An adventure in split Ep's! I have no gun but I can split: PISSCHRÏST / FRAMTID "Hardcore Detonation Attack" split Ep, 2009

This will be the last Ep from the 00's to be included in this series which you hopefully enjoy, at least enough to warrant a decent read while on the toilet. Since I haven't decided on the - certainly smaller - selection for the following decade (the dreaded 10's) there will be some wait before the next installment, especially since I am fucking off on tour in April. Yes, I am THAT cool a punk.

Let's end the transitional era of the 00's with something of a classic record from 2009: the Hardcore Detonation Attack split Ep between Melbourne's Pisschrïst and Osaka's Framtid, two rather well-known and respected bands that I haven't covered yet (beside a short paragraph about the latter for their inclusion on the Chaos of Destruction 2 compilation). How long do you have to wait to be officially crowned as a "classic hardcore record" by the Higher Punk Council? It is difficult to say and it really depends on what you mean with "classic". Timelessness is very often narrowly construed and distorted in order to make a work of art somehow fit in and yet transcend at the same time a mythical and mystical post-chronological "time". The notion of a "timeless classic" is therefore meaningless and, more dangerous, it can deprive a work of its meaning (I suppose "time-free" would be more correct albeit as pointless). What we need to think about are classics that are inherently rooted in proper time and space not in an abstract dimension. Does such intellectual brilliance on my part keep people from claiming online that their favourite record of the month is a "classic"? No but it should. Wankers.

Because of its relevance in terms of what used to be before, what was at the time and what would come after, I think this record is indeed a 00's Swedish-styled hardcore classic. Is 15 years a long enough period to be able to look back peacefully at a punk record? Probably and for the sake of this review, let's at least pretend it is. It's certainly been a long enough for me to lose a decent part of my once chivalrous hair.

This Ep was Pisschrïst's last record. The band was a pretty big deal at the time and if I unfortunately never got to see them live (despite two European tours), the reports were unanimous: they were an absolute powerhouse. But I have to admit their records did not totally win me over back then, even though they were getting some airplay and, on a strictly philosophical level, I understood the band's appeal. I mean, they played intense and hard-hitting käng with gruff vocals and a rocking side and their prolificacy reflected their staunch determination: one demo, two albums and five Ep's (three of them splits with Appäratus, Kvoteringen and of course Framtid) between 2004 and 2010. Talking with my wonderful partner about the band's legacy and the reasons why they were so beloved then she pointed out that, at the time, few bands outside Sweden, or to a lesser extent to a then more obscure Japan, played that kind of relentless high-energy riff-driven epic Swedish hardcore with crazy tempos changes. You had of course quite a few bands doing the Wolfpack/Wolfbrigade heavy metallic hardcore thing (like Guided Cradle for instance) but Pisschrïst were different and relied more on the great riff tradition of Totalitär and the relentlessness of Framtid and there just wasn't many bands around at the time that were influenced by those schools of käng. You have to look at Pisschrïst from the 00's perspective to understand their appeal. Nowadays, there are many bands working with the same main ingredients, namely Totalitär-like hardcore and Framtid's take on käng, but not at the time. 

And let's not forget that they were from Melbourne and we did not (or at least I didn't) know that many Australian bands (beside Schifosi, The Collapse and ABC Weapons, a band that had Tim and Yeap from Pisschrïst) but you could sense that something was happening and the band quickly became the embodiment of that new Distort Melbourne scene whose legacy is still going strong today. Talk about a significant band. In addition, Yeap had lyrics in English but also in Malay which was something of a novelty and a breath of fresh air as well. He used to play in Mass Separation back in Malaysia and they did have lyrics in Malay but their popularity was mostly circumscribed to the grindcore scene (I could be wrong though, they did have a split with Kontrovers after all, so it could be relative). The status of Pisschrïst was bigger, they had records on Yellow Dog, then an important label. They also allowed people to discover Appäratus through a split Ep - these days a fairly established scandicore band but back then an unknown Kuala Lumpur act - and by extension it made me curious and drove me to investigate further the great noize that was being made in places like Malaysia, Indonesia or Singapore in the 00's. So on the whole, I think that is what makes Pisschrïst a "classic band". It was not just the music. 

The three songs on this Ep are, by far, my favourite. The band sounds absolutely unstoppable and relentless here and never has their dynamite blend of Totalitär and Framtid sounded so ferocious. The production is rawer, closer to what noizy Osaka bands thrived on, and really highlights the drummer's frantic style full of rolls and crazy changes and the raging vocals. This is close to perfection and one can only imagine how insane a full album of Pisschrïst with that particular production would have sounded like. After the band folded, Yeap would keep playing in solid noizy bands like Krömozom, Nuclear Sex Addict or the well-respected and very active Enzyme and started to run the very good label Hardcore Victim. A busy man. As for Tim he played in the Aussie version of Nuclear Death Terror, ExtinctExist and Jalang.

On the other side of the split, you've got three songs from the almighty supreme Framtid, a band that has, without a shadow of a doubt, earned its reputation as a "classic band" in every sense of the word. The band is rightly revered and their name almost always accompanied by such adjectives as "intense", "furious" and "deafening". To be able to witness Framtid perform live with their customary ferocity can be considered as one of the five Pillars of the Punk Religion, an obligatory acts of worship for proper believers. 

It is fair to say that the band's popularity and mystique grew with time because more and more people got access to their music and because of their impressive longevity given the genre they have been engaging in since 1997. I first came across them sometime around 2005 thanks to a mate of mine who burnt a cd including several bands I was looking for on it, among which he added Framtid's Under the Ashes (there was still space on the cdr and I suppose he just added the thing thinking it could do no wrong). For some reason, the band did not leave too much of an impression on me at that time, by no means did they sound unpleasing but I think I just liked the other bands on the cd better (as I remember there might have been Hellshock's Shadows of the Afterworld on it which, at the time, was unchallengeable anyway). Beside Framtid were at the very end of a cd that was already packed with hard-hitting stuff and the position does affect a first listen's appreciation. I should also point out that I was not really that much into Japanese hardcore bands in the 00's and mostly indulged in their brand of metal crust more than anything. I missed the first train on this one.

Basically it took a good few years for me to really get and more accurately feel what Framtid were trying to create through maximizing and magnifying the hardest brand of käng in order to turn it into a real native Osaka style: the crasher käng transformation. Yes I have just made it up. But still, it's precisely what Framtid achieved through the use of several elements: the - now iconic - insane and thunderous hectic drumming (curtesy of Takayama who also played in Zoe) in order to amplify the songs' savagery, the trademark Osaka crust guitar distortion of Jackie (from the fantastic Crust War label) and hyperbolic gruff but highly antagonistic vocals. When first confronted with the Framtid's sound, one is quick to think that this is a pummeling hardcore chaos (not a bad thing at all in itself) but it is deceptive because closer attention reveals how in control of this chaos the band is. Their real achievement may lie in this fruitful paradox: they are masters of chaos always on the brink of being overtaken, they occupy that liminal space that makes them so impressive .

Framtid have alway claimed that 80' Swedish bands like Bombanfall, Sound of Disaster, Crude SS and of course Svart Parad (they picked their moniker from a Svart Parad's song, although they did not that framtid means "future" in English, which is lucky, it could have meant "hangover" or something) and this primitive, if not primal, cave käng sound is the basis but as I said they infused it with the Gloom Osaka dementia to create a unique wild untamable beast. The three songs included on the split are classic Framtid, recognizable in a heartbeat. The production may not be as insanely heavy and devastating as on Under the Ashes but it confers a rawer edge which suits the genre and the Ep format. One of the best hardcore band of their generation, no question about it.

This is a great split released on HG Fact with brilliant artwork on both sides, just a great moment of punk music. The title Hardcore Detonation Attack is fitting indeed. 

Hardcore detonation attack!!!

Live by the Crust, Die by the Crust: ExtinctExist "Cursed Earth" Lp, 2016

I don't know if you have noticed but the end is nigh. The last summer in Paris was excruciatingly hot and, as we don't love anything quite as much as endlessly complain, you can imagine that the whole outraged nation engaged in a whining marathon with some people being sincerely scandalized that climate change would affect a people as civilised and clever as us. So while temperatures escalated deliriously, which was not that pleasant indeed as I had to shower a bit, we had the perfect excuse for some intense complaining sessions and generally acting like insufferable bastards which even the most ardent dullards took part in. You have to make the most of every situations, don't you? 

I am not too bad with heat if I'm being honest. Of course, I insist on complaining as much as humanly possible but I can deal with intense heat. Last year was harsh though as the sun even melted the constellations of dog turds that grace every Parisian streets and you must know that those are particularly tough shits. Who said romance was dead? Usually the coming of summer always signals the arrival of large amounts of blokeish wankers on the streets, too keen on exhibiting chest hair and fond of cat whistling and honking, the sort of elite twats who seem to think that excessive hair gel and pungent perfume are somewhat going to get them laid. Last year though, there were fewer of them because the heat made behaving like an obnoxious pig much harder, which was something of a relief for the local skirt-wearing population and for common decency altogether. So you see, the end of the world also has a good side to it. Besides, who really needs trees? Sure, they come handy when you really need a wee and your bandmates won't stop the van because you, supposedly, should not have drunk all those beers, especially since we are still four hours away from the venue. But they make really convincing plastic ones these days.

But let's get a little serious here because today we are dealing with a very serious band indeed: ExtinctExist. I am a pretty serious fellow myself and I agree that the self-destructive Anthropocene, fueled by capitalism, predatory postcolonial economic strategies, the overproduction of goods doomed to obsolescence and first-world brainless overconsumption is probably not an ideal situation as it might take everyone and everything along in its collapse but not before we slowly choked on our own pollution. But hey, we still have Netflix and social media, which, I'd like to remind you, still are the best way to determine your position on the sexual marketplace and loathe people who have dismal profile and blurry pictures of disturbingly ugly children. So that's still something. But I am happy that there are bands like ExtinctExist who see music (and solid hardcore punk music in this case) as a medium to talk about crucial ecological issues in creative ways. It is still a punk-rock record and not a political rally so it's not like you are going to join the struggle after the last song (especially since it ends on a very gloomy atmospheric note) but still, as thoroughly enjoyable as I find some of the metatextual, overly referential, metacrust bands, I also love politically motivated crust bands and I think both are necessary for a healthy scene and my own well-being (I had to sell my crystal collection a long time ago).  

So what do we have here? EE are from Melbourne and if you have been following what has been going on in this part of the world during the past decade, you'll know there have been a lot of good bands there like Enzyme, Lai/Jalang, Execution, Sistema En Decadencia, Scab Eater and so on. The members of EE are not exactly newcomers to "da punk scene" as Danish singer Jeppe used to play in Nuclear Death Terror and the magnificent Uro; drummer Tim also plays in Jalang and used to be part of neocrust act Schifosi (they were one of the good ones to be fair); bass player Erle was involved in bands I have no clue about and guitar player Ramez purveyed riffs in the oft overlooked Drunkard (not the best name arguably). And this wealth of experience does shine through as Cursed Earth is a really tight album with a massive sound. There is no room for sloppiness. It is not overproduced but it is clear that the band wanted the work to be relentlessly heavy and dark (I love how punishing the drums sound). 

Yeah, someone sat on my copy

EE play crust metal but cannot be said to fall entirely under the stenchcore umbrella as you won't find the strict typical stench mimics here (let's say if EE were a person you would fit half of the body under said umbrella). Instead you are offered a beefy blend of furious scandicrust and thrashy death metal. Conceptually, they are not quite unlike Agnosy actually when I think of it, metal crust but not stenchcore. At their dis-crustiest, the band definitely brings to mind Nuclear Death Terror as well as that brand of mid-00's American crustcore, like a darker, more metallic version of Another Oppressive System or Consume and epic European bands like Cop On Fire. When they go metal, in addition to vintage mean death-metal, I can hear distinct nods to old-school crust acts like Hellshock and Extinction of Mankind, which all in all is more than enough to get a good grade on my homemade crust detector. This Lp stands as one of the most convincing examples of anarcho scandi metal-crust around. 

Cursed Earth is an album that packs a serious punch and grows on you. I am not always a sucker for this kind of production in my crust (too clean at times) but it works well here and I enjoy the different changes of pace, influences and moods displayed by the band which allow them to tell a good story (EE clearly wants to convey a sense of storytelling with this album). This Lp has a lot of power and an epic quality, just listen to how "Scourge Amazonia" kicks in and tell me you don't want to go feral, paint your face green and tie yourself to a tree in an endangered rain forrest (pack some mosquito spray if you are actually going to do that). The lyrics deal with Fukushima, the Plague, the pagan relation to nature and life, the ecological damage that meat-eating implies for Amazonia and other such joyful topics. The lyrics are well-written and, if they all deal with natural abuse, rather diverse. Each song (almost poems at times) comes with a text in prose illustrating the issue at stake in a literary fashion which is a good idea and both formats do complement each other. The explanatory text to "Scourge Amazonie" tells of a fancy Parisian restaurant where toffs have pricy steaks which made me giggle a bit. 

The Lp comes with a thick booklet, the old-school way, and overall the finely crafted artwork reflects what the band is about. The Lp was recorded in 2014 but only came out in 2016 on the always reliable Ruin Nation Records. You can still find this one so you know what to do and support the scene.

Cursed Existence  

"Chaos of Destruction 2" 2xLp, 2000

Context is everything.

It always amazes me how the meaning of a same word can change throughout the years. In fact, 10 years is now more than enough to alter the implications of a particular term. It is not always for the worst actually as I am not one to mourn for any supposedly lost purity that never was in the first place. Sometimes, the meaning and the concept itself can be expanded meaningfully and tastefully, and 90's crust was a good example of such a phenomenon. On the other hand, the meaning can also be diluted into irrelevance and laziness, or it can become an awkward blueprint that focuses solely on the outcome and never on the actual creative process, dismissing the context that allowed both. So, what does one think about in 2016 when reading the adjective "raw" applied to "hardcore" (well "hard core" actually) on the cover of a new record? He or she will irremediably expect modern "raw punk", in other terms bands trying to recreate the direct and raw sound of 80's hardcore punk bands, usually through the addition of effects that will make the music purposefully dirty. Usually these newer bands know how to play and master what they are doing, "raw punk" is just another genre to play and "raw" one of its prerequisite. As a recent creation, "raw punk" retroactively includes bands as diverse as Wretched, Anti-Cimex or RIP precisely through the "raw" prism (a move that also speaks volume about the polished sound of "modern hardcore" that a lot of people listened to before). Of course, there always was punk music that was raw. But there wasn't always "raw punk".

All this to say that, even though "Chaos of destruction 2" does indeed claim to be a "raw hardcore compilation", it is very different from what we understand as "raw punk" nowadays. In the case of this compilation, "raw hardcore" is purely descriptive: the bands play hardcore punk music - in the broad sense of the term - and the sound is raw. Had it been released today, "raw hardcore" would have been indicative of a structured genre much more than of a sound and a way of playing punk. Words are tricky things.

"Chaos of Destruction 2" was co-released in 2000 by Dan-Doh Records, a Kochi-city-based hardcore label that has been delivering quality Japanese punk music for twenty years (Disclose, Insane Youth, AGE...) and Chaos of Destruction, a small label that was run by none other than Kawakami which makes this compilation very interesting (after all, he pioneered the concept of "D-beat raw punk"). Kawakami was the one who compiled and produced the two "Chaos of Destruction" compilations and as everyone knows, the geezer had a good ear for raw punk music so it is a safe bet to assume that they reflected his tastes and his vision of what "raw hardcore" meant. In our decade marked by very high levels of (often half-digested) referentiality, trend-following and calculated genericness, the relative diversity, the open-mindedness and the obvious passion and genuine love for punk that permeate the compilation is refreshing. Of course, we are in the realms of hard-hitting punk music so don't expect anything melodic here, but still, there is no denying that bands like Xaotiko Telos, Dios Hastio or Framtid sound very different from one another. "Chaos of Destruction 2" gathers hardcore bands with a raw sound, not "raw punk bands". And I like it. The compilation sounds unpretentious and it is a proper celebration of punk-rock. It doesn't try to look punk, it just is. Here is what Kawakami enthusiastically had to say about the making of "Chaos of Destruction 2": "All the bands are great. Although their sound style is same Crust/UK HC noise, there are some difference between each band's expression, so you will enjoy all of them."

While the first volume of "Chaos of Destruction" from 1997 only included Japanese bands (it was a freakish 3xLp compilation...), the second one is firmly rooted in the international punk scene, just like "Whispers" and "Iron Columns", which, in addition to its variety, gives it a real 90's DIY feel. It is obvious that Kawakami strongly believed in the internationalist nature of punk as the numerous splits Disclose did with foreign bands can attest. The object looks great, the punk as fuck cover was drawn by a Brazilian bloke while the backcover was done by Jacky Crust War. The cover is made up of a huge gatefold poster with artwork and lyrics from all the bands. There are some rather famous names here next to very obscure bands, united in an unabated and shameless true love for noisy and fast punk music. 22 bands for 45 songs.

- AGE: what could be better than open "Chaos of Destruction" with some proper CRUST? Nothing, of course. I absolutely love AGE's 90's records ("Inside darkness" and "Exploding insanity" are old favourites at the TSN headquarters) which rate as some of best crust music Japan has ever produced. "Insolent Japan" is an early AGE song recorded in 1997 and embodies everything that is good about proper crust: heavy, groovy and dirty. The song is deliciously metallic with a crunchy guitar sound and top bass lines, very reminiscent of Antisect, SDS and even Sacrilege. There is a deceptive, flowing simplicity in the songwriting that is often the sign of genuinely good crust. A band that will eventually be back here. Top shelf.

- Neurose Urbana: raw. This is raw. Very raw. Not in a calculated way, not as a fashion statement, no "let's press quickly our demo tape onto a limited Ep" bollocks. Neurose Urbana were a Brazilian duo playing 80's-flavoured hardcore punk influenced by the Brazilian and Swedish schools. I am aware that the term has become pretty meaningless but this is the real deal. Sloppy, brutal and pummeling fast punk music with super aggressive reverb vocals reminiscent of this raw Brazilian sound of bands like Ulster, SP Caos or Kaos 64. The three songs were recorded in early 1997 and the band also released three Ep's in the early 00's. "We are punx, chaotics and anti-fascist. We speak about punk, chaos and urban neurosis. Viva o punk, viva o chaos". Did I mention this was raw?

- Cluster Bomb Unit: an early song from 1994 by the mighty Cluster Bomb Unit that is here to remind you how to play energetic, fuzzy, distorted punk music. CBU's music certainly became more refined throughout the years but this song is just a wall of Scandi drum beats and Japanese-styled distortion captured through a cheap tape recorder. Absolutely brilliant.

- Hell On Earth: more sloppy and raw Scandinavian hardcore music, this time from Bratislava. The three songs have an urgent and direct feel that cannot be faked. They were recorded in 1997 "in 30 minutes high on weed, lyrix are in Slovak so don't try to singalong kids!". Sounds like a jam between Avskum and Shitlickers.

- Χαοτικό Τέλος: although it does not show in his music, Kawakami must have loved good crust. At least, he certainly knew quality crust when he heard some. Were Χαοτικό Τέλος the best European crust bands of the 90's? This is a bold statement but one that I tend to agree with. Their "Πέρα Από-Τα Τείχη Της Σιωπής" demo from 1991 is probably the best work of synth-driven crust I have heard (truth be told, you do have to love epic and dramatic synthesizer to get into it) and their "Μπροστά Στην Παράνοια" Lp from 1993 is a flawless blend of mid-paced UK crust à la Axegrinder and Amebix, Hiatus/Doom-type crust and Antisect/Anti-System-anarchopunk, seasoned with that specifically Greek dark sound and epic songwriting. A band that truly worked on the classic bands to shape a sound and world of their own. "Fugitives of silence" must have been recorded in the mid-90's and is a bouncy fast crust number with appropriately heavy and groovy Frosty breaks. Winner.

- Katastrofialue: sounds like an evil dogfight. Noise-infused rabid and mean Finnish hardcore, like Kaaos getting drunk with Gai and Bathory. The music is very chaotic, distorted and bass-driven and the energy is certainly not lost. The singer really sounds like he is barking though. This is ripping and intense but slightly exhausting and I don't think I could listen to a whole Lp of Katastrofialue. Actual noise not music.

- Ability: a band I know virtually nothing about. Ability were from Japan and deliver distorted D-Beat punk music with a distinct Japanese noisepunk feel (especially with the very loud and thick bass sound and the triumphant riffs), somewhere between Disclose and State Children or something, although they are not quite heavy enough to fall under the crasher-crust umbrella. These two songs are their only recordings says Discogs.

- Holocrust: cavemen crust at its best but the name gives it away. Seriously. This would be the perfect soundtrack for a neanderthal wedding party. Absolute Swedish crustcore with over-the-top dual gruff vocals and this relentless vibe that is so characteristic of 90's crust. It sounds like a sloppy, archaic version of Warcollapse and actually the two bands had members in common (Jalle from Warcollapse drummed for them and recorded the songs as well). The two songs were recorded in 1996 and were meant to appear on an Ep (Holocrust intel). I don't like it: I love it.  

- Agathocles: yes, Agathocles, not in their usual mincecore mood but having a go at Discharge-influenced, Scandi-flavoured hardcore punk. The sound is very rough and it is sometimes a little difficult to understand what is actually happening. You wanted raw, well there you go! The three songs were recorded in 1994 in Barcelona at the Violent Headache's headquarters and point to a period when grindcore was definitely punkier.

- Squandered: the follow-up to Cracked Cop Skulls. Distinctively British D-Beat orthodoxy with cracking angry double-track vocals, groovy bass lines and a guitar sound to die for. Stick from Doom drummed for Squandered and you can spot his usual rolls here and there. The band also covers a 6 Minute War song, "Nurses", which is a lovely choice. Ace.

- Sista Civilisationens Död: I know very little about this Swedish lot to be honest. SCD played pretty standard Swedish hardcore with a raw sound (you saw that coming), not unlike a rough Diskonto. The songs are not bad but I feel they lack energy and intensity but then, the production does not exactly help either.

- Framtid: how intense can you get? As a kid, I wanted to become a wrestler, which is pretty funny considering how skinny I am today. I have come to terms with the sad reality that I will never be a wrestler. However, I am pretty sure that taking a dropkick must feel something like these two Framtid songs. Whirlwind hardcore punk that is incredibly relentless and punishing. The band was formed by Jacky from the Crust War label and has acquired a cult status throughout the years and I can understand why. The two songs were recorded in october, 1998 and sounds like a steroid-induced brawl between Extreme Noise Terror and Confuse with a super tight drummer playing for his life. Sheer brilliance.

- Dios Hastio: that's a tough one to describe. Fast and intense epileptic hardcore punk from Lima that is genuinely original and inventive. The vocals sound demented, furious and threatening, a little out of sync, with a lot of reverb, while the rhythms of the songs are unconventional but still manage to be energetic. There is an atmosphere of insanity floating over Dios Hastio's music. I can hear some classic Peruvian hardcore here like Descontrol or Kaos, but also Italian bands like Negazione or Indigesti and I am guessing that the song structures of powerviolence gave Dios Hastio a few ideas as well. But all in all, they really have a sound of their own and they have penned smart, slightly morbid, deep political lyrics that are well above average.

- Nailed Down: for some reason, a band I have always ignored although the name is of course familiar. It is probably too American-sounding for my tastes but I suppose that these two songs fit well on "Chaos of Destruction": raw, fast and angry hardcore from Australia with super fast parts.

- Recharge: "Hear nothing"-worshipping hardcore punk from Hannover with a Deutschpunk feel in the raucous vocals. Recharge are often forgotten when discussing the 90's D-Beat wave. I would argue that their take on the genre was probably closer musically to mid-90's Varukers and Hellkrusher than to Disfear or Dischange, although they still referred heavily to Discharge and aimed at emulating them. And that's the issue, they probably focused on the wrong things: instead of emphasizing the directness and crude power of the Discharge formula (like Dischange), they tried to beef it up with typically mid-late 90's hardcore-punk production and vocals that cannot really work if you still try to stick to Discharge too much. This said, the two songs (recorded live in Japan) still do the job and they did sound like a good live band.

- Muckspreader: to some extent, the odd one of "Chaos of Destruction 2" as Muckspreader were not really a hardcore band but raw and fuzzy they certainly were. The band started after the demise of Zygote and kept building on their heavy, mid-paced, grungy, dark but rocking punk sound. If you are familiar with Smartpils or Zygote, you can tell that Muckspreader had this typical Bath pagan sound, slightly psychedelic, in an incantatory way, but still ominous. "Hellraiser" is one of their best songs: the sound has an earthy and organic texture and the mood is appropriately anguished and macabre. A clear winner that shall return here.

- Plutonium: yet another band I know very little about. And that is a shame since the two songs are really good. Plutonium were from Utsunomiya and played high-energy, bass-driven distorted Japanese hardcore. It is difficult to tell from just two songs (one of which is an epic, slow number with spoken words, more of an intro probably but I really like the triumphant anarcho vibe) but I suspect Plutonium were into lightning fast angry hardcore with singalong chorus (the second song makes me think of a cross between Ripcord and Gauze).

- Sanctus Iuda: a great Polish anarchopunk band that already got invited at Terminal Sound Nuisance. I love the aggressive, slightly crusty, but still song and tune-driven music of Sanctus Iuda. Dynamic, angry and expressive. On "Chaos of Destruction", SI tried something particularly difficult: a Crass cover. This exercise is extremely tricky because if you try to stick too much to the Crass sound you will end up making a mess of it as their music was much more complex and intricate than one might think and it is almost impossible to replicate the Crass texture. But if you cover Crass with a totally different genre, you can end up making the original song unrecognizable and the very particular flow of the lyrics can prove to be almost impossible to adapt to many other genres. Tough shit. I think SI did it well though, they turned "Do they owe us a living?" into a fast-paced, but still tuneful, anthemic hardcore-punk songs with a cool singalong chorus (although the singer does struggle a bit with the vocals but who can blame him?). Really good job.

- GJPB: I'm afraid to say I am not really familiar with that one either. Apparently the name means "Great Japanese Punk Band" which is both ridiculous and really funny (but then the song is also called "Grope in the dark"). They were from Tokyo and played fast and distorted Japanese punk, not far from the local noisepunk classics with a dash of Doom. The bass sound is absolutely monstrous, but I am not sure yet if it is a good or a bad thing.

- Domo Arigato: people often make fun of Japanglish and while I think it is a little unfair, I must admit that some bands did fall into nonsensical lyrics, closer to futurist poetry than protest punk. Domo Origato were from Switzerland, with members of Earth Citizens, Viktors Hofnarren and Strongly Opposed Records, and sang in Japanese so that, for once, the table was turned. Musically, Domo Origato played basic and fast 1-2-1-2 punk with a rather clear guitar sound. Lovably sloppy.

- Silêncio Funebre: the name won't probably ring a bell but Silencio Funebre was actually a side-project (in the shape of a duo) done by Fofao from Besthöven. The presence of Fofao on "Chaos of Destruction 2" is obviously relevant, if not mandatory, since he has embodied a certain idea of hardcore punk for a long time and, to a large extent, set the standards for what we call "raw punk" today. By the time the compilation came out however, Besthöven had not released anything on vinyl yet, and the inclusion of three Silencio Funebre on such a project may have helped put the horrorcore sound on the punk map for good. Musically SF sounds a lot like Besthöven: genuinely, rather than aesthetically, raw punk inspired by 80's hardcore from Sweden, Brazil and Italy. Despite the very thin sound, the songs are very dynamic and you can sense the anguish and the tension in the dark bottom of the music. This is good.

- Disclose: yes, them again. Two songs recorded in may, 1999, "The nuclear victims" (which contains the classic Discharge line "Men women and children crying in agony") and "The end approaches", a cover of The Sexual, that would also appear on "The nuclear victim" Ep from 2000. Disclose in their D-Beat Raw Punk prime.

Are you going to survive this?

Chaos of Destruction 2