Live by the Crust, Die by the Crust: Metachrist "Fall Into Bloody Carnage" Lp, 2021

Fan service has become a massive part of our overconsumption of cultural goods. You could say that fan service - by which I mean the tendency to create art intrinsically aimed at satisfying subculture junkies by using predictable and typical discursive elements meant to indulge specific never-ending cravings - plays an essential role in how we use the internet. You could argue that's what it is really for actually. Let's face it, after an alienating at work, during which you've taken as many toilet breaks as possible to avoid achieving your brainless tasks without looking suspiciously lazy or disgustingly sick - and thus undatable - one does not really dream of blasting an experimental jazzcore band or reading about Holocaust literature when getting home. You are looking for something that is sure to alleviate the existential pain and lovingly reflect your tastes, confirm that they are legitimate, that what you love, and by extension yourself, as we often over-identify ourselves, in an almost military fashion, with what we proudly and loyally love, is valid, loveable and worth loving. And not just because it is also loved by many others with a sort of communal drive, but because what you love is expressly created out of love for you and by those who love religiously the same thing and are looking to receive the same love they are giving you. Fuck me, that is a lot of love and I am starting to sound like an unctuous pop singer for senior citizens cruises. The orgy metaphor might have worked better.

Fan service can take all shapes. Niche cosplay done by overweight thirty-something with an excruciating attention to details that make NASA engineers look like teens with attention span deficiencies; doom-scroll elite makeup videos that will make you feel ugly and old the minute you turn off your phone; loquacious nutters who violate the sanctity of basic science claiming like you that the Earth is flat and that pineapples are actually a Jewish vaccine; message boards aimed at providing a space for record-collecting incels to argue harshly about the worth of the hottest new American hardcore bands or absolutely unoriginal just-like-Discharge d-beat bands that just put out a one-sided flexi which will feed your wildest fantasies. I have to say I am not insensitive to fan service and, to be quite honest, am a very easy target. Just form a band with a singer who can vaguely imitate 89' Doom's and you can easily blag a tenner from me and I will take any criticism of this trait of character as a disgraceful affront to my identity. Fan service is like homeopathy. It will neither solve the dull meaninglessness of your mundane existence where the most exotic thing you've done all week is going to the chip shop on a Tuesday night nor will it slow down your own inevitable mental decrepitude but it will comfort you and make you forget about the lifelock and what happens "after the gig". And about that time teenagers made fun of you for no reason (I guess?). Life really.    

But let's cut the crap and serve the fans. Metachrist is the ultimate crust fan service. I first came across the band while randomly losing my time on bandcamp drinking coffee in the harsh light of the early afternoon and bumped into the Final Bloody Master recording. I instantly woke up and proceeded to turn on my sleepy braincells. The influences of Metachrist were very obvious from the start in a heart-warming way. The music made me think, fondly, of someone owning a very similar record collection to mine exhibiting his or her most precious pieces like a kid displaying favourite toys (although in this case I really couldn't be bothered to pretend I care). Granted, the songs sounded a little rushed but I made a mental note to follow the band closely as it had a very promising potential. 

A mere two months later, a new demo was posted, this time entitled Banished to the Dark. Now that was surprising. Punks are not exactly known for their speediness but since it was as good as the first one, I shrugged off this peculiarity and decided that the songs had probably been recorded during the same session. And then a third demo, Conquered and Divided, came out just two months after. I was glad and excited, of course, and felt like a teen who just found a fiver on the street for the third consecutive time in just a week. Very lucky but still pretty uncanny. I started to worry that there could a crust band held in captivity somewhere in a Canadian studio, blackmailed into delivering old-school crust rippers. I cannot fathom what the object of such a treacherous plan could be, perhaps the evil mastermind behind the punknapping threatened them to rip apart all the patches from their jackets or divulge that one of them actually owned recent Mighty Mighty Bosstones records. I called Interpol but they unsurprisingly told me to piss off like that one time I called them because I thought I had lost my vintage SDS shirt. And then it hit me: Metachrist is a one-man solo project.

The band is the creation of an Ottawa punk, self-proclaimed metal-punk geek and part-time spandex model, who is involved with about a dozen such musical projects (yeah, really). The man can play all the instruments, which clearly helps, and set out to create an 80's styled metallic crust punk monster aimed at pleasing the most loyal fans. Needless to say that when a proper vinyl Lp came out in late 2021, I was about as hysterically excited and unbearable to be around as a man who just spotted the yeti. One-man projects are tricky. If you are doing something wrong and are having funny ideas that will eventually prove to be tasteless, no one is going to warn you that you are losing the plot and that playing the flute on a stenchcore song may not be a wise artistic choice. On the contrary, solo projects allow you to be in total control of the songs so that the work totally reflects the vision of the "artist". It is a double-edged sword and now that I think about it there are not many solo crust projects. There are d-beat ones but no old-school crust ones as far I know. 

As I mentioned, Metachrist (which I read as a nod, possibly unintentional, to Nausea's "Cyber God") can be defined as an absolute fan service session  or, as the creator calls it, "crust porn" but I am too much of a prude to think of it that way. The first thing that strikes the listener upon hearing Fall Into Blood Carnage is how epic it sounds. From the typical synth moments to the emphatic victorious thrashing heavy metal transitions and the dark filthy riffs, you are in head-banging heaven and it makes the album a very, very fun listen. In fact, it is the most fun, in a way that is both serious and cheeky, crust recording of the past ten years. The nods, the exaggerated tribute, the hyperbolic referentiality are so obvious, self-conscious, proudly worn that the music turns into a warm and loving, respectful homage to all the greats. Bitter bastards might call it predictable or even corny and sentimental, but for its affirmation of classic UK crust music, I think that it is a beautiful tribute. It is like a crust cover band but with its own songs, if you know what I mean. The other strength of the Lp is that, even if you are not that familiar with the crust canon, its energy, passion and overall punk triumphant catchiness make it easy to relate to and I believe old-school metal fans would dig it as well.

So let's take a look at some songs. The introduction is basically a synth-driven eerie reworking of a tune from The Mob and the first number, one of my favourite, is a wonderful Amebix/Axegrinder type anthem with dark chorus that remind me of Coitus; "No horizon" is a full-on Cimex-ified fast and glorious Onslaught-like metal punk song; "Dominion soaked in blood" has one of the cheesiest, most epic introduction to a crust song I have ever heard, we're almost in heavy metal territory, though the core of the song is delicious late-Antisect-snogging-Amebix worship; "Erected in your death" takes us a back with a bang to the best of the crusty UK crossover sound like English Dogs and Sacrilege. And that is just the first side, I could go on since Fall Into Bloody Carnage is a proper full length album that takes its sweet time to tell the great story of crust. It is like Where's Wally? with the beloved vintage British bands. If you are looking for innovative crust music, Metachrist will not be for you, however if you are in need of a perfect tribute structured around a knowledgeable template, it is tailor-made. In the end Metachrist is metacrust and the unintentional paronomasia is revealing. It is crust music about crust music, it says something about the genre itself, with ease and seamlessly, like a mise en abyme. It is fan service as much as it is genre service in some respect. And it bloody rocks. 

The album was a pain in the arse to get in Europe but it was worth it (my banker would possibly disagree with that). The album is everything you can expect from the genre and you are treated to two posters. It was released on a Florida-based label called Hamask records that deals in old-school metal.

Play loud and enjoy the fun.

Fall Into Crusty Carnage          

            

Live by the Crust, Die by the Crust: Horrendous 3D "The Gov. and Corps. are using Psycho​-​electronic Weaponry to Manipulate you and me​..." Ep, 2021

Contrary to the latest entries of Live by the Crust, Die by the Crust, this Ep actually got some publicity when it came out last year. A part of me would malevolently enjoy suggesting that this - necessarily undeserved - attention has to do with the town of origin of Horrendous 3D, Portland, but that would just be embarrassingly envious ravings as the band's Ep is objectively one of the best crust Ep's of the 2020's, which is not that much of a feat considering we are only in 2022 but it is nonetheless still something I would take any day with my band. I remember being rather jealous of PDX bands in the early/mid 00's and would often claim that, had they not been from this glorious hardcore punk town that had been consistently delivering quality bands since the 1980's, people would not care as much for them and maybe, instead, would give some attention to my own band, which was itself a rather poor attempt at sounding like a PDX band that was not fooling anyone really, apart from our own selves. Our high point as a band was to empty three venues in a row. And effortlessly too. Here's talent for you.

So H3D - the acronym looks like the name of a Star Wars robot droid - did get some attention and even got reviewed. I noticed at least three proper reviews of the geezer from people who do not exactly seem to be your crasher crust deviants. I suppose that the record being released on Frank's (from the brilliant Lebenden Toten and my beloved Atrocious Madness) excellent label Whisper in Darkness did help H3D getting noticed but it is also, and primarily in fact, a strong Ep in its own right so that the attention is not unwarranted (like I feel it is sometimes for bands boasting long "ex-member lists"). What really surprised me is that even people who would not be caught dead holding a Sore Throat did buy the record. Don't get me wrong, these people are not prejudiced against crust punks. They will insist that they had a crust punk friend at school (that one of their cousins inexplicably ran out with one night never to be heard of again) and own a copy of Police Bastard although they just can't find it right now. Unexpected but nonetheless pleasant as it did briefly validate my tastes. Needless to say that they probably played H3D once and fucked off listening to trendy postpunk right away.

At first, the moniker perplexed me a little, especially since I am pretty big on Sweden's "just like" d-beat band Horrendous. I suppose the addition of "3D" does reinforce the atmosphere of paranoia, mind manipulation and lsd that is also conveyed by the astonishing artwork so I got used to it in the end, and, at least, they did not go for a Disclose song and it makes the name easy to remember. H3D are fresh blood as well and judging from a video, none of them seems to have a bad back, so they may even be relatively young by 2020's punk standards. The band released a demo in 2019 that I genuinely enjoyed and, while it would a bit of an overstatement to say that I was anxiously waiting for a piece of vinyl, I was still sufficiently impressed to keep a close eye on the situation in PDX, like a majestic friendly but still awe-inspiring (vegan) eagle hovering over the world crustness. Or something. What I particularly related to was the band's ability to blend the classic and emphatic Kyushu noiziness with the insane song structures and drumming of 90's Japanese crasher crust and the traditional old-school UK cavemen crust sound, while still keeping with a local tradition represented by the aforementioned Lebenden Toten and Atrocious Madness. Too many bands spend hours fiddling with their pedals and their textures and tend to forget to actually write actual songs. If you listen closely to Gloom or Collapse Society, you will notice that there is some genuine songwriting taking place and I feel that H3D (and bands like Fragment or Avvikelsse to name a few other) manage to balance a deliciously distorted, madness-inducing sound with actual songwriting.

With a title that is longer that an early Proust sentence and is basically a paraphrase of big data, The Gov. does more than just offer a better recorded version of the H3D style, since the Ep tells you a whole story thanks to the change of paces (the band jumps from sludge-like stenchcore to relentless crasher käng moments and late Confuse noize), the versatile drumming, unexpected brilliant transitions, demented solos and psychedelic noisepunk bits. It's more than just four random songs assembled together, it is a seven-minute long crust story that is being told and that is exactly what makes the Ep memorable. There is a hidden level of referentiality in H3D's music as well. Beside the obvious influences, some Easter Eggs are included in some songs that you can only notice if you majored in Doom Studies. At some point in "Option?" the relentlessly pummeling music stops and then a über-distorted noize crust version of Doom's opening to their cover of Sabbath's "Symptoms of the universe", only present of a Peel Session, kicks in before the singer growls a couple of words and the battering continues. Similarly, the closing song of their demo "A claw reaches out from the abyss" uses a techno sample that was also used by Doom on The Greatest Invention Lp as an introduction to their opening song "Happy pill". Of course, you do not need to get the references encoded into the music to enjoy H3D's relentless noise crust bollocking but I like to think that these hidden nods are multilayered: first, a way to profess their love for classic Doom, their connection with Doom-loving bands who also use such references (the previously reviewed Napalm Raid's Lp comes to mind, especially they worked on the same bit of Doom legacy), and their love for people who live for that type of nerdy Doom references. That's a lot of love for the initiated. 

It is an ace Ep and it sounds massive and crushing, blown out but absolutely relentless. Imagine D-Clone and Defector getting wankered on the shrooms provided by Total Noise Accord at a Doom conference organized by Sarcasm and taking place at the PDX headquarters of Crust War Records and chatting about dementia and mass manipulation at the age of big data. This love for crust psychedelia is also reflected in the paranoia-inducing lyrics and the short text (probably an extract or a summary from a longer one) about big data and algorithmic control. The artwork of The Gov. Ep is a bit of a Marmite deal. You either love it or hate it. I have read people comparing it to the mid/late 80's Bluurg records visuals (he probably had Open Mind Surgery and some Culture Shock and AOS3 tapes in mind) and it was not done as a compliment. I personally do not dislike it, it does have a messy, teeming retro look (a bit Oi Polloi-ish I feel), not unlike a lot of 90's crust records (the circled A and E as well as the celtic knots, poorly drawn skulls and an oddly proportioned dove are here to remind you of that legacy) generally unhindered by good taste. I suppose the cover is also meant to illustrate the dementia and chaos inherent in modern postindustrial societies. There is a poster included too, another great initiative reminiscent of the heyday of generic yet lovable anarcho-crust, that is equally as brimming with punk as fuck cartoons and clearer in term of symbolism. A man with the lower part of the body missing (pulled apart we're led to believe) is surrounded by chaos, death and overall nastiness but he does not realize it since he has some sort of virtual reality helmet on that makes him see an idealized peaceful city instead of the grim reality. Dystopian stuff. Although if such a technological device would allow me to watch an 1986 Antisect gig as if I were actually there, would I take it? Would you? 

This is one of the best Ep's in the distorted crasher crust department of the past few years so if you can get a copy, do not hesitate. 

   

War is Horrendous 3D                  

Live by the Crust, Die by the Crust (2012-2021): Yuppie Gore Filth "...+ The End" demo tape, 2021

It is often said that subcultural dynamics are cyclical in nature. I guess bitter bastards would say that is just a fancy term for going around in circles but you get the idea. This is just as valid applied to high street fashion (you know, that thing that will be burning during the coming anarchist revolution and shit) as the recent dramatic increase in twats wearing Fila trainers attests as it is for punk-rock (still pretty much a Fila-free haven). Once new and exciting punk innovations - amazing and inspiring music like käng or crust and other much more distressing ones that are better left unmentioned - have turned into proper subgenres. This process implies that, through their sphere of influence and because of the strong desire to emulate, they become solidified and codified, the initial newness generally giving way for replications and adjustments. Or even blatant resurrections, out of nowhere, so to speak, wherever nowhere is located at a given time, as the French oi revival proves. Fuck me. Who could have predicted that one? 

The issue of cyclical trends (or "cyclicality of subcultural dynamics" if you studied sociology in college and need to feel smart) has been a major one in the punk scene. Many people, once very active, moved on and left the scene because of punk's creative stagnation and craving to emulate past trends. And fair enough. On the one hand, it can be disheartening to see punks still doing Discharge cosplay in 2022. On the other, it can signify a genuine subcultural practice and identity. On a meta level, trend revivals could be approached through the prism of survivance and liveliness. Retelling the same stories has a certain consolidating quality. It is a cultural validation. Whether it is a validation of punk's fear to innovate and thus of its imminent irrelevance or a validation of its undying pride in and renewal of its fundamentals is a matter of perspective and of how much a bitter bastard you really are. It's probably both, really. It can give birth to sterile bands just as much as class acts. Whether Yuppie Gore Filth belongs to the first or the second category is up to you. But if there is one thing everyone can agree on it is that YGF are fun.

YGF are extremely unoriginal. YGF are also very original. They are to Electro Hippies what Disturd are to Antisect. And how many hyperbolic Electro Hippies-loving bands can you name? Exactly. And I love EH. I remember getting the Peaceville digipack reissue in the early noughties because I loved the Spanish Revolution reference on the cover - and therefore thought the band would probably sound like Sin Dios - and because it was called The Only Good Punk, which proved to be quite the premonition in my case. What's not to love in EH? They play blinding fast mid-80's anarcho hardcore punk with a distinct UK vibe and a metallic influence, not to mention that their lyrics are both political and sarcastic. They were never technically a crust band - although later versions of songs like "Acid rain", "Terror eyes" or "Unity" did have that UK stenchcore vibe - but the crossover tag is somehow pertinent. I have to admit that I have always disliked the term "crossover" primarily because of its heavy American hardcore origin (it was coined by DRI after all and as everyone knows "DIY not DRI") but EH can be part of a reasonable conversation about DRI, Siege or Septic Death, in spite of their distinct British sound, as well as one about Deviated Instinct or Hellbastard, in spite of a significant US influence. 

But let's get back to the pith of the business and to Yuppie Gore Filth (a name that sounds like a Sore Throat song). As a band emulating EH, can they be said to belong to the recent crossover trend? Bands connected to in vogue labels like Quality Control or Sorry State, acts like Scalple, Tempter, Tower 7 (those two are really good) or Mere Mortal have been resurrecting that crossover sound that was rather unfashionable not so long ago judging by the low amount of Suicidal Tendencies and Corrosion of Conformity shirts and bandanas at gigs. Those bands do not sound alike, truth be told, and the degree of speed, metallic crunch and constipated tough guy impersonations does vary. Because of the insularity, Japanese punks tend to have their own trends and dynamics so I would argue that, if YGF's music could sonically fit with a contemporary "crossover trend" - the term "revival" would be too much of a stretch given the marginal, if significant, number of bands involved - it is more by chance than by design. Something in the water maybe.

YGF started around 2020 in Osaka, a town renowned for its many quality punk noise units. As you would expect from punk's incestuousness, members of YGF are not young'uns - the live videos suggest they are not part of Osaka's old guard either - as they play or played in bands like the top notch all-female gruff crust band Defuse (for drummer Hisako), the ferocious anarchocrusters Avvikelsse, one of the bands I was too hungover to properly pay attention to but sort of sounded like traditional Japanese hardcore Rigid, a band I have never heard of Trans and even Osaka's undisputed noise crust champions Zyanose. However, YGF do not try to sound like any of those as they firmly intend to build on raw UK-styled 80's fast crossover stench hardcore which, as an elite-level nerd obsessed with 80's UK punk, speaks to me on a pretty profound level. As mentioned, Electro Hippies are at the head of the table but they also gladly invited Notts heroes Heresy and Concrete Sox as well as Ripcord and Scum-era Napalm Death (the cavemen voice of the second vocalist does convey a grinding crust feel). I was never scholarly trained in crossover hardcore and apart from the crustier-sounding British bands that stemmed from the buoyant DIY hardcore and anarcho punk scene but were equally influenced with the fastest US hardcore bands and thrash metal, I don't know that much about worldwide 80's crossoverness so that there could be more adequate comparisons (SOB? DRI? COF? other acronyms?). Feel free to pontificate.

          

Apparently, YGF claim to play "filthy crusty stench speedcore" which sums it all appropriately and with all the class one would expect from an Osaka crust punk band. The tape has six songs, two of which are merely 5 seconds-long short blasts of hardcore noise - like Electro Hippies, Napalm Death or Sore Throat used to do. The first five tracks were recorded in late January and early February 2020 while the final song "The end" was recorded in November of the same year along with three other songs, each of them appearing separately on the three other versions of the demo tape. My copy is the white version released on the Dis-obsessed Deleted Records from Malaysia has "The end" (like the red version) while the UK version on PMT (a good London-based tape label) has "Anihilation" and the brown Japanese version on Armed With a Mind has "Life". Cheeky bastards. 

This is not the best demo tape of the year but it is certainly one of the "freshest" in my book. Some crusty crossover anyone?    

Yuppie Gore Filth