Last Night a D-beat Saved My Life (part 5): ANGER BURNING "When" Lp, 2012

In all this global mania for Discharge, it would be fun to make a list of bands that picked a Discharge song as their moniker. Well, "fun" might not be the right concept here. To some, this very activity would sound like a continuing nightmare that could involve the possibility of a relationship's destruction while to others it would be the most romantic thing ever. I can think of Fight Back from Croatia; two Decontrol from England and Canada; Protest and Survive from Poland; two Realities of War, from England and Japan; one Visions of War, obviously; Mania For Conquest from the States; Hell On Earth from Slovakia; Final Bloodbath from Japan and even one Four Monstrous Nuclear Stockpiles, from France, a rare band that managed to blend d-beat and humour without being corny. And did I mention bloody Meanwhile? You see, we're having so much fun together! Yay.

And of course there is Anger Burning from Sweden. They did not go for my favourite Discharge song (by far, I think "Anger burning" should have been called "Requiem for good taste") but on the When Lp they could be considered as one of the best Discharge imitators of the past 20 years, a much coveted spot indeed. If you want to be very anal about it, and you know I do, When is one of the best tribute to Why, a sentence that when spoken aloud sounds either like the ramblings of a very drunk man or some brilliant comment on postmodernist literature that will make academics scratch their chins in awe and type frantically on their Macbook. But when a proper punk hears it, s/he just knows and this knowledge is precious and makes one feel part of a worldwide conspiracy or a soap-dodging sect as my mum would rephrase it.

Unsurprisingly Anger Burning were from Sweden - land of Discharge love where the government forces innocent children to sing the whole Fight Back Ep at school in defense of their future - and played between 2007 and 2016 (a respectable run) with its members arsing around in other hardcore bands before and have been since. Ernst and Simon were together in Assassination (a traditional rocking käng band), with the former playing subsequently in Panikattack and recently Bombardement and the latter fronting grindcore veteran act Infanticide and Parasit (up until 2016 I think) and dicking around on the bass (like with Anger Burning) with noisepunk loonies Sex Dwarf. As for Vidar and Cederick, the former would go on to play in Anti-Metafor and Svaveldioxid and the latter in a lot of bands that I have never heard of but must belong the metallic hordes judging from the covers (or they could be Russian ska bands in disguise, who knows?). Resumes do not really mean anything, fortunately for me, but they at least indicate in the present case that the listener is dealing with a serious band who does not take the worship of Discharge lightly and if Anger Burning's discography is pretty solid (the Warcharge Ep on La Vida Es Un Mus and the split Lp with Discover come recommended), When stands as the dischargiest work, the apex predator of Discharge love's foodchain in the early 2010's.

I hear you ask: why and where is When so close to Why? I won't even mention the title because I (mostly) respect the intelligence of my audience. But let's take a look at the song titles, most of which refer directly to Why: ""Leftovers of war" instead of "Visions of war", "Ain't no war without bastards" instead of "Ain't no feeble bastard", "Is this a solution" for "Is this to be", "What can you do about this system" for "Does this system work" (and "You take part in creating this system" off Fight Back) and of course "When reprise" (duh, I know). There are a lot of plain nods to Dischagre lyrics as well that would be too tedious to list. The golden nugget might be the song "Where are our rights" that could, or rather must, be referring to that elusive Discharge song entitled "Where's our freedom" that appeared on an Ep bootleg called Live in Preston that included an early live recording from 1980 with this mid-paced song that never made it on vinyl. This one is really for the nerds. 

Stellar is the production, primal but very dynamic and angry, highlighting the speed of the early dis beat. The guitar possesses the exact right tone but it had more reverb on Warcharge for instance so I suspect the guitar player toyed with his setting so as to sound as close to 1981 Bones as possible and as for the bass lines, they snake their way through the whole 13 minutes (Why was 14 minutes and 21 seconds long so Anger Burning are a little short). The vocals however are very different to Cal, a man whose barks have always proved to be difficult to resurrect as many a shower can attest, and the singer went for his own raspy style, closer to the traditional käng style, which probably confers more aggression to the songs than if he had forcefully "Cal-ified" his voice. Of course the band went for the classic Discharge font and put the moniker and the record's title in the same spots as Why. The war-themed black and white cover itself reminds me of Disgust's The Horror of it All... but there might be a close comparison.

It doesn't seem relevant to drop names of other d-beat bands who tried hard to sound just like Discharge in the 90's and 00's but I cannot think of any that sounded as close to Why as When does. Here we have to think in terms of record instead of band and try to isolate When and take it on its own. Therefore if Anger Burning may not be the absolute Why-era Discharge clone, When might very well be the aptest copy of Why ever. This wonderful album will speak to those of us who love the worshipping, idolizing side of d-beat, the meticulousness of which would impress the best 17th century oil-painting copyist. This was released in 2012 on Rawmantic Disasters (the label's fifth release) and Truemmer Pogo and can be found for a very decent price.

When when when but when

An adventure in split Ep's! I have no gun but I can split: HELLKRUSHER / BULLET RIDDEN "Air Attack / Stricken From the Records" split Ep, 2012

Ten years ago, back when the blog was still vaguely respectable but did not make any money and I could not afford a butler, I reviewed Hellkrusher's "Dying for who" Ep from 1992 and reading it again today, I realized I was going to write pretty much the same thing about this seemingly immortal band even though they did not send me a free shirt after the first eloquent review. But I am not one to hold grudges, thankfully for me, and today's Ep was released exactly 20 years after Dying for Who which will probably make everyone involved feel old but is still a testament to the band's tenacity and inflexibility. Punk-rock trends - and there have been a lot of them since 1992 - have never seemed to affect Hellkrusher's sound or approach to punk in the least. In fact, I am sure that everyone could be playing skacore tomorrow and the band would still keep delivering their classic brand of d-beat thrash unperturbed and oblivious to the cool hardcore kids suddenly wearing porkpie hats and doing Madness covers but with mosh parts. But then that's something most of us would wish to be able to ignore.

I saw Hellkrusher live a couple of times, notably in 2012 supporting Antisect at the 1 in 12 Club in Bradford, and they were always solid. We all know first times tend to be biased and prone to sentimentalism but my favourite memory of them was the first with their performance at the Scum Fest in London in 2007, which was actually their reformation gig (they had not played since 2001). It was a brilliant one I remember very fondly and everyone was up for it. Since then, Hellkrusher is the kind of band I buy all the records of without really thinking much about it. I am never overexcited about a new record of theirs but I'll always get it nonetheless. It is just something I do almost instinctively. The existence of such a long-running band is almost reassuring. I know what to expect from them and I would say they also know what people expect from them. "Just do you!" as the corniest beauty influencers would say to the band. Just do Hellkrusher. 

After such profound and thought-provoking words of wisdom, what's exactly on this record? With the Doomsday Hour Lp (arguably still the band's shining moment and an absolute classic 90's Discharge-inspired record that I played a lot), the Geordies created their own brand of metal-tinged d-beat thrash with gruff vocals that they have built upon since and has become instantly recognizable. The arrival of Scoot on second guitar certainly gave the band's a heavier, more metallic, darker sound but they never covered their "We <3 DISCHARGE" tattoos. Their songwriting reflects how orthodox British-style d-beat and raw metallic hardcore can blend harmoniously. The result is positively predictable because it has to be, it is the very essence of the genre, a constant barrage of discore, a nightmare that continues. I like the fact that the band always kept it raw and never went for a cleaner production so that you instantly know that you are dealing with a proper punk band and not American hardcore jocks or pompous Slayer fans who rate guitar solos on a scale from 1 to 666. 

Hellkrusher have that distinct dirty Northern hardcore/crust feel and you can tell that they emerged from the vibrant scene that gave birth to many classic UK bands. They are basically keeping it old-school in a world where everyone is trying to imitate the old-school sound. The two songs on this split Ep are classic Hellkrusher and would work well if you were to introduce the band to an ignoramus who does not know them. Expert Discharge-loving metallic hardcore inviting Anti-System and Nausea to their casual gritty Northern crust pub. Classic d-beat riffs, gruff aggressive vocals with that typical British scansion and a vintage reverb (just the right amount). Job done.

On the other side you have three songs of Bristol's Bulletridden, a band that unfortunately did not get much recognition outside of England. It is clearly a shame as I have personally always rated the band which, in the music world, is often considered as a very high honour and the punk equivalent of being complimented by Dwayne Johnson about being in great shape (not that it is likely to happen to me). As a staunch fan of the cruelly overlooked Gurkha, I closely followed the artistic career (well) of singer Martin and of his rather unique diction, style of growls and hoarse, almost strange vocal tone and caustic, dark lyrics. One of the few punk singers to growl narratively, so to speak, with words you can understand (to some extent). 

I remember being in the audience when The Reckoning played at Scum Fest although I don't actually remember The Reckoning, a short-lived project from which Warprayer and the present Bulletridden emerged, in 2010 for latter. Despite very blurry recollections, I knew deep down or pretended to myself that the gig had been brilliant and therefore closely followed the aforementioned bands' evolutions. I did see and liked them both live but I think Bulletridden were more convincing on record. They had that wicked, dirty and crunchy metallic - but inherently punk - guitar sound (courtesy of ex Bomb Blast Men Chris) that I am such a sucker for, with direct riffs. Apparently, the idea behind the band was to do something like "The Accused meets Coitus" and "heavy but not metal" (let's thank Ian Glasper's The Scene that Would Not Die for the wisdom). I can certainly can hear some of the dirty groove of Coitus' crusty metal-punk sound (both bands would eventually release a split Lp in 2018) but also Genital Deformities's oft forgotten 90's era where you can find that similar snotty, punky delivery and I would add some of the heavy aggression of stenchcore revival bands like Limb From Limb or Sanctum. Listening to these songs again, I realized I had forgotten a little how good the band was and the greater appeal it could have had because they brought something different (punkier maybe?) to the metal-crust banner behind which Orcs like to gather and trade pieces of advice about sewing techniques.

The band also made the wrong and almost naive choice to release cd's when the format ceased to be relevant in the eyes of "the scene" and was becoming about as sexy as a David Cameron mask at an orgy. Too bad. If the first album Songs Written Before Jumping out of an Eight Storey Window illustrated well what the band wanted to achieve, it was a little too long for a first attempt, the second one Upbeat Noise for Downtrodden People's enjoyed a better, heavier production. During their decent run of six years (they split up in 2016), the band was rather prolific and in a fair world you would see the few remaining crusties in your town wearing cider-stained Bulletridden shirts on Sundays. 

This split Ep is the perfect record if you want to both taste something familiar (Hellkrusher) and also be introduced to a lesser known band (Bulletridden). It was released in 2012 on Antisociety and is not too hard to find (it was a very ambitious pressing of 1000 copies).

Bulletkrusher     

   

Live by the Crust, Die by the Crust: the Rise of Nova Crustia - Contagium "S/t" Ep, 2012 / Fragment "S/t" demo Ep, 2016/ Kaltbruching Acideath/Zygome "S/t" split Lp, 2019

Amusingly, I almost left my hometown, the city of love, compulsory arrogance and dog shit (not necessarily in that order), for Halifax. In fact, I started Terminal Sound Nuisance a little after I was told that Canada was not exactly dying to welcome yet another useless pretentious twat - another term for French people over there apparently - on its territory. So ultimately I guess humanity, because of the blog's great contribution to its development, should thank the Canadian employers who, politely, told me to piss off. I was unemployed back then and had to survive in a tiny 9m2 square "flat" (in Paris anything bigger than a toilet is called a "flat") so that when I learnt that Canada was looking for young promising workers for positions they were struggling to fill, I immediately jumped on the occasion, bought a brand new, vaguely decent-looking coat and registered to the Destination Canada forum, confident that the recruiters, in awe before my many skills and my jaw-dropping charisma, would hire me on the spot. Little did I know that the country was looking for lorry drivers and plumbers and not in the least interested in my unspectacular profile. Still, I sent a resume and a charming job application letter full of lies to a kindergarten in Halifax, although I had never actually worked with young children and you could even say without it being much of an exaggeration that I don't even enjoy being around them, in the hope that someone would be kind enough, on a whim, to give me the job. 

Fortunately for Nova Scotia kids, they did deign to answer my request and in the end I had to take a job carrying heavy crates of vegetables and working as a cashier in a foodstore. I cannot help wonder though. What if I had actually gone to Halifax? I would have become part of a terrific hardcore punk scene over there, seen and perhaps even played in top crust bands instead of living in a town infested with constipated oi bands and soft middle-class indie-rock. Blame the kindergarten. I did not know that many bands from that area at the time to be honest. Of course I knew System Shit but had no idea they were from Nova Scotia. In fact I don't think I knew of the name "Nova Scotia" before I briefly fancied moving there.

At that point in time I was still already aware of Contagium which I first heard thanks to the great Crust Demos blog, which was - and I hope will be back to being one day - an excellent purveyors of worldwide young crust and d-beat bands, through their 2008 demo. Of course, this first effort was raw (most demos were in the 00's) but you can detect rudimentary versions of songwriting structures, vocal styles and riffs that would come to characterize the "Halifax crust sound". An Ep followed in 2009 and then the Archaic Lp in 2010. Re-exploring these works today I have to say that they hold very well. I remember at the time of their release thinking that they were a little late to the stenchcore revival party - what with Hellshock cosplaying as a Japanese metal-punk band and Stormcrow napping as a stoner metal freight train - not unlike guests arriving late with bags of crisps in their hands while everyone has been stuffing themselves with specially that all night. But I am up for crisps and crust any time of the day so I really don't care much. Contagium played blazing filthy stenchcore with howling anguished reverb-drenched vocals at a time when such vocal effects were not as popular or automatic as they are today (it's what I call "Destino Final Syndrome") and the band was also much faster and pissed than a lot of others falling under the stench umbrella so that the music definitely stood out from the crust swamp. I suppose Archaic might sound a little repetitive in retrospect and that Contagium maybe worked better with the Ep format but I am not here to split hair. Their strongest recording, by far, was the 2012 Ep released on Doomed To Extinction.

Recorded in 2011 for their Terminal Filth Stenchtour (I know, right?) and originally released as a limited tape, this (second) eponymous Ep is a jewel in the crust crown. The recipe is pretty similar only the sound is heavier and more aggressive, the hooks more viciously effective and the dual vocal teamwork more focused, expressive and therefore more threateningly ferocious. You could say that it is a significant upgrade upon their already strong stenchcore foundations defined by mean and groovy mid-paced metallic bits with mosh-inducing filthy riffs and thunderously fast crusty hardcore thrash with two nutters howling screams of desperate anger. Imagine a modern more powerful blend of Terminal Filth Stenchcore and Rock'n'roll Conformity, the dirty obnoxious metallic punk catchiness of the former enlightening the fast-thrash-meets-mid-paced-stench-crust vibe of the latter, add some vintage Axegrinder and Misery, some Heresy and Napalm Death rabid madness and put it in a stenchcore revival oven until it rots completely. Then place the stew in the middle of a wasteland and wait for crows to eat and regurgitate it. This Ep is the sound of those crows attacking posh wankers on the streets after the meal. Or something. As usual the artwork is fabulous and it was Adam, from the band, who was in charge of making Contagium look good. The cover of this Ep is probably my favourite work of his as it is so grim-looking. It would be Contagium's last offering but as you must expect by now, it was certainly not the last breath of Halifax crust.

I have never been there so I was never able to study Halifax punks in their natural habitat and identify what each groups of local punks exactly did and with whom, in spite of my reputation of world-acclaimed punk anthropologist (I did get twelve likes on Facebook once, what a day). However discogs tells me that these people involved in Contagium, Fragment and Zygome have been in dozens of other bands in the 2010's alone. Just to give you an idea of the incestuousness of the Halifax scene, guitar player Adam and drummer Ben also played in Abject Pax together, the latter actually also playing in Fragment - with Cody (they also did Life Chain together) who was involved with Adam in Concrete Asylum, among many others, and drummer Mark who also played in Carcass Toss, with Cody, and Outcry, with Rosie who also played in Zygome and Abject Pax, as mentioned above with Ben and Adam - and Zygome. I could try to draw a genealogical tree of the Halifax punk scene, it would be an arduous, tedious, task but one of such I find quite fascinating. It would probably show that although there have been dozens of solid punk bands in the past ten year over there, they were done by the same ten people. But isn't it the case almost everywhere else? I have been wondering whether some of these people actually lived in the studio, or even if some of them had not been locked in and would not be allowed to leave until they did 100 bands or something. 

Crustagium 2012

Fragment is the next Halifax band we are dealing with in this superb writeup that I am confident will finally get me a work visa in Canada if the minister of Canadian Heritage reads it. Come on Pablo, don't be a dick. The band has Ben, formerly in Contagium; Cody, who seems to play or have played in more bands than I have had showers in the 00's (I know, I know, but those were crazy times); Steven from Outcry and Shitpissers (this is a definite yes for me) and Mark who does not seem to play in any other bands, which is very suspicious indeed. Fragment is a band I immediately took a great liking to even though the genre they embraced (distorted crasher cavecore punk?) has become a popular hobby for (too) many bands in the 2010's. How many average distorted d-beat raw punk projects does the world really need? This is a bit of a harsh statement especially since I would delighted to have even just one d-beat band in Paris. Anyway Fragment are brilliant at what they do, possibly one of the best distorted bands right now and this is their 2016 demo, originally released on tape under the name Hear Nothing (no idea where they got that from... any idea?). I generally don't see the point of reissuing contemporary demo tapes on vinyl but this was objectively such a potent and skillful hammering that the solid British label Imminent Destruction rightly took on the job and made the demo available to men, women, children and non-binary persons.

With an insert displaying "Distort Terror" and the Gloom reference "Devastating Noise Attack" the seasoned listener is aware that he or she will be subjected to an intense, relentless and loud assault on the sense commonly known as a wall of noise. The vinyl is eight minute long and there is no pause between songs which reinforces the impression of fierce sonic mercilessness. The obligatory ingredients are perfectly used: there are mean deafening feedbacks, textured distortion, hard-hitting manic crasher drumming with those typical rolls and howling vocals (with the traditional Halifax reverb, they seem to really love that there). Pretty much the Gloom and D-Clone school of thoughts but I would argue that the aggressive riffs in Fragment could be described as a distorted take on classic 90's käng. Beside, what makes the band stand out are the mean thrashing stenchy mid-paced moments - not quite unlike Contagium's really - that allow the music to breath and the listener to headbang while keeping that fuzzy distorted texture. Basically what I mean is that Fragment actually write songs with hooks and do not make the mistake to rely only on pedal effects and Japanese crust referentiality (although you do need that too if you want to do things properly in this exercise in style). In the end, that is what they excel at (they remind me of the superlative late D-Clone in that respect) and this perfect demo exemplifies this capacity. The band will keep noizing things up with a brilliant album, In the Dust, the following year that went on delivering the crasher goods, this time with an additional narrative style allowed by the Lp format (the one reservation I have is that the vocals are too low in the mix). Two Ep's followed and the most recent one Mind Convulsion shows Fragment going even noisier and rawer, to the point of becoming some sort of primitive harsh noizecrust unit that claims "Fuckin Noise Rich Crusties Trendy Punk Nerds Fuck Off!! We Love Damaging Noise!!!", a clear reference to the Japanese school. As Hard Skin would say: they ain't messing around. I just hope they're not talking about me.

Fragment

The last Halifax band of this post is probably my favourite of the three. In fact they are my favourite. Zygome. Now when I first heard of a band called Zygome from Halifax a couple of years ago, I spontaneously rose from my comfy armchair, walked out of my luxury office located at the top of the Terminal Sound Nuisance Tower, took a can of lager out of the diamond-studded fridge, went to the rooftop, opened the can and looked up to the sky pensively, beaming with anticipation on the inside. Zygome are a three-piece made up of Adam (from Contagium and many as we have seen), Ben (from Contagium and Fragment, the writeup is a sort of tribute to his talent) and Rosie (from Outcry and Abject Pax among others). The name can rightly be said to be, obviously, the equivalent of a bird whistle for crusties. Just like dogs can hear ultrasound, crust maniacs rose their ears when the name Zygome traveled through the air. It's not an actual word mind you although the term "zigoma" does exist (it's the bony arch of the cheek) but I guess they just insisted on leaving the last alphabetical spot to Zygote out of respect even if they sound nothing like them. Their sword logo and their self-description as a "crusher crust" band are far more significant items.

They released a self-titled four-song demo in 2018, originally as a digital only thing (if I remember correctly) but it was much too good not to be released physically, on tape on the very good label Runstate Tapes from Montreal (responsible for Rat Cage, Apärä or Inepsy releases among other strong hardcore punk works) and on vinyl on Black Against Night Records, a label located in Australia run by a former member of the Skopje-based Born For Slaughter and specialized in crust and d-beat. Although an easy analysis, I would argue that Zygome did build on the Contagium legacy and songwriting tricks (fast crusty thrash bits with filthy mid-tempo moments, reverb on the howling vocals and so on) but they added tasteful old-school crust atmospherics (synth and long eerie intros for instance) and vocal works in order to convey a more articulate sense of storytelling and narratity to their filthy stenchcrust sound. More Axegrinder, Amebix and '87 Antisect elements to the '86-'88-Deviated-Instinct-of-Survival if you will. Needless to say I was avidly watching the internet for the followup record and it took shape as a split Lp with Kaltbruching Acideath in 2019 on Doomed to Extinction.

To put it bluntly, this album might be the best crust Lp of the decade although such a claim is contingent on your personal tastes in the many shades of crust. There is a consensus among the Council of Crust Elders that few albums could match that one but the argument that Swordwielder's System Overlord, the Instinct of Survival/Asocial Terror Fabrication, Disturd's Dark or Χαοτικό Τέλος' Υπόσχεση are also the cream of the crust crop is sound indeed. Who cares about rankings anyway? Cooperation not competition and all that. On their side of the split, Zygome unleash on the - intentionally - unwashed 14 minutes of pure old-school crust gold as the band further refined their crafty recipe. The first song "The other" opens with gloomy Amebix-like arpeggios and a creepy synth melody which I am a massive sucker for. There is nothing better than opening your crust record with synth as it immediate puts the listener in the adequate mood and announces that an epic apocalyptic story is going to unfold and that is precisely what you are here for. Following that lesson in crust preliminaries, the song explodes into a perfect exercise in mean thrashing stenchcore with appropriately anguished shouts. 

The next one is a short, fast and loud number, first reminiscent of vintage early Napalm Death and then in the second part of the song of Civilised Society? thanks to some great tuneful female vocals over some heavy mid-paced crust punk. And all of that in one minute. The next one, "A thousand sun (rise in reverse)" is absolute Amebixian epics with the typical dark pagan tribal beats and the classic Baron-like flow and accentuation. It is a beautifully dark and morose song. This song is tied to the following one, "Overcome with pain", with a short interlude that is daring to say the least as it is exactly the same as the opening to Deviated Instinct's "Possession" on Terminal Filth Stenchcore. Of course, if you have never heard this foundational work, you will just think that the idea to include some quite beautiful Anglican hymn (I'm guessing) works well just before a song about depression and alienation. And on that level, it does work well and makes sense strictly in term os the story-told. On a referential level, it is a bold move of referentiality that will have stenchcore lovers nod in unison and it also works and makes sense on that intertextual, storytelling level. As for the song itself it can be seen as a wicked reinterpretation of a song that could have been lifted from Rock'n'Roll Conformity, thrashing stench metal punk with something of a mean Anihilated touch. 

Finally their recording comes to an end with "Hammer of war", an apocalyptic crust scorcher that is not unlike '05 Hellshock. What makes the song so brilliant is its conclusion - that is also the conclusion to the side and the whole story - with the shouted repetition of "Hammer of war" over a filthy metallic crust riff, a bit like in late Antisect, until the voices and the music fade out into the void. Crusher stench rules.

On the other side of this split Lp the mighty Kaltbruching Acideath from Japan await. Let's tackle the elephant in the room straight away: it's a bit of a mouthful, an albatross of a name even, one I am still struggling to spell properly, which is somewhat humiliating since I was once a spelling bee champion - well it was more of a pub quizz but still. The name derives from a 12'' by a Canadian dark techno project called Huren (the work of one David Foster) and entitled Kaltbrüchig Acideath. Now I am utterly unknowledgeable about electronic music, I have never enjoyed it at all although I have been told it is a very diverse and fascinating world - and I am sure it is. The only tiny area of techno music I am vaguely aware of is the Exit Hippies/Death Dust Extractor/Abraham Cross harsh techno-noize turn and only out of curiosity and because of the ties to the Japanese crust scene. But anyway, David Foster, who lives in Berlin of course, is apparently a bit of an underground legend because of his participation in cult sonic projects from the early 90's on and of his role in the creation of the New York-based Zhark label, described in an article as a "High end low fi Motörhead driven squatter techno label". As I understand it the guy is a techno punk with links to the squatters movement who did dark and noisy challenging music. Of course, there is no strict sonic similarity between Kaltbruching Acideath and Kaltbrüchig Acideath. However, as unlikely as it sounds and that's where things get interesting, Foster definitely knows his shit when it comes to DIY Japanese crust. For example, a picture on his Discogs page shows a montage of him with the cover of the Natural Crust and Punk Force Noise Making compilation Ep from 1996 (it had Mental Disease, Order and Mindsuck and was reviewed on this elite punk blog here) with the caption "The system you hate is the system you support" which is a classic Crude SS slogan and there is a stenchcore-looking drawing in the background that I cannot quite identify (it's only a detail of it). On his Instagram page, there is another montage this time including a Framtid visual (as well as a picture of himself with a tired Lemmy). How unlikely is that? There must be a link that I am missing between the Japanese crasher noize crust scene and David Foster. Enlighten me please. 

Now that was a long digression. KA formed in the early 2010's and self-released two demos but I only heard about them through their first Ep Aural Carnage (a determined nod to Sore Throat's Aural Butchery since the word "carnage" is pasted over the word "butchery" on the cover) released on Hardcore Survives in 2017 and displaying a lovely Electro Hippies tribute on the cover in terms of visuals and layout. So you already know you are on holy ground. Musically KA work on a side of old-school grindy crust that is seldom explored with strong influences from the fabulous Prophecy of Doom (especially), early Napalm Death and early Bolt Thrower. Metallic, grinding and even death-metal-ish at times but keeping a dirty genuine noizecrust vibe. Their next recording saw the Tokyo-based lot improved on the aforementioned cavemen metal crust formula with a heavier, raw organic sound to die for - it sounds like you can almost smell it - and two hyperbolic Sore Throat-styled crustier-than-thou numbers for good measure. It is absolutely brilliant and I was lucky enough to see them live in 2018 and they completely destroyed it. Undeniably one of the best Japanese crust bands right now. My only reservation is the lengthy introduction that is basically the muffled sound of a Tokyo street (I presume) and does not really bring anything meaningful to the actual crust story. But it is only a minor criticism as KA are the real deal.

Revenge Records described KA as "grinding stench metal crust", Zygome as "anarcho stench crust", both bands as "total horrendous stench metal crust" and the album as a "mega terminal filth wimpcore split" and I guess that crust bingo sums it up nicely. One of the strongest crust records of the decade, easily, and one that is bound to become canonical at some point (you can be sure I will lobby for that). It was released on the ever reliable and solid Doomed To Extinction who, in merely two years, basically destroyed the crust game with the Instinct of Survival/Asocial Terror Fabrication split Lp, the IOS/Fatum split tape and this Kaltbruching Acideath/Zygome Lp. The cover of the split was drawn by Adam and epitomized what crust art is all about: heads on spike, an army of zombified punx, celtic frames, torn war banners... And an Easter egg: in this case the leader of the crust legion is wearing a ribbon at that says "crust" in the same lettering as the one displayed by Mid Deviated Instinct on the back of a jacket "back-in-the-day" and immortalised on the picture below.

On a much more serious note, this modest article is dedicated to Rosie, who was involved in Zygome, Outcry and other worthy bands and passed away in 2020. Of course, I never met her but still, the death of a committed punk, especially at such a young age, is always tragic and sad and even though I mostly rant and ramble about music on this blog in order to provide (hopefully) enjoyable reads, it is also important to commemorate our dead and not forget. 

Zygome / Kaltbruching Acideath

                       

Live by the Crust, Die by the Crust: Deviated Instinct / Summon the Crows "S/t" split Ep, 2012

Earlier this month, Deviated Instinct's Terminal Filth Stenchcore demo was reissued on vinyl. 35 years after its original tape release, back when no one had a bad back in the band yet and receding hairlines were but a distant if dreadful prospect associated with adulthood and mortgages, this absolute classic, genre-defining recording of raw and gruff metallic anarcho hardcore punk is available once again. This formidable event can be said to be the crust equivalent of the Queen's jubilee if you need a scale of importance. The vinyl was renamed Terminal Filth Stench-Core for the occasion, a hyphenated discrepancy that I feel the need to underline metaphorically and literally. I haven't been able to consult my usual crust oracles about this one (they have been busy evaluating the potential crustness of Hellshock's coming record for weeks now) so I cannot state with certitude that this change in spelling will change our perspective on the whole crust movement but it might. Still, don't hold your guttural breath.

Needless to say I have been one merry lad since I learnt about the materialisation of this reissue (a rather long process actually) released on Terminal Filth (the band's own label, that's DIY for you) and Italy's Agipunk who, after reissuing Hellbastard's Ripper Crust 2009, made another crucial signing on the crust mercato. In order to win the crust Grand Slam, they just need to deal with Axegrinder's Grind the Enemy by 2035.

As you must know, the band reformed in 2007 for a couple of gigs only but ended up putting out three new records, this split Ep with Olso's Summon the Crows and Liberty Crawls... to the Sanctuary of Slaves in 2012 and Husk in 2018 and are still very much going. I remember, fondly, rushing to see them at their second, and advertised as the last one ever I believe, gig in 2008 at the 1in12 Club in Bradford because I did not want to miss the unique opportunity to see one of my favourite bands live. In the end I saw the band several times afterwards but am still waiting for the full refund of my 2008 trip to Bradford because of the fake advertising (and the shite weather). I also rushed to buy this split Ep when it came out and I remember that genuine excitement and the usual circumspection were the two major feelings among the "punk community". On the one hand, so many reformed 80's punk bands had put out, objectively and subjectively, horrendous and disappointing records that it was quite reasonable to be at least a little suspicious. But on the other hand our collective conservativeness sometimes prevents us from enjoying a band's progression and desire to try something new or just understanding the fact that, 20 years after, they don't want to sound just like it's still the mid-80's and haven't changed, listened to anything new or even bathed since their legendary 1984 demo tape. I remember people being disappointed that the members of DI did not look the exact same. But who still wore wellies in 2012?

I don't want to name anyone because I am the ultimate positive punk, and I cannot afford to have yet another punk band sue me, but it is undeniable that some old reformed bands often have offered embarrassing new works. But DI do not belong to the category of disappointing-and-tragically-disconnected-old-farts-trying-to-relive-their-youth. They were brilliant live when I saw them and their newer records are all solid and make sense. They sound like DI but also offer a logical evolution. Something different and familiar if you will. It does not mean that one has to love the new material as much as the old one as we all are sentimental with such things and if you lost your virginity to Welcome to the Orgy it is perfectly understandable that no record will be able to top that one. I think that DI's return was successful because they were not a parody of their old selves and some members had still been active in the extreme music world long after the original demise of the band so that when they played their old material it sounded like a very natural and fluid reworking (arguably some of the old songs have never sounded better), rather than a painful re-enactment or a crust cosplay. 

"End times" definitely sounds like a DI song - like, well, dark heavy crust - or rather like a relevant update of the classic DI sound. Some transitions are reminiscent of more modern metallic sludgecore (I am reminded of bands like Damad or 13 actually) but the backbone is still gruff Frost-influenced groovy cavemen old-school crust with that classic slimy metallic guitar sound, maybe not unlike 90's Genital Deformities or a grimmer, bleaker version of Coitus, or even some Stormcrow which shows that they kept in touch with their own stenchcrow legacy. Leggo's hoarse vocals are absolutely ferocious and threatening, like what he did with Filthkick, and they are undeniably one of the band's strongest points. Finally, and this might be the band's wisest choice, they did not go for too clean a production. Often, reformed bands tend to be overproduced mistakenly thinking that an updated version of their material is synonymous with a clean, modern production, while what people really liked in their old songs is precisely the raw and aggressive sound. Therefore the choice to record those 6 songs in 2012 at the 1in12 Club with Bri Doom at the wheel was the best possible one for a returning DI as it couldn't alienate the anticipating anxious fans soundwise. 

And one can understand that a band craves for an elaborate production that they, maybe frustratingly, could not afford in the 80's back when they had a £30 recording budget with a sound engineer who was into prog-rock. So there is often a discrepancy of expectation here and this often results in reformed bands sounding like modern overproduced hardcore bands and often lose the intensity and urgency in the process. DI kept that heavy organic dirty production that fits their songs so well although it has to be said that they clearly sound like they are more comfortable and knowledgeable in the studio both in terms of playing and overall balance. I think that the very same song with a clean modern production would not have worked as well. "End times" was recorded in 2012 during the same sessions as Liberty Crawls... DI took their time afterwards since Husk was only release in late 2018.

On the other side are two songs from Oslo's Summon the Crows. I have been raving a lot about DI, as usual I guess, but the presence of STC on the Ep was a further sign that it may well become a classic. STC is a band I followed from the start when I bought their first eponymous Ep in 2004 just because I thought the cover looked brilliant. Ironically, I had no idea that the artist behind the artwork was Mid from Deviated Instinct but if I were superstitious or in any way spiritual I would say it was a premonition from Destiny knocking at my door. But seeing that I am not in the least let's just say I have impeccable tastes. STC is one of those bands that I know I mostly enjoy but do not play often enough probably because their second album, 2011's One More to the Gallows, was something of a let-down. Their earlier endeavours however were solid works of crusty dark hardcore thrash, not deprived of some of 00's crust's major flaws like the epic melodic guitar leads, but the songwriting was versatile and brutal enough, with distinct nods towards black-metal and thrash, to make STC sound quite original and genuinely anguished in a sea of often derivative neocrust. They are clearly metallic and crusty but cannot be described as a stenchcore revival band, although stenchcore fans are probably into STC and their music would not have been out of place on a 4-way split with Sanctum, Cancer Spreading and Warcollapse. 

When One More to the Gallows came out, I was surprised since the band had not released anything since 2006 and I basically thought they had split up. While the aforementioned Lp did not really win me over the two songs included on this split Ep - the last release of the band - were much better and more akin to what STC had achieved with their first records, an interesting blend of käng hardcore and old-school extreme metal. I read reviews describing STC as blackened crust and while it is not wrong from a literal perspective, I don't think it is relevant to associate their particular sound to what the term "blackened crust" has come to qualify. What makes STC stand out, beside their punishing black/thrash crust sound, is the unpredictability of the guitar riffs and the originality of the song structures. And in a subgenre that is more than crowded with average bands, and even though it would be far-fetched to claim they are reinventing hardcore or metal or whatever, to stand out even a little is not nothing. STC reminds me of bands like The Black Hand, Legion 666 or Order of the Vulture  - and early Martyrdöd of course, the most obvious name in that category - not because those bands sound alike - they share similarities but are not similar - but because they all, quite successfully so, blended hard-hitting raw hardcore punk with primitive extreme metal of the black, proto-death or thrash varieties. I guess that if you soak Warcollapse, Martyrdöd, early Sepultura and Sodom in a bathtub filled with 00's crust, you'd get something close to those two STC songs. Contrary to the previous clean-sounding Lp, the production on those works well, it sounds aggressive and powerful but keeps a certain rawness. 

This split Ep can be said to be a solid relevant pairing, not spectacular enough to be a crust classic but still something very much worth having in your collection, especially if you don't want to be suspected of being a poser. The artwork on the Ep was done by Mid, not exactly a surprise, with a gloomy drawing depicting crows - there had to be crows because of the Norwegians I guess - defending human skulls agains two tiny shagging flies nailed together and a massive one who appears to be sleeping. Of course I like it but would my mum hang it on her bedroom wall? Yes, exactly. On the backcover, there are more flies and bits of skulls with Mid's usual visual virtuosity. This split Ep was released on the Oslo-based label Nakkeskudd Platter, mostly active in the 00's. Kjetil from STC would later form the great Akrasia (who've already been included on this series) while Stig got to play in Knuste Ruter and Razorbats.    

     

Summon the stormcrows              

Live by the Crust, Die by the Crust (2012-2021): Ydintuho / Axebastard "Atomic Crust" split tape, 2012

We have been talking a lot about band names on Terminal Sound Nuisance and by that I mean that you have been reading, with faithful awe, what yours truly has to say about terminology. More often than not, I find myself caught in a maelstrom of semiological circumvolutions about dis-prefixed monikers and to be honest I really enjoy that. One of life's simple joys. The band that inspired me to write this short piece today is, rather expectedly if you have already bumped into the blog, even accidentally, because, as people say, shit happens and loneliness often induces longer hours spent before a screen, not that that implies you are lonely, but you might be in which case said piece will hopefully entertain you, Axebastard. If you know anything about crust, if you have at least some basic knowledge about this mighty wave, you will be bound to know why Axebastard are called Axebastard, the subjective (un)tastefulness of such a lexical choice not withstanding. The prefix "axe" for Axegrinder and the substantive "bastard" for Hellbastard. One may propound that they could have gone for Hellgrinder but I for one am of the opinion that Axebastard was the wisest, if you can call it that, option of the two since Hellgrinder, to my ears anyway, conjures up images of Metal Punk Death Squad action rather than stenchcore goodness. 

Atomic Crust is the title of this split tape just to remind you and make sure that you are well aware that, upon listening to the tape, you will very likely be exposed to crust music or affiliated. I actually hesitated before including the tape in Live by the Crust, Die by the Crust, not because it does not correspond aesthetically and artistically to the template of the series, quite the contrary, but because it was released physically in late 2012, the time limit of the selection, and both sides were recorded in 2010, which is outside of the limit. But I suppose rules are meant to be broken or as Abrasive Wheels used to sing "No rules is the first rule" so there you go: the 2012 split tape between two Finnish bands Axebastard and Ydintuho.

Before getting to the actual music, I have to admit that the choice to include this work had a lot to do with how the tape, the object looked, to be more accurate, it mostly had to do with how hyperbolically, emphatically and shamelessly CRUST it looked. It does not come with your usual cold jewel plastic case but with a foldout paper case enveloping the tape along with a separate lyric sheet. Like the vinyl or cd formats, it is not uncommon for DIY punk tapes to experiment with different sort of casing techniques, even if it makes the object more fragile and prone to tears, but still  in this case it looks absolutely brilliant. My detector measured significantly high levels of crustness just with the foldout paper and it almost exploded upon opening the thing. The artwork is saturated with crust signifying, naive and deliciously crude crasher-styled skulls with punk haircuts, war banners, empty bottles, more crusty skulls, some sort of orc, a Mad Max cosplayer with a dilapidated guitar, rows of sloppily drawn skulls, weapons from the Bronze Age, grim black and white pictures with slogans about the nuclear war and a crust skull with a circled A on the forehead. It is like a crust bingo or crust fan service and I, for one, actually really enjoy the band's intent to pay a tribute to the classic crust aesthetics while playing and having fun doing it. I mean, the tape is called Atomic Crust for a reason. Fucking lol, right?

So what about the music then? Technically the first side is Ydintuho, a band from Kuusamo that I had, for some reason, never heard of although they did a split Ep with Kilmä Sota in 2012. Oh well. Ydintuho have been running since at least 2008 and are apparently still active which is a testament to resiliency in an age when the average life expectancy of a band is 18 months, 2 albums, 1 tour and 186 instagram posts. The band proudly claims to play "raw punk deathstrike" and sensibly so. The tracks were recorded in 2010 (I think) so that they aptly represent what Ydintuho were about in their early stage. It won't take anyone by surprise to learn that these Finns engage in raw and distorted d-beat punk. I can hear a distinct Japanese noize crust influence, not unlike Contrast Attitude or D-Clone with vocals reminiscent of Atrocious Madness and a healthy passion for Disclose which they cover lovingly. At that point in time, there were certainly not as many bands going for that classic Japanese crasher noize hardcore in Europe (Giftgasattack comes to mind and a bit later Electric Funeral) so while Ydintuho did not invent that particular wheel, they undeniably prefigured the rapid spread of that noize-not-music niche genre worldwide, a modest achievement perhaps but one that is meaningful if you closely consider the evolution of trends, and they remain a rare Finnish example of the style. I had not played the Ydintuho side for a long while and was very pleasantly surprised. Give the rest of their records a try, they are very much worth the attention.   

On the other side are Axebastard, the crustier element of the tape. You won't need much imagination to make a guess at what those dirty punks were up to: apocalyptic and rocking raw stenchcore. You could diachronically locate the band in that post 00's stenchcore revival wave that saw the rise of European bands like Cancer Spreading or Last Legion Alive. Sadly the band did not play for long (between 2008 and 2011 I think) and while the rawness of the four songs on Atomic Crust can be rightly appreciated for their cavemen quality, I nonetheless would have loved to see what Axebastard could have achieved with a better production and a proper vinyl release. If you are looking for dirty stenchcore with mean gruff bearish vocals, rocking cavecrust moments interspersed by heavy filthy thrashy metallic breaks, then Axebastard are tailor-made for you. They are not unlike a primitive, preliterate crust-and-proud version of Hellshock and Stormcrow and I cannot help thinking about early Cancer Spreading too, a good thing since they have stood for the Euro stenchcore sound for all of the 2010's. I like how the band tried to use several type of vocals on the opening track, the rendering is not perfect but the idea is sound, and that sort of mid-paced d-beat drumming fits well here. The second number is a groovy Extinction of Mankind-influenced song with ace double bass drumming and expert headbanging power while the third track is a faster, more traditionally pummeling 90's cavemen crust headbutt and the final one is basically a blend of these elements with a gloriously filthy mid-tempo moshing stenchcore conclusion. Nothing ground-breaking but it does leave the listener waiting for more. I am personally curious about what Axebastard would have been able to achieve with a longer format in terms of cohesion, narration and atmosphere because these four songs work very well together. 

The Axebastard side was also recorded in 2010 and there is a rough 2008 rehearsal tape that you can download on their bandcamp entitled Post-Apocalyptic Visions of Darkness (just in case you were hesitant about the genre) that included a song called "Hellgrinder". Cheeky fuckers. I also found a file from 2009 that is supposedly a cdr demo with different and rawer versions (unmixed maybe?) of three songs on the tape and some visuals for the band and even a picture. This recording is nowhere to be found on soulseek so I included it in the download file, for posterity. Atomic Crust, in the end, can be said to be one for the crustiest crusters that I warmly recommend, if only for the fact that Axebastard is one of the very few Finnish stenchcore bands. That's trivia gold.

So let's axe the fucking bastard, shall we?

Atomic CRUST