Skaven / Dystopia "S/t" split Lp 1996

About a year ago, I posted one true crust classic with the Misery/SDS split Lp, with one of my most epic review to this day. And because I am aware I am one of the leading voices of the internet (after all, it is no coincidence if the Queen of England herself, when asked what her favourite blogs were, replied: "Terminal Sound Nuisance, definitely. Top writing from a top geezer and quality punk-rock from a true connoisseur. Each time I read it, I want to abolish myself.") I think it is high time I deal with another true (or cvlt as some wankers would have it) 90's classic: the Skaven/Dystopia Lp.

As you know, I am one to follow the news and lately I got hold of the wonderful Skaven discography Lp that the mighty Skuld Releases just unleashed (it did take five years to come out though... Good thing I didn't hold my breath). If you have to buy just one record this month, that should be this one. The songs have been tastefully remastered, the artwork is sick, there are two posters included, honestly it couldn't have been done better. However relatively obscure Skaven are, they remain one of the most potent American crust bands ever and one could only wish they had sticked around a little longer, at least long enough to record a full Lp.

Skaven were from Oakland and formed in 1995. Apparently, they rose from the ashes of a punky black-metal band called Black Maggot, which I have sadly never heard (assuming they recorded anything at all), a significant fact since there is a distinct, almost foundational, black-metal feel, to Skaven's music and songwriting. Although I remain largely unconvinced by most current bands trying to blend black-metal and crust or hardcore (Order of the Vulture, Dazd and Summon the Crows being two good exceptions), Skaven managed to pull it in a terrific fashion, probably because they did it effortlessly, just because it made sense to them, as if the cross basically just happened. There is an occult atmosphere in Skaven's music that is enhanced by the mean, gnarly vocals. However, don't picture some wankers arsing around in a dark forest dressed like cheap actors from an 80's Italian barbarian movie. No, if anything, the band's sense of evil comes from a filthy sewer where crusty punks would wait recklessly for an apocalypse that never comes, getting really drunk and listening heavily to Deviated Instinct and Bathory in the process. Claustrophobic, uncontrollable and insane.

As I see it, Skaven are very much heirs of the late 80's/early 90's Californian crust scene, a wave that had disappeared by 1996 (with the worthy exception of... Dystopia). You can actually hear influences from bands belonging to the aforementioned scene like Glycine Max, A//Solution or Apocalypse in the music, as well as classic UK crust like Deviated Instinct or Mortal Terror, with early Misery coming to mind too, and black metal bands like Bathory, Possessed or Samael. Skaven's strong point however lies in their intent to create a proper soundscape, to literally build a sonic atmosphere of their own, and in that respect the fact that they were playing with two bass guitars certainly helped. Although undeniably heavy, the band didn't really rely on heaviness or speed in order to crush you. Rather, they used twisted song structures with multilayered bass and guitar parts that manage to take the listener by surprise while still making complete sense. The music is dark, really dark, but is not sorrowful. It reeks of madness, desperation but remains really organic, slimy, festering, swarming.

Skaven's art is almost as impressive and striking as their music and equally as dark. Drawings that reflect the fate of mankind and our pointless, destructive wandering upon the Earth. There is a specific obsession with death that also appears in the lyrics, both literally with the worm-infested, decaying flesh and figuratively with death being the sole outcome of our actions, whether it be through pollution, drug abuse or the death of one's will through the acceptance of one's enslavement. Not particularly cheery stuff, I'll give you that.

Dystopia, on the other side, are much better-known and remains one of the very best American bands of the 90's (that statement is not open to any discussion. Thank you for your cooperation). Dystopia fucking rule. Although they have almost achieved cult status today, the fact that the band emerged from previous bands is not widely known. In fact, Dystopia rose from the ashes of the late 80's/ early 90's Californian scene crust scene, with Matt playing in the early Mindrot line-up (back when they were a Prophecy of Doom/Bolt Thrower crusty kind of band), Todd making a whole lot of noise in the grinding crust outfit Confrontation and Dino drumming for Carcinogen (possibly the closest to Dystopia from the three aforementioned bands in terms of music) and although the term "crust" does not totally fit Dystopia (but then the band escaped any easy categorization), the lads definitely grew up in that context (apparently the drummer of Apocalypse even played with them at some point). By the time Dystopia started in 1992, the crust scene was already on its last gallon of special brew and it could be argued that the variety of influences that can be found in Dystopia's music might stem from a need to break free from formulaic music. And they certainly succeeded in doing so.

I won't try to pigeonhole Dystopia because it would be time-consuming and pointless. To me, they have an old-school crust backbone with a lot of doom-metal and death-metal over it. But more importantly, they are just incredibly groovy, heavy and intense. When you know they were just a three-piece, this makes it even more remarkable. Dystopia belongs to this category of bands that sound like they are playing for their lives, as if they were all going to die the next day, as if each second of their songs were fighting Death itself. The term "Burning spirit hardcore" should have been created for them.

While Skaven have these occult and fleshy aesthetics, Dystopia's are more anchored in the daily struggle to survive in the social jungles we call urban centres. Hopelessness, mysanthropy, suicide, self-hatred, sickness, cruelty, there is a wide panel of social ills in Dystopia and their very music, the way they write music, somehow perfectly embodies them. This is the demented soundtrack of survival in our modern societies. To give you an example, the song "Anger brought by disease" is about a man dying from disease who wants to kill his enemy (his former teacher, a nazi or his boss, take your pick) before dying. This is social anger in the flesh indeed.

This split is probably one of the very best crust records of the 90's, not because both bands play unadulterated crust but because it stands for a particular time in history as it is basically the evolution of the South-Cali crust scene. Skaven were, to put it bluntly, the best American crust band of the mid-90's, along with Misery, and Dystopia were a uniquely intense band that went beyond genres and yet managed to satisfy everyone (right?). This record was co-released by Life Is Abuse, still run by Matt from Dystopia, and Misanthropic Records, a label also connected to the band that released the Skaven Ep and records from Phobia and Grief among others. DIY or die trying. After the end of Skaven and Dystopia, some members of both bands eventually ended up in the powerful crusty doom-metal band Asunder, but ex-members could also be found in Noothgrush, Demonsteed, Ghoul and more recently Kicker.

Mandatory.

The worms will inherit the dystopia 

     

    

        

The Next World "Resurgence" Lp 1989

If you have any memory at all, you remember that two years ago I already posted an Ep from The Next World. The least brave among you would remember it as that ghastly postpunk band with a drum machine, while the open-minded would be fond of saying that they were an original, unique even, anarchist punk band with a great sense of melody and top politics. And a fucking drum machine.

French punks have a long-lasting, if tumultuous, love relationship with drum machines. In fact, there have been countless bands using that device throughout the years so that, over here, it is pretty much a French subgenre. There could be two reasons for that: the usual shortage of drummers and our own crappy tastes in punk-rock. Both phenomena combined gave birth to more than a few atrocious bands trying really hard to be the Béruriers Noirs and scaring decent foreign bands out of touring here.

But have no fear, despite the drum machine, The Next World belongs to the "quality punk-rock" in my book. After all, Cress also uses one, right? As for the accurate introduction to the band, I refer to the aforementioned earlier review (right here). Bouncy, bass-driven mid-tempo anarcho-gothpunk with a singer reminsicent of Southern Death Cult and a music akin to Smartpils, late Revulsion, Terminus and even Amebix. The music has a dark and moody quality but remains energetic and potent as you can feel the singer firmly believes in what the band stands for. You have rather upbeat parts followed by melancholy dirges, as if reflecting the need to react and protest but still feeling powerless before the task. The guitar has a crispy, earthy sound but it is really the bass that should hold your attention here: heavy, driving, with some terrific leads. Despite the drum machine, or maybe because of it, the songs are well-structured and behind their apparent simplicity you can hear that the band really thought them through, even more so than on their previous Ep. Still, The Next World is very much a Marmite band. You will either love it or loathe it.

Politically, The Next World was certainly an articulate band and I really appreciate their down-to-earth approach to the issues at stake. Ironically, they have a song against fascism, "The rising tide of fascism", mentioning Le Pen (or rather "Le Penn"!) and his attempt at "trying to create a respectable disguise". That was in 1989. A rather remarkable insight about the evolution of the European far-rights in the decades that would follow. "Answers in bullets" is a class war anthem tackling the alienation and manipulation spawned by the ruling-class in order to create a fake sense of togetherness, in this case through foreign interventions and the arms race. "Soft cop" is about social control and how social workers and union leaders also play a policing role in maintaining the social peace and the status-quo. "New reality" is about media distorsion or how the mainstream media present the news through a particular and ideological scope, through omission or purposeful confusion, and are always on the side of the authorities.

My favourite ones are "The British idea" and "Resurgence" (actually, you could see "Resurgence" as the last part of one song, the first two parts of which would be "Liberty" and "Powerless"). "The British idea" is a rather despressive number, both musically and lyrically. It is very much about despair, how we swallow preconceived lies while being half-aware of it, just because we are too scared to act and be left behind. "Sleepwalking through the reasons for our dependence. / Misplacinganger, falling short of the causes." Powerful stuff and some references to Thatcher's austerity policies (that still rings a bell, doesn't it?). "Resurgence" is a threatening and yet positive song about revolt, class inustice and the possiblity of another world. The next world? Probably not. But still, it is a good song to sing along to in this new dark age.

This Lp is the sole vinyl album from the band in the 80's although they had released two tape albums prior to that in 1986 and 1987. Apparently, the band changed its name to VR later on and released another Lp on Flat Earth records in 1995.

Resurgence

Maggot Slayer Overdrive / Corpus Vile "Soggy" split Lp 1993

Almost two years ago (doesn't time fucking fly?) the magnificent "Armed with anger" by Ian Glasper was published and I took this opportunity to write a couple of record reviews from the oft overlooked 90's UK punk scene. Well, close to two years later, I can't say that my fantastic pieces of writin aimed at stressing how good a lot of bands in that scene were really worked out. So in my neverending quest to promote quality punk-rock through relentless, if completely subjective, rants, let's have a bit of 90's UK punk today, shall we?

It still amazes me how unfashionable the 90's are nowadays. Whereas any old band from the 80's gets a spot in the digital sun (meaning "some geek with a dodgy sense of hygiene is going to glorify its one and only demo on an obscure punk blog"), the bands and individuals in the 90's who helped shape the DIY punk scene as we experience it today, remain largely ignored. Could it be because they are still too close to us in time? Not old enough to really be vintage? Do we really need to act like bloody hipsters?

Anyway, as my faithful dark legions of readers already know (and how could they not? I basically always repeat the same old bollocks anyway), I hold 90's UK punk in high regard. Bands like Substandard, Coitus, Hellkrusher, Disaffect, Extinction of Mankind, SST, Policebastard and many more were at least as good as most of their 80's counterparts. The record we are dealing with today significantly exemplifies this statement. Judging from how much it goes for on discogs (also domestically known as "the doom of the record collector"), neither Maggot Slayer Overdive nor Corpus Vile seem to be of much interest to "da punx of today". And how wrong can this lot be...

I must admit that a name like "Maggot Slayer Overdrive" may dissuade the least brave and curious people to actually check the band out. I must also agree that the cover of this split Lp is just atrocious. But let's not judge a book by its cover (and after all Forward never really seemed to suffer from their horrendous artwork). MSO was, quite simply, one of the very finest English punk band of its generation. They were original, unique-sounding, funny, powerful and punk as fuck. Even today, I can't really think of a band that sounds even close to them. MSO were from Bristol and formed in 1989 with former members of early 80's bands Lunatic Fringe and Rancid (yes, funnily enough there was a British Rancid before the Californians). I have to be honest here, in spite of my often blind love for UK punk, I have never rated neither Lunatic Fringe nor Rancid very highly music-wise, and for some strange reason that probably have to do with the prospect of free cider, both bands have recently reformed... It is indeed difficult to imagine how great MSO is if you think of the former bands...

Judging from their chapter in "Armed with anger", MSO was made up of fun-loving punks with a love for parties and an absurd sense of humour bordering on the deranged. Song subjects range from the anger felt when having flies in one's home-made brew, visiting deserted warehouses, being a giant cephalopod, hating traveling jugglers or, and I quote from the book, "sustaining oneself with homely thoughts of Yate llamas in times of adversity". Now, that's not something you hear everyday, right? This sense of the surrealist and the absurd is also reflected in the theatricality of the music itself and of the band performances which apparently sometimes included home-made fireworks. The music is completely glorious, uplifting and epic but always with that humorous tone. This is exactly what you want to sing along to when trying to make a snowman blind drunk in your underpants or when dressed up as a camel at a cider convention. This sort of things.

And the music... Close to perfection I must say and yet rather difficult to describe in a coherent fashion. MSO might be defined as a metallic punk band but that would be far too restrictive a comment and wouldn't even give you an actual idea of the band's sound. Try to imagine a snotty and glorious cross between "Porkey men" era English Dogs and "Forward into battle" era English Dogs, or even a decidedly punkier GISM. It certainly has a lot of mid/late 80's metal-punk elements borrowing from aforementioned English Dogs, Onslaught, Broken Bones or Metal Duck (thinking about it now, they may also have borrowed some of their sense of humour). But MSO are fundamentally a punk-rock band with a pure, old-school punk-rock energy (think the Underdogs, the Threats or 90's era Chaos UK). The guitars manage to bridge the gap between vintage UK82 punk and old-school metal through a warm, heavy, thick sound and super catchy solos; the bass does a fine job leading the music with cracking lines while the singer's raucous voice always keeps its tuneful quality (the bloke actually sings if you listen closely). This is CATCHY as fuck.

Before their demise, due to their rather chaotic lifestyles and extensive touring, MSO released an Ep entitled "The angry buzzing of a million flies" in 1995 that was a bit harder and that I personally enjoy slighly less than this Lp (this is still bloody awesome though). Pig, one of the guitar player, would subsequently join the fantastic Gurkha later on (a band I already reviewed on that blog).

The other side of the Lp hits harder. Corpus Vile were also from Bristol (with members coming from nearby Bath if I get it correctly, a town that also had the brilliant Muckspreader at the time) and offered top-of-the-shelf 90's UK crust although, for some unfathomable reason, they don't seem to be remembered much today (a bit like Embittered really). The band probably formed in 1990 or 1991 since there is a rough and ready demo from 1991 called "I am glad I'm not in Danzig and I bloody mean that" (a demo that won the much coveted "most ridiculously funny demo title" award at the local Bristol fair that year). By 1993 however, Corpus Vile had considerably improved as their seven tracks attest. This is powerful, metal-tinged crusty punk with dual male/female vocals. The male singer uses the type of really gruffy, hoarse vocal that I love while the female one has a raspy, raucous voice and, on the whole, the combination works very well and suitably over-the-top. The guitar sound is thick and heavy, with an almost organic texture, quite reminiscent of Disaffect's. Contrary to most of bands calling themselves "crust" these days, the drummers doesn't beat a boring D, if anything, it's closer to -order than -charge, and he uses a variety of drum rolls and of fitting mid-tempo introductions or breaks. Corpus Vile could be compared to a blend of Disaffect and Embittered, Excrement of War and Extinction of Mankind. This is good shit. The definite highlight of their side is the song "Mourn the shadow", a synth-driven epic mid-tempo number that brings Amebix, Axegrinder, Misery and Antisect to mind and that every self-respecting crust fanatic should know.

Lyrics are more typical than on the MSO side with songs against religious morality, the continuous absurdity of war or mankind's self-destructive behaviour. And then there is the song "Absolute crust" that is quite astonishing to say the least. It is about "travellers" who are constantly on drugs and spend their time either begging for money with their dogs or getting into fights because they are too high. Although I can imagine the kind of people the song is about, I am pretty sure it is linked with the particular context of the early 90's in that part of the country, with the collapse of the political traveling scene (I'm thinking Stonehenge festivals and the likes) and the rise of the dumb, mindless rave scene with its lot of violence and hard drugs. Chaos UK and Policebastard (among others surely) also had songs about this specific moment. But what strikes me, is last line of the song that says "Crusties... overdose and die!". Now, that's pretty harsh but that's not even what I'm concerned about. It's the term "crusties". Because when looking at the picture of Corpus Vile in the insert you realize they look like... crusties! Or in any case, they look like what has been commonly called "crusties" for 10/15 years. However, the band in the early 90's didn't identify at all with the term "crusty", to them, a "crusty" was a traveling dickhead that is maybe remotely punk (sort of)  and only thinks about drugs. Ironically enough, some in "da scene" still equate "crusty" with that sort of people today. What surprises me is that people obviously really into Amebix used the term in that meaning in the 90's. Who said word didn't matter?

Anyway, Corpus Vile released another demo in 1996 entitled "Dark comes the dawn", after some serious line-up changes I suppose. This recording impressively mixed crust with doom-metal, a cross that was then far ahead of its time (only Greek bands like Nuclear Winter toyed with that at the time) and would have deserved a proper record. You can find it on the wonderful crust-demos blog (here) where you will also learn that Corpus Vile's singer actually did a song with Extinction of Mankind that appeared on the "Scars of mankind" Ep that was posted here a few months ago. Small world.    

The "Soggy" split Lp was released on MCR UK, the Bath subdivision of the long-standing Japanese label, that released some top stuff in the 90's like Zygote, Disorder or... Amebix!

Corpus Maggot Overvile

                      

Slimy Venereal Diseases "S/t" Ep 1991

Please, don't let the name of the band scare you into checking another punk blog just yet.

Yes, it lies on the grindcore side of things (sort of).
No, it is not a moronic goregrind band.
Yes, it does have a silly goregrind name.
No, it is still not a band singing about anal vomit, bowel decomposition or such nonsense.
Why did they pick that name? I haven't got a clue...
Was it a bad idea? Indeed, it was.

Now, enough whining and hear me out. It's true that grindcore has gotten a pretty bad name lately: bands selling out to car companies, a scene overrun by metalheads in need of a rush of "extreme music" (believe me, I don't hold any grudge against metalheads but from what I have witnessed, the metal-grind crowd is not made up of the brightest of the lot. I remember that particular time when one of them wearing a bloody Disrupt - how ironic -  shirt was chasing me in order to beat me up because I had asked him to stop hurting people while dancing, which he was doing on purpose...) or wankers finding homophobic and sexist imagery funny. But originally, grindcore was a punk subgenre, admittedly influenced by extreme metal but not only. In fact, you could argue that fast hardcore punk was as much of an influence (if not more?) as metal. Anyway, I will leave the silly technical metal grindcore bands to the moronic horde and stick with old-school rough grindcore.

In spite of their name, Slimy Venereal Diseases is not even an over-the-top grindcore band. They do use some blast beats but they are much closer to fellow German bands such as MVD or Acid Rain Dance than to Napalm Death or Agathocles. I would argue that they chose the name as a joke in order to emphasize that they were serious, but not dead serious. I don't know much about SVD but they are definitely a band of its time sonically. Political crusty hardcore-thrash with a lot of energy and a proper DIY spirit to boot. The songs are mostly really fast with a crossover edge, not so far from Concrete Sox or Heresy actually, or even "Rock'n'roll conformity" era Deviated Instinct. The "slower" songs, like the opening song "Fear in her eyes", could have easily been lifted from an early Peaceville sampler with that distinct early crust feel (Mortal Terror really comes to mind here, especially with the dual vocal). Sore Throat is also an obvious reference here (they have a song entitled "Hello Sore Throat" after all) in terms of music (the two really short noisy blasting songs attest to that) but also for the fun aspect of the band. In other terms, if you are into late 80's crust and metallic fast thrashy hardcore, you will love SVD. If you are into goregrind however, you will be sorely disappointed. Despite the silly name, SVD was a political band into animal rights, fairly usual at that time I suppose, and with a liberating "be yourself" message.

This Ep was released in 1991 and was the very first record on Skuld Releases, a label that was to become a reference in quality anarchopunk and crust for the next twenty years (a single look at Skuld's discography is proof enough: Contropotere, Hellkrusher, Hibernation, Counterblast, Extinction of Mankind, Lost World, Bad Influence, Misery and even fucking Amebix). SVD would release afterwards a second Ep on Skuld in 1992 and a split Lp with Friends of Barney.      

Slimy Venereal Diseases

Cancer Spreading "Suffering" Ep 2011

For once, I won't be speaking about an old record or an ancient recording today. No, today I shall delve into the field of stenchcore and study the relevancy of its mid-00's variety. Heavy stuff to come, let me assure you. And in order to illustrate this study, I have picked a record that is only three year old, and therefore should be still available, and from a band that is still active and is getting better and better: Cancer Spreading.

Stenchcore. I have always had mixed feelings about that term. In itself, the phrase was just a joke from the Deviated Instinct lads meant precisely to make fun of the trend to invent new genres through the mere addition of "-core" at the end of a word. Since in their own case, they smelled pretty bad, they made up the word "stenchcore". I suppose it was also a comment about their own music that was as dirty and filthy as you could get. But in the end, they could have called it "trampcore" (interestingly the name of a Chaotic End song) or "filthcore" or whatever (in fact, a very similar analysis could be made about the creation of the term "crust" by Hellbastard that was born from the same musical and cultural context). So, why the sudden resurgence of the stenchcore tag? Whereas "crust" has been kept and spread widely, "stenchcore" only rose again about 10 years ago, basically at the beginning of the old-school crust revival spawned by Hellshock. However, the bands that kept playing that genre in the 90's (Extinction of Mankind, Misery, Filth of Mankind, SDS, Coitus, Effigy, Hibernation, you know the drill) certainly didn't use the "stenchcore" tag. So why did it re-appear? Or more correctly, why did it get used at all, since in the mid/late 80's, it didn't seem to be used at all either?

I would argue that there has been a shift in the early/mid 00's, a change connected with the increasing presence of the internet. Since the world wide web allowed everyone and anyone to have access to any obscure records or bands (that great cultural equalizer as they say), the word "crust" came to define pretty much any band that played fast, aggressive music with throaty vocals and lyrics about war or the apocalypse. Disclose? Crust. Wolfpack? Crust. Tragedy? Crust. Aus-Rotten? Crust. How disconcerting. In the end, the term became empty of any stable meaning and that's when the "stenchcore" came handy as it refered to a specific sound contrary to "crust" that increasingly refered to nothing coherent musically, but rather, became synonym with wearing patches, dreads and studs.

The Hellshock boys probably sensed that discrepancy and opted for the term "PDX stenchcore" in order to stress that they were playing old-school, UK (and California) influenced crust. Much more than most of their 90's counterparts (SDS being the obvious exception), Hellshock was a referential band to begin with, probably because the members had already played in quite a few bands before and definitely because they know punk music and punk records very well (Portland, right?). Reading a very early interview of the band in an old Warning issue lately, I don't think the band took itself very seriously at the beginning. They were just doing a tribute to all the great British metal-punk and I really doubt they could have imagined doing three albums, touring extensively and becoming the new reference of the genre. Like many short-lived PDX projects, I think Hellshock wasn't necessarily meant to last long (a bit like Bomb Heaven). But then, they have had a tremendous impact for several reasons: they brought back the old-school metal sound into crust at a time when bands like EOM and Misery were no longer at their best, they revivified the aesthetics and resurrected the relevance of the old UK bands for a new generation, and, of course, they released absolutely crushing records. After years of boring Discharge clones, wasn't it great to finally hear some Sacrilege-type riffs?

Like with their longevity, Hellshock certainly didn't expect to start a new trend, a proper crust revival, or rather, the "stenchcore" revival. A lot of North-American bands started playing referential crust music, some were not exactly newcomers (like Stormcrow or After the Bombs) but others were actual young, spotty bands (like Sanctum, Stagnation or a bit later, Contagium). Very few of those bands are still active (contrary to Hellshock). Japan, being Japan, already had its fair share of old-school crust bands (Effigy, Zoe, Acrostix...) so I am not sure this new stenchcore wave had much of an impact over there, but I could be wrong. Europe got caught up some years later with, among others, Last Legion Alive from Belgium, Instinct of Survival from Germany (though their case is a bit different since they were already around, but playing another genre), Hellisheaven from Poland, Grind the Enemy from London, the mighty Fatum from Russia and Cancer Spreading from Italy.

As my faithful readers already know, I love bands sticking to their guns and Cancer Spreading is one of the kind. They formed in 2006 and have been really prolific: four split Ep's, one Ep, one cd album and two split Lp's. Usually, their records are the product of collaborations between many small DIY punk labels and that too is something I appreciate since it epitomizes, to me, the spirit of togetherness that punk should promote. But above all, the thing I like most about Cancer Spreading is that they are a proper punk band. Contrary to many stenchcore bands that already had a heavy, powerful sound even on their very first recording, CS started out as a shitty, yet loveable, band paying tribute to Deviated Instinct's "Terminal filth stenchcore" (an equally shitty and loveable piece of music that I hold close to my heart). The split with Children of Technology is an amazingly sloppy and yet undeniably great stenchcore record and it is quite possibly the only songs I know of that are genuinely influenced by Deviated Instinct (but after all "Cancer spreading" is a DI song). And then the band evolved, grew, improved, got tighter and tighter so that now, they are probably one of the five best CRUST bands today.

Cancer Spreading is a band I have been following since they started. To be fair, with a name like theirs, I was bound to fall in love with them. The Ep we are dealing with was released in 2011 and exemplifies what the band sounds like today. While it would be easy to dismiss as yet another metal crust act, Cancer Spreading have this genuinely dirty sound: they don't crush you with a clean metal production, rather they bury you under a pile of filth and then proceed to stomp on it while screaming like boars. They don't fall in the "we-want-to-sound-like-Bolt-Thrower-so-hard" trap like most, no, they adapt the impending, unstoppable sense of doom that bands like Bolt Trower, Prophecy of Doom or Mindrot inspire to a dual vocal crust attack owing to Extreme Noise Terror, A//Solution or Mortal Terror. The vocals are completely over the top, which I bloody love, they are gruffy, throaty and mean as if a drunk rabid zombie were preaching the apocalypse. There is that feeling of uncontrolled insanity pervading the music. If cavemen tried to cover Hellshock songs, that's what it would sound like. You really don't get much crustier than that nowadays and their new split with Fatum might even be better (a synth-driven, Greek-influenced, mid tempo scorcher with bear-like vocals? Fuckin A!).

As with most CS records, the artwork is absolutely amazing and a lot of efforts have been put into it, a right orgy of axes, orcs and deformed skulls. Cancer Spreading is part of this new generation of top notch Italian bands that produce quality punk-rock whatever the style they are playing: Terror Firmer, Campus Sterminii, Into The Baobab, Infamia, Dystopian Society, Warpath, NIS and so on.

Cancer Spreading play solid, sincere, proper crust music and I wish more bands were still carrying the banner today. For that I will rely on Instinct of Survival, old-timers like Extinction of Mankind, Misery or Hibernation and newer bands like Fatum, Swordwielder or Ruinas.

Keep stenching.   

Suffering

  

The Mad Are Sane "Reality" Lp 2007

If you have never heard The Mad Are Sane, today is your lucky day. In fact, assuming you are into old British anarchopunk, and you'd better be, you might very well be the luckiest punk alive. When I got this geezer, put it for the first time on the turntable and listened to the first song, I was literally flabbergasted, gobsmacked, floored.

The first minute of "World in action" is of an epiphanic nature. The martial guitar sound with just the one chord, the heaviest tribal drumming you have heard and then comes the voice. The singer must have swallowed a box of nails just before the recording session. It feels like he is talking directly to you, full of spite, anger and outrage. Rarely have I heard such aggressive, threatening vocals in the anarcho scene. With their pounding rhythms, the songs sound like the world is on the verge of terminal insanity (anyone using that expression for a new blog will be sued. Thank you for your cooperation). Or maybe they sound like The Mad Are sane are about to jump at your throat, crucify you at the entrance of their squat and then proceed to dance all night around you, utterly oblivious to your moans.

Yes, this record is that bloody good. "Reality" was initially a demo, recorded in 1983, that was released on vinyl in 2007. To be honest, I ordered that one for two reasons: first, I buy pretty much any reissue, be it a good or a mediocre one, from any old anarcho band, be it a good or an average one (I would type "mediocre" but I subjectively can't); second, I vaguely remembered The Mad Are Sane from a Mortarhate compilation, 1984's "Who? What? Why? When? Where?". But I certainly did not expect it to be that fucking brilliant. That's what I love about punk-rock, when you think you know it all and feel jaded, there's always one band you've never heard of that you will remind you that it is a never-ending spring of greatness. Long live dead punk bands!

If I were to describe The Mad Are Sane, I would say that it really reminds me of Exit-Stance (one of the most underrated bands of the anarcho scene) in the bass-driven heaviness, the pounding relentlessness of the tribal drumming, the simple efficiency of the riffs and the feeling of outrage pervading all the songs. But The Mad Are Sane may even be better. To add some catchiness to the rather martial nature of their sonic intensity, you will notice some tuneful guitar tunes here and there, just to show you that, indeed, the band actually spent some time and thoughts writing these wondrous songs. I already mentioned the nail-eating male singer, but in addition there was also a female one, with a very pissed off, shouting voice, not so far vocally from early Sacrilege or Solvent Abuse. Basically you have two top notch vocals. This demo would have been the ultimate anarcho grail if the singers had been working in the trade-off style rather than the "you do one song and I'll do the next one" style. So basically, you have four songs with the bloke and three with the girl. It still is amazing, but punk-rock is sometimes like tag-team wrestling: a good spectacular move involving the two wrestlers of the team can be more effective.

Like Exit-Stance, and like most of the Mortarhate roster really, The Mad Are Sane seemed to have been heavily into animal rights, as two songs, "Animal crimes" and "Waiting for the day", deal directly with that topic. "World in action" is about the destruction of the environment, "Tract" is about violence that pervades society, "Dying church" is an anti-religious piece and "Neither seen nor heard" is about the business of backstreet abortion. In fact, that song is a little disturbing as it could also be read as an anti-abortion song, but since that seems highly unlikely given the context of the band, I am assuming it is not. I do hope I am not wrong here. I mean, pro-life anarchopunk does sound unlikely. I almost decided not to post this record because of that last song. Could this come from this fringe of the  animal rights movement that is against abortion because they feel it is wrong to harm a life? This theory seems far-fetched, given the members were spiky-haired 16 year old anarchopunks...

From what I understood, this early line-up of The Mad Are Sane didn't exist for very long and the band only played but a handful of gigs. There was a second demo recorded in 1985 with a very different line-up including members of Self-Abuse (both bands were from Bournemouth) and Confession of Sin. That second demo is by no means a bad effort but certainly pales in comparison with the scorcher that is "Reality". The Lp can still be found quite easily and it was released on Abused Records, a label that only released records from Self-Abuse apart from this one (I'm assuming it is also run by a Self-Abuse member).

The Mad Are Sane