, important elements such as the band's intent, their context of production, their position in the grand crust narrative, the meaningful abundance - or, on the contrary, the purposeful scarcity - of referential visual and sonic clues will be lost. To decipher and unravel the inner workings and contextual dimension of a crust curio can be a captivating task casting light and knowledge on a specific human experience. But it can also sound like a tedious ordeal and unnecessary convolutedness. As your average punter might say, as long as it gets the feet tapping, why bother with futile verbiage.

I suppose you know where I stand on the issue and today's piece must be read with crust's self-reflectivity in mind, and possibly a few cans of cider, as Nuclear Death Terror's self-titled album is a prime example of such a process, beside standing as one of the best crust Lp's that the noughties had to offer. The puzzling nature of the very name of the band has oft been verified and it might cause some deep concern among your eldest relatives if you happen to wear a NDT shirt at a funeral, even if black. And, well, if you read it literally it obviously means the extreme fear of a nuclear-related death like being reduced to ashes by the bomb blast, being burnt alive, vomiting to death because of radiation sickness in the aftermath and other Discharge lyrics. Why, why, why indeed. However, if you are already even remotely familiar with the codes of crust, you will instantly know that the three terms making up the moniker can be described as genuine clichés, but not only that, you will also make the assumption that the members were well aware of the trite derivativeness of the association and that, precisely, in act of conscious self-awareness, choosing such a name is a knowing and knowledgeable wink to the initiated, a purposefully cheesy and loaded name meant to indicate that the band understood the codes of the genre and decided to play with them in a tongue-in-cheek fashion. It is like a pact between listener and listenee. We know how crust is redundant, you know we know and we know you know we know. NDT implied a certain knowledge on the audience's part in order to be understood on a diachronic level, not unlike "just like" d-beat bands perhaps. Of course, NDT were also a very good band with a serious political message and commitment to DIY ethics that could be enjoyed, influence and inspire one on a synchronic level without one having ever heard of Extreme Noise Terror, Mortal Terror, Societic Death Slaughter, Final Warning, Final Massakre and crust's obsession with war - often of the imaginary nuclear variety - and eternal synonymy. 

I first heard of NDT through two punks from K-town - meaning both Copenhagen and the yearly DIY punk festival that took place there and still does - who were traveling through Europe and had brought demo tapes of the band with them (a useful talisman to protect oneself against both dodgy wankers and hygiene). The tale behind NDT's conception was just as good as the band itself, if not better. Apparently, the members had written all the crust-compatible clichéd substantives and qualifiers they could think of on distinct pieces of paper and they then drew three of them at random and the winners eventually were "nuclear", "death" and "terror". I suppose they could just as well have ended up calling themselves Final Doom Massacre, Slaughter Grave of Mankind or Napalm Hell Fear (Extreme Napalm Terror was already taken), but Nuclear Death Terror can be rightly considered as a very fine and lucky pick. I am not sure that the story is true but its veracity does not really matter. First, it makes for a great story to tell and second, and more interestingly, it illustrates crust's traditional self-reflexivity, the conscious decision to "play crust", to "do the crust", to "perform crust" and to establish this pact based on a shared subcultural context with the audience that partly implies some sort of suspension of disbelief. But isn't such a pact part and parcel of a relation with any artistic creation? All this blathering notwithstanding, the phrase "nuclear death terror" sounds too good to be true, fraudulent and I think they cheated and the game was rigged. 

In any case, following the band's enthralling origin story and the very high praises of the crust-loving Danes, I ended up with a copy of NDT's 2005 demo tape. I hadn't played the fucker for a long time (almost forgot I even owned it to be fair) before this post and had forgotten how deliciously raw and angry it sounded and how extreme and gruff the vocals were (although they are sometimes quite difficult to distinguish, which is my only real reservation about this recording). If you need a relevant description, let's say it sounds like raw metallic cavemen scandicrust with dual vocals (State of Fear and 3-Way Cum battling with Hellshock in a squat to keep it brief). The recording really has the direct feel of a demo tape to it which feels a little dumb and tautological to point out (this demo really sounds like a demo) but the quality of recording and production has so dramatically improved during the past decade, even for demos, that to formulate such an impression is not so irrelevant today. NDT's first effort is a demo-sounding demo tape in the best way possible. It was released in June, 2005, on local label Plague Bearer (that also put out the excellent first Skitkids' recording on vinyl, Martyrdöd's debut and the magnificent album of Uro, Requiem) who made 600 copies of the tape, a large number indeed by today's standards for a demo. 

The album that followed was a massive improvement sound-wise and can be rightly considered as an 00's crust classics. If the demo's rawness can be thought to link somewhat the first recording to the 90's crust wave (and to some wild animals fighting in a crate), its successor was firmly rooted in the 00's. Recorded in nearby Malmö by Rodrigo (from Putrid Filth Conspiracy) at The Bombshelter studio, it was again released on Plague Bearer and, without losing its menacing sense of aggression and its spitting directness, the album offered a more intense, not to mention tighter, lesson in emphatic, insistent crustcore with a dark metallic vibe. This said, it should be pointed out that NDT did not sound like a metal band on this Lp for the sound and the production were definitely on the punk side of crust. Some songs certainly contained their fair share of proudly epic mid-paced metallic moments and there are enough shredding guitar leads borrowing lovingly to the metal tradition not to be mistaken on the goods delivered here, but the dominant gene of the album is savage crustcore for the punx. This skull-laden work delivers tastefully pounding crustcore with hoarse dual vocals that sounds just as angry, tornadic  and brutally relentless as scandicrust masters 3-Way Cum and State of Fear (there is a fair amount of Swedish riffing in NDT) but with a heavier stenchcore influence reminiscent of Hellshock's first opus that clearly roots the band in the mid-noughties old-school crust revival. As a bonus to the crust as fuck bollocking, there is a hidden song on the vinyl with an ace cover of "just like Discharge" d-beat pioneers Disaster's "Inferno" that, considering that, considering that the Lp was recorded in early 2006 before War Cry's cd reissue, indicacte that NDT knew their shit indeed. 

The visual aesthetics of Copenhagen's crust heroes strongly reinforce the referential web already woven through the moniker and their Disrupt-meets-Sacrilege-in-a-haunted-Swedish-forest music. Like Hellshock and Stormcrow, NDT assigned Mid, original crust artist extraordinaire, to "draw crust" or rather to include as many elements of the templates of crust imagery as possible in one single drawing. Rows of cracked skulls, dead babies, ruins of an alienating metropolis, deathly fumes, massgrave, gas mask wearing survivors carrying corpses, desolate-looking frame, almost all the boxes are ticked and act like a massive sign saying "crust ahead" (you might want to hang the poster on your wall to precisely achieve such effect). The crust for crust's sake stance is further reasserted on the backcover with a drawing done by Stiv of War that covers the few boxes that were not checked yet: a peace sign made of scythes, a zombified punk and a torn war banner. For some reason, the album appears to be devoid of any nuclear explosion but then I suppose there just was not enough room.  Rather unsurprisingly given the metallic progression of the band, NDT's following ep, Ceaseless Desolation, recorded and released in 2008 on Plague Bearer again, was an even heavier and tighter effort emphasizing the band's mutation into a more openly Frost-metal crust act. Objectively a better record than the Lp, I still think that it wasn't as fun and "crust and proud" as the album, which is the reason why I selected the latter. Afterwards, I remember there were rumours of a four-way split Lp between NDT, Guided Cradle, Instinct of Survival and Visions of War (bound to become an absolute classic) but it never came to fruition. The three songs NDT recorded for this project belonged to the same session as the precedent Ep and were subsequently released as a new Ep in 2009, called Total Annihilation. Guitar player, singer and lyricist Cormy, originally from Dublin, relocated in Melbourne and formed a new version of NDT with a lineup made up of members of Schifosi, Pisschrist or ABC Weapons. They recorded the Chaos Reigns cd for Southern Lord in 2012 but, to be honest, it did not particularly grab my attention. Cormy later on played in the very convincing noizy hardcore machines Krömosom and Geld.

Enjoy this slice of CRUST.

 

Nuclear Crust Terror 

How Crust Survived the Millennium Bug (part 7): Guided Cradle / Instinct of Survival "S/t" split Ep, 2006

When it comes to Terminal Sound Nuisance, I always look for inspiration, wisdom and enlightenment in order to offer the deepest insight to the millions of readers spread over the world (according to the estimates of my rather competent Public Relations manager). While the mundanity of everyday life can be efficiently dealt with without involving too much of the - by nature limited - attention span and brain availability, writing for the blog requires the greatest intellectual commitment and the non-negotiable and total involvement of my resourceful knowledge. To achieve such a secondary state of utmost intellectual presence, Revelation must be attained through intense sessions of fasting and meditation (I recommend waterfall as meditation spots as they look great on Instagram and can highlight your abs) and then, and only then, is my mind ready to focus on punk music and the forced conversion of the unsuspecting masses. If you want to know more about my refined and beauty-enhancing meditation techniques, look out for my new book Essential Chakra Meditation: Awaking your Crust Power with Meditation, Visualization and Cider. 

One of the numerous visions that I experienced after two days straight of standing motionless under that waterfall and freezing my arse off in the process is that, once upon a time, I often waited ardently for records to come out and my expectant chatter could be heard at punk venues and even, according to flatmates, in my sleep. Excitement barely contained, eyes sparkling with anticipation, watching our for the record's release with bated breath. If this incomparable feeling of suspension has not completely disappeared when it comes to my record buying habits, the years combined with our new gargantuan and yet blasé consumption of cultural goods online, their seemingly unstoppable commodification as well as the constant flow of new bands and new trends somehow tempered my once insatiable enthusiasm and eagerness for new punk records. Perhaps it has to do with growing older and with the steady accumulation of records that the loyal support for the bands, for the labels and for materialism necessarily entails. With the improvement of one's knowledge, the probability to be genuinely, not to mention pleasantly, surprised decreases. I sharply remember with a tinge of nostalgia the seemingly endless wait for the split between Hellshock and Effigy to come out, or the one between Stormcrow and Sanctum, or the After the Bombs Lp, and that's just sticking to the old-school crust sandpit (admittedly my genre of affinity). That's not to say that my proverbial ebullience dried up after the mid-00's as my expectations for more recent records like the split between Fatum and Cancer Spreading, the one between Extinction of Mankind and Apocalypse or the one between Zygome and Kaltbruching Acideath were quite high indeed. However, the stenchcore revival of the noughties undoubtedly marked the peak of my anticipative years and the split Ep between Guided Cradle and Instinct of Survival was one record that I waited for feverishly.

I already wrote about my intense relationship with Instinct of Survival - one of the few current crust bands that has proved to be able, time and time again, to surprise me - so for the sake of literary brevity I shall not tell the story of my first encounter with the band again but if you are interested in this classic moving tale of initiatory journey, I encourage you to read the review of Lapsed into Absurdity, their one-sided flexi from 2013. I obtained this very fine split Ep at a Guided Cradle gig in Paris in 2006 during their European tour. I first heard about GD, that band from Czech with two American punks in it, from a mate of mine who had already seen them live and, although he was not especially a sucker for this style of hardcore punk, was very complimentary about the band's performance which he described as "stadium crust". Now, that is a tag that makes one wonder, doesn't it? While a quick survey revealed that GD did not actually play crust music, I could understand where the "stadium" qualifier came from after ordering the first 2005 Lp and why it sorta made sense. GC were epic. And I don't mean epic like a neocrust band, far from it, they were epic like an over-the-top metal-punk band, one potentially able to entrance the audience and have them collectively fist-pump and cheer as one to their brand of bulldozing Swedish-inspired metallic hardcore punk. I witnessed GC for a second time at the Play Fast or Don't festival (in 2009 I think) playing to a large crowd and, if it could not be realistically called a stadium-sized audience (unless we're talking about of a mid-table November game at the Salford City stadium), the band definitely packed a severe punch and worked particularly well on a big stage supported by a massive sound which brought their crushing power to the fore. A live hardcore tornado that unfortunately had not materialized at their Paris gig.

It was bad luck really. GC were playing a squat on the outskirts of Paris (in fact it was a squatted inn), an infamous venue that hosted many gigs for a couple of years (Leadershit, Makiladoras or I Object played there) and was renowned for being inhabited by more dogs than people which could make for strange atmospheres when bewildered touring bands sometimes literally played at 2am to ten scruffy dogs barking and chasing one another and three dog owners too pissed to stand properly. On occasions though, when the place was packed, the atmosphere was crazy and electric and anything could happen. Great memories. Sadly, a massive party at a nearby squat was taking place on the very same days as GD's gig so that it was poorly attended and, well, a bit depressing. I was of course among the few excited people present in the room and the band played well enough, with the intensity you were entitled to expect after regularly blasting their debut album, until some annoying lad who was as high as a kite started to jump on one of the guitar player's pedal board (not once but twice) which brought the gig to a quick stop. Understandably, GC looked miserable enough after what must have been a major low on their tour. This sorry state of affair did not keep me from asking the band if they had the split with Instinct of Survival to sell, which they had, and I left the venue in a merry, light-hearted mood with a precious crust artifact whose coming I had anxiously awaited for what seemed like centuries but must have been less than a year.

Let's start with GC's side. The band started in 2003 in Czech as a cover band called Anti-Climax that is more than likely to have performed a couple of Anti-Cimex covers. Before GD, guitar player and intense frontman Ethan played in the crustcore band Dread 101 (that had ex-Lies & Distrust members if you wanna know) and one may presume that Anti-Climax must have been a tight hardcore unit that enjoyed some local success since they proceeded to write their own songs and become a proper band with a proper name, one that doesn't just cover Anti-Cimex but tries to creatively imitate them as well. As alluded to above, I first came across GD through their first Lp which left me in awe. The brute force released by this album was an assault to the senses and my appreciation for it has never faded as I still mentally rock hard whenever I play the geezer (for some reason, experience revealed that I really enjoy indulging in early GD on sunday mornings). With its masterful cover of "Wheel of life", the eponymous album also urged me to get hold of a copy of Anti-Cimex' Absolute Country of Sweden which frustratingly only materialized a few years later as I had to content myself with mp3's until the acquisition. The perspective of a collaboration between GD/IOS not only sounded promising but also made sense since both bands certainly packed a hefty punch in the metal punk department but nevertheless sounded very different in terms if intent and influences. 

 

The two GD songs on this split Ep were recorded in October, 2005, and, in spite of a thinner production than on the album, the general gist hasn't changed in the least. The listener therefore has to prepare for a heavy metallic käng attack with extremely aggressive and direct vocals and overblown guitar leads. Because of the rawer production, their side of the Ep is not as much of a bollocking as their previous work, but these two songs (one of them in Czech) still make for serious contenders in the Cimex-hardcore game. 90's era Anti-Cimex, Driller Killer and Wolfpack are obvious points of comparison and GD could definitely hold the fort with its harsh and pissed vocals, the triumphant metallic leads and the very upfront and hard-hitting drums that never fail to convey a sense of being pounded by an orc (which, in the case of GD, was completely intentional but we'll get back to the issue later). GD released a second Lp in 2007, You will not Survive, that I did not like as much in terms of songwriting as it used probably too much metal cheesiness for my liking though it sounded absolutely massive. After the split of the band, Ethan joined Mörkhimmel and then Dog Soldiers and finally Hellshock upon his return to the U$A while Austin moved to Bloomington and now plays country music (?).   

On the other side the resplendent IOS offered their first two stenchcore songs on vinyl which, in retrospect and keeping in mind what they have achieved since 2006, is a bit of a historical event in the grand narrative of crust. As my wikipedia page and my previous post about the Hamburg crust elite indicate, the first contact with IOS was akin to an epiphany. Some people get to see the face of Jesus on a dog's arsehole, I get to be possessed by the new wave of crust at a festival somewhere in Germany. To each their own. I still have vivid memories of that IOS gig at the 2005 Yellow Dog festival but I am not sure how real they actually are and how much of an idealization of an initiatory arc of my quest for crust they might possibly stand for. Somewhere in the middle I suppose. In any case, my first live experience of IOS corresponds to a large extent to the two songs they committed to vinyl for this split Ep. You do not really need me to recount the tale of the band but since we are all gathered around the bonfire tonight I might as well have a go. 

The band started out as Sperrzone in 1995 and played primitive and fast deutschpunk with studs, spikes and quite certainly acne. They then morphed into Instinct of Survival in 1998, the nod to Napalm Death a sufficient clue to know in what direction they were now heading: raw old-school grindcore. Most of the band's newer audience seem to ignore - intentionally or not - the pre-stenchcore period of the band which is, I believe, an error of judgement. Although personally partial to Warsore or Rot, I cannot be said to be much of a grindcore fan, however even a casual listening to their split Lp with Wojczech, recorded in late 01 and early 02, reveals that IOS had been toying with heavy old-school metallic music with gruff vocals before the mid-00's. The heavy and crunchy guitar sound enhanced with those typical slimy bends, the texture of the nasty hoarse-versus-screeching dual vocals and the overall filthy vibe are not dissimilar to the band's take on vintage Peaceville-styled crust that emerged in the mid-00's. And if you are so inclined as to look at the band's evolution from a meta crust prism, you could very well argue that, if the version of "Instinct of survival" on Scum belongs to the glorious early years of grindcore, the first version of the song on Hatred Surge had all the characteristics of the early UK crust sound of Deviated Instinct, Hellbastard and the likes. So even if IOS took it the other way around, it still makes sense. The band took the first step toward orthodox crustness around 2004 as a tape bucolically titled In Conspiracy with Crust, the Stenchcore Sessions seems to indicate. It might have been originally a rehearsal tape meant to capture the new unequivocal direction of stenchcore revivalism and it includes early versions of songs that would eventually end up on IOS records later on. 

But back to this Ep. The production is, again, a bit thin and raw but, given IOS' style, I would say that it doesn't affect their songs as much as GD's and you could even claim that it gives them an even more organic old-school vibe (if you ask me, I wouldn't change a thing). I have listened to those songs so much that it is a little difficult to provide a critical perspective on them, but then if you are clueless about the band's music then your blithe inattention is really your fault and yours only. "Axis of stupidity" is a classic mid-paced number that starts with a dark and heavy Deviated-Instinct-in-'87 introduction and then bursts into a brilliant Napalm-Deathed riff that is guaranteed to have you headbang sensually and you also get a slower early-Axegrinding moment as a break and treat. "Human" is a faster one, it opens with a kind of primitive early-Bolt-Thrower-on-speed beat before unleashing ace Sacrilege-worshiping metal riffs highlighted by a groovy mid-tempo. The vocals are top notch, Kalle goes for the bear-like disgruntled low-pitched shouts while Padde opts for high-pitched and insane-sounding screeches and I love how the two work together. Absolute classic record of 00's stenchcore that made the listener - by which I mean me 15 years ago - crave for more. And, thanks fuck, more quality old-school crust records would come out of the IOS bag in the 00's, two Ep's with the wonderful Winter in my Mind at the end of the same year and Screams of Suffering in 2009 and an outstanding Lp in 2008, North of Nowhere, probably their most famous records. Without a doubt, IOS were at that time the strongest and most consistent European answer to US bands like Hellshock and Stormcrow, they influenced many bands to take up arms and do the crust and they are still a reliable and relevant crust force at the time of writing so that they more than deserve the "classic band" tag.

The cover alone could be the object of a whole essay. It was drawn by Steve from Visions of War who can be described as both a talented artist in his own right and a talented crust artist. Not unlike Mid's art before, Steve's progressively went on to define new visual aesthetics for crust so that his drawings - or fartworks as he calls them - became closely associated with the crust/stenchcore genre in the 00's and 10's. If you are even only remotely interested in crust punk, you must have seen one of his pieces. In the case of this split Ep, Steve used a theme for the cover that was quite common in the 00's, namely orcs and skeletons in armours. I suppose the success of the Lord of the Rings movies is no stranger to recurring representations of savage axe-wielding warring orcs and heads on pikes in the crust universe (GD's first song even starts with a sample from a Lord of the Rings movie) and we have here a fine example of this trend that has not quite died out. As I said, it has also become a legitimate part of the genre's visual canon. The Ep was released on Yellow Dog Records, a now defunct Berlin-based label with a long discography that discogs will lead you through.                               

Cradle of Survival

Sonatas in D Major (part 12): Ruin "Distort/Confuse" Ep, 2006

We are finally reaching the last stage of Sonatas in D Major. Thank you for riding with us! We hope to see you soon on the Terminal Sound Nuisance coaches (we welcome men, women and children of course). We would also like to congratulate you for making it this far into yet uncharted punk territories, covered with blind alleys, dark and gloomy corners where feral d-beat bands can roam freely after the gig, looking for the odd dog end and, sometimes, even food. I will try to improve our pertinacious readers' experience in order to attract a younger audience for the next dis-themed series by using new technology. Assuming people got the proper 3d glasses for it, "3d-beat raw punk" doesn't sound too bad, does it?

But before thinking about the futuuuuuuure, let's wrap the present series in majestic fashion with one last Ep. If the last part - with Final Blood Bath - dealt with an Ep recorded in 2002, I chose to skip a couple of years for this one, which was released in 2006. There is no particular reason for it, only that Ruin stand for a school of Discharge-influenced hardcore punk music that I had not tackled yet and felt needed to be included given the postulates of Sonatas in D Major, a series meant to cast some meaningful light upon the pre-internet d-beat phenomenon that swept through the 1990's and consolidated and legitimised the artistic practice of emulating Discharge (and later on, the practice of emulating the emulators of Discharge). Although I have to humbly admit that I am not quite the all-knowing cultural figure I wish to be, I still don't think that punks' mania for Discharge, best embodied in the d-beat style, has any equivalent in other subculture. And while I honestly don't know if such a particularism is a good thing or not, I still feel weirdly pleased and proud about this achievement, assuming it is one at all.

For this last part, we are back to where it all started: Britain. And we are north of the North since Ruin were from Scotland. I cannot recommend enough reading the issue of great fanzine Our Future that deals with Discharge-inspired hardcore punk bands from Scotland as it has an interview with Ruin among other bands like Social Insecurity (whose Ep was previously reviewed on Terminal Sound Nuisance), Oi Polloi and the mighty AOA. If you have never heard of Ruin, you definitely know about other bands the members used to be part of (unless you just stumbled upon the blog while looking for actual sonatas, in which case I wish to apologize but still encourage you to keep reading). In fact, Ruin was far from being the first collaboration between the guitar and bass players, Brian and Andy, since they played together in classic bands Disaffect and Scatha and in the cruelly underrated Debris along with Ruin's singer Neil. As for the drummer, it was none other than Stick, from Doom and many others, a man who, if you add up all the hours he spent beating the D on the drums, is estimated to have spent a whole year of his life (368 days in fact) behind his kit playing variations of the exact same beat. A genuine punk hero. 

With such an experienced lineup, Ruin were unsurprisingly quick in releasing their first Lp in 2005, entitled Ghost of the Past and released on Agipunk for the vinyl version and MCR Company for the cd. It was a very solid album with some genuinely cracking numbers and a heavy, crushing production that went straight for the throat. Truth be told, Ruin were not a "just like" d-beat band in the same way as Disaster or Meanwhile. The Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing influence is certainly strong and foundational but the band added other dischargic flavours to their recipe, most notably 90's crusty UK dis-core and mid-80's Swedish hardcore. Ghost of the Past certainly set the standards pretty high and everything in that album, from the songwriting, to the musicianship, the lyrics and the visuals, screamt that they definitely knew their craft and were clear about their creative intent, as the inclusion of two tasteful covers (of Disclose and Ultraviolent) confirmed. A split Ep with Pause, from Finland, saw the light of day on Fight Records the same year, with a top Mau Maus cover this time, and another Ep, Distort/Confuse, was released in 2006 on Putrid Filth Conspiracy, a Swedish label based in Malmö and run by Rodrigo (from Intensity, Kontrovers and Satanic Surfers) that was prolific from the late 90's to the late 00's. 

Distort/Confuse is an excellent record of angry, politically-charged, heavy Discharge-influenced hardcore punk. It is a more focused effort than the album in terms of songwriting and probably one of the most intense UK hardcore Ep's of the decade. I am aware that qualifiers such as "intense" or "relentless" often tend to be misused in reviews but I cannot really think of more relevant attributes in this case. Ruin created eight minutes of furious and desperate hardcore that leaves the listener somewhat dizzy. The sonic equivalent of being trampled by an angry hippo (but they are generally angry, aren't they?). I had not played this record for a while before the series and I was surprised at how mean and powerful it sounded. As I said, Ruin did not really play straight-forward d-beat hardcore and opted for a variety of scando-influenced paces that went from fast and pummeling to superfast and pummeling, a bit like how Discard sped up the original Discharge rhythm, if you know what I mean. Mean-sounding bands like Totalitär, Asocial or No Security plainly come to mind, to which you could add the gruff heaviness of local beasts like Excrement of War, Hellkrusher and of course mid/late 90's Doom. The massive riffs sound quite classic but the band always add a twist to the songwriting or use a different guitar texture on a lead or a slight change of pace to keep things unpredictable while staying in the strict perimeters of dis-oriented hardcore punk. It requires a trained ear for the D and Ruin plainly had it. The number "Hate to be alive" is a fantastic reworking of the canonical mid-tempo Discharge song and exemplifies how it can be done with taste. 

The production is perfect for what the band wanted to achieve, crunchy, aggressive and heavy, the balance between the instruments is solid and Neil is an amazing vocalist, with a low, deep and expressive voice that manages to convey the primal anger and rage adequate to the style and still add on some warmth and genuine human emotion in the tone and accentuation. The singing style combined with the particular vocal tone set aside Ruin for me and I think this voice is the ideal vessel for lyrics that are all accurately political and belong to a specific context (the mid-00's war on terror, the rise of austerity politics, eugenics, rape culture) instead of playing with the usual Discharge mythology. If the lyrics rely on the classic syntax and metrics of Discharge-inspired haikus, they are complemented by explanatory texts developing the political message and Swedish translations (for the label's compatriots). There is also a long essay about the sociopolitical climate of mid-00's Britain and especially the Terror Bill which completely criminalized the ALF and other groups promoting direct actions and set the stage for even more state control (and state violence of course). Interesting read highlighting how relevant Ruin were trying to be.

The next and last Ruin record was a 2007 split Lp with TRIBE, an ace metallic tribal crust act with Angus and Brian from Scatha and members of Fastard, and it was another scorcher building on a similar basis of Sweden-meets-the-North in a Discharge-themed pub, this time with a stronger anarcho vibe (and a Raw Power cover!). Quality stuff. 

    

Distort/Confuse          

      

The Chronicles of Dis (part 5): Disaster "War cry" cd, 2006

I could probably just write "Disaster are the best Discharge-impersonators ever" and be done with it, enjoy my new dole-scrounging life by taking a walk outside or even having coffee in some fancy bar while pretending to read the French existentialists to look smart. However, precisely because I believe deeply that Disaster ARE the best Discharge-impersonators, I just cannot leave it at that. Besides, I have a Disaster story to share.

I was going to write that I first became aware of Disaster in 2004, in Leeds, but that would be a half-truth. At that time I already owned the "Discharged" album and therefore had heard Disaster's cover of "Mania for conquest". But since there is absolutely no information (or booklet for that matter), I had no idea who Disaster were in the first place. For all I knew, they could have been Japanese or Swedish or some kind of one-off side-project band. And the number of bands choosing "Disaster" as a moniker certainly did not help either. So, I situate my first real Disaster experience during a night of March, 2004, at the home of Steve from Attitude Problem. It was after a Seein Red gig and a few punks were gathered at his place, enjoying cans of cider and beer and listening to good music while having a laugh (perfectly normal things to do after a friday night gig). I remember the second Kontrovers Lp was played (it had just come out) and then Steve decided to pick a record. I asked him what he intended to play (he had/has a massive record collection and very similar tastes to mine so I was definitely interested) and he replied (this is from memory):
"The Disaster Lp"
"I don't think I have heard of them..."
"They are great, they sound like Discharge".
"Sweet! A D-Beat band then?"
"Yeah... well not exactly," and then he added half-jokingly, but still very serious. "I mean they really sound JUST like Discharge".

And that was that. I was flabbergasted. He played "War cry" and people gently took the piss because Disaster really sounded JUST like Discharge, but it was a thoroughly enjoyable moment and I instinctively knew that the band were - ironically perhaps - something special (I had never heard a band that sounded as much like Discharge as them, they DID sound JUST like Discharge) and I instantly made a mental note about them. For the record, the next morning I listened to Civilised Society? (an older mental note) for the first time while eating a great vegan breakfast. A lovely, exciting weekend indeed.

That was the Leeds gig!

But let's stop the cheesy reminiscing already (my future grandiose autobiography will cover all these facts in details). The cd reissue of "War cry" was released in 2006 on In Crust We Thrash Records, a short-lived Japanese label that had reissued Anihilated's "Path to destruction" prior to Disaster. Of course, "War cry" was also reissued on vinyl a few years ago by La Vida Es Un Mus (the booklet is great, with interviews and plenty of old flyers) and since we all prefer vinyls to cd's (which most have grown to loath), I suppose that, on the surface, this cd is unlikely to arouse much interest. However, there is something on this cd that the vinyl doesn't have (and I am not even referring to the 1991 live recording): witty liner notes from Kawakami. That makes it worthwhile, believe me (well, it didn't keep me from buying the vinyl version too to be perfectly honest). But more on that later.

Disaster formed in Halifax in 1989 with a very special purpose. In the introductory text of the cd, Russ (the singer) gives some crucial context to Disaster: "In the UK Doom were doing something similar, but whereas Doom were basing their sound on the Scandinavian Discharge copies we were gonna sound just like Discharge". Just like Discharge: the intent that made Disaster so great. In 2016, this may not sound like that big a deal, but at the time, I am pretty sure that they were one of the first punk bands (if not the first) to claim that they were going to sound "just like" another band. Even Discard, who openly copied Discharge's aesthetics, were not actual Discharge copyists but rather designed the blueprint for the Swedish worship of Discharge, they were the Swedish hardcore take on Discharge, while Disaster literarily aimed at being Discharge and that is a big difference. It may sound a bit childish or immature for those of you who value originality above everything else, but I just love the utter lack of pretension, the self-awareness and the deep Discharge-love such a stance displays. That is a real romantic move if you ask me. And besides, it must have been great fun to do.

Of course, Disaster were not the only Discharge-loving band in their area. The band belonged to that amazing Northern punk scene from the late 80's/early 90's that had so many top bands like Hellkrusher, One By One, Embittered, Anemia, Armed Relapse, Senile Decay, Warfear (apparently Rich Militia actually taught the Disaster's drummer "how to play the D-Beat properly but he could be writing his own legend here) or Excrement of War. A band like Hellkrusher wrote very good Discharge-inspired songs but they were never "just like". That is what set Disaster apart from the other bands: they were an amazing tribute band and it is little surprise that, in a world which glorifies accurate copies and open referentiality, they get so much recognition today. What most seem to forget however is how original Disaster paradoxically were at the time, not musically of course, but conceptually. They took Discharge-love to its natural conclusion and thus can be said to be the genuine originators of D-Beat (the term was coined later on but you get the gist).

But what made Disaster so good at copying Discharge? I have already pointed out that Discharge sound deceptively simple, not because their music is necessarily complex, but because simplicity is difficult. Just try to draw a perfect circle and you'll know what I mean. What did Disaster have over Dischange (arguably the only possible contenders at the time although I would think that they were certainly inspired by Disaster's artistic stance)?

In order to understand, one has to think about what are the defining factors that make Discharge so great in the first place. The sound on "War cry" is absolutely fantastic and Bri Doom found the perfect balance between the instruments. It is not only that it has the same raw power as "Why?" but that it feels as spontaneously furious. "War cry" sounds like the band just came in the studio and basically unleashed a discharge (pun intended) of punk anger. It is undeniably powerful and heavy but not contrived, and amazingly it never feels forceful, despite the obvious restraints of the project. It sounds round, whole, cohesive, bass-driven but still with an emphasis on the guitar's impact, and not angular like Dischange often do. And you have the shouted raucous vocals, slightly out of synch like Cal's, which are not easy to replicate at all (the rather flawed singing on "Salvation" proves it). They sound pissed but are never yelled or gruff (something that later D-Beat bands often did), and this distinct British accent certainly helped as well. Basically, Disaster sounded like they were not even trying to sound just like Discharge, but just did. And that is exactly why they are so good in my opinion. Contrary to later bands who worked on the Discharge formula, Disaster felt they working directly on Discharge, not trying to improve on what they did but to recreate the magics.

In the liner notes, Kawakami situates Disaster's greatness in the "balance of noisy guitar and heavy D-Beat (not so speedy like early Discharge) drum". And he has got a point (he also calls it "slow speed drumming"!) as you could say that "War cry" is a significant balance between "Why?"'s raw and noisy aggression and "Hear nothing"'s relentless pace. Needless to say that Kawakami was a great fan of Disaster and that, along with Discard, they were a huge influence on Disclose at the beginning, even prompting them to pick a Dis-name. So let's all trust the geezer, right?

Kawakami's Disdom

The cd contains the "War cry" 12'', the compilation tracks, an unreleased Discharge cover from the "War cry" session and a good live set, recorded on August, 14th, 1991 in Newcastle.

That gig it was

Disasta

Plasmid "S/t" Ep, 2006

Bitterpunk: "this is raw punk before it was fashionable".

Enthusiast47: "total noisy bollocks aaaarrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!".

Streetpunk77: "this is shit. You can't hear a thing and the singer sounds like a hungover Donald Duck".

Holiernerd: "I don't buy reissues. I own the original tape".

HxCforlife: "I can't believe the Heresy guys were into that crap before. Where are their bandanas?".

Drunkcrustkid: "I think I know that riff from somewhere...lol".

Tradskin69: "Music for crusties with dogs and a bad hygiene. Real HC is from NYC".

IndieTodd: "I'm appalled".

Mummylovesyou: "What has my son done with his life? Why is he doing this to me? sob sob".

As you can see, Plasmid's 1984 demo can have very different effects on the listener depending on his or her tastes, tolerance for the "noise not music" ethos and overall conception of life. Whether you like it or not, this (very) rough recording is undeniably a piece of UK punk history as Plasmid were the earliest incarnation of Heresy, one the most crucial British hardcore bands of the second part of the 80's alongside Ripcord and The Stupids (but I have to say that the early Heresy recordings completely take the cake for me). To put it bluntly, Plasmid existed when the blokes looked like that:

Fashion review: "great Discharge-meets-Antisect at a UK82 jubilee. Nottingham 83".

Later on, as you all know, Heresy would look like this:

Fashion review: "accurate Boston-invades-Britain look with the presence of baseball hats and trainers. The crusty on the right does look a little distressed."

These superficial considerations apart, this demo can be considered as one of the earliest examples of genuine British hardcore. Recorded in 1983 in terrible conditions (it was recorded through only one microphone), it is revealed in the Third Book of Saint Ian Glasper that, initially, the band was against the idea of tuning up their instruments. Youthful naivety or tribute to Skum Dribblurzzz, you decide. The sound on this recording (or rather, these recordings since the last song of the Ep was actually from another rehearsal) was bound to be rough. And by rough, I mean really rough. We are clearly not too far from Gutrot here and even the Dirge Lp sounds overproduced compared to this Ep. Does this mean that this is a dreadful waste of plastic? Absolutely not and for several reasons. 

First, what Plasmid lacked in music proficiency, they largely made up for with an incredible energy. Even as bad as the sound is (you can't really use the term "production" here...), you can hear this youthful power, this burning intensity, this unbreakable will to play faster and with more aggression that you will find in Heresy's demo and flexi later on. This recording IS the essence of raw punk. There is no pretense of artistry, no hesitation, no frills. This is raw hardcore punk played as fast as possible without thinking about musicianship or recording details. There is a spontaneity that you cannot fake and that you cannot recreate with fancy effects, vintage gears or a monstrous record collection. You could argue that the lack of self-reflection is what made recordings such as these possible in the early 80's. For a genre such as "raw punk" (assuming it is one at all, and not an anachronistic and random term used cluelessly) too much intentionality cannot work.

Second, we have with Plasmid one early example of British hardcore. By this term I mean that we have a blend of British Discharge-influenced bands and international hardcore-punk. It has to be said that Plasmid members themselves retrospectively claimed that their primary influences at the time were Discharge, Antisect and Anti-System, and listening to the demo one can definitely agree with that. But at the time, in a 1983 handout given with the tape, the list was much longer and not only contained a lot of anarcho bands such as The Mob, Anthrax or Flux, but also bands like Varukers, GBH or Abrasive Wheels. So on this side, Plasmid was certainly a band of its time, at the national crossroads between anarchopunk and the Discharge school.

However, it would be a mistake to restrict Plasmid's influences to Britain only. For instance, where  bands like Warwound or Violent Uprising pretty much kept to local dis-ness, Plasmid borrowed from other scenes as well. Indeed, as the Heresy chapter of "Trapped in a scene" reveals, the members of Plasmid also listened to a lot of hardcore as they traded tapes with Dig from Earache records. You can guess that they were really into Mob 47 (especially the drummer), Anti-Cimex and fast Scandinavian bands in general, but also Wretched (who had recently played in England), Siege or BGK. What made Plasmid different from influential local bands is that they also had this influence from abroad that made them thrive to play faster and faster (a common obsession apparently at the time when one also reads the Napalm Death Chapter). The result is a tornado of musical insanity that blends Antisect, Discharge, Wretched, Mob 47 and Disorder. The distinct Boston influence that Heresy is most renowned for will only come later. Here you have pummeling Mob 47-style drums with a distorted guitars playing sped-up early Antisect riffs, some Chaos UK/Disorder flavoured breaks, and a snotty singer who barks (or does he quack?) continuously albeit rather indistinctly (a Wretched influence perhaps). Even through the myst of noise, one can discern that the songs are actually solid and really energetic like the backbone to the future Heresy. 

Before discussing the lyrics and the aesthetics of Plasmid, let's have a brief yet epic word about this reissue. It is stunning. It honestly couldn't have been done better. In fact, this record is probably the best-looking, most comprehensive Ep reissue that I own. In later years, there has been a trend to reissue records exactly identical to the original, which is fine since it allows one to play the "let's-pretend-I-was-around-in-1984" game but still lacks the background information about the context of production of the band (and often the context is as crucial as the text). Here you have both, original artworks, lyrics, two inserts, liner-notes from band members now as well as how they introduced themselves then, a gatefold cover that turns into a poster in true Crass fashion. If they had included an old-looking patch, it would have been the reissue of the decade. If I had only one complaint, it would be that the cover is really not that great when compared to the amazing artwork inside the record. Indeed, if you are initially clueless about the band (and let's face it, a lot of people are), the cover is not very likely to entice you. I know, I am a picky bastard when it comes to all-important things.   

If Plasmid played hardcore-punk, their approach to music as conveyed throughout the topics of their songs and their visual quality was firmly ensconsed in the early anarchopunk scene. Not that there is any discrepancy in that, Antisect were as much an anarcho band as D&V, anarchopunk being supposed to be a way of doing things and a shared set of values, and not a genre. Still there are specific signs that indicate that one is entering vintage anarchopunk territory as construed by the British punks in the 80's: anti-war songs, the threat of a nuclear annihilation, animal abuse, the destructiveness of those in power and so on. The song "Lust for power" is about power-hungry politicians waging wars for their interests while discarding the very real effects of conflicts on populations (the careful geek will notice some Discharge intertextuality with the line "Lives are squandered"). Despite the Discharge nod, the lyrics to the song are rather long and more akin to an Anti-System number in terms of writing. The lyrics to two other songs are provided ("Cry of hunger" about starvation and poverty and "Immortal shadows" about victims of a nuclear fallout coming back from the dead!) but they don't appear on the demo. I guess the lyrics to the four other songs have been lost and you would be pretty lucky to understand them by just listening to them, in fact you would probably get a nobel price nomination by achieving this true feat.     

The absence of some of the lyrics doesn't, by any means, imply that you don't get much to read: as already mentioned, you have a two-page history of Plasmid written by Steve and Garn (with, as a bonus, the short review of the demo Pus did for MRR back then comparing Plasmid to fellow noise merchants Chaos UK and Asylum) as well as a text about bloodsports and fox-hunting and one text written by the band as a handout accompanying the demo. The reissue is packed with fantastic cut'n'paste artwork with top-notch drawings (the punk-skeleton doing the peace sign should have been used for a shirt... any taker?) and superb anarcho-influenced symbolism and slogans. As I said, this is possibly the loveliest Ep reissue that I have seen and one that the record label, Shortfuse records (also responsible for records from Lärm, Ripcord or Uniform Approach), must be very proud of.  

I obviously cannot recommend this enough. If you don't already own this geezer, it might very well be the best thing you can get for a fiver in 2015. 

Part Antisect, part The Mob. An anarcho wet dream.

The gatefold poster with another Antisect nod for the road.

Lust for power!