Last Night a D-Beat Saved My Life (part 14): HELLISH VIEW "Reaper's hand" Ep, 2019

I like Hellish View. I think what they do is good and they are good at what they are striving to do. With them picking a Disclose song as a moniker, the only punters they are likely to attract and entice to spend a tenner on a record are the ones already converted to the D, the risks of one being fundamentally disappointed with the band's work are therefore slim. They can't be said to promise the moon but at least they are not lying about the menu.

Unless you conceive the warmest passion for d-beat raw punk, not just for the music but also for the foundational web of references, the lexical articulations and the visual semiotics, Hellish View will probably sound like a bear family trying to play musical instruments for the first time (not an unpleasant program in itself, for me at least). Reaper's Hand provides the casual d-beat listener, the passerby of the D, with a decent slice of "noise not music" gruff primitive d-beat while still accommodating the aficionados with the validation of the genre's prerequisites. The style's specifications are respected, the crucial boxes proverbially ticked. To switch to a language even the dimwitted among us are capable to understand (there can't be many here, Terminal Sound Nuisance is definitely a high-brow, if ineffably highfalutin, reading experience), this Ep is a scorcher or, like old-school American punks would say, "rad".

Hellish View are from Minneapolis and like a lot of the most fanatical d-beat bands (the Disease and Dispose of this world) are quite prolific with two demo tapes, three Ep's and three split Ep's since 2017. I like the idea of obstinate inflexible bands who keep recording and producing against all odds, especially in such a confidential genre. They are doing it for the love and lovers of it. Or maybe they just lost a bet in high-school and the local bully ordered them to play d-beat until the end of time or else. Minneapolis stands as a legendary punk town with absolute classic bands like Misery, Destroy!, the fanzine Profane Existence and some solid contemporary bands like Hope? so emerging from such a place could be an advantage for a band since you are bound to find like-minded people who know what you are on about when raving over Disclose for way too long. They probably do not tend to run away over the fallacious pretext that walking Ben Sherman commercials are getting on stage like in Paris. However, even amidst the plethoric offer of Minneapolis punk-rock, there have never been a proper d-beat band, one relying solely on the the strict cannon so that Hellish View can be seen as something of a novelty in this context.

This young and studded three-piece do love playing, cheekily and affectionately, with the traditions. While it would be too long to analyze thoroughly the evolution of their sound - but let's just say that they went from a cave d-beat raw punk to a more Disclose-infused d-beat raw punk but I suppose it's just because they learnt to play better - I still have to give credit for some song titles from the disbones-ish 2021 demo tape that illustrate my point like "Protest and revive" or "Assholes (of the fucking leaders)". But what about Reaper's Hand in particular? 

The Ep does a perfect job at blending Aspects of War-era and Disbones-era Disclose (which it does say on the cover) with Decontrol's primal fury (the gruff vocals tonally sound like the perfect mix of both) and something of Shitlickers and Anti-Cimex as well. It has that galloping unpolished distorted d-beat quality that I have grown to love when it's done well. The songwriting is classic indeed but the opening APOD displays some adventurousness as it is a slow-paced but groovy number that made me think of Discharge's vintage mid-paced moments but played at the wrong speed, which is, bizarrely, a compliment here. If the lyrics deal with the usual "wars, death and destruction" trope, it has to be said that the two songs on Reaper's Hand are about Gaza and the plight of the Palestinians which has never been as tragically relevant. 

This slice of delightful fan service done with heart and dedication was released on the very fine local Desolate Records in 2019 and can still be found floating in some tasteful distros I suppose. Did I mention that Hellish View use a cracking logo with a reworking of the Discharge logo but with a crow instead of a face? Now that's creativity.

HELLISH VIEW              

Last Night a D-Beat Saved My Life (part 12): LIFE LOCK "2018 E.P." Ep, 2019

Little do people know (or care to) that, beside this Singapore lot, there are two other bands with a similar name: a melodic hardcore Lifelock from Turkey and some sort of depressive and dark Bathory-Cimex metal-punk act Lifelöck from Brazil (with a tape called A Non Nuclear Nightmare which is an odd title for an evil band since it is officially the best sort of nightmare). As far as I know, none of these three bands have been sued by Doom for the use of the name of one of their top songs which is a relief (I swear this will be the only crust-related dad joke of the review). What would we become without Discogs? You can't escape record porn.

I don't suppose the Istambulis were thinking about Doom (and after all the phrase "life lock" is meaningful without being tied to a preexisting reference), the Brazilians must certainly have and the Singaporeans just did without hesitation, naturally, like a stud flying instinctively toward a punk leather jacket. Still, even though the nod to Doom must be factored in, Life Lock cannot be defined as Doom-like. Of course, lovers of the Brummies will feel at home with Life Lock - after all both share a common love for things of the D - but their respective program diverge. This review is not meant to explore the roots of Doom, that'd be an ambitious endeavour as we often tend to overlook where the legendary band's music originates from since they are more often seen as influencer rather than influencee. But let's just throw here that they initially intended to work on the gruffest side of 80's Swedish hardcore (Svart Parad, Asocial and all). Life Lock do not although they, rather cheekily, used Doom's cloud logo as the cover of the first version of the present Ep, a self-released tape (to be fair Abraham Cross played the same trick in the 90's). Life Lock have always been pretty clear about their main sources of joy: Disaster and Disclose.

Such a masterplan is straight-forward enough but it does require a songwriting flair for the simple but perfect riffs, vocal pattern, distortion level and primitive drum beat, things that Life Lock clearly demonstrates. They remain faithful to the source material with a "wall of noise not music" vibe expressed through blatant but always loving Disaster and Disclose rip-offs. Even more accurate perhaps would be the theory that Life Lock is the answer to the question "What if Disclose had been a radical Disaster-worship act?". This is an existential interrogation, the kind of which often arises after a collective boozing session at 2am. Definitely after the gig. Even if your hearing and eyesight are not what they used to be, the Ep is replete with Disaster references. Life Lock cover "Devastation" (sample included), use the Disaster font to write their own name, the first song "Our glorious(?) dead" directly refers to Disaster's "Glorious?", "Hell's inferno" to the line "Hellish inferno" in Disaster's "Inferno". Being fair play, Life Lock do indicate "Thanks to Disaster" on the backcover and the song "Grows in fear" is more akin to a blissfully obvious Disclose tribute. Who said d-beat was a one-trick pony?

This marvelous Ep was recorded in 2018 and released on Brain Solvent Propaganda and Symphony of Destruction. I haven't been able to get an idea of how active the band was or maybe still is. They did release a handful of tape, among which the quite manifest and rhetorical Who'll Make Noise Not Music?!! in 2010 (with a recreation of Discharge's iconic first Ep but with "Disaster" painted at the bottom of a studded jacket, in case you needed to be reminded of where they were heading toward) and And For What (you know what they mean, yeah?) with an even nerdier cover using the very same picture of the two armed soldiers as Disaster used, except these soldiers, instead of the perfectly acceptable gasmask faces, now have the cabbage heads of Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing. What a combo. 

The Singapore scene has proven to a new wider audience to be very dynamic and lively for the past 10 years with bands like Siäl and Lubricant being quite successful abroad and needless to say that punk 2.0 certainly contributed to that well-deserved interest. However, one must not forget that Singapore punks have been playing noisy crust and d-beat (and more generally hardcore) for a long time as solid bands like Minus, Blinded Humanity or Pazahora (members of which play in the aformentioned Siäl) can attest. For those ready to nerd out, I recommend giving a listen to the Singapore Punk Holocaust compilation cd released sometime in the 00's.

But in the meantime blast some Life Lock, arguably the Disclosest band to Disaster. 

LIFE LOCK

 

Last Night a D-Beat Saved My Life (part 11): DECADE "A Deadly Game of Make Believe" Ep, 2018

People who claim that Discharge-mimicking bands all sound the same are both right and wrong, although they are probably sorry to be right but wrong to believe they are. Well, partly. But at the end of the (domes)day it all depends if you are trying to express praise or contempt, approval or blame. On the one hand, you could very well mean that the bands all sound the same just as they should in a wonderful communion of love for Stoke-on-Trent antiheroes, their intentionally strong similarities illustrating a punk togetherness that has few, if any, comparisons in the music world. Or, on the other hand, you could very well mean that Discharge-loving bands all sound the same because they are uninspired, incapable of writing their own music and see originality as a cardinal sin. It really is a matter of perspective, two antithetic ways to look at the phenomenon.

But a band may very well rhapsodize about Discharge and yet not sound like a d-beat band. It sounds ludicrous but is not. Deathcharge's Plastic Smiles was a case in point with three copies of Discharge songs free of the infamous beat. A bit of a cheeky endeavour I suppose. Still, Plastic Smiles referred to those Discharge's mid-paced numbers that belonged to the acceptable era of the band, namely between 1980 and 1982, so that even though the D was not technically beaten, the Ep did worship at the right altar. As much as I would like to pretend that Discharge stopped in 1984, they did not and if Warning and The More I see can be considered as amusingly cheesy metallic punk records that retrospectively sound quite adorable, like listening to an elderly person try to use modern slang, inflicting the pompous Grave New World upon the punk world was far less forgivable and basically shitting the already damaged bed. Modernity, in its inscrutability, has seen the rise of bands claiming that they actually enjoyed this era of Discharge and strive to emulate the grave new beat. 

Is it postmodern irony? Fanaticism gone wrong? An unhealthy passion for perms? A bad diet with deficiencies in d-beat minerals? Who knows, but it sounds like ordering tap water at the pub on a first date. But after all Final Bombs have always loved and emulated mid-80's Discharge and even though I find the music absolutely revolting, I really do respect the passion. But what do I know about good taste, I cantillate to Blyth Power in the shower. In any case, there is no denying that a band such as Final Bombs love Discharge (and love is very deaf) as much as a band such as Meanwhile. Do they sound alike? Absolutely not. 

Among the current bands wearing their love for the Discharge era that was once taboo on their sleeves are Decade from Toronto, fine dis lovers mostly known these days for their appetence for Grave New World (as can be witnessed on their daring World Stopped Turning Lp and the rather good split Lp with Fatum). They started as a much more traditional d-beat unit such as can be heard on their first Ep, the brilliantly entitled A Deadly Game of Make Believe. I knew Decade before they turned "grave" and was well impressed upon hearing them for the first time. A Dead Game was originally released on Runstate Tapes, a Montreal-based label that specializes in cassettes of often small bands with an inclination for noisy raw hardcore and has been responsible for many good releases since 2013. The proper punk spirit if you know what I mean. This Decade recording was so punishing and relentless that it inevitably got reissued on vinyl through Rawmantic Disasters from Berlin (the name of the label includes both "raw" and "dis" so I suppose nobody will feel aggrieved if I don't detail further its field of expertise). 

From the opening of the gates, Decade unleash the fucking fury here and they are not messing around. Pummeling and dark Hear Nothing-era d-beat hardcore (think early Disfear and the "just-like-Discharge" 90's school) played with an intensity that few bands are able to reach. Classic riffs, a buzzing bass and drums well in front in the mix. However, as Discharge-inspired as Decade rightly demand to be seen, the band manages to infuse some originality to the otherwise aptly executed, tried and tested orthodox d-beat formula. There is a vibe of dementia and madness in Decade's music, a sense of pervading insanity blending with the customary anger the subgenre is based on. 

Through the addition of samples, noisy arrangements, interludes and transitions, saturated guitar effects (bordering on so-called noisepunk) and peculiar vocals, Decade do stand out. Of course, the vocals will cause the listener a Marmite reaction: you will love it or hate it. I have to admit I disliked it at first as I did not find it really contribute anything to the otherwise excellent "we <3 Discharge" record and thought it merely emphasized the fact that they were dicking around with too many vocal effects pedals. It was fantastic when Destino Final did it but it did get old quick and it still remains a major flaw in far too many contemporary raw punk bands. But playing the Ep again and listening closely I realized that indeed the vocals were not just gratuitous but actually conveyed an atmosphere of extreme dementia that can be found in some Japanese bands. I assume the intended effect was to bring some volatility and a slightly different edge by playing with the vocal and guitar textures and the traditional d-beat songwriting. May the aficionados have no fear though, Decade still very much rely on high referentiality and strict obedience to the Discharge rulebook. They just took some liberty with it and quite possibly had some psychedelic tea beforehand.

A Deadly Game of Make Believe stands as a fun d-beat Ep and one that I often go back to although it did not really hit me at first. Decade get to tell a very familiar story in a slightly different way here and they have to be commanded for it. Would it work on a full length? Well, I would have loved to see them try but this is highly unlikely to happen. As for the cover, it's not exactly bloodcurdling but the level of cheesiness is high (it does remind one of Ignorance or Thisclose actually) and I cannot help but think that it heralded the grave new venturesome Decade. It must be the shades and the arm-crossing contest.

A deadly game of make Discharge

Last Night a D-Beat Saved My Life (part 10): ASPECTS OF WAR "A Look Into the Nightmare" tape Ep, 2017

Aspects of War is the epitome of a band that does everything by the book. Not any book: the book of the D. This legendary punk codex is the equivalent of the Necronomicon but for people who like Discharge too much - although both readerships fall under the "nerd" category - as its deeper meaning can only be understood by initiates, higher level d-beat fans. It includes Holy d-beat scriptures with the Ten Commandments that must be respected at all costs by Dis nerds if they don't want to end up in Hell where, it is rumoured, one is subjected to shoegaze music for eternity. Beautiful illustrations and parables dating as far back as 1981 also show the way toward the d-beat epiphany to the flock of believers. 

How neat would that be, yeah? If there was such an oeuvre, Aspects of War would have reread it a couple of times just before recording A Look Into the Nightmare. Don't be fooled by the simple tape format, it is a flawless collections of four songs that could be shown to students following a D-Beat 201 class where they will learn about the distorted subspecies of the genre (the corpus is brilliant in this class). Aspects of War were an essentially 2010's band in the sense that they have to be approached through a diachronic lens rather than a synchronic one. The 2010's were a decade during which the Disclose worship, or rather the Kawakami adoration, boomed with an astounding parochial fervor. Previously discussed bands like Dispose or Disease are also to be seen from this perspective, and it can be argued that No Fucker were among the first, if not the first, non-Japanese band to theorize the Disclose-styled d-beat raw punk. From the status of unique band with its distinct style, Disclose became a blueprint for a specific d-beat style postmortem and Aspects of War were one of the noise unit that applied the protocol with dexterous determination and picked the name of a Disclose Ep as a moniker just to make sure that you get it. 

The studded four-piece started in 2010 and threw the towel around 2017. The band were from the Boston area which proves that you don't have to were trainers to play hardcore punk in this town. The lineup included Jake from Nerveskade or Zatsuon and Chris who ran the very good but sadly inactive label Brain Solvent Propaganda, while Devin and Trevor also played in the noisier crasher band Ambush (who did a solid flexi in 2014), so that you can say the boys already partook heavily in noise-making punk activities. Like a proper d-beat band on a mission, Aspects of War got to work with two raw demo tapes, Total Disfuckers in 2010 and the hilariously titled In Order to Satisfy Their Mania For Conquest Punks Are Squandered the next year (this open self-awareness combined with apropos references stands as another aspect of 2010's d-beat) before releasing the superior The Presence of Death Ep and a split with Contrast Attitude both in 2014 and a split with System Fucker and a flexi the next year, vinyl appearances that saw the band take things to a different level of brutality.

Beside a strict adherence to the d-beat raw punk canon, the strong point of Aspects of War was that they always managed to sound both raw and energetic. Sometimes Disclose-influenced bands rely too much on distorsion and effects and unconsciously forget the most crucial element in hardcore punk: the energy and dynamism. Disclose were never just about distortion, their songs were all angry declarations of love to Discharge and Discharge-loving 80's bands and in that sense Disclose were almost like a sonic filter through which these influences were transformed. And Aspects of War, like No Fucker, got that dimension just right. They balanced raw punk textures with simple but effective Dischargish songwriting with ease and A Look Into the Nightmare stood as their aptest release on that level because it reflected this balance perfectly. 

The early demos may be cruder and more primitive, the brilliant split with Contrast Attitude cleaner (well...) and more "produced", but this parting gift proved to be my favourite, not just because I got it for cheap. Three fast d-beat raw punk numbers reminiscent of Disclose (they are not called Aspects of War for nothing) No Fucker or even Final Massakre (especially the vocals) and classic 80's bands (The Iconoclast notably) and a mid-paced Discharge one to wrap it up. Eight minutes of Dis perfection. The North American version was released on Brain Solvent Propaganda for the Varning festival and the European one was done by Voice From Inside. Good shit indeed. 

ASPECTS OF D-BEAT

Last Night a D-Beat Saved My Life (part 7): HORRENDOUS "War is still..." 12" Ep, 2015

And we're back to Sweden for the third time already. Thank you for flying with D-Beat Airlines, the only planes where you can safely play Death From Above while oboard without getting distressed looks from other passengers. But is it surprising really? Where else would you go if you had to visit a Discharge theme park? Bloody France? Exactly, you go to Sweden, a country where even the pigs know the lyrics to "Spräckta Snutskallar" and where an actual Ministry of D-Takt responsible for regulating the national population of d-beat bands was founded as early as 1983 because said orchestras were starting to threaten and overrun the fragile Swedish rock ecosystem. I hear some Dis-bands even had to be put down.

War is still... stands as one of my favourite d-beat records of the 2010's, a decade replete with bands who tried to get the D right and, as honourable an endeavour as it might be, sometimes failed. I am struggling to know how Horrendous, from Malmö, will go down in Distory, whether in 10 years time they will be seen as what I would call a minor classic or just "that side project with members of Herätys or Infernöh" (the latter option would probably mean that you'll still be able to get the record for cheap). When talking about the early/mid 2010's and about Malmö hardcore bands - or indeed just Swedish hardcore bands - who haunted the period, Infernöh and Herätys would definitely be mentioned in the conversation. And for good reasons as they still prove to be quite loved, if not influential, and the people involved in these bands went on to play in many more good bands. Were these better bands than Horrendous? From an objective standpoint, I suppose so. They managed to produce a decent and coherent discography and were just more significant. All my mates would undoubtedly and vehemently support that assertion. But were they as fun? Or, to rephrase more accurately in the context of this D-beat series, were they as keen on serving narrow-minded fans? Or even, to be more specific, could they make me headbang as vigorously as Horrendous did? I think not.

What immediately strikes the listener on this Ep is the power and thickness of the production. Heavy shit man. The record has a storm-like quality, like a tsunami taking everything in its path of destruction, it pounds and pummels its way toward Discharge paradise, leaving the punks happy and craving for more. War is still... belongs to this category of d-beat records that I can play and genuinely enjoy several times in a row. With a length of about 11 minutes, given the niche they chose to inhabit and the power they achieved to unleash, it is pretty much a perfect record (let's just say for the sake of caviling that it still could have done with another song). The name "Horrendous" might have done them disservice as it spontaneously makes one think heavily of Sore Throat (off-topic, clearly) or some gory death-metal band rather than good old Discharge worship. . And yet at the altar of Discharge they do bow, especially their Hear Nothing era, when the Potters were at their heaviest, and the cheeky bastards included a parody of the iconic Discharge face with what I think could be the singer's own mug. As I told you: self-aware fun! 

Contrary to a lot of bands, Horrendous did not go for a distorted d-beat raw punk sound and listening to it again on a rainy day, it does make me glad they did not and chose the hard-hitting, impactful way of the D. I am reminded of Warcry in their prime - especially with the gruff, raucous, very aggressive vocals but with more of a British scansion (Pancho being of course from Yorkshire) - and Discharge-loving classics like Disaster or Meanwhile are obvious influences. What makes the record stand out are the two mid-paced scorchers "Ain't no worthless scrote" (a song that appears on both sides, at the end of the first and at the start of the second, linking both in a pretty smart, albeit disconcerting at first, move) and "War is reality" that sound incredibly energetic and, rare thing, can actually have you dance, with moderation for those of us who have bad backs. Ace stuff.

Sadly Horrendous did not play for long and this wonderful record was to be their only release. This is the European version on Skrammel Records, the Yanks getting theirs from Brain Solvent Propaganda. The members would go on to play in a lot of good bands and are very much active. Does any of these bands are as fun as Horrendous and can have you rock as hard as on "Ain't no worthless scrote"? Well, I'll leave you to that thought.

War is still horrendous

Last Night a D-Beat Saved My Life (part 4): DESPERDICIO "¡Impulso De Destrucción!" Ep, 2011

There are a number of things that all d-beat bands agree upon, elements crucial to the genre without which you just cannot qualify as a proper believer. Things such as disliking bombs but still using them as a main topic. In a subgenre based on the imitation and the emulation of a strictly established formula, there is obviously very little room for originality. The stakes are elsewhere. D-beat in its most orthodox Discharge-loving form (I'm not talking about the legions of bands that are merely influenced by it) can be described as "a tribute made genre". It fundamentally relies on a web of signifieds and signifiers, the meaning and implications of which are understood and accepted explicitly and implicitly among a group of listeners sharing common knowledge. To an extent all subgenres revolve around these dynamics but none as much as d-beat. Referentiality is intrinsic to the "D", to its basis and its end.

It doesn't mean that bands cannot play with conventions. A band like Thisclose, the ultimate self-aware meta d-beat band, was a comment on this peculiar phenomenon and brought tasteful humour to obligatory bleak aesthetics (quite the tour de force, few bands were able to successfully blend fun and the D without falling in the trap of awkward metalhead jokes about "rock'n'roll life"). But the genre cannot be said to be prone to changeability as it values predictability and how accurate and intertextual a band manages to be (No Fucker being a great example). Basically, the covers of d-beat records, as part and parcel of the tribute and of the web of references, seldom lie to the punters. You must be able to spot a traditional, orthodox d-beat record and the church it belongs to from afar. It is all a matter of subtleties.

It would be dishonest to claim that Desperdicio tried to mislead the honest d-beat fan but I have to admit that I was not really expecting this style of D when I grabbed ¡Impulso De Destrucción!. I owned the Acceleration to Destruction compilation Ep (an oft overlooked, good little record) when I got this one but could not quite remember what they sounded like with precision. In my mind, judging from the cover, the error margin was but non-existent: Desperdicio must sound just like Destruccion. The Ep cover is a copy of their split Ep's with the equally raw Sida: it has the same setting, the same composition, the same style and the same intent to produce a naive but punk-as-fuck representation of d-beat as "hardcore radical" as the locals put it. The visual copy was so enormous that it made me curious of how close Desperdicio were to Destruccion, especially as a Japanese bandhaving a go at singing in Spanish. 

Such linguistic endeavours are not rare occurrences in the Japanese punk scene. Indeed, local bands aiming for a highly specific language-based hardcore genres would sometimes adopt the foreign language to make the music sound closer to the original (which is both daring, admirable and more than a little extravagant). Distorted käng fanatics Frigöra or Ferocious X sing in Swedish, Laukaus and Poikkeus in Finnish, Isterismo and Tantrum in Italian and Voco Protesta in Esperanto (and Corrupted sing in Spanish too of course). This trend is actually fascinating as it implies that languages make and create national genres as much as the music itself and the idea emphasizes the importance of linguistics (with the scansion, accentuation, tonalities, flow and so on) in punk. And well, Japanese punks are crazy enough to try to sing in a language they know nothing about. What about French then? 

And there you go, Desperdicio sing in Spanish and yet do not sound as much like Destruccion as you would expect by now. You would assume a d-beat band en Español to be all over classics like MG15 or Destruccion or Mobcharge but Desperdicio are a little more (or less) than that. There is a delightful simplicity and straight-forwardness in the riffing that do point to the Spaniards, but the enjoyable balance of distortion and aggression reminds me of Disaster or indeed Deadlock, a Japanese Disaster tribute band of sorts. We are not wandering in fast and filthy rabioso d-beat land here but the music pummels its way through a well-paced d-beat with an almost hypnotic quality. Beside the slower number "Pesadilla" that I don't really get, the three other songs are ideally predictable but some details point to that characteristic sense of epic songwriting that you find in a lot of traditional Japanese hardcore like the opening guitar lead on "Tomar un futuro", the Bristol-crasher drumming on "La ciudad portuaria pequeño" or on most of the energetic and mean backing chorus, although this may partly have to do with the heavy and highly signifying Japanese accent. The vocals can be seen as the Marmite effect in Desperdicio who are pretty easy to appreciate on the music alone. Recognizing the Spanish language straight away can be a little difficult because the flow and accent patterns are so different to Japanese but I don't dislike the band's choice as I think it does make one pay attention, which, I admit, is not necessarily a good thing in some cases. Beside the vocalist does not growl or yell like a nutter, he is of the shouting variety with a reverb (bands using the effect were still few in 2011) so that you can actually make out what he is on about (although you will have trouble actually understanding). On that level Desperdicio are more in line with a band like Final Bloodbath, even though the intent is different, and I can enjoy this type of vocal style for the duration of en Ep. It makes me think of a man lost at the top of a snowy mountain crying for help.  

It is not a masterpiece but it is a fun and well-executed humble d-beat Ep and the inspiring longevity of this clearly passionate and still active band who believe in their recipe is inspiring and other recent Japanese raw punk bands in Español like Stimulus, Consocio Sentencia and Povlacion owe as much to the national tradition of singing in foreign languages as to Desperdicio. ¡Impulso De Destrucción! was released on the emblematic label Overthrow Records who would also take care of their two subsequent Ep's.

Desperdicio + Destruccion = <3

     

Last Night a D-Beat Saved My Life (part 2): ATENTADO "Todo está oscuro" Ep, 2009

As I remember, hazily I have to admit, in my tiny 00's mind, a large part of the Spanish scene very much revolved around neocrust. It would be easy, tempting, to blame Ekkaia and, well, the state of thing had a lot to do with Ekkaia's emotional take on Tragedy's music. Was it always for the best? Fuck no. Interestingly there is a still an "emocrust" scene in Spain so that the style never really went away over there whatever one might think about it. But there was something else brewing in Barcelona and, although I only paid limited attention to it at the time - what with being busy keeping track of all the booming stenchcore bands - it proved to be highly influential, if not pivotal in a lot of respects.

Enter Invasion (renamed Destino Final in 2008) from Barcelona, something of a cult hardcore band whose influence, sonic, inventive and aesthetic, can still be felt to this day. My roommate at the time was a massive fan (he also overplayed Criminal Damage, No Hope For the Kids and Lebenden Toten, bands that truly left a mark on those years) and, if I was not as enthused as he was, I could get the appeal: mean, snotty, raw hardcore punk with a distinctly raging Spanish feel, both old-school and yet modern, or rather a modern vision of old-schoolness. It opened a lot of doors well beyond the Spanish confines (and certainly helped putting La Vida Es Un Mus on the punk map) and I see today's band Atentado as a spawn of that same spirit and creative intention. 

It was however not the only context the band grew from. A very raw primitive brand of Discharge-loving (noise not) music appeared in the early 00's whose most significant representatives were Destruccion. They are something of a legendary band these days (we all have our own self-created legends I suppose) for their famous song "Te amo d-beat" that everyone knows and loves or at least pretend to not to lose any punk point in my presence. At a time when Swedish discore had lost most of its contenders and when most bands were looking for a more polished, heavier, "metal" production (because neocrust), Destruccion, possibly as an answer, went in the exact opposite direction carrying the torch of the primal rabioso noisy hardcore sound that Spain was renowned for in the 80's. 

Destruccion was d-beat raw punk at its most literal. The most obvious reference was MG15, one of Europe's most convincing - and stripped to the bone - love declaration to Discharge from the 80's but the band more globally owed to the Spanish hardcore wave of Shit SA, Atack, Antidgmatikss or the unlistenable Delirium Tremens. Destruccion, and shortly after the even more minimal Firmeza 10, epitomised a primitive d-beat sound that suited perfectly the Spanish language and it is barely a surprise that many Spanish-speaking hardcore bands would be influenced by these bands, not necessarily their music but at the very least their concept. To be honest, I cannot say I was totally taken by Destruccion when it came out at the time but I was probably missing the point or just lacking in knowledge to really "get it". In the 90's there would be acts like Angry Mob and Mobcharge that worked faithfully on the d-beat (both of them had the Becerra brothers from Violent Headache at the helm), the former flirting with the "just-like-Discharge" philosophy while the latter were clearly very close to what we have to come to conceptualize as "d-beat raw punk" in the wake of Disclose and can be seen as modest precursors in that respect.  

So to summarize, Atentado grew from the same hardcore scene as Invasion (Guillem played in both bands), in terms of drive, in Barcelona, and went for that brand of 80's inspired d-beat raw punk en Español revived by Destruccion with a significant Disclose influence in terms of distortion and groove and a delicious Discharge-loving retro feel. Todo está oscuro is a solid short and sweet Ep that is often forgotten although I personally think that it is a significant example of d-beat raw punk done right. Old-school d-beat love done right with a chaotic vibe and a thought-out minimalism inherent to the national style. I love the raspy angry female vocals, a nice change because the strict d-beat genre proves to be mostly populated by males (Atentado's drummer is also a woman by the way), and the simplicity of the compositions (the band throw a brilliant early Discharge mid-pace number that had a terrific old-school vibe). If you are looking for a good illustration of what d-beat en español is all about, it is a perfect choice, but it is clearly a niche band that is unlikely to convert anyone to the D. A modern vision of old-schoolness as I wittily pointed out earlier.

This Ep was actually the first release of Discos Enfermos, now an established label expert in offering top notch raw punk (notably en español), as a co-release with Crust As Fuck Records. Atentado would release a full Lp in 2012 on La Vida Es Un Mus that was something of a disappointment as the Ep format proved to be far more suited to their primal d-beat approach. If you have five minutes to spare and you enjoy Discharge Todo está oscuro should delight you during your fag break. 

Todo esta oscuro

Last Night a D-Beat Saved My Life (part 1): NO FUCKER "Conquer the Innocent" Ep, 2008

Why why why but why? Well, why not?

In a world ruled by chaos, people have always needed some semblance of stability to cope with life without falling into madness, despair or shoegaze. Some choose religion because absolute truths construed as eternal and transcendental are reassuring and because it is looks like a logical, if lazy, choice. Others choose the footie because the love for your club is immortal and thicker than blood. Pets can be a solution because a dog's love is unconditional, comforting and stable. Punks would go for d-beat because not only has the genre not evolved much throughout the years but because it is not supposed to, it is seemingly unaffected by time, immutable. You can't get much more stable and anchored than this. Of course, there have been evolutions in terms of production, music does not exist in a technological vacuum, some bands did bring new elements as far as textures are concerned and others played with the degree of referentiality (aural and visual), an essential part of the genre in itself. But still, the potential for change is limited indeed. And well, I need stability right now and d-beat appears to be a pleasant way to indulge. And to be honest, it is fun.

To make things clear, I will only be talking about orthodox d-beat and "just-like-Discharge" bands here, just like I did in the two previous d-beat series The Chronicles of Dis in 2016 and Sonatas in D Major in 2019 (and needless to point out that I also wrote about such bands in transversal series). It does not mean that all the bands will sound exactly the same. Well, it will if the genre does not particularly appeal to you or if your don't know your Disclose from your Dischange. But the idea is to focus on the variations or absence thereof, the details, the context, all the tiny things that make a band stand out and draw the lines between absolute Discharge clones, proto-d-beat raw punk lovers, orthodox d-beat and even "just-like-Disclose" bands, a category that did not exist in the 90's and 00's. The selection was particularly difficult this time because I decided to cover a long period, from 2008 to 2023 (Sonatas on D Major tackled the 1991-2006 span), and there have been literally hundreds of d-beat bands, or rather bands claiming to play d-beat, in the past 15 years and I had to settle for 21 (obviously the length of the reviews will vary). Punk changed drastically between 2008 and 2023 with the scene becoming irremediably and vitally dependent on the internet and social media. Playing traditional d-beat in the mid 00's and today are two very different sports. With youtube, you can have access to every one of the most obscure dis-influenced bands of the 80's and as a result it is much easier to play specific "niche" referential hardcore punk. Not so much in the 00's.

And what better example of this shift than No Fucker from Utica, a band that I thought had been dead for years but actually toured Europe this spring. They formed as early as 2002 and Conquer the Innocent is the last record they released in the 00's. At a time when neocrust and stenchcore dominated the punk airwaves (with Japan being the usual exceptions), No Fucker were a very different scruffy animal, a proper d-beat raw punk band, one of the last of their kind in that decade. The 90's d-beat wave was long gone in Sweden by then and the few survivors like Meanwhile, Disfear or Diskonto no longer relied on the primitive raw aggression of the genre. In North America Deathcharge had turned into an excellent dark punk act, Decontrol had split up and Holokaust's raw hardcore period was short-lived. Tragically, Kawakami, and with him the immensely influential Disclose, passed away, turning him and his baby into a legend and probably the most appreciated d-beat band ever. The late 00's were a peculiar transitional time.

It has to be said that Disclose were the inventors of the concept of "d-beat raw punk", a specific take that relied as much on Discharge as on the proto Discore, the pre d-beat bands, those raw hardcore bands that predated the actual "genrification" of Discharge-worship of Disaster and Dischange (which is when I personally placed the real birth of d-beat as its own genre). They were significantly influenced by Discharge, sounded like Discharge to an extent, but did not crave to sound "just-like-Discharge" as their work on textures underlined. And No Fucker belonged exactly in that philosophy. They were not the only ones to bow at the altar primitive and raw d-beat bands at the time, and Spanish bands like Destruccion or Firmeza 10 were even cruder in their "hardcore radikal" approach (an ambitious aesthetic choice in a time of overproduced neocrust and metal crust that certainly alienated many listeners). 

That is not to say that there were no Discharge-influenced bands in the 00's, there were tons of them. After all, who doesn't use a dis beat? And let's not forget that Portland's Warcry, a serious "just-like" band were going strong. But No Fucker were one of the last of the d-beat raw punk of their generation and although they are mostly remembered for their splits with Disclose (their major modern influence, undeniably) with whom they toured in States, they are not necessarily looked at in depth. No Fucker is a band aimed at fans of Discharge, fans of Discharge-influenced bands, fans of Discharge-mimicking bands and (all euphemisms for nerds). 

Their music is as much a display of great raw hardcore as it is a loving reflection and a comment on the Discharge phenomenon itself. The name of course refers to the notes on Discharge's first Ep that said "thanks to no fucker" so from the start, if you do not get the reference, you can be a little left out of the fun, not that it is the band's intention (I assume) but you will not "get the ref" as Gen Z's say. The band's label is called No Real Music, a line taken from the song "But after the gig" and a song from the Ep is called "Realities of the war" (let's not even mention the Discharge font, that was already very common and a prerequisite of the genre and the last words of the Ep "svart framtid" like the 80's Norwegian hardcore band). You can see this in two ways. You can either find it ridiculous, a proof of the absence of creativity and "dis is getting pathetic" like Active Minds would claim, or you can say that it is a way to engage the listener in a network of common reference and a genuine demonstration of love for punk culture. And really, that will be a central aspect Last Night a D-Beat Saved My Life (as if you had not already guessed).

But let's talk a bit about the six minutes of music you will find on Conquer the Innocent, shall we? As I mentioned No Fucker are not a d-beat band in the same sense as Warcry or Meanwhile, they build on the rawness of early Discharge, on the Dis-inspired 80's bands that immediately followed and on a band that had already worked on such a synthesis, namely Disclose. The sound is perfect for the genre, raw, evidently, but still with a lot of energy (I love how the drums are really forward). The guitar sound is dirty and distorted but you can hear that it has been thought out and purposefully created and the vocals respect the old-school scansion, flow and accentuation. I can hear Shitlickers, early Cimex or Subversion on the first side, brilliantly executed, the second side is a little faster and include some Bristol-by-way-of-Japanese-style "crasher" rolls, adding some punch and on the whole Disclose's Tragedy is a close point of comparison (in fact they can be said to be as influenced by the actual record as they are by the influences of this record) but the distortion is not as prevalent here and I am reminded of the vastly underrated Decontrol too (dislickers pioneers I suppose). By its own standards, it is a flawless record.

The band released a discography for their recent tour and it is a good way to get all the band's material but the new Tombs Ep.      

No idea why the previous scribbled on the record...

Conquer the fuckers

 

Still Believing in ANOK: Firing Squad "S/t" Ep, 1993

When I came up with the selection for the present series Still Believing in ANOK I did not realize how little-known a lot of the records I picked were. Not in the sense that they are hard to find - though some of them are - but because people forgot about them or never really cared for them in the first place. Locality matters of course and some seemingly unknown bands were actually famous in their home country (like Stracony and others we'll tackle later on) but on the whole, from a global eagle-like perspective, well, they are a bit obscure but not in a good way and it can be difficult to grab people's precious volatile attention with old unloved records that have set camp in the £1 discount boxes since 2006, proof that, not only were they never deemed "all-time classics" but that they also never deserved to be crowned retroactively. I see some of the records included in this series as "minor anarchopunk classics" - a euphemism meaning I think they are brilliant but did not sell well - and others as relevant interesting artifacts of a sound and aesthetics that were no longer popular at that time. Of course, because life, like my dad's diatribes, is made of contradictions, today's record, Firing Squad's 1993 Ep cannot reasonably be said to belong to either category thus rendering this first paragraph kinda useless. 

Firing Squad are proper obscure, even to anarchopunk platinum users. In fact, they are a bit of an enigma, and, were it not for this record having been released on Mass Media Records, I suppose they would have been totally engulfed into oblivion and most elite nerds like myself wouldn't have had the pleasure the patronize a teenage punk with sentences such as "Firing Squad were pretty big in my days, at least three people knew of them back then" or "did you know there was already a 80's hardcore band from the state of Washington called Firing Squad? Oh you don't, well that's not on Tok Tube now, is it?". I wonder why there aren't more kids at punk shows... Anyway, I don't remember when I got the Ep, definitely a long time ago, but it was the connection with Mass Media that prompted the transaction. The rather cryptic cover did not help: it depicts a lion biting a medieval representation of the sun under the watchful eyes of four shades-wearing clowns (Pierrots probably), the whole thing over a tridimensional psychedelic checkered background. Why is the sun bleeding over a globe (is it supposed to be the Earth?)? Why so much symbolism? It looks like a tarot card. The backcover is as confusing: more of the same crazy background and a two-headed dragon with the sun on the left and the moon on the right. How the hell are you supposed to know it is a punk record? Thank fuck the Mass Media logo has a circled A and some doves because otherwise I would have been far too narrow-minded to even consider looking at it. 

The visual side of the Ep aside (be careful when you unfold the cover, if you do not enjoy visual illusions, have a sick bag handy), there is no indication as to where Firing Squad came from. On the insert of the No Lip Service compilation Ep, where they appeared, also released on Mass Media, their address is located in Newbury Park, Ventura County, California. In spite of a very dynamic peacepunk and crust scene at that time in Southern California - well-documented on Terminal Sound Nuisance - with bands like Resist and Exist, Autonomy or Media Children offering a sound very much influenced by old-school anarchopunk, it would make sense to endeavour that Firing Squad belonged to that part of the punk scene but they did not really, although they crossed paths. This makes them even more mysterious, especially since you could argue that they also played old-school anarchopunk, although their take was significantly different.

Firing Squad's music is original. The Ep is not a note-perfect masterclass but it has an undeniable charm that makes it quite compelling. The first song is an emotional (it was the 90's after all) and tuneful mid-paced number with an underlying moodiness and snotty angry vocals that go surprisingly well with the music. Just imagine a depressive jam between Chumbawamba and Conflict with a bit of an emocore vibe, or let's just say that Nabate would have been well into this. The other side is even more challenging as "Declare civil war" is basically a reggae song. Yes, a reggae song. Now, when I was getting into serious music - also known as my "how many patches can I fit on this black denim jacket?" phase - listening to reggae was akin to ordering tap water on a date for me: have some self-respect and run for your life and quick. But then, I grew a bit softer, stopped trying and got really into the British anarcho dub punk bands like PAIN or AOS3 and that's exactly the vibe I am getting from this song, only with a bit of flanger oddness. After a couple of minutes, it turns into a straight-up raucous punk anthem with great singalongs that would not have sounded out of place on the Resist/Deprived split Ep. 

No idea what that is

The song they contributed to the aforementioned Not Lip Service Ep was equally fresh, angry yet catchy, maybe a bit angrier too, and it goes to show that this inventive band had a great potential and possibly a genuinely classic album in them. The band used some clever sound effects on their sound and with the production being quite raw and direct, it confers a very organic spontaneous vibe to the songs which makes me go back to the Ep's atmosphere quite often. It is, as much as I hate the term, a "grower". Instead of looking at the 80's sound, it might be more relevant to see Firing Squad as a definite 90's one. A moodier weirder version of One By One, AOS3 or Civil Disobedience? A depressed prelude to A//Political? 

Just listen to the record I guess.      

That's a definite no

Firing Squad