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

 

Live by the Crust, Die by the Crust: Black Terror "Born Again" tape, 2014

If one was to conceptualize the various creative artistic dynamics as well as the conceptual theory underlining the d-beat genre as praxis and philosophy, one could say that the D is endlessly self-sufficient. One cannot bring anything truly new to d-beat nowadays, as it is in the constant reworking of the original material and simple formula and in the intensity of the delivery (amount of distortion, vocal flow, rawness and so on) that a solid d-beat performance must emerge. However, what can be achieved through Discharge love is more difficult and rarer to do with other punk bands which has a lot to do with the systematicness of Discharge. Still, strict Doom cosplay has been a rather consistent practice for almost three decades, although the number of candidates is limited when compared to Discharge or even Disclose, and more particular instances like SDS who passionately emulated Antisect (and Disturd emulating the emulators in turn) do show that bands can conceive indeed an utterly consuming love for a classic band. And if anything, Amebix can be said to be an absolute classic, therefore prone to be carefully imitated. 

Enter Black Terror from Singapore, an obscure band from the mid-10's bent on worshipping Amebix with all their heart and whatever musicianship they were able to muster in order to reach that noble goal. Of course, Amebix has had a massive influence on so many bands that a careless reader could be inclined to think that Black Terror band were not in any way unique or different as hundreds of Amebix-inspired bands can be listed, even renowned bands like Misery or Axegrinder for example. And that careless reader, in spite of such insolence that would normally get him or her dismissed from class, is not wrong. But here we are not just talking of an Amebix influence or inspiration, we are dealing with an Amebix impression. Even in this very restricted filed, BT have not been the only ones. In the early 00's Zoe from Osaka walked the same walk with even greater determination (see my magnificent piece about The Last Axe Beat Lp) by merging both Amebix and post-Amebix (the legacy of Zygote) in an act of synthesis, early Acrostix very much worked in a synth-driven Amebixian crust as well while the project Axeman was an act of Amebix worship coming from the underground metal world rather than the punk scene. BT must be seen in a similar light. But to a certain extent only, not because their Amebix reenactment is less accurate or powerful than Acrostix or Zoe's, but because on Born Again it appears to be a part-time activity. I know.

BT were an obscure band and I cannot find much information about them or the members, which is not so common in the age of hegemonic availability. They are a bit mysterious if you like. To be fair, the name "Black terror" does not exactly help on that level and I will leave to your imagination what typing "black terror singapore" in the Google or Youtube search bars result in. In fact, the name may be considered as a rather bad idea, not the worst possible idea - great bands going for much worse names are easy to come by - but probably too metal-sounding for their own good. Discogs tells me that there are at least three other bands called Black Terror. Two are unsurprisingly black-metal bands, one from Peru armed with corpse paint, an inverted cross and a song entitled "Sodomy and extermination" which sounds a little extreme and an other from Czech with a shite undecipherable logo and a demo called Let's Annihilate the Whole World, Fucker!. Needless to say I'd rather have a drink with the second one. Things get stranger name-wise with the London-based indie rock band called Fifty Tons of Black Terror (?) and the hip-hop singer Sgt Black Terror a character that sounds more like a 90's wrestler than a street gangster. So you see, the task was herculean. 

But let's get back to the music. As I mentioned, BT can be said to be working half-time at the Amebix factory. And they do work hard. The brilliant rocking, groovy but raw and organic production gives the recording a genuine old-school feel that fits the Amebix style perfectly. "Prince of lies" freely borrows riffs and lyrics from "Largactyl", "Last knight" opens with a piece of delicate singing (and kinda shamelessly tuneless although I appreciate the effort) just like on "Sunshine ward", "Born again" starts with typical Monolith-ish arpeggios and has a darkest heavy "Coming home" meets "Beyond the sun" vibe and of course, it feels redundant and almost silly to have to point it out, there is a cover of "ICBM". If Born Again was only made up of those four songs, it would be the ultimate performance of Amebixness. But there are five other songs on the tape that sound noticeably different - no ska though. Heaviness is still of the essence but the influences vary. On the whole there is a strong Celtic Frost influence running through them, especially in the vocals at times, but the song "Too little much too late" is clearly a loving nod to Inepsy and the dirty old-school crust feel of "The end" and "Your world" strongly reminds me of the great Coitus (who were themselves a blend of Celtic Frost, crust-era Antisect and punk-as-fuck 90's squats so it does make sense). 

There is a certain sense of disparateness at times, especially when the "motörcrust" influence becomes too strong (fortunately it does not happen often), but the tape is definitely good in terms of songwriting, sound (reminiscent of 90's crust) and metal-punk energy. The fact that it is not more widely known is quite astonishing but it may have to do with their country of origin and the difficulty to widely distribute recordings from bands located in South-East Asia despite very active and qualitative labels from this part of the world. Who knows, maybe BT are considered as the classic Singaporean crust band over there? I must confess I am quite unknowledgeable about that scene although I greatly enjoy cracking bands like Blinded Humanity (who appeared on the great Singapore Punk Holocaust compilation cd) or Lifelock and hopefully I will be able to write at length about such bands in the future before I am old, lonely, embittered and deaf. Born Again was released on Azadghei records, a reliable Singapore-based label that has released some solid materials from Blinded Humanity, General Enemy or Zudas Krust. 

The visual is a little underwhelming and a more striking cover, or just a crustier one maybe, would have probably encouraged more people to give it a try and realize BT are really good at what they do, that unique raw and rocking blend of orthodox Amebix love, Frost and Coitus. And I give them credit for crediting Gustave Doré. I'm sure he'd have enjoyed that.  

Amebix born again

Records I Forgot I Owned (part 4): Discontrol / Demisor "Neanderthal Crust - the Primitive Way / End the Conception" split Ep, 1999

That is another one I completely forgot about although seeing it again, lost in the Dis section, instantly brought a childish smile to my face.

I was aware I had one or two Demisor records so was not too surprised with their presence on one side of the split Ep, but I have to say I didn't really remember how they sounded like here. When I looked at the Discontrol side, on the other hand, the name itself did not really ring any bell (they could just as well have been called Hellcontrol, Diswarning or any other clumsy assemblages of teenage Discharge worship), but accurate memories of their sound quickly came back to my rusting brain, thanks to the rather glorious title they picked for their side, Neanderthal Crust - the Primitive Way, one that I remember finding particularly enjoyable and humorous and still actually do. 

Crust is often said to be a pretty grim and dark punk subgenre, and for good reasons, since, after all, most of the songs deal with war, decay, the end of the world and a large array of gruesome injustices and depressing facts of life, so that, although you can always find numbers about obnoxious boozing and teh subsequent partying, even they will often be seen as palliative or self-destructive ("Relief" being the prime example). But still, the fun-loving element in crust cannot be denied and I think Discontrol are genuinely funny. Of course, if you are not into crust or d-beat to begin with, you will think that they suck on many levels and that there is nothing even remotely amusing to their music and their philosophy. Humour is highly cultural and relies on a web of collective references. Getting the proper cultural references involved will make a joke funny, or at least intelligible, while not getting the references means that one is not even aware that the joke refers to a particular cultural datum and, therefore, not only does the joke inevitably fall flat but it becomes deprived of its joke status by the non-initiated. Nothing is funny out of context. It's like trying to laugh with Thisclose when you have never heard Discharge. It just cannot work.

I am not completely sure of the story of this split Ep and how it landed in my collection. I have a mate who often gives me obscure and improbably rough and mean crusty grindcore records he has spare copies of (you know, that kind of friend) so that I often end up with bands I know little about. The records are usually from the late 90's and early 00's, the bands have terrible names and the covers are atrociously pixelated because at that time, and for a good few years, people apparently thought that pixels did not really matter or that no one would notice or pay attention or that even the most primitive digital imaging would age better than old-fashioned drawings or cut'n'paste. Of course, history proved that it was a very wrong and flawed way of thinking (like skacore for example), but I personally think that such overpixelated covers are unintentionally funny and almost touching (and from an archeologist perspective it makes the dating of a punk artifact easier to gauge). The Discontrol/Demisor split Ep is such a late 90's record: it looks ugly but sounds lovable. Let's start with my favourite and smile-inducing side: Discontrol from Sweden.

Pixels? What pixels?

Discontrol is the humourous band of the record. Now, trying to be funny with punk can be a very tricky endeavour, arguably now more than ever. I generally do not like "joke bands" and never got bands like that use intentionally crude, offensive humour just for the sake of "pissing people off". I suppose it is fine if you're 16 and it is your first band but quickly becomes embarrassing when you're a balding wanker in your forties. From my perspective punk and a sense of humour can match when it is done out of passion, a snotty sense of irony and as a tribute and I feel Discontrol do it well. Of course, your tummy will not be aching with laughter but if it does not get a few giggle from you then you are possibly on the wrong blog.

The band could have been nominated in the "Most Unoriginal Dis Moniker of the Year" category with a name such as Discontrol but then it was the 90's after all (there were dozens of Disbands in Sweden) and I suppose that it fits them well in the end. They were from Ockelbo, a small town north of Uppsala, and unsurprisingly played unabashed raw, fast and loud Swedish mangel that nods heavily towards the local greats from the 80's. The band was active between 1994 and 1999, a time when D-beat and dischargey hardcore was very strong and prevailed in Scandinavia, and this split was their only vinyl appearance as well as their last recording. A Discontrol tape entitled 1998-1995 and released on ALP Tapes (a small tape label responsible for the great Attack! scandicore mixtapes and a Mob 47 tribute) tells clever me that they also had some practice or demo recordings hanging about). There are not many pieces of information floating around about the band but apparently the drummer went on to play in Usurpress and Panikattack. But let's talk about the music. Discontrol were - very - heavily into Shitlickers. Not only did they cover "Leader of the fucking arseholes" on the split but they also did their best to mimic the Shitlickers' nihilistic, and aggressive lyrics, a drive which led to such amazing poetic creations as "Weak escape" ("Sick off shit so you fuck off / What a weak escape") and "Fucking arse" ("Your state of mind is fucked / Arsehole fucking arse"). As I said earlier, if you don't know Shitlickers, you will find the lyrics and the music silly and exaggeratedly negative, if not cryptically dumb. If you do, I guess you will get it and enjoy the playfulness.

Twenty years after this recording, there are far more bands doing the Shitlickers worship than there used to be. The internet made turned the band into a punk reference while I think it is safe to say they were mostly an obscure classic for hardcore diehards before. When a current band goes for that sound, it will usually rely on pedals, effects and as much pose as possible in order to re-create. Discontrol's music however was simple, direct, mean, tuneless, raw, deprived of any sonic sophistication (or originality), and somehow managed to capture the threatening simplicity and basic, vile, relentless aggression of the Shitlickers sound. I'm not saying the textures are exactly the same but the vibe is here, the simple but mean scando riffs are played like there's no tomorrow and you can tell that it was recorded fast and loud. The vocals are particularly hoarse and gruff and utterly deserve the "Neanderthal crust" tag that aptly conjures up images of primitive, rough, heavy hardcore played by soap-dodging punks, nightmarish visions that should be enough to send hardcore posers home. In spite of the title, there is technically not much crust in Discontrol - though I can imagine them loving the impact of Doom and finding Sore Throat structurally inspirational - as they were into the dirtiest and most direct form of aggressive Swedish hardcore like the aforementioned Shitlickers, Crudity, Svart Parad, Bombanfall or Anti-Bofors. 6 songs in 5 minutes. This is the most primitive, barest hardcore punk music you'll be hearing this month, I can tell you that.

On the other side are Demisor, a rather cult grindcore band from Singapore that has been going since 1987 and is still very much active to this day. I cannot pretend to be an expert in grindcore and I am not that familiar with Demisor. Fortunately, they don't fall in the modern technical grind category (a subgenre that always blasts me to sleep) or the metal grind one (who needs lengthy grindcore numbers???) and, in fact, they sound delightfully crusty on this record. The tempos are diverse and even if the songs mostly revolve around the time-approved and honourable "blast beats followed by a fast pummeling d-beat" binary structure, there are some crunchy mid-paced moments and even one gloomy melodic intro to show you that Demisor are not into monotonous grindcore. One things that works particularly well here is the polyphonic element. There is of course a prevailing growling voice but it is adequately balanced with screaming vocals and even some shouted female ones on "End the conception". The production is pretty raw but then overproduced grinding punk is not something I usually look forward to and the whole sounds very energetic and angry. I would describe the songs as lying somewhere between Disrupt and Unholy Grave which is an excellent thing. Quality crusty grindcore for sure.

Glue the grind

This split Ep was released on the short-lived Swedish label Ubble-Gubble and, in true DIY fashion, there was an unfortunate mishap as the covers were glued together so that you couldn't see what was on the inside. Well, shit happens and if anything I suppose it further adds to the charm of this humble record of genuinely raw hardcore punk music.

The official apology

Primitive Ways